Special Issue: The future of education for sustainable development – Between the power of technology and the need for responsible citizenship

In course of the 4th industrial revolution of digitalization, we experience or encounter new trends in society and technology that strongly effect the way we learn, teach, and understand knowledge and education. New technology applications such as blockchain, machine learning, MOOCs or virtual learning environments are being increasingly used for teaching and learning. There is not only a high degree of expectation but also criticism about the societal impacts these new technology applications might have. This is further echoed within a global debate about the effects of emerging technologies on education, in general, and education for sustainable development (ESD), in particular.
Beyond the power of technology applications, recent socio-economic and ecological challenges show that we do not lack sufficient knowledge for change but we are in lack of people who are willing and able to engage and make a change. Especially in the area of climate change research, our recent problems do not derive from the lack of scientific data and technological opportunities for dissemination, but from the lack of adequate methods of teaching and knowledge exchange which can initiate and foster active engagement and responsible citizenship.
ESD aims at new ways of learning that enable citizens to actively shape sustainable socio-ecological transformations. This Special Issues calls for cases, reviews and research articles to discuss technology applications in the transdisciplinary light of responsible citizenship and engagement for sustainable development.
This Special Issue is open to submissions of original articles, subject to a rigorous peer review, covering the recent debate on technology applications in education and learning environments with special attention on learnings from the application of MOOCs, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and virtual learning environments.