Describing digital technologies as tool, tutor, environment or resource in pedagogical contexts is common, and this paper examines the metaphorical nature of these descriptions and their implications for digitally-based teaching and learning practices. To compare the metaphors, the paper first develops a model of pedagogy derived from Activity Theory. It explores the implications of these metaphors in practical situations by examining a set of 60 digitally-based activities, collected as part of a snapshot survey of a representative sample of maintained schools in England, to draw out their pedagogical characteristics. In conclusion the paper discusses the issues raised by the analysis for the relationship between use of digital technologies and learners' attainments, and the efficacy of the model that has been developed.