Digital Transformation in the Universities: Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Looking back, the year 2020 has not been at all what we would have imagined. The COVID-19 pandemic has marked everything. We have lived through unimaginable experiences. Scenarios of confinement and social distance have required incorporating technologies as an essential means of continuing professional, educational and social activities. On a social level, the advance in the digital competencies of the population has increased exponentially. However, this need to use technology does not mean that, in general, institutions and individuals were prepared to face digital processes, which reveals deficits in their digital transformation strategies. This has been very evident in the universities, which, although thanks to technologies they have been able to fulfil their missions, especially in teaching, the maturity of their digital transformation processes has been compromised. In terms of the journal Education in the Knowledge Society (EKS), as for the rest of the scientific publications, in 2020 the review processes have been a little longer, but they have been fulfilled, and volume 21 has had 30 contributions of proven quality. Besides, 2020 has given EKS its first CiteScore index (Scopus) of 0.25, with a 27% percentile that places it in the third quartile. This editorial article opens volume 22 of this journal for 2021. This editorial is available in both English and Spanish languages.