Educators in the Digital Era

Choosing the right digital tool, designing engaging learning activities, responding to AI, supporting different learner needs – digital transformation is creating new possibilities for teaching and learning while also reshaping educators’ everyday practice. The European Digital Education Hub’s squad on “Educators in the Digital Era – from Facilitators to Instructional Designers” brings together educators and education professionals from across Europe to explore what these changes mean in practice, which competences educators need and how they can be supported in their roles. 

The squad kicked off with the first European Digital Education Hub Summer School, held in Porto on 31 August and 1 September 2026. The one-and-a-half-day workshop brought together professional experiences, expert input and collaborative work to establish a common starting point and lay the foundations for the squad’s work over the coming months. 

Why this work is needed 

Digital technologies can open new ways for educators to engage learners, adapt learning experiences to different needs and create more interactive and inclusive learning environments. Making effective use of these opportunities, however, involves more than introducing new tools into teaching. Educators are increasingly not only facilitating learning but also designing meaningful learning experiences. In practice, instructional design can mean deciding how a learning activity should be structured, selecting and adapting digital tools for specific learning objectives, considering accessibility and different learner needs, and creating opportunities for learners to participate, collaborate and demonstrate their learning. 

Developments such as AI, blended and hybrid learning, digital well-being and digital literacy are adding further dimensions to this role. Educators need to be able to select and use digital resources, design technology-supported learning activities, foster learner engagement and inclusion, and critically assess when and how technology adds value to learning. These developments are also informing the update of the European Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DigCompEdu). 

This is not only a question for individual educators or institutions. Across Europe, education systems and professional contexts differ, but educators are facing many of the same developments and questions about how their roles are changing. Bringing together experiences from different countries and professional perspectives creates an opportunity to identify common needs, learn from different approaches and translate these insights into practical support for the wider European education community. 

How the squad works 

The squad brings together around 25 participants from different countries and professional backgrounds, including educators, teacher educators, academics and policymakers. Following the Summer School, they will continue their collaboration online from September 2026 to January 2027. 

The Summer School in Porto provided the starting point for this collaboration. Through group work, plenary exchanges and discussions based on real situations from professional practice, participants explored how educators’ roles are evolving and connected their experiences to relevant DigCompEdu competences. The exchanges considered both the opportunities created by digital technologies – including new ways of engaging learners and supporting more inclusive learning – and the questions that arise as digital practices become increasingly embedded in education. 

Several concrete questions came to the forefront: What can reasonably be expected from educators as their roles continue to evolve? Which competences will they need in increasingly digital learning environments? Will AI remain a distinct area requiring specific attention, or will it eventually become an integrated part of everyday teaching and learning? Participants also explored where professional boundaries should lie, how educators can make informed choices about technology while keeping pedagogy and learner needs at the centre, and how experiences from different educational contexts can be turned into useful support for others. These discussions helped define the key questions that the squad will keep exploring over the course of its work together. 

Areas of focus 

Building on the work initiated in Porto, the squad will focus on three interconnected areas: 

• Evolving roles and competences: examining what it means in practice for educators to act both as facilitators of learning and instructional designers and identifying the competences that can help them navigate changing digital environments. This includes making purposeful choices about digital tools and resources, designing technology-supported learning activities, supporting engagement and inclusion, and developing the critical digital literacy needed to respond to emerging technologies such as AI. 
• Professional boundaries and sustainable expectations: exploring how digital transformation is changing educators’ responsibilities and where the boundaries of their role should lie. A central question is how educators can make use of new opportunities without continually expanding what is expected of them, and what realistic and sustainable expectations should look like as technologies and educational practices evolve. 
• From experience to practice: examining how experiences, challenges and approaches from different countries, institutions and educational contexts can be captured and translated into practical resources. The aim is to move beyond discussing change in abstract terms and identify approaches that educators can relate to and adapt to their own professional settings. 

Expected results 

Over the coming months, the squad will move from identifying shared questions and exchanging experiences towards developing practical support for educators. Its work will address not only which digital competences educators may need, but also how they can navigate changing professional expectations, make informed pedagogical choices about technology and respond to developments such as AI in ways that are meaningful and sustainable. 

The squad aims to co-develop practical resources and tools that educators can use and adapt in their own contexts. The precise final format will be defined collaboratively as the work progresses. Ideas explored during the Summer School, including a possible casebook or similar practice-oriented format, will inform this process. By drawing on concrete experiences from different educational settings, the final output will aim to connect broader discussions about digital transformation with situations educators encounter in their everyday practice.