Guest User
“Here I Am”: Reclaiming Moral Presence in a ...

Written by: Gila Hammer Furnes

Abstract: In a culture where children witness cruelty, grief, and injustice on their screens before breakfast—often without an adult to hold what they have seen—this essay reclaims moral presence as a pedagogical condition. Drawing on Lévinas, Buber, Todd, Biesta, and Ellsworth, it introduces Hineni—the Hebrew phrase meaning “Here I am”—as an ethical stance of availability that precedes instruction, autonomy, or deliberation. In contrast to dominant models of moral development that locate ethics in reason, regulation, or curriculum, Hineni reconfigures the child not as a future ethical subject, but as one already present in their trembling response to the world. Situated at the intersection of digital culture, ethical phenomenology, and critical pedagogy, the essay resists calls for digital resilience and instead frames education as a space of mutual presence. It argues that pedagogy must not merely protect the child, but stay with them—in their silence, uncertainty, and proximity to harm. To teach ethically in a digital age, it suggests, is not to command response, but to echo it.

Keywords:Hineni, moral education, digital culture, ethical responsiveness, critical pedagogy

Image: "Hineni" by Howard J Duncan is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“Here I Am”: Reclaiming Moral Presence in a Culture of Digital Noise

Research-Creation in Action: A Serious Game for Hybrid Pedagogy in a French University

Research-Creation in Action: A Serious Game for Hybrid Pedagogy in a French University

Written by: Diego Jarak

Abstract: This article reports a situated case of research-creation (RC) in French higher education through the OCAM project, which designed and iterated a serious game to hybridize teaching and learning. Combining creative ethnography, artifact analysis and semi-structured interviews, we examine how RC enables students and staff to experiment, recombine and readjust pedagogical practices under concrete institutional constraints. We describe the game’s core mechanics and the governance of its iterative process (from analog board game to pixel-art prototype), and we present qualitative evidence of individual and collective benefits, alongside tensions with assessment regimes, timetables and quality-assurance procedures. We discuss RC as a form of micro-innovation in process and governance, and propose actionable recommendations for program directors, pedagogy units and university services. Our contribution is twofold: (1) a theoretically grounded and empirically documented account of RC as hybrid pedagogy via a serious game; (2) a process-based evaluation perspective that complements competency-based assessment. We also specify where governance frictions emerged in practice (pedagogy-unit timelines, timetable lock-ins, quality-assurance procedures) and how these shaped design decisions, to avoid a merely normative stance and keep claims auditable against process evidence.

Keywords: research-creation; serious game; hybrid pedagogy; creative ethnography; anarchive; governance; process-based evaluation; French university; digital culture.

Becoming with Digital Objects: Toward a Relational and Temporal Reconceptualization of Digital Literacies

Becoming with Digital Objects: Toward a Relational and Temporal Reconceptualization of Digital Literacies

Written by: Gwénaëlle André

Abstract: This article examines how young adults experience digital technologies as pervasive,everyday companions rather than discrete tools. Moving beyond instrumental or skills-based accountsof digital literacy, the article adopts a longitudinal, sociomaterial perspective to explore how individualsand digital technologies co-evolve asymmetrically over time within broader social, cultural, and politicalcontexts. Responding to recent calls for more critical and relational frameworks of digital literacies,the study articulates Gilbert Simondon’s concept of technical objects with Sylvia Wynter’s sociogenicprinciple to conceptualize digital literacy as a power-laden process of co-constitution where thetrajectories of technical objects often constrain or redirect human agency. Empirically, the article drawson longitudinal ethnographic research conducted between 2020 and 2023 in community settings inCanada, combining interviews, observations, and application walkthroughs. A vignette focusing onone participant’s evolving relationship with Instagram illustrates how processes of individuation andtechnological concretization intersect with issues of identity, validation, and inequality. The articlemakes three key contributions: a theoretical reorientation of digital literacy as relational and political;a methodological contribution through longitudinal sociomaterial ethnography; and a practicalintervention in the form of an eleven-point manifesto aimed at guiding more collective, critical, andemancipatory approaches to digital literacy research and education.

