Before Technology; A Trust-Centred Postdigital Framework for Human–AI Pedagogy in Higher Education

The accelerating integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and immersive technologies into higher education has intensified longstanding questions concerning the relationship between pedagogy, technology, and human values. This paper illuminates how meaningful digital transformation is achieved through through a deliberate orientation towards what both precedes and exceeds technology: trust, human relationships, epistemic integrity, and authentic engagement. Positioned within the postdigital perspective (Fawns, 2019, 2022), education is conceptualised here as an entangled ecology of social and technological practices, rather than a domain driven by technological determinism. Responding to the emergence and ongoing complexity of agentic AI systems capable of autonomous decision-making, adaptive support, and generative knowledge production the paper examines the implications for authorship, learner and educator agency, assessment validity, and the evolving role of the educator. To address these challenges, the paper proposes a Trust-Centred Postdigital Pedagogy (TCPDP) framework, a values-led model for human–AI collaboration grounded in six interdependent dimensions: trust, relational engagement, knowledge co-creation, playfulness, active participation, and an ethic of care. The framework is situated within the HumAInology perspective on human–AI–ethics entanglement (Ó Murchú, 2024a) and extended through adopting experiential, ontological and relational AI as a lens [ZD1] for understanding agentic AI in learning ecosystems. It is developed through a practice-based, design-informed approach drawing on the implementation of XR-enhanced learning environments within higher education curricula aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The paper concludes with critical provocations for the sector concerning the operationalisation of trust, the validity of assessment when learning is co-produced with intelligent systems, and the sustenance of curiosity, creativity, and joy in an era increasingly shaped by agentic technologies. [ZD1]add foundations of STS here?