Sustainable development, usability and accessibility in educational strategies during the global pandemic

Abstract

affected by the digital transformation. Vint Cerf, the past Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) president, sees an "awesome responsibility!" as "our profession and the products it creates will have a prominent role in shaping our post − COVID-19 society". These products referenced by Vint Cerf lead to digital innovations, the development of 5th generation wireless networks (5G), artificial intelligence (AI) [machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL)], and the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as digital security capabilities such as blockchain, have created an extraordinary ecosystem for new opportunities in several activities sectors.This special issue emphasizes the transformation of education due to both the global pandemic and how the SDGs are being adapted in this context. The new strategies in education must be usable and accessible by all users (students, teachers, family, end-users) taking into account, that the new reality is merging face-to-face, virtual and mixed learning environments, systems, and technologies, arising new problems of use or access that need scientific analysis for effective and further solutions, for example the increase dropout rate concern, among others.This UAIS special issue follows the work started following the edition of a number of previous special issues [1-5],