Subtopic Deep Dive
Postdigital Education
Research Guide
What is Postdigital Education?
Postdigital education examines the seamless integration of digital and physical elements in learning environments after digital technologies become ubiquitous and normalized.
The field emerged prominently around 2018 with foundational works like Jandrić et al. (2018, 758 citations) introducing postdigital concepts in education. It gained traction during Covid-19, evidenced by Rapanta et al. (2020, 1983 citations) analyzing online teaching shifts. Over 10 key papers from 2018-2022 in Postdigital Science and Education journal address hybrid pedagogies and societal impacts.
Why It Matters
Postdigital education frameworks guide hybrid teaching post-Covid-19, as Rapanta et al. (2020) show with teacher presence refocusing in online settings (1983 citations). Teräs et al. (2020) critique edtech solutionism, influencing policy against overhyped digital fixes (570 citations). Knox (2019) provides critical perspectives on digital-physical blurs, shaping research on equitable pedagogies (316 citations). Fawns (2022) advances entangled pedagogy, impacting design of inclusive learning spaces (230 citations).
Key Research Challenges
Blurring Digital-Physical Boundaries
Postdigital education struggles to define pedagogies beyond digital-physical dichotomies. Fawns (2018, 312 citations) and Fawns (2022, 230 citations) highlight entangled practices but lack unified frameworks. Researchers need methods to operationalize hybridity in diverse contexts.
Edtech Solutionism Post-Pandemic
Covid-19 accelerated edtech adoption, fostering uncritical 'solutionism' as critiqued by Teräs et al. (2020, 570 citations). Balancing technology hype with pedagogical needs remains unresolved. Knox (2019, 316 citations) urges critical analysis of digital implications.
Teacher Presence in Hybrid Modes
Maintaining teacher presence in online-postdigital shifts poses ongoing issues, per Rapanta et al. (2020, 1983 citations) and Rapanta et al. (2021, 470 citations). Long-term visions for 'new normal' pedagogies require empirical validation. Cultural variations complicate global application.
Essential Papers
Online University Teaching During and After the Covid-19 Crisis: Refocusing Teacher Presence and Learning Activity
Chrysi Rapanta, Luca Botturi, Peter Goodyear et al. · 2020 · Postdigital Science and Education · 2.0K citations
The Covid-19 pandemic has raised significant challenges for the higher education community worldwide. A particular challenge has been the urgent and unexpected request for previously face-to-face u...
Postdigital science and education
Petar Jandrić, Jeremy Knox, Tina Besley et al. · 2018 · Educational Philosophy and Theory · 758 citations
trans-, and postdisciplines between them (Berry and Dieter, 2015). Through this research, the term postdigital is slowly entering academic discourse.
Post-Covid-19 Education and Education Technology ‘Solutionism’: a Seller’s Market
Marko Teräs, Juha Suoranta, Hanna Teräs et al. · 2020 · Postdigital Science and Education · 570 citations
Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing that followed have affected all walks of society, also education. In order to keep education running, educational institutions have had to q...
Education in and After Covid-19: Immediate Responses and Long-Term Visions
Xudong Zhu, Jing Liu · 2020 · Postdigital Science and Education · 525 citations
Balancing Technology, Pedagogy and the New Normal: Post-pandemic Challenges for Higher Education
Chrysi Rapanta, Luca Botturi, Peter Goodyear et al. · 2021 · Postdigital Science and Education · 470 citations
Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity for rethinking assumptions about education in general and higher education in particular. In the light of the general crisis the pandemic...
What Does the ‘Postdigital’ Mean for Education? Three Critical Perspectives on the Digital, with Implications for Educational Research and Practice
Jeremy Knox · 2019 · Postdigital Science and Education · 316 citations
Postdigital Education in Design and Practice
Tim Fawns · 2018 · Postdigital Science and Education · 312 citations
Reading Guide
Foundational Papers
No pre-2015 foundational papers available; start with Jandrić et al. (2018, 758 citations) for core postdigital concepts and Knox (2019, 316 citations) for critical education perspectives.
Recent Advances
Study Rapanta et al. (2021, 470 citations) for post-pandemic balances, Fawns (2022, 230 citations) for entangled pedagogy, and Teräs et al. (2020, 570 citations) for edtech critiques.
Core Methods
Core methods include critical discourse analysis (Knox 2019), empirical case studies of Covid-19 shifts (Rapanta et al. 2020), and pedagogical entanglement models (Fawns 2022).
How PapersFlow Helps You Research Postdigital Education
Discover & Search
PapersFlow's Research Agent uses searchPapers and citationGraph on 'postdigital education' to map 10+ high-cite papers like Rapanta et al. (2020, 1983 citations), then exaSearch for niche hybrids and findSimilarPapers to uncover related works by Jandrić et al. (2018).
Analyze & Verify
Analysis Agent applies readPaperContent to extract Covid-19 pedagogy shifts from Rapanta et al. (2020), verifies claims with CoVe chain-of-verification, and runs PythonAnalysis on citation trends using pandas for statistical significance (e.g., GRADE scoring of edtech critiques in Teräs et al., 2020).
Synthesize & Write
Synthesis Agent detects gaps in postdigital theory (e.g., pre-2015 voids) and flags contradictions between Knox (2019) critical views and Rapanta et al. (2021) practical balances; Writing Agent uses latexEditText, latexSyncCitations for Rapanta et al., and latexCompile for hybrid pedagogy reports, with exportMermaid for digital-physical entanglement diagrams.
Use Cases
"Analyze citation trends in postdigital education papers from 2018-2022."
Research Agent → searchPapers → Analysis Agent → runPythonAnalysis (pandas plot citations) → matplotlib trend graph output with GRADE-verified stats.
"Draft a review paper on entangled pedagogy in postdigital contexts citing Fawns."
Synthesis Agent → gap detection → Writing Agent → latexEditText + latexSyncCitations (Fawns 2022) → latexCompile → PDF with bibliography.
"Find code examples from postdigital edtech simulation papers."
Research Agent → searchPapers('postdigital simulation') → paperExtractUrls → Code Discovery → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → runnable edtech models.
Automated Workflows
Deep Research workflow conducts systematic reviews of 50+ postdigital papers via searchPapers → citationGraph → structured report on Covid-19 shifts (Rapanta et al., 2020). DeepScan applies 7-step analysis with CoVe checkpoints to verify Teräs et al. (2020) solutionism critiques. Theorizer generates hybrid pedagogy theories from Jandrić et al. (2018) and Knox (2019).
Frequently Asked Questions
What defines postdigital education?
Postdigital education studies normalized digital-physical entanglements in learning, post-saturation, as introduced by Jandrić et al. (2018, 758 citations) and expanded in Knox (2019).
What methods dominate postdigital research?
Critical theory and case studies prevail, e.g., philosophical perspectives in Jandrić et al. (2018) and empirical Covid-19 analyses in Rapanta et al. (2020, 1983 citations).
Which are key papers in postdigital education?
Top papers: Rapanta et al. (2020, 1983 citations) on teacher presence; Jandrić et al. (2018, 758 citations) on postdigital science; Teräs et al. (2020, 570 citations) on edtech solutionism.
What open problems exist?
Challenges include unified hybrid frameworks (Fawns 2022), countering solutionism (Teräs et al. 2020), and scaling teacher presence globally (Rapanta et al. 2021).
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Part of the Digital Education and Society Research Guide