Innovative Educational Technologies in Education amid Digital Transformation and Societal Change: A Socio-Pedagogical Alignment Framework

Abstract

Thesis. Innovative educational technologies should be interpreted as socio-pedagogical instruments whose educational value is determined not by technological novelty itself, but by their alignment with the criteria of pedagogical relevance, inclusive access, learner agency, support capacity and ethical governance. Concept. The article employs a conceptual review and analytical synthesis of scholarship on digital transformation, Education 4.0 and Education 5.0, technology-enhanced learning, digital inclusion, teacher competence, learner agency and educational data ethics. This synthesis underpins a framework for evaluating technology use amid societal change. Results and conclusions. The proposed Socio-Pedagogical Alignment Framework integrates macro-level societal and policy conditions, meso-level institutional and pedagogical conditions, and micro-level learner-centred conditions. Across these levels, five evaluative criteria structure evidence-based judgement: pedagogical relevance, inclusive access, learner agency, support capacity and ethical governance. The framework distinguishes three context-sensitive decision pathways: adoption, redesign and reassessment, or deferral or rejection. The framework advances a human-centred model of educational acceptability that enables innovative technologies to be assessed as conditional educational possibilities requiring pedagogical, social, institutional and ethical justification before implementation and subsequent validation.