In this paper, we explore academic identity, specifically the identity of the educator in higher education and academics’ conceptualisations of the digital educator. We suggest that the concept of a digital educator is not only about technology, tools and uses. The context for this exploration is academics’ participation in an online professional development module, Digital Education, and the “pivot online” (Weller, 2020a) during campus closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Through qualitative research, we explored participants’ sense of teaching identity, whether they had or have a concept of being a digital educator and the extent to which these identities might have shifted while the campus closure continued. We present analysis of their accounts and reflect on the implications of this analysis, particularly in relation to organisational digital capacity defined as “the skills, competencies, attitudes, infrastructure, and resources that enable people to work, live and learn in a world that is increasingly digital world” (National Forum, 2018, p. iv). We consider how higher education institutions will cope with the complex challenges facing us and suggest ways in which the implications of this research could better enable institutions to navigate change and build organisational digital capacity.Implications for practice or policy:The pivot to online teaching and assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic has had complex effects on professional identities which need to be researched and understood.Programme teams in campus-based institutions have experienced erosion of professional norms and relationships. They need support and leadership during the gradual return to campus.Faculty integrated technologies rapidly but unevenly into practice; therefore, the ongoing building of digital capacity and the shift towards post-digital pedagogies needs dedicated support and leadership.

中文翻译：

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在 COVID-19 期间探索数字教育者的概念

在本文中，我们探讨了学术身份，特别是高等教育中教育者的身份以及学术界对数字教育者的概念化。我们建议，数字教育者的概念不仅仅与技术、工具和用途有关。这种探索的背景是学者在 2020 年因 COVID-19 大流行导致校园关闭期间参与在线专业发展模块、数字教育和“在线枢轴”（Weller，2020a）。通过定性研究，我们探索了参与者' 教学身份感，他们是否拥有或拥有成为数字教育者的概念，以及在校园继续关闭时这些身份可能发生的变化程度。我们对他们的账户进行分析并反思这一分析的含义，尤其是与组织数字能力有关，该能力被定义为“使人们能够在日益数字化的世界中工作、生活和学习的技能、能力、态度、基础设施和资源”（国家论坛，2018 年，第 iv 页）。我们考虑高等教育机构将如何应对我们面临的复杂挑战，并提出如何使这项研究的影响能够更好地使机构能够驾驭变革并建立组织的数字能力。对实践或政策的影响：转向在线教学和评估在 COVID-19 大流行期间，对需要研究和理解的专业身份产生了复杂的影响。校园机构的项目团队经历了专业规范和关系的侵蚀。在逐步返回校园期间，他们需要支持和领导。教师将技术快速但不均衡地融入实践；因此，持续的数字能力建设和向后数字教学法的转变需要专门的支持和领导。