Higher Education in Latin America. Transformations in the face of a growing digitization process

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the current conditions of digitized higher Educommunication, pointing out some of the essential lines of reflection to deepen in order to achieve greater educational quality. Based on a critical documentary discussion, definitions of educommunication prior to the SARS-CoV 2 virus pandemic and the sanitary confinement are updated, indicating the changes derived from this process. Such transformations are considered to have been determinant, since some of them will be part of future hybrid or blended university educational programs. The work describes the access, use and appropriation of digital technology as a three-stage process that leads to a cultural transformation. It also emphasizes the importance of the new space-time dimension promoted by the digitization and points out the outstanding characteristics of the current digitally mediated higher educommunication. It raises the main challenges of this type of education, valuing the experience of confinement that resorted to connectivity as a spontaneous way out of isolation and emerging social paralysis. As a result of these analyzes, the benefits that the recent digital experience can bring are finally pointed out. Likewise, from a critical and creative perspective, some of the challenges to overcome in order to achieve an improvement in the quality of digitally mediated higher education are identified.