The past three decades have witnessed a profound and accelerating transformation in the role of technology in higher education. From the early debates around ICT integration and open content, through the MOOC movement, the consolidation of blended and online learning models, the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the current emergence of generative AI tools, universities have been challenged to rethink what it means to teach and to learn in a digitally mediated environment.

In this keynote, Prof. Josep M. Duart will present a critical longitudinal analysis of this evolution drawing on three intersecting sources of knowledge in which he has held a specific role and leadership position. These include twenty years of research published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (ETHE), the lived institutional experience of the educational model of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) one of Europe's leading fully online universities and the collective intelligence gathered through EDEN Digital Learning Europe's international network of practitioners and researchers.

Rather than celebrating progress uncritically, the address will examine the field's genuine learning and unresolved challenges. Professor Duart will explore recurring tensions such as the conflict between technological possibility and pedagogical intent; innovation and equity; and institutional efficiency and personalised learning. Special attention will be given to the challenge posed by generative AI and the new technological affordances that demand renewed clarity about the fundamental purposes of higher education.

The keynote concludes by proposing a set of orientating questions for the next decade: questions that researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers must address together if technology-enhanced education is to fulfil its deepest promise, not merely to deliver knowledge more efficiently, but to expand access, deepen learning, and strengthen the human dimensions of academic life.