In this synoptic paper, the authors describe how the transformative potential of semantic web and linked web of data technologies for educational systems has been identified, but highlight the fact that there are few accounts of the pedagogical applications of these same technologies. The papers in this special issue provide accounts of these technologies in use in teaching, learning and curriculum development in higher education. Several of the papers suggest that these new web technologies have important roles to play in changing pedagogical practices in higher education settings in which teachers and students are seen as designers of their own learning technologies and as producers of new knowledge. The authors argue that the theorisation, development and adoption of Semantic Web and linked data technologies would be well served by a 'turn to practice' and a focus not on learning technologies in higher education but on the meaning-making practices, discourses and controversies around technologies in higher education.