This case study is based on contextualizing and responding to some dichotomies in education at all levels, focusing specifically on the university level and how the education system in general, and teachers in particular, can and should innovate in order to offer quality education to students. These students have been adapting to the latest technological advances. This chapter gives as an example case studies where it is demonstrated that these technological advances are not the exclusive focus on which educational innovation should be based.
Top1. Introduction
One of the fundamental pillars for global progress is education. Education is a right possessed by all citizens and should be used as a tool that favors advancement, progress and improvement at all levels. However, it is important to be aware that education, as in many other areas, must be updated and adapted to current times. In this way, students will be able to have access to a more current education and their contribution in the future will have much greater value than if they continue to be taught in the traditional way, i.e., without taking into account technological and ideological changes and without taking advantage of new methodologies that have proven to be effective in education (gamification).
With this in mind, it is important to identify which factors have an impact on education. This study will take into account some of the most relevant ones, from teachers, the tools used, the evaluation and work processes, and even the governmental institutions that are in charge of configuring the contents that teachers will teach and students will study. All this contextualized, moreover, with the current reality that determines all processes in society: the global pandemic of COVID-19 (Saura et al., 2022).
The pandemic posed a global challenge, obviously also for the sector under study, since the containment measures adopted by the different countries led to the closure of educational centers at all levels (Montes & Andrés, 2021). In the specific case of Spain, education went from one day to the next, from being taught in face-to-face mode to being taught online, with the consequent challenge that this entails, both for institutions and teachers, as well as for students and their adaptation to the new model, and also for families, who had to cover the needs of devices for each child, in addition to the attention and care during school hours.
One of the characteristics that occurred as a result of the pandemic and the actions that were carried out, such as the confinement and its consequent distance education, is the immediacy with which it was necessary to act. This is what happens in emergency situations, and it is so because it is not possible to plan in advance, so we proceed to act and apply practices that have not been previously planned, or not in that context and with all the variables that occurred. One of the consequences of this rapid adaptation is, precisely, the also rapid acceptance by the faculty (Bond, Bedenlier, Marín, & Händel (2021), when previously it could be more critical with this type of modalities, and now it is already an accepted and potentially valued trend in higher education so that it stays and has long-term effects.
It is also important to take into account and know the role of university students in this whole process. From their environment, lifestyles, interests and concerns to have an approach to all educational strata and offer a better education being a more effective way to transfer knowledge. Currently, the use and implementation of technology as a key element for educational innovation cannot be left aside (Saura et al., 2022a). Technology can be used in different ways when talking about education and, depending on how, when and by whom it is used, we can achieve insights or results that make a difference.
On the other hand, a term that has been trending in recent years is innovation. The definition of educational innovation contemplates various aspects: technology, didactics, pedagogy, processes and people. An educational innovation implies the implementation of a significant change in the teaching-learning process. It must incorporate a change in materials, methods, content or in the contexts involved in teaching (Ferreira, Altamirano, Ortega & González, 2019). The perceived difference should be related to the quality of novelty of the improved element, the value contribution of the improved element to the teaching-learning process and the relevance that the proposed innovation will bring to the educational institution and external stakeholders.
The world is changing at an ever-increasing pace and education is no exception. The speed required to respond to new challenges in the education sector forces institutions to be better informed about trends in order to anticipate changes and stay one step ahead (Díaz & Gómez, 2009). The nature of innovation also considers how the type of innovation might affect access to education, implementation plans, educational practice and the experience of the end user, who in most cases are the students.