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 student teachers 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 the teacher’s agency. Teaching and learning remain essentially human activities, whereas technology has a supportive role. In the negative scenarios, learning is reduced to the acquisition of mechanical competences managed by technology and teachers becoming machine operators. These results could guide the development of teacher education, decision-making, and education policy toward meaningful digital futures.