Abstract
This paper conceptualizes artificial intelligence (AI) as an ethical, collaborative partner in teaching and learning, rather than a tool that diminishes either teacher expertise or student agency. Informed by multiliteracies theory, participatory culture, and critical digital pedagogy, the study explores, through student artefacts and narratives, how 40 pre-service English teachers at a university in Johannesburg engage with emerging digital pedagogies through the creation of multimodal video artefacts. Drawing on two curriculum tasks—an instructional video designed to teach an aspect of the English curriculum, and a multimodal identity video, the research analyses how novice teachers negotiate pedagogical, technical, and reflective demands while learning in and through digital technologies. Findings reveal persistent tensions between conventional pedagogical forms and innovative practices, as some students reproduced teacher-centred approaches even within multimodal environments, while others used digital composition to articulate nuanced identities shaped by language, culture, gender, and community. The study reveals how students drew on everyday digital literacies, yet grappled with institutional expectations around technical quality, clarity of communication, and reflective depth. Overall, the project demonstrates how designing with digital media—and imagining AI as a human-centered, co-creative agent—can shift the balance of agency in the English classroom. It foregrounds the potential of multimodality and participatory digital practices to foster inclusive, identity-affirming pedagogies and to prepare teachers for ubiquitous, lifelong, and lifewide learning in a rapidly changing educational landscape.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Human-Centered AI Transformations
KEYWORDS
Digital pedagogies, Human-centred, Identity, Narratives, Digital artefacts
