In a world driven by constant change and innovation, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are undergoing a rapid transformation, often driven by external factors such as emerging technologies. One of the key drivers affecting the design and development of educational delivery mechanisms in HEIs is the fast pace of educational technology development which not only impacts an institution’s technical capacity to infuse hardware and software solutions into existing learning infrastructure but also has implications for pedagogical practice, stakeholder acceptance of new technology, and HEI administrative structures. However, little is known about the implementation of contemporary educational technology in HEI environments, particularly as they relate to competing stakeholder perceptions of technology effectiveness in course delivery and knowledge acquisition. This review fills that gap by exploring the evidence and analyses of 46 empirical research studies focussing on technology implementation issues in a diverse range of institutional contexts, subject areas, technologies, and stakeholder profiles. This study found that the dynamic interplay of educational technology characteristics, stakeholder perceptions on the effectiveness of technology integration decisions, theoretical frameworks and models relevant to technology integration in pedagogical practices, and metrics to gauge post-implementation success are critical dimensions to creating viable pathways to effective educational technology implementation. To that end, this study proposes a framework to guide the development of sound implementation strategies that incorporates five dimensions: technology, stakeholder perceptions, academic discipline, success metrics, and theoretical frameworks. This study will benefit HEI decision-makers responsible for re-engineering complex course delivery systems to accommodate the infusion of new technologies and pedagogies in ways that will maximise their utility to students and faculty.

New accessible learning methods delivered through mobile mixed reality are becoming possible in education, shifting pedagogy from the use of two dimensional images and videos to facilitating learning via interactive mobile environments. This is especially important in medical and health education, where the required knowledge acquisition is typically much more experiential, self-directed, and hands-on than in many other disciplines. Presented are insights obtained from the implementation and testing of two mobile mixed reality interventions across two Australian higher education classrooms in medicine and health sciences, concentrating on student perceptions of mobile mixed reality for learning physiology and anatomy in a face-to-face medical and health science classroom and skills acquisition in airways management focusing on direct laryngoscopy with foreign body removal in a distance paramedic science classroom. This is unique because most studies focus on a single discipline, focusing on either skills or the learner experience and a single delivery modality rather than linking cross-discipline knowledge acquisition and the development of a student’s tangible skills across multimodal classrooms. Outcomes are presented from post-intervention student interviews and discipline academic observation, which highlight improvements in learner motivation and skills, but also demonstrated pedagogical challenges to overcome with mobile mixed reality learning.

There is growing evidence that the use of simulation in teaching is a key means of improving learning, skills, and outcomes, particularly for practical skills. In the health sciences, the use of high-fidelity task trainers has been shown to be ideal for reducing cognitive load and leading to enhanced learning outcomes. However, how do we make these task trainers available to students studying at a distance? To answer this question, this paper presents results from the implementation and sustained testing of a mobile mixed reality intervention in an Australian distance paramedic science classroom. The context of this mobile mixed reality simulation study, provided through a user-supplied mobile phone incorporating 3D printing, virtual reality, and augmented reality, is skills acquisition in airways management, focusing on direct laryngoscopy with foreign body removal. The intervention aims to assist distance education learners in practising skills prior to attending mandatory residential schools, building a baseline equality between those students who study face to face and those at a distance. Outcomes from the study showed statistically significant improvements in the use of the simulation across several key performance indicators in the distance learners, but also demonstrated problems to overcome in the pedagogical method.

In health sciences education, there is growing evidence that simulation improves learners’ safety, competence, and skills, especially when compared to traditional didactic methods or no simulation training. However, this approach to simulation becomes difficult when students are studying at a distance, leading to the need to develop simulations that suit this pedagogical problem and the logistics of this intervention method. This paper describes the use of a design-based research (DBR) methodology, combined with a new model for putting ‘pedagogy before technology’ when approaching these types of education problems, to develop a mixed reality education solution. This combined model is used to analyse a classroom learning problem in paramedic health sciences with respect to student evidence, assisting the educational designer to identify a solution, and subsequently develop a technology-based mixed reality simulation via a mobile phone application and three-dimensional (3D) printed tools to provide an analogue approximation for an on-campus simulation experience. The developed intervention was tested with students and refined through a repeat of the process, showing that a DBR process, supported by a model that puts ‘pedagogy before technology’, can produce over several iterations a much-improved simulation that results in a simulation that satisfies student pedagogical needs.

This editorial is in support of an issue of the Journal that has a focus on educational technology (EdTech). With this in mind, this editorial will provide advice on how the editorial team for this section feels that educational technology will evolve into the latter part of the 2020’s, especially given the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples are given of how writing in this space has changed over the years of the pandemic, with a history of EdTech given, followed by an argument for the need for technology to be used in context. This is followed by descriptions of good practice around theoretical framing, methodology rigour, inclusion of the people element, and the need for the technology to serve a purpose. The piece concludes with a summary of where the editorial team feels the field will go from here into the future. Throughout, practical examples of submissions made over the last few years are given to help illustrate a coherent direction. It is anticipated that this editorial will serve as a guide for future authors to use in service of better educational technology outputs in the future.