This book collects some of the works presented at ATEE Florence Spring Conference 2020-2021. The Conference, originally planned for May 2020, was forcefully postponed due to the dramatic insurgence of the pandemic. Despite the difficulties in this period, the Organising Committee decided anyway to keep it, although online and more than one year later, not to disperse the huge work of authors, mainly teachers, who had to face one of the hardest challenges in the last decades, in a historic period where the promotion of social justice and equal opportunities – through digital technologies and beyond – is a key factor for democratic citizenship in our societies. The Organising Committee, the University of Florence, and ATEE wish to warmly thank all the authors for their commitment and understanding, which ensured the success of the Conference. We hope this book could be, not only a witness of these pandemic times, but a hopeful sign for an equal and inclusive education in all countries.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online, HELMeTO 2021, held in Pisa, Italy, in September 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held online. The 26 revised full papers and 3 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 65 submissions. The papers present recent research on challenges of implementing emerging technology solution for online, online learning pedagogical frameworks, facing COVID19 emergency in higher education teaching and learning, online learning technologies in practice, online learning strategies and resources, etc.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 27th ATEE Spring Conference on Social Justice, Media and Technology, ATEE 2021, held in Florence, Italy, during October 28–30, 2021. The 19 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 49 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: teaching critical media/digital literacy in multicultural societies; decommodifying teacher (digital) education; and digital technology and equity for inclusive teaching.

This book collects some of the works presented at ATEE Florence Spring Conference 2020-2021. The Conference, originally planned for May 2020, was forcefully postponed due to the dramatic insurgence of the pandemic. Despite the difficulties in this period, the Organising Committee decided anyway to keep it, although online and more than one year later, not to disperse the huge work of authors, mainly teachers, who had to face one of the hardest challenges in the last decades, in a historic period where the promotion of social justice and equal opportunities - through digital technologies and beyond - is a key factor for democratic citizenship in our societies. The Organising Committee, the University of Florence, and ATEE wish to warmly thank all the authors for their commitment and understanding, which ensured the success of the Conference. We hope this book could be, not only a witness of these pandemic times, but a hopeful sign for an equal and inclusive education in all countries.

COVID wrought havoc on the world’s economic systems. Higher education did not escape the ravages brought on by the pandemic as institutions of higher education around the world faced major upheavals in their educational delivery systems. Some institutions were prepared for the required transition to online learning. Most were not. Whether prepared or not, educators rose to the challenge. The innovativeness of educators met the challenges as digital learning replaced the face-to-face environment. In fact, some of the distance models proved so engaging that many students no longer desire a return to the face-to-face model. As with all transitions, some things were lost while others were gained. This book examines practice in the field as institutions struggled to face the worst global pandemic in the last century. The book is organized into four sections on 'Embracing Quality Assurance”, 'Educational Standards and Quality Assurance”, 'Evaluating Educational Access” and 'Why Assessment?”. It presents various perspectives from educators around the world to illustrate the struggles and triumphs of those facing new challenges and implementing new ideas to empower the educational process. These discussions shed light on the impact of the pandemic and the future of higher education post-COVID. Higher education has been forever changed, and higher education as it once was may never return. While many questions arise, the achievements in meeting and overcoming the pandemic illustrate the creativity and innovativeness of educators around the world who inspired future generations of learners to reach new heights of accomplishment even in the face of the pandemic.

This open access book expands the scholarly and policy debates surrounding digital transformation in higher education. The authors adopt a pluralistic conceptual framework which uncovers three analytical elements – contexts, mediations, and type of effects – for unpacking empirical manifestations. The publicly funded higher education systems in Nordic countries provide solid empirical insights into how digital transformations have gained ground before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and chapter contributions demonstrate how international digitalisation trends (such as in the global EdTech industry) impact on the core activities of higher education institutions (HEIs). The findings underscore the importance of assessments that consider multiple sub-systems within HEIs, as well as the complex relationships between them. By unpacking Nordic dynamics in the light of global processes and developments, the approach adopted and the results generated are of relevance to a much broader, global audience of students and researchers in higher education.

The convergence of Artif icial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping the way industries, businesses, and economies function; the 34 chapters in this collection show how the full potential of these technologies is being enabled to create intelligent machines that simulate smart behavior and support decision-making with little or no human interference, thereby providing startling organizational efficiencies. Readers will discover that in Reshaping Intelligent Business and Industry: The book unpacks the two superpowers of innovation, AI and IoT, and explains how they connect to better communicate and exchange information about online activities; How the center and the network's edge generate predictive analytics or anomaly alerts; The meaning of AI at the edge and IoT networks. How bandwidth is reduced and privacy and security are enhanced; How AI applications increase operating efficiency, spawn new products and services, and enhance risk management; How AI and IoT create 'intelligent' devices and how new AI technology enables IoT to reach its full potential; Analyzes AIOT platforms and the handling of personal information for shared frameworks that remain sensitive to customers’ privacy while effectively utilizing data. Audience This book will appeal to all business and organization leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and economists, as well as scientists, engineers, and students working in artificial intelligence, software engineering, and information technology.