Background

The integration of digital technologies and artificial intelligence into education has accelerated dramatically over the past decade. Teacher education institutions are increasingly tasked with preparing educators to navigate complex digital ecosystems while responding to the changing needs of learners and society. However, the rapid adoption of technology has often outpaced pedagogical and ethical considerations. Concerns have emerged regarding the depersonalisation of learning, diminished human interaction, algorithmic bias, digital inequalities, and the risk of prioritising technological efficiency over meaningful educational experiences. Humanizing pedagogies provide a valuable lens through which to examine these developments. Grounded in relational, inclusive, and contextually responsive approaches to teaching and learning, humanising pedagogies emphasise the importance of learner voice, agency, identity, and social connection. These principles are increasingly relevant as educators seek to integrate AI and digital technologies in ways that enhance rather than replace human-centered learning.

This Research Topic aims to bring together scholars working across teacher education, educational technology, learning design, AI in education, and educational innovation to explore how digital transformation can support more equitable, engaging, and human-centered educational futures.

The Research Topic seeks to:

1. Advance scholarly understanding of human-centered approaches to digital and AI-supported learning.
   
2. Explore innovative models for preparing teachers to work effectively within technology-rich educational environments.
   
3. Showcase evidence-based pedagogical, technological, and design innovations that enhance learner engagement and success.
   
4. Promote critical discussion regarding the ethical, social, and educational implications of AI in teaching and learning.
   
5. Highlight diverse international and Global South perspectives on digital transformation in education.
   
6. Foster interdisciplinary dialogue among researchers, teacher educators, educational designers, policymakers, and practitioners.
   
7. Identify future research directions that can guide the responsible integration of AI and digital technologies in education.

The rapid advancement of digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming educational systems worldwide. While these innovations offer unprecedented opportunities for personalised learning, enhanced access, and new forms of knowledge creation, they also raise important questions regarding the role of human relationships, educational design, ethics, inclusion, and learner agency in increasingly technology-mediated environments.

This Research Topic seeks to explore how digital and AI-supported approaches can be designed and implemented in ways that remain fundamentally human-centered. The collection will focus particularly on teacher education and professional learning, examining how educators can be prepared to effectively leverage emerging technologies while maintaining pedagogical practices that foster meaningful engagement, critical thinking, collaboration, equity, and wellbeing. 

We invite theoretical, empirical, methodological, and practice-oriented contributions that examine the opportunities, challenges, and implications of digital and AI-supported learning in teacher education and related educational contexts.

• Topics may include, but are not limited to:
  
• Humanizing pedagogy in digital and AI-mediated environments
  
• AI as a cognitive partner in teaching and learning
  
• Digital pedagogies and educational innovation
  
• Teacher preparation for AI-enabled classrooms
  
• Learning design for technology-enhanced education
  
• Blended, hybrid, online and Blendflex learning models
  
• Learning analytics and student engagement
  
• Equity, inclusion and accessibility in digital education
  
• Ethical and responsible use of AI in education
  
• Open educational resources and open educational practices
  
• Assessment and feedback in AI-supported learning environments
  
• Professional development for educators in the digital age
  
• Global South perspectives on educational technology and AI
  
• Future-oriented models of teacher education.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Manuscript Submission Deadline 1 February 2027

Topic Editors:

Dr. Belinda Van Der Westhuizen, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Dr. Greig Krull, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

Dr. Yakhoub Ndiaye, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal