ABSTRACT
Our understanding of how we might learn with and through the use of digital tools is growing, and we are aware of the changes in the roles of teachers in the learning of others. Digital technologies aff ord opportunities for thinking diff erently about how, when and where we engage with networks of knowledge, expertise, experience, practice, feedback and challenge. Their use can challenge many of the familiar ways in which we design learning environments, both formal and informal. Yet there are core questions of our pedagogy – ‘What do we teach?’, ‘How do we teach?’ and ‘Why do we teach this in this way, here and now?’ – which ground us in our cultural purposes for education and the relationships between teachers and learners in our societies. Digital tools for learning have a presence in the wider context of a digital age which has economic, social and cultural implications for education settings and arenas. We argue, however, that although these tools might create a disturbance in our more familiar learning environments, there are characteristics of good pedagogy that endure and manifest their strength in the ways in which they are fl exible and adaptable, not brittle and unchanging. Our focus is not just on teachers in schools, since the places and contexts for learning in a digital age extend beyond these boundaries. The role of teacher is conceptualized as pedagogical – that is, a role that relates to the design of and engagement in learning experiences which are grounded in values and purpose within society and culture.
