Marcelo Maina addresses the challenges of digital transformation in higher education at UNL
On April 28, 2026, Dr. Marcelo Maina, Director of the Master’s Program in Education and ICT (eLearning), Professor of Psychology and Educational Sciences, and researcher with the Edul@b group at the FuturEd Research Center of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), gave a lecture entitled “Higher Education and Digital Transformation: What We Are Talking About and What Challenges Ahead” in the Higher Council Hall of the National University of the Litoral (UNL) in Santa Fe, Argentina. The event was jointly organized by the Office of Institutional Communication and the Center for Education and Technologies of the Academic and Educational Innovation Secretariat of the UNL.
The conference took place in the UNL Higher Council Room and was held in a hybrid format, being broadcasted via the UNL virtual classroom system. This allowed for the participation of faculty, students, and management teams from various academic units and university centers. This format reinforced the expanded territorial model promoted by the institution and opened a space for discussion on the current challenges facing higher education.
During her presentation, Maina proposed an approach to the concept of digital transformation understood not only as the incorporation of technologies, but as an institutional process that reconfigures pedagogical practices, organizational dynamics, and technological environments. The talk addressed key areas such as artificial intelligence, learning and academic analytics, augmented reality, and microcredentials, as well as the need for comprehensive, coordinated, and participatory institutional strategies.
Maina’s involvement at UNL also allowed him to reconnect with the Argentine university system. As Rector Laura Tarabella pointed out, between 1999 and 2001 he was part of the team that launched CEMED at UNL, a pioneering initiative linked to the early development of technology-mediated education at the university.
The conference also garnered attention in local media. The newspaper El Litoral interviewed Maina during his visit to Santa Fe and published his reflections on digital transformation as an institutional and cultural process, the emergence of artificial intelligence in higher education, and the role of microcredentials as digital, portable, and stackable certifications designed to recognize specific skills.
Furthermore, the participation was disseminated through audiovisual content from UNL and Radio LT10, contributing to broadening the public reach of the debate on the future scenarios of university teaching.
The activity is part of Edul@b’s research lines on digital transformation of educational institutions, pedagogical innovation and lifelong learning, and reinforces collaboration with Latin American universities around the shared challenges of higher education in a digital context.
