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"The Necessary Good": Digital literacy for the next generation

31 Jul 2025

Professor Johnathan Harrington, Assistant Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature, Academy of Language and Culture, equips students with digital literacy through his Virtual Storytelling course. Professor Johnathan Harrington, Assistant Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature, Academy of Language and Culture, equips students with digital literacy through his Virtual Storytelling course.
Professor Johnathan Harrington, Assistant Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature, Academy of Language and Culture, equips students with digital literacy through his Virtual Storytelling course.

 

When Professor Johnathan Harrington, Assistant Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature, Academy of Language and Culture, last spoke to Discover HKBU, he shared the perks of integrating board game elements into his Virtual Storytelling course. One year later and teaching the course for the fourth time, he has raised the bar again by incorporating coding skills into the curriculum. The Professor’s innovative teaching approach has recently earned him the President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Early Career Teaching.

“Students in the humanities must have some degree of digital literacy,” says Professor Harrington. While he initially met with some resistance from students, most of them eventually came to embrace and enjoy learning this new technology. And for those who may not have the opportunity to experience Professor Harrington’s innovative storytelling course firsthand, he explained how he uses TWINE as a simple yet robust artificial intelligence (AI) tool for crafting “interactive and non-linear” stories.  “Students are pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to learn these tools. With a quick search, students can find the answers they need and start creating,” he notes, highlighting the well-documented library that TWINE offers.

Elevating storytelling with technology

The Virtual Storytelling course exemplifies a transformative trend in the humanities: the necessity of leveraging technology to craft engaging narratives. Central to Professor Harrington’s pedagogy is his encouragement for students to step outside their comfort zones and embrace new learning experiences.

“One thing I think I do well is introducing students to something they may have been resistant to at the start, like learning to code. By introducing students to user-friendly tools, they have a new avenue to enjoy things such as poetry writing or storytelling with ease, without having to over-worry about what it would mean for their grades,” Professor Harrington explains, illustrating how digital tools can spark students’ enthusiasm to learn. He also allows AI usage in his class, while providing students ethical guidelines, so that they will not fall prey to inappropriate uses. By putting the “digital” into “digital humanities” and cultivating a tech-savvy atmosphere in class, he aims to equip students with skills that not only foster innovation, but also ready them for tech-forward employability upon graduation.

Pursuing an English degree offers a diverse range of opportunities beyond traditional teaching roles, and Professor Harrington encourages his students to stay open to different career options. He cites examples of students who went into marketing or web development after learning HTML coding.

Charting a non-linear journey into academia

Professor Harrington’s own story entering academia was equally “non-linear”, but it was no less fulfilling. After completing his PhD in Creative Media in Hong Kong in 2020, he went back to Malta and worked in a board game company. In 2023, he returned to Hong Kong and joined HKBU’s Department of English Language and Literature. “I didn’t think that I had to be an academic, but I was open to different possibilities,” he says. With the support of the Department, he put his creative vibes to good use and incorporated his board game research experience into his teaching. 

On what he enjoys most about his work, Professor Harrington expresses a deep sense of vocation in being able to offer students “a trove of knowledge”, and making a direct, positive impact on their educational or even personal journeys. He describes the joy of witnessing his students’ personal evolution as “seeing something spark up!” and to this day, his students continue to inspire him, reaffirming his commitment to education. “These shifts in mindset are not always noticeable, but when you see students transition from hesitation to integrating what they’ve learned into their way of thinking, it is incredibly rewarding,” he reflects. 

Levelling up literature with gaming

In the upcoming academic year, Professor Harrington will offer a course that has not been taught before, a special topic in English Literature with a focus on games. “My teaching philosophy accepts the ever-present role of technology in our lives. Adapting to a more digital approach has helped strengthen my connection with my students and made teaching more fun for me as well, so that I can keep my energy level high as I go into class week after week!”