“Sacks of Horseshit” or “Knowledgeable Teaching Assistants”? Exploring Perceptions of Generative AI Tools among University Students and Educators

“Sacks of Horseshit” or “Knowledgeable Teaching Assistants”? Exploring Perceptions of Generative AI Tools among University Students and Educators

Written by: Dennis Nguyen, Karin van Es & Rianne van Lambalgen.

Abstract: Exploring generative AI (GenAI) perspectives and uses among students and educators is essential for informed decision-making in higher education. Insights foster a nuanced understanding of perceptions, attitudes, and opinions shaped by specific AI imaginaries. This paper presents a case study from Utrecht University, Netherlands, using a multi-method approach to examine stakeholders’ views on GenAI. An analysis of initial policy decisions and a university-wide survey (N=1,981) highlight key issues: the widespread use of GenAI tools, the limitations of “fear-mongering” about AI, the structural challenges of contemporary educational systems (especially workload), and the need for clearer guidelines to reduce confusion. The findings contribute in two ways. First, they emphasize the importance of empirical research into stakeholder practices to counter AI hype and inform realistic policy. Second, they provide actionable recommendations to address the social, technological, and structural challenges GenAI poses, fostering informed and inclusive policymaking at universities. We identify here the fallacy of perceived AI effects as an important factor leading to one-dimensional AI governance approaches.

Keywords: GenAI, Higher Education, AI Policies, Sociotechnical Imaginaries

Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia

Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia

Written by: Olivia Guest, Marcela Suarez, Barbara C. N. Müller, Edwin van Meerkerk, Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg, Ronald de Haan, Andrea Reyes Elizondo, Mark Blokpoel, Natalia Scharfenberg, Annelies Kleinherenbrink, Ileana Camerino, Marieke Woensdregt, Dagmar Monett, Jed Brown, Lucy Avraamidou, Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez, Felienne Hermans, and Iris van Rooij

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) companies and their rhetoric infringe on academia in harmful ways, mirroring past uncritical acceptance of industry logics, such as those of tobacco and petroleum. In this position piece, we tease apart and explain why phrases like ‘generative AI’ impede scholarly discussion because by design these expressions are used to dazzle and sidestep scrutiny. Furthermore, we contend with the AI industry’s logics to enable rejecting frames such as: that we must embrace the future, that this hype cycle is unique, that anthropomorphism and circular reasoning hold water when discussing AI systems, and that students are now all cheating or all need to use AI. To these ends, we expound on why universities must take their role seriously to a) counter the AI industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. For each point we raise, we include pointers to relevant work to further inform and convince our colleagues.

Keywords: higher education, artificial intelligence, AI hype, digital technology, critical AI literacy, education policy, scientific integrity

Towards Multilayered Framework Of Digital Agency: Insights From A Rapid Hybrid Review

Towards Multilayered Framework Of Digital Agency: Insights From A Rapid Hybrid Review

Written By: Paulina Rikala, Minna Ylönen, Panu Forsman, Susanna Paloniemi, Tommi Kärkkäinen & Raija Hämäläinen

Abstract: Digital agency is an emerging concept in research on technology use in education, social inclusion, and working life, yet its conceptual fragmentation calls for synthesis. To address this gap, we conducted a rapid hybrid systematic-narrative review of 42 studies, identified using the search terms “digital agency,” “transformative digital agency,” and “technological agency” in Dimensions.ai and Google Scholar, supplemented by snowball sampling strategies. The review addressed three questions: What is the current state of research on digital agency? How is digital agency interpreted through concepts like digital agency, transformative digital agency, and technological agency? In which contexts of study has digital agency been examined? First, the review revealed that research on digital agency is growing but lacks conceptual coherence. Second, digital agency is understood through three overlapping concepts: digital agency, transformative digital agency, and technological agency. Each emphasizes a slightly different focus. Nevertheless, collectively, they describe individuals’ capacity to act, adapt, and influence in digital environments shaped by sociotechnical conditions and an understanding of technology and its impacts. These concepts highlight the mindset—digital competence, confidence, and accountability—that motivates or inhibits technology use. Third, digital agency has been studied in education, social inclusion, and work, often as a situational and individual phenomenon. This study synthesizes these perspectives into a multilayered framework and an integrated definition that encompasses conceptual, individual, situational, and sociotechnical dimensions, offering a foundation for future research.

