Digital technologies as epistemic tools for teacher inquiry

Abstract

This article examines the role of digital technologies as epistemic tools that support teacher inquiry, reflective practice, and professional identity formation. It understands teacher inquiry as a broad field of practitioner-led classroom research, within which action research is one prominent but not exclusive example. The article argues that digital tools enable teachers to move beyond the use of technology for instructional delivery and towards the systematic investigation of teaching and learning. It discusses how video recordings, digital artefacts, learning analytics, decision-support applications, social media, online platforms, and collaborative digital spaces can help teachers collect, analyse, share, and interpret classroom-based evidence. Particular attention is given to how these tools can support iterative cycles of reflection, action, observation, and pedagogical refinement, while also making teacher inquiry more collaborative, visible, and professionally sustained. The article further considers how technology-mediated professional learning can strengthen teacher agency by supporting evidence-informed decision-making and practitioner-led investigation. It concludes that digital technologies should be embedded within human-centred, ethically grounded, and teacher-led inquiry processes so that they affirm teachers as legitimate knowledge producers rather than reinforcing technocentric models of professional development.