This paper reports on an ongoing project that explores how critical aspects of technology in teaching are backgrounded in teacher training programmes, meanwhile effective ways of using technology are foregrounded. The paper draws on findings from two participatory design workshops with groups of Danish academics and academic developers.
In the project, the concepts of foreground and background are employed as verbs, where something is actively foregrounded, while other issues are pushed to the background. Whereas the project is a work-in-progress that will be completed by the end of 2023, the results of the workshops already provide valuable insight into a range of micro, meso, and macro level issues affecting higher education staff’s use of digital technologies.

Following a brief presentation of the project, we open the floor for a discussion of possible and alternative ways to address the hidden and backgrounded issues of digital technologies in teacher training.