Towards digital pedagogies in post-conflict settings: exploring faculty integration practices in Sri Lankan higher education

Digital technologies are often framed as drivers of innovation in higher education, yet their role in peace education within post-conflict contexts remains underexamined. In settings marked by surveillance, political sensitivity and inequality, technology integration raises issues of access, agency and purpose. This study contributes to educational technology and peacebuilding scholarship by examining how faculty in Sri Lankan universities use digital tools to support reconciliation-oriented civic learning. Using a multi-sited qualitative case study across conflict-affected provinces, the research analyses interviews and documents. Thematic analysis identifies three pedagogical approaches: reflective digital practices enabling private critical engagement; virtual heritage reconciliation using mobile and visual tools to examine contested histories; and critical media literacy fostering civic agency through student-led media production. Guided by the Digital Peacebuilding Framework, findings show faculty repurpose everyday platforms to navigate infrastructural constraints and ideological control, positioning digital pedagogy as justice-oriented, context-responsive peace practice with relevance beyond Sri Lanka.