Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to document and analyse the author's first two years of developing a pedagogy that meaningfully incorporates the content creation and social collaboration functions of digital technologies. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses self-study methodology to describe, interpret, and challenge excerpts from the author's teaching journal to develop warranted assertions for how and why digital technologies are used in particular ways during undergraduate and graduate level courses. Findings: One finding of the paper is the relative ease with which the author slipped into a comfort zone of using digital technologies in rather superficial ways, since the major hurdle of ubiquitous access that he had previously encountered was removed due to the fact he was now teaching at a mobile-enabled institution. The paper also reports on the relative success the author experienced using blogging tools to further develop relationships with undergraduate and graduate students and engage them in meaningful discussions outside of class time. Research limitations/implications: Although this study focuses on the author's experiences as a new academic in a mobile-enabled institution, and thus might initially seem limited in applicability, the practical implications of this research are inherent in the methodology and methods used to critique is pedagogical approach and to challenge himself to find ways to integrate digital technologies into his teaching. Originality/value: The paper will be of interest to anyone who has ever struggled with questions of relevancy in the use of digital technologies in both off- and online post-secondary classroom environments.