Journal of Technology and Science Education

Beatriz Amante García

Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain

Hugo Heredia Ponce

University of Cádiz, Spain

The consolidation of digital educational ecosystems has profoundly transformed the conditions of access, production, and circulation of knowledge. However, these transformations are not distributed evenly. Inequalities in infrastructure, skills, technological governance models, and sociocultural conditions are shaping new forms of the digital divide that directly affect learning opportunities and educational equity.

The digital divide today affects not only access to devices or connectivity, but also the ability to participate meaningfully in complex digital environments, develop critical skills, benefit from artificial intelligence-based systems, and exercise rights in increasingly data-driven contexts. These inequalities have an impact on academic achievement, educational trajectories, and the reproduction or transformation of pre-existing social inequalities.

 This special issue proposes a critical analysis of how digital educational ecosystems can either widen gaps or, conversely, become tools for promoting greater equity and better learning conditions. Readers are invited to reflect on the structural, pedagogical, and sociocultural factors that mediate this tension.

Thematic lines

1. Digital Infrastructure and Inequalities in Learning Opportunities: Access to connectivity, devices, and virtual environments across different educational levels; territorial digital divides (urban–rural, regional) and their impact on educational trajectories; infrastructure for platforms and artificial intelligence–based systems; digital public policies aimed at ensuring equity in access to online learning; digital material conditions as determinants of educational outcomes.

2. Digital Competencies and Gaps in Pedagogical Appropriation: Teacher and student digital literacy and its relationship to learning quality; critical digital competence in platform- and algorithm-mediated environments; pedagogical integration of digital technologies and effects on meaningful learning; educational use of artificial intelligence and inequalities in capacities for appropriation; gaps in digital capital and their impact on academic achievement.

3. Digital Ecosystems, Platforms, and Artificial Intelligence: Unequal Distribution of Educational Benefits:Platformization of education and digital reorganization of the teaching–learning process; algorithmic governance, datafication, and automated assessment in digital educational contexts; integration of artificial intelligence in teaching and evaluation and its differentiated impacts on learning; technological dependency and concentration of power in digital educational provision; alternative digital models oriented toward educational justice.

4. Sociocultural Dimensions of the Digital Divide and Learning in Digitalized Contexts: Gender and inequalities in participation and performance in digital environments; migration, linguistic diversity, and digital barriers to learning; accessibility and universal design in digital educational platforms; intersectionality and exclusion in digitalized educational ecosystems; algorithmic bias and discrimination in digital educational systems.

Important Dates
Submission deadline: August 1, 2026
Publication date: January 2027

All articles must follow the guidelines provided by the journal: https://www.jotse.org/index.php/jotse/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions