{
  "abstract": "Digital twin technology has expanded from industrial monitoring and cyber-physical systems into engineering education, online learning, personalized learning, and educational environment management. However, creating a digital representation of a learner, classroom, course, or institution does not by itself establish a systematic mechanism for determining which educational interventions should be implemented in reality, how their consequences should be predicted, or how discrepancies between predicted and observed outcomes should influence subsequent decisions. This paper introduces and formally defines Educational Digital Twins (EDTs) as a framework for maintaining computationally updated representations of educational entities and processes, simulating alternative interventions, comparing predicted outcomes with observed educational states, and using the resulting evidence to guide subsequent educational decisions. Rather than treating an educational digital twin as a static virtual replica, the proposed framework conceptualizes it as a closed-loop system connecting educational reality, digital state estimation, counterfactual simulation, intervention selection, real-world implementation, and outcome verification. A six-layer architecture is proposed, comprising Educational Reality and Sensing, State Synchronization, Educational Twin Modeling, Counterfactual Intervention Simulation, Intervention Governance and Execution, and Outcome Verification and Adaptation. The central proposed mechanism, Reality–Simulation Discrepancy-Guided Intervention (RSDGI), uses differences between predicted and observed outcomes to determine whether an intervention should be maintained, revised, suspended, or evaluated again under an updated model. A formal optimization formulation incorporates expected educational benefit, intervention cost, uncertainty, distributional effects, and safety constraints. The framework distinguishes Educational Digital Twins from conventional learning analytics, digital learner models, intelligent tutoring systems, educational simulations, and existing educational digital twin implementations. Potential applications are organized across learner development, classroom management, curriculum design, assessment, collaborative learning, practical training, accessibility, institutional planning, and educational resource allocation. A hypothetical classroom scenario illustrates the operation of the proposed framework. Finally, a research agenda is developed for evaluating predictive calibration, intervention effectiveness, synchronization fidelity, long-term educational outcomes, privacy, fairness, and human oversight. The framework is conceptual and has not yet been empirically validated. Its intended contribution is to provide a precise foundation for investigating educational digital twins as systems that not only represent learning environments but also systematically evaluate and adapt interventions in those environments.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Jincheng Zhang",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-1860-0009"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/115yfvckbz4pz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.23592651",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "115yfvckbz4pz",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://zenodo.org/records/23592651",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://zenodo.org/api/records/23592651/files/Educational%20Digital%20Twins%20A%20Closed-Loop%20Framework%20for%20Modeling%20and%20Transforming%20Learning%20Environments.pdf/content",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-23",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/115yfvckbz4pz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-06T12:21:16Z",
      "native_id": "23592651",
      "source": "zenodo",
      "url": "https://zenodo.org/records/23592651"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [],
  "title": "Educational Digital Twins: A Closed-Loop Framework for Modeling and Transforming Learning Environments",
  "title_text": "Educational Digital Twins: A Closed-Loop Framework for Modeling and Transforming Learning Environments",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T12:21:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/115yfvckbz4pz",
  "venue": "Zenodo",
  "versions": []
}