Keywords: digital agency, hybrid systematic-narrative review, multilayered digital agency framework, rapid review, transformative digital agency, technological agency

Mapping Belonging in Higher Education: Tracing Relationality Across Digital and Place-Based Literature

Mapping Belonging in Higher Education: Tracing Relationality Across Digital and Place-Based Literature

Written by: Bonnie Stewart & Thu Thi Kim Le

Abstract: What does belonging mean in a learning context, in this globalized digital age? What practices – what combination of pedagogical, institutional, and cultural elements – can help foster an individual’s sense of being part of something bigger than themselves, educationally? And how do socio-material principles and approaches of digital belonging align with the literature on belonging as a placed and relational experience? The article explores how belonging as a signifier is shifting in contemporary Higher Education, risking weaponization and neutralization of the term. The paper offers a critical theorization of the terms belonging and State of Belonging (SoB), synthesizing how the concepts are framed and understood across axes of identity, culture, disciplinary field, and learning modality, through multiple theoretical lenses. The aim of the paper is to make visible the various ways in which SoB operates in the complex digital environments of higher education, with emphasis on how the concept consistently refers to relational connections and power relations, no matter the context.

Keywords: belonging, state of belonging, higher education, digital learning, participatory learning, place-based learning, topologies, relationality, weaponization

“Here I Am”: Reclaiming Moral Presence in a Culture of Digital Noise

“Here I Am”: Reclaiming Moral Presence in a Culture of Digital Noise

Written by: Gila Hammer Furnes

Abstract: In a culture where children witness cruelty, grief, and injustice on their screens before breakfast—often without an adult to hold what they have seen—this essay reclaims moral presence as a pedagogical condition. Drawing on Lévinas, Buber, Todd, Biesta, and Ellsworth, it introduces Hineni—the Hebrew phrase meaning “Here I am”—as an ethical stance of availability that precedes instruction, autonomy, or deliberation. In contrast to dominant models of moral development that locate ethics in reason, regulation, or curriculum, Hineni reconfigures the child not as a future ethical subject, but as one already present in their trembling response to the world. Situated at the intersection of digital culture, ethical phenomenology, and critical pedagogy, the essay resists calls for digital resilience and instead frames education as a space of mutual presence. It argues that pedagogy must not merely protect the child, but stay with them—in their silence, uncertainty, and proximity to harm. To teach ethically in a digital age, it suggests, is not to command response, but to echo it.

Keywords:Hineni, moral education, digital culture, ethical responsiveness, critical pedagogy

Image: "Hineni" by Howard J Duncan is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Framing Space: Rhetorical Constructions of Digital Elitism in Apple’s Vision Pro Marketing

Framing Space: Rhetorical Constructions of Digital Elitism in Apple’s Vision Pro Marketing

Written by: Brent Lucia

Abstract: This paper analyzes Apple’s Vision Pro promotional video to show how rhetoric shapes the way audiences understand technology and space. Using spatial theory—particularly Henri Lefebvre’s framework for the production of space and Edward Soja’s concept of “third space”—the study offers a rhetorical case analysis of Apple’s introduction of “spatial computing.” The analysis demonstrates how Apple crafts compelling spatial narratives that blur distinctions between physical and digital environments, work and leisure, and private and public life. Four major themes emerge: the construction of place and identity through exclusive, idealized environments; the crossing of boundaries between material and virtual spaces; the concealment of power and control through language of user choice and agency; and the cultural production of space that reinforces neoliberal norms of productivity. Together, these findings show how Apple’s spatial rhetoric simplifies complex spatial relationships, privileges a digitally elite user, and reframes personal environments as commodified spaces.

Keywords: Apple Vision Pro, Spatial Theory, Space, Power, Enhancements, Control