Learning as a Virtual Experience

Currently, digital transformation and the integration of digital culture are reshaping the educational landscape by proposing an innovative approach to information processing through computing and artificial intelligence. This new paradigm envisions learning development as a virtual experience, transforming the way students access and acquire knowledge. It is necessary to reconsider established principles and undertake a reengineering effort to understand how students learn to comprehend, think, and understand in specific contexts through self-directed learning.

This shift has led to the emergence of a virtual identity, placing central responsibility on the student in the educational process. Students are expected to possess the ability to maintain intrinsic motivation, question, argue, and explore knowledge and its evidence – fundamental principles of logic. Additionally, they are encouraged to establish virtual networks for collaborative and cooperative learning, manage time and space to regulate learning, and maximize the use of computers, mobile phones, or tablets as interactive tools.

Students must learn to self-evaluate with transparency and honesty, essential values to build a learning network that fosters deliberation and reflection on the construction of knowledge through the verification of hypothetical thinking. This move towards cyberculture implies a profound transformation in education, where the student becomes an active protagonist in their own learning process and gains wisdom. Cultivating wisdom is essential, as without it, one may plunge into unhappiness and face immense disasters. Wisdom acts as the raw material that shields us from tragedies, providing a solid foundation to confront life’s challenges.

In the current era, we are undergoing digital transformation and a shift in how we access culture, creating new modes of communication beyond conventional methods of the past 20 centuries of human history. The term “digital” has become an extension of the mind and body, shaping a reconfiguration of thought by placing ideas in a virtual environment. This medium acquires new values or anti-values depending on how virtual intelligence is utilized, marking a significant change in how we conceive and apply our thoughts in the digital world.

As Italian psychologist Giuseppe Mantovani suggests, “mature digitalization as a technology occurs when it is least seen as an isolated object.” Well-functioning technologies have the characteristic of disappearing, blending into the environment rather than attracting attention. The user’s focus should be on what they want to accomplish, not on the tool. Let us seize the opportunity offered by evolution and learn to harness the full potential of digital transformation and digital culture, enhancing humanistic values that contribute to our personal growth.

Sergi Marcén i López. Expert in Innovation and Digital Transformation