Covid-19 and Higher Education : A qualitative study of teachers and students experiences of digital teaching and examination.

• The Covid-19 pandemic prompted sudden and far-reaching changes in higher education all over the world. In Sweden, teachers and students in universities across the country reorganized their teaching and learning practices into distance education and remote learning more or less overnight.  This study analyses teachers’ and students’ experiences of distance learning and examination that the Covid-19 pandemic led to in higher education. We base our analysis on 50 interviews with students, teachers and other staff at different programs at Uppsala University in Sweden. We found