About
Digital technology, Bildung and pedagogical practice
I am an Associate Professor of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, where I work at the intersection of digital technology, Bildung and pedagogical practice.
My doctoral thesis, Digital Bildung in Early Childhood Education (2014), examined how young children make meaning through the production of multimodal media, and how such work can contribute to their digital Bildung. That question has stayed with me, and has since expanded across the educational lifespan: from kindergarten to school, teacher education and higher education.
A recurring theme in my work is that digital competence is rarely developed by individuals attending courses. It develops collectively, within professional communities, in organisations that have committed to something and sustained it over several years. This is why my research and my development work belong together rather than running in parallel.
Research interests
- Professional digital competence. How teachers, teacher educators and school leaders develop digital competence collectively, and what organisational conditions make it last.
- Bildung and digital technology. Digital technology as a question of formation rather than of tools, drawing on Klafki's concept of categorial Bildung.
- Aesthetic learning processes. Multimodality, sensory knowing and creative work as routes into learning, in early childhood education and in schools.
- Generative AI in education. What AI does to knowledge production, assessment practices and the epistemic infrastructure of classrooms.
- Educational leadership. The role of leaders in building sustained professional learning communities.
Current projects
Five ongoing strands of research
Directorate for Education · I lead work package 4
DIGIT
Digitalisation, learning and assessment in primary and secondary education, with five work packages and sixteen researchers from NTNU, the University of Stavanger and SINTEF. My work package examines subject learning and assessment at grades 5–13, in Norwegian, mathematics, English and social studies.
Research strand · AI-Learn
Learning with Machines
Artificial intelligence in pupils' learning processes, in instructional design and in assessment practices. Design-based research carried out with teachers and pupils in authentic classrooms.
Research Council of Norway · 2023–2027
LeadDig
School leaders' own learning in developing teachers' professional digital competence. Six schools in Orkland municipality, using Change Laboratory interventions.
Accompanying research
DigSkoleForsk
Professional digital competence, pupils' learning strategies, and the relationship between formal and informal learning situations.
Consortium
ProDiCaTE
Professional Digital Competence, Bildung and Teacher Education. A consortium of five researchers from five Norwegian institutions.
In Norwegian
Fuller descriptions on the Norwegian project pages
Digital competence is rarely developed by individuals attending courses. It develops collectively, within professional communities.
Mari-Ann Letnes · NTNU
Selected publications
Publications in English
The complete list holds 41 works from 2008 onwards, in Norwegian and English.
Arstorp, A.-T., Amdam, S. H., Nagel, I., Letnes, M.-A., & Tømte, C. E. (2026). Bildung at a crossroads: Teacher education in the age of GenAI. Teaching Education, 1–19. doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2026.2625721
Letnes, M.-A. (2025). The ICT coordinator as a mediating actor in the development of professional digital competence within a school-based activity system. European Journal of Teacher Education. doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2025.2565634
Letnes, M.-A., Rasmussen, I., Ni Bhroin, N., Indrevoll Stänicke, L., & Veelo, N. (2023). Socio-digital divides in Norwegian education: How variation in parental mediation and pedagogical approaches influenced experiences of remote schooling during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 18(3), 201–213. doi.org/10.18261/njdl.18.3.6
Letnes, M.-A., & Olaussen, I. O. (2013). Tell it with colors. In J. Reitan et al. (Eds.), Design learning for tomorrow: Design education from kindergarten to Ph.D. (Vol. 4, pp. 1298–1313). DRS CUMULUS.
International work
Completed international collaborations
European Commission JRC
KIDICOTI
Kids' Digital Lives in Covid-19 Times, coordinated by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. I led the Norwegian part of the study.
International project
NOTELEB
An international project on play, technology and Bildung in educational contexts. I led NTNU's part of the project.
Speaking and collaboration
Keynotes and long-term development work
I give keynotes and conference talks in Norway and internationally, in Norwegian and English, on generative AI in education, professional digital competence, Bildung and aesthetic learning processes.
I also work with municipalities, kindergartens, schools and teacher education institutions on long-term competence development — work anchored in the professional community rather than delivered as single training days. If any of this is relevant for your conference or organisation, please get in touch.