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M1 – Unit 4: Sharing and Sustaining Digital Practice

UNIT PROGRESS

  • Reflecting briefly on what worked (and what didn’t)
  • How small peer sharing boosts motivation and spreads curiosity
  • Optional templates or formats to create a short “what I tried” note or video

Overview:

Digital experimentation becomes most effective when it is not only initiated, but also sustained and shared. While trying a tool once can spark curiosity, meaningful change happens when new practices are reinforced over time and embedded into everyday routines. This unit explores how self-nudging can continue to support your digital development beyond the initial trial—and how simple strategies for sharing can encourage collective learning, boost motivation, and help normalise experimentation within your peer community.

You do not need to become a digital champion overnight. Instead, you can use self-nudging to sustain momentum, deepen your practice, and contribute to a wider culture of openness and innovation in education.

Why Sustaining Practice Can Be Challenging:

Many educators begin digital experimentation with interest and intention, but struggle to maintain it over time. Common reasons include:

  • Returning to familiar habits when workloads increase
  • Losing track of progress or not recognising small wins
  • Feeling isolated or unsure how to share experiences meaningfully

These are common, and they point to the importance of follow-through strategies that are realistic, motivating, and adaptable.

Using Nudges to Reinforce Progress:

Nudging is a behaviour-shaping strategy that relies on subtle cues to make certain actions more likely—without requiring force, pressure, or large amounts of motivation. In this context, self-nudging supports you in continuing your digital experimentation by shaping your environment, routine, and mindset in ways that gently guide you toward the actions you already want to take.

Rather than relying on willpower alone, self-nudges make progress easier to repeat and harder to forget.

Here is how nudging works in sustaining digital practice:

  • Increasing visibility: Nudges can keep your digital goals present in your environment. For example, placing your progress tracker on your desk or setting your browser homepage to your chosen tool makes it easier to remember what you are working on. These visible cues reduce the mental effort needed to “start again.”
  • Embedding habits: Nudges can be linked to routines you already follow, such as weekly lesson planning, student feedback sessions, or end-of-day check-ins. Attaching digital experimentation to an existing habit increases the chance you will repeat it consistently.
  • Prompting reflection and follow-up: A well-placed prompt—like a weekly calendar reminder or a “What did I try this week?” sticky note—can nudge you to review your experience and build on it. This supports a learning mindset and helps you adjust based on what you observe.
  • Strengthening motivation: Nudges can also take the form of encouraging messages or checklists that mark progress. For example, noting small successes (“Created my first interactive quiz” or “Tried a new tool in one class”) affirms that you are making headway. This positive reinforcement increases your willingness to continue.
  • Encouraging sharing: Finally, nudges can help you become more intentional about sharing your experience. This might be a recurring prompt to post a quick takeaway in a team chat, or adding a line to your planner such as, “What can I share this week?” These nudges normalise sharing as part of your workflow, rather than an extra task.

In essence, self-nudging helps transform digital experimentation from something occasional or effortful into something regular and self-sustaining. You are not just trying a tool—you are designing your own environment to support continued growth.

The Value of Sharing Your Practice:

Sharing your digital teaching experiences—however small or unfinished they may feel—serves as both a professional contribution and a behavioural reinforcement. When you talk about what you have tried, reflect on what worked, or openly mention a tool you are exploring, you reinforce your own learning and signal that experimentation is part of effective practice.

There are several reasons why sharing matters:

  • It reinforces your own progress. When you share what you are working on, you become more aware of your growth. Even small summaries such as “I used Padlet to gather ideas” or “I added a short video to my materials” help make achievements more concrete.
  • It supports peer learning. Others may benefit from hearing real, honest examples—not polished case studies or expert tutorials, but practical, relatable stories from fellow educators. These shared experiences often feel more accessible and credible.
  • It contributes to a culture of openness. When experimentation is shared, it becomes visible. This helps shift workplace norms—from silent individual struggles to a shared ethos of trying, learning, and adapting together.

In this way, sharing can act as a social nudge. When one person shares their progress, it signals that change is happening—and others are more likely to engage in similar behaviour. This is a well-documented psychological principle known as conformity bias, where individuals are more inclined to act when they see others doing the same. Used positively, this means that your small act of sharing can spark wider interest, reduce hesitation in others, and increase the collective confidence of your teaching team or community.

You do not need to present yourself as an expert. Instead, frame your sharing as a contribution to collective learning—something as simple as “Here’s one thing I tried this week” can make a meaningful impact.

Nudging can support this process by embedding small prompts into your routine, such as:

  • Adding a “share one insight” checkbox to your planner
  • Starting a staff meeting with a “digital moment”
  • Posting monthly reflections to a shared team document

In doing so, you help shape not only your own digital teaching journey, but the wider culture of learning around you.

Next Steps:

As you complete this module, take a moment to consider how you will sustain your digital experimentation over time. Which nudges have worked best for you? What habits are beginning to form? And how might you continue sharing your progress in a way that encourages others? Moving forward, the goal is not to adopt every tool, but to remain open, purposeful, and reflective in your digital practice. By combining small, intentional nudges with ongoing peer engagement, you can help build a culture of curiosity, confidence, and collaboration within your teaching community.

In Module 2, you will explore practical strategies to deepen your digital skills and extend your use of self-nudging to build confidence, consistency, and creativity in your teaching.

Suggested Activity: “What I Tried and What I’ll Try Next”:

This activity supports you in consolidating your learning, recognising your progress, and sharing your experience with others in a simple, non-pressured way. It also introduces a forward-looking element, encouraging you to build on what you have done using a self-nudge.

Step 1: Capture What You Tried
Complete the following short prompts (you may use a provided template, write in your notebook, or post online):

  • One digital tool I explored:
  • The teaching goal it supported:
  • What I did with it (brief description):
  • What worked well:
  • One thing I would do differently next time:

Step 2: Plan a Next Step
Now, identify one action you can take to continue this work. Examples:

  • Try the same tool in a different context (e.g. another course or group)
  • Explore a new feature of the same platform
  • Pair your digital practice with a recurring planning habit
  • Share your insight with a colleague or teaching group
  • Write one simple intention:
    “Next, I will…”

Step 3: Create a Nudge
Design a personal nudge to help you follow through on this intention. Some ideas:

  • Add a reminder to your calendar or task manager
  • Place a sticky note where you plan lessons
  • Use a weekly checklist with a line for digital experimentation
  • Pin your next tool or idea as a visible tab or desktop shortcut

Optional Step 4: Share Publicly
If you are comfortable, post your “What I Tried and What I’ll Try Next” summary to a shared teaching space, internal forum, or peer network. This helps normalise digital experimentation and may inspire others to begin or continue their own journey.

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