Long before COVID-19, educators had been making use of mobile phones as a learning tool in and beyond the classroom, using technological advances to improve teaching and learning in a global context. Although modern teachers have the skills to manage virtual learning environments and motivate students to learn from distance, educators disagreed on how to use mobile pedagogies to lead effective and sustained teaching practices in education systems. Studies show that mobile learning and mobile pedagogies are playing an important role in education, however, the effectiveness of mobile pedagogy is a major concern for educators. Technology-driven distance learning is an important tool for making education practicable and equitable. In response, the SDG goal proposed for education is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all. According to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) report, the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the global learning crisis, resulting in 147 million children missing over half of their in-person instruction in 2020–2021. Given the abrupt transition from classroom lectures to online instruction caused by COVID-19 in 2020, mobile pedagogy has influenced the norms of teaching and learning in different education systems, from primary to higher education. This study provides recommendations for the sustainable development of mobile pedagogy for future education systems in the digital age. Despite the attributes of connectivity and flexibility, mobile pedagogy only disrupted traditional teaching methods, leading to minimal changes to the education system. The findings show that mobile pedagogy is highly regional in practice and nature and features in-country software applications and social communication tools. The impact of technology on the current educational environment is discussed through an analysis of mobile pedagogy and teacher perceptions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data and the assessment was based on teacher perceptions of mobile pedagogy. A case study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with a cohort of 30 Chinese lecturers who taught English through online tutoring. It aims to investigate teaching behaviour in mobile pedagogy and examine the impact of technology on current education. This paper focuses on the use of mobile technology to assist teaching and learning in distance education.

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