The digitalization of societies, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is an unstoppable process. This paper seeks to answer the question: what post-COVID-19 digital competences are needed for a sustainable society? It also aims to analyze the digitalization processes in education for shaping a sustainable digital society. A bibliographic search was performed on some of the most relevant international databases of scientific literature and the selected documents were analyzed through a content analysis. It is concluded that digital education has experienced a strong increase, reinforced by COVID-19, shaping the digital presence in all dimensions of life. However, it is not sufficient to assume that the new generations are naturally engaged in and can master digital social sustainability. The results demonstrate the importance of literacy and the unavoidable promotion of sustainability in a digital society. However, this digitalization of the educational process poses several challenges: it requires both software and hardware conditions, as well as digital literacy as a result of a complex of literacies. It also implies that teachers and students change their standpoints and practices with the attainment of new teaching and learning competences in order to fight the digital divide and to foster the widest possible social inclusion for the promotion of sustainable society—digitainability.

In today’s world, digitalization, the virtual and being permanently online become normality, corresponding to individuals’ current and future expectations, with an increasing impact, without forgetting those excluded from this reality (digital divide). Society 5.0 seeks to foster this reality. As a concept initially political-ideological, Society 5.0 currently allows for the development of various analyses on this process of shaping a society where the digital is increasingly present at the service of sustainable social and economic development – a super-smart society. This paper aims to develop an analysis of the challenges that old and new potential social inequalities pose to social inclusion in this super-smart society. The methodology used in this study is qualitative. The authors carried out a search for publications in the field under study in several international databases and used the technique of content analysis. The results allow concluding that, while it is certain that the concept of Society 5.0 initially had a Japanese national dimension, it tends, with modifications considering the distinct features of several countries, to be applied by those regions of the globe that seek future sustainable development (economic, social and environmental). Received: 23 November 2020 / Accepted: 2 February 2021 / Published: 5 March 2021

At a time when there is free access to a multitude of information, the knowledge society entails the development and mobilisation of a set of competencies of selection and application of this knowledge in a reasoned and conscious way. It is in this context that higher education should develop its activities, and it is widely recognised that digital literacy encompasses the essential and transversal abilities to any higher level training, that translate into a good preparation for a successful future professionalization. However, sometimes this does not happen; hence, this short communication seeks to reflect on this problem that is central to the training activity in higher education, analysing some implications of this situation, as well as recommendations.

Classes, as a critical teaching-learning process in the school culture, remain, essentially and for the most part, without fundamental changes, following the sequence: presentation of the contents by the teacher, and implementation of these contents in a very theoretical way (highly based on the resolution of exercises, either through worksheets and manuals or through the preparation of written assignments, with or without their oral presentation). This position paper offers another teaching model that reverses this sequence, starting from the student’s autonomous work and concluding in the materialisation of the knowledge and skills attained, always with the teacher’s support – the flipped teaching method. Through a collection and selection of articles on this topic, concurrently with the authors’ experience in training in higher education, and also in the monitoring of students’ pedagogical internships, the authors describe and analyse flipped teaching, as well as its limitations and challenges. The results of this analysis suggested that flipped teaching has a high potential in student learning regarding the development and attainment, by them, of specific and transversal competences necessary for the 21st century, in terms of their employability, entrepreneurship, innovation, literacy and contribution to sustainable development.

Recently, efforts have been made to add programming activities to the curriculum that promote computational thinking and foster 21st-century digital skills. One of the programming modalities is the use of Tangible Programming Languages (TPL), used in activities with 4+ year old children. In this review, we analyze solutions proposed for TPL in different contexts crossing them with non-TPL solutions, like Graphical Programming Languages (GPL). We start to characterize features of language interaction, their use, and what learning activities are associated with them. Then, in a diagram, we show a relation between the complexity of the languages with factors such as target age and output device types. We provide an analysis considering the type of input (e.g., TPL versus GPL) and output devices (e.g., physical robot versus graphical simulation) and evaluate their contribution to further insights about the general trends with respect to educational robotic systems. Finally, we discuss the opportunities to extend and improve TPLs based on the different solutions identified.

At a time when interdisciplinarity is encouraged, the aim of this article is to analyse some of its implications in contexts of teaching, research and professional practice. For this purpose, and through a literature review, the concept of interdisciplinarity is discussed. Subsequently, the paper discusses its importance and the implications of its promotion, focusing on the following aspects: scientific disciplinary identity, institutional consequences, and professional consequences. It is concluded that interdisciplinary collaboration, while being, in general, difficult to achieve, can, provided that it is controlled, be both a source of recognition and scientific and/or professional opportunities for social sciences. However, there are also potential risks not to be overlooked, being important to be aware of them.