From Education and Humanities to Improve Knowledge, Society and the Digital Transformation

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to participate in this edition of Topics, titled  “From Education and Humanities to Improve Knowledge, Society, and the Digital Transformation”.

Digital transformation will not be a solution or a panacea if it happens without involving those sciences and disciplines that affect so many societal layers, such as education (and the other social and behavioral sciences) and the humanities. The latter not only contributes to the generation and dissemination of values but also include instruments that are necessary for the other sciences. Importantly, language is important for the transmission and generation of knowledge in any field.

We are, regretfully, continuing to suffer from the global health emergence that has tested all of society. It is not only a viral–santitary pandemic, but a real “παν+δημία”, something that affects the entire population. Universities have been stretched their capacity to maintain their role in forming the knowledge and values students through distance learning. Universities are ideal think tanks in experimental and polytechnical science, in social and health sciences, as well as in education and humanities. The latter have crucial roles in universities not only because they are involved in teaching and pioneering research but also because they also contribute to the transference of the (specific and methodological) advances that have been created within it to society, and the maturity of human society can be improved through these advances.

Knowledge is always in motion, sine fine, and it must be that way. Neither knowledge nor education or humanities can dispense “tradition” or previous advancements, for these do not represent where we are, and we are moved to the future through new ideas. Progress in knowledge is based on what Catalan poet Josep Vicent Foix summarized in a clairvoyant line at the beginning of the 20th century: “M’exalta el nou i m’enamora el vell” (“The new excites and I am in love with the old”).

This group of articles aims at offering an interdisciplinary contribution to the improvement of knowledge. This contribution derives from the analysis of new tendencies in research, development, and innovation in the two crucial fields of education and humanities as well as the relationship that both have with the sciences, health sciences, social and legal sciences, engineering, and architecture.

Education and humanities have a well-tested effectivity as a crucial engine of social transformation and interrelation, individual and social progress, and improvement. In the current situation in which digital transformation is almost worshipped, we must remember that it should not just involve an improvement of digital muscle. The true transformation does not derive from implements (digital in this case) but instead from didactic strategies, pedagogical planning, research, development, and innovation of educational concepts, methodologies, and applications, which also include their transfer to society and the free and universal access to it by all members of society. The Humanities makes sense of it all, so that the values, the knowledge, and the grammars that express them can have a place in and give coherence to society. It is a matter of linguistics, but also of history (and histories) that unites peoples, as cultural heritage is what gives meaning to cultural heritage and what places scientific advances in their context. It is a question of linguistics, but also of history (and the telling of stories, poems, novels) that unites peoples; it is cultural heritage that gives meaning to cultural heritage that places scientific advances in their context. Education and humanities make knowledge coherent and meaningful.

The digital aspect, obviously, is of great help, but if it is not guided by deep and global pedagogical planning carried out by experts in education, it will only be a mirage, that is, a mere instrumenta.

It would be long (and to some extent obvious) to list the advantages of Humanities, particularly in conjunction with Education. The pair of Education and Humanities can have healthy effects on Knowledge in general and therefore for society in general and for everybody. That is, they can have excellent “pandemic” effects that can be summarized by saying that with Education and Humanities, the entirety of the population and society can be stronger against viral pandemics and those that affect thinking and well-being structures.

In this Special Issue of Topics, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Education and digital technology;
• Higher education;
• Non-university education;
• Inclusive education;
• Teacher preparation;
• Education and society;
• Innovating educational experiences;
• National and international projects;
• Education and specific areas;
• Education and behavioral sciences;
• Specific areas in the field of education;
• Education and health sciences;
• Education and humanities;          
• Education and other social sciences;
• General educational subjects;
• Linguistics;
• Corpus linguistics;
• Phraseology;
• Semantics;
• Linguistic variation;
• Humanities;
• Applied education;
• Literary studies;
• Translation studies;
• Cultural studies;
• Digital humanities;
• Politics;
• Pedagogy and politics;
• Long-life (e)learning;
• Comparative education;
• History of education;
• e-learning.

Prof. Dr. Rosabel Roig-Vila
Prof. Dr. Jordi M. Antolí-Martínez
Prof. Dr. Antonio Cortijo
Prof. Dr. Vicent Martines
Prof. Dr. Santiago Mengual Andrés
Prof. Dr. Elena Sánchez-López
Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Manuel Sirignano
Prof. Dr. Alexander López Padrón
Topic Editors