How can we Maximise the Potential of New Technologies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Abstract

The United Nations’ plan of action for sustainable development notes the immense challenges that we face, but recognizes that “The spread of information and communications technology [ICT] and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies” (United Nations, 2015, p. 5 pars 14 and 15). This issue of JL4D reviews this great potential for ICT to assist in meeting the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. // The future roles of ICT provide the focus of our first article by Professor Gilly Salmon, Academic Director of Online Services UK (https://www.oes.com/) in her contribution to our new series in which leaders in online and flexible learning reflect on past, current and future developments in the use of new technologies. (For Terry Anderson’s contribution to our previous issue, please see https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/327.)