Holograms or Hemorrhoids? Student Teachers’ Imaginings of the Digital Futures of Education

Abstract

This study reports preservice teachers’ perceptions of desirable and undesirable digital futures for education. Empathy-based stories were collected from 74 teacher students in Finnish professional teacher education. The findings were arranged into three positive and three negative future scenarios. In the positive scenarios, digital tools support human interaction and are subject to teacher’s agency. Teaching and learning remain essentially human activities, whereas technology has an assisting role. In the negative scenarios, learning reduces to the acquisition of mechanical competences conveyed by technology and teachers become machine-operators. The results may guide teacher education development, decision-making and policies toward meaningful digital futures.