Educating to Thrive in the Digital World
The Community for Educational Innovation (CEI) hosted a webinar on 29 April 2026: “Educating to Thrive in the Digital World.” This webinar explored how education can support meaningful digital transformation beyond the simple adoption of digital tools. It examined how learners, educators, and institutions can develop the skills, governance structures, and institutional practices needed to thrive in an increasingly digital world.
The session featured expert insights on national digital literacy strategies, the evidence and limitations of AI-driven personalised learning, and the governance of digital identity within European University alliances. It also introduced the European Digital Education Hub as a platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and digital education innovation.
To learn more about the session, you can access the following resources:
Three Expert Perspectives
Kirke Kasari, Head of Development, ProgeTiger Programme; Junior Researcher, Estonian Education and Youth Board / Tallinn University: Kirke Kasari presented Estonia’s ProgeTiger Programme as a systemic approach to strengthening digital literacy and informatics education. The programme supports future-ready learners through six connected areas: curriculum development, learning materials, teacher and leadership training, school mentoring, equipment funding, and student engagement. The presentation emphasised that sustainable digital transformation cannot depend only on motivated teachers or isolated classroom initiatives. It requires coordinated action across curriculum, leadership, teacher competence, institutional culture, and access to resources.
Julian Estevez, Professor and Expert on AI Ethics in Education, University of the Basque Country:
Julian Estevez examined AI-driven personalised learning and questioned whether it is a real pedagogical breakthrough or mainly a marketing claim. He noted that “personalised learning” lacks a clear definition and is often confused with adaptive or individualised learning. Current AI tutoring systems usually adjust the pace of learning, but keep students on a predefined path. The presentation concluded that AI can be useful for translation, accessibility, support for students with special needs, and reducing teachers’ workload, but should only be used where it adds clear educational value.
Francisca Martín Vergara, Senior Systems Analyst and IT Coordinator, UNINOVIS European University alliance, University of Málaga:
Francisca Martín Vergara discussed digital identity in European University alliances, using the UNINOVIS alliance as an example. She argued that interoperability is not only a technical issue, but also a governance challenge. Students and staff often need multiple credentials across partner institutions, making access to services fragmented. A trusted digital identity system can enable smoother access to learning platforms, libraries, and student services. The UNINOVIS MetaCampus model was presented as a way to connect different institutional systems through a shared identity and access layer.
Key Takeaways
- Digital transformation requires a whole-system approach. The ProgeTiger example showed that digital education depends on aligned curricula, resources, teacher training, leadership, equipment, mentoring, and student engagement. It is not enough to simply introduce new tools into classrooms.
- School leaders and institutional management teams play a key role in embedding digital innovation into everyday educational practice.
- AI-driven personalised learning should be approached critically. AI can support translation, accessibility, special needs education, and teacher workload reduction. It should not be adopted only because it is fashionable.
- European University alliances need interoperable digital identity systems, but the main barriers are institutional coordination, uneven digital maturity, security policies, and governance structures.
- The European Digital Education Hub supports collaboration. The webinar introduced the European Digital Education Hub, which connects around 7,300 members from education, research, policy, schools, vocational education and training, and higher education.
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