Part 1 of 4 in the “Reclaiming Agency in a Postdigital Age” Blog Series
What does it mean to be a learner in a world where your classroom is a browser tab, your study partner is a chatbot, and your learning path is curated by algorithms you’ll never meet?
We are living through a profound shift in education—one marked not just by digital technologies, but by what scholars increasingly call the postdigital condition (Jandrić et al., 2018). In this world, digital and analog are inseparably entangled (Jandrić & Knox, 2022). Learning happens across platforms, devices, physical spaces, and social networks, mediated by AI recommendation engines, institutional learning management systems, and the opaque logics of platform capitalism (Knox, 2019; Williamson, 2017).
But amidst this complexity, one question rises to the surface: Where—and how—does learner agency emerge now?
—
What Is Postdigital Learner Agency?
Learner agency has long been a cornerstone of modern education. At its simplest, it means learners have voice, choice, and influence over their learning (Bandura, 2006; Code, 2020). But in today’s hybrid and algorithmically mediated environments, agency is no longer just about motivation or autonomy. It’s about negotiation—with systems, interfaces, data models, and sociotechnical norms that shape what’s possible (Code, 2025; Edwards, 2005; Pyysiäinen, 2021).
Postdigital learner agency calls attention to the situated, shifting, and relational ways in which agency is enacted. It recognizes that learners:
- Navigate environments that are neither fully online nor offline (Siles et al., 2024)
- Interact with algorithms that personalize, predict, and sometimes preclude (Dogruel, 2021; Eubanks, 2018)
- Perform identities shaped by surveillance, metrics, and modulated visibility (Thomas, 2025)
—
Why This Matters Now
The post-pandemic acceleration of hybrid and digital learning has made questions of agency more urgent—and more complicated (Raes et al., 2020; Lamb & Carvalho, 2024). Generative AI is now part of everyday learning practice (Bozkurt, 2023). Institutions lean into data dashboards, automated assessments, and AI tutors (Dogruel, 2021). Even “self-directed learning” is increasingly scaffolded (or constrained) by embedded nudges and data-driven insights (Bhatt, 2023; Schmidt et al., 2024).
In the midst of these developments, we must ask:
- How do learners assert control over their own learning?
- How do educational systems support or stifle that agency?
- And how do we centre equity, justice, and lived experience in these conversations (Freire, 1970)?
—
A New Book—and a Community of Inquiry
This blog series is part of an emerging project: an edited volume titled Postdigital Learner Agency: Navigating Hybrid and Algorithmically Mediated Education (Springer, Postdigital Science and Education series). This volume brings together scholars, educators, designers, and students to examine how agency is being reimagined—and contested—in our current educational landscape.
Over the next three posts, we’ll explore:
- The power dynamics of platforms and AI in learning (Part 2)
- Plural and global perspectives on agency (Part 3)
- And finally, I will share our vision for the book and call for chapter proposals (Part 4)
We invite you to follow along, share your thoughts, and consider contributing.
Because in the postdigital age, reclaiming learner agency isn’t just a pedagogical goal—it’s a political and ethical imperative.
References
Bandura, A. (2006). Toward a psychology of human agency. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(2), 164–180. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00011.x
Bhatt, I. (2023). Postdigital literacies. In P. Jandrić (Ed.), Encyclopedia of postdigital science and education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35469-4_15-2
Bozkurt, A. (2023). Postdigital artificial intelligence. In P. Jandrić (Ed.), Encyclopedia of postdigital science and education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35469-4_2-1
Code, J. The Entangled Learner: Critical Agency for the Postdigital Era. Postdigit Sci Educ(2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-025-00544-1
Dogruel, L. (2021). What is algorithm literacy? In M. Taddicken & C. Schumann (Eds.), Algorithms and communication (pp. 67–93). Social Science Open Access Repository. https://doi.org/10.48541/DCR.V9.3
Edwards, A. (2005). Relational agency: Learning to be a resourceful practitioner. International Journal of Educational Research, 43(3), 168–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2006.06.010
Eubanks, V. (2018). Automating inequality. St. Martin’s Press.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum.
Jandrić, P., et al. (2018). Postdigital science and education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(10), 893–899. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1454000
Jandrić, P., & Knox, J. (2022). The postdigital turn. Policy Futures in Education, 20(7), 780–795. https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103211062713
Knox, J. (2019). What does the ‘postdigital’ mean for education? Postdigital Science and Education, 1(2), 357–370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-019-00045-y
Lamb, J., & Carvalho, L. (2024). Postdigital learning spaces. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59691-9
Pyysiäinen, J. (2021). Sociocultural affordances and enactment of agency. Theory & Psychology, 31(4), 491–512. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354321989431
Raes, A., et al. (2020). Synchronous hybrid learning. Learning Environments Research, 23(3), 269–290. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-019-09303-z
Schmidt, M., et al. (2024). Entangled eclecticism. Educational Technology Research and Development, 72(3), 1483–1505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-024-10353-1
Siles, I., et al. (2024). Fluid agency in relation to algorithms. Convergence, 30(3), 1025–1040. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231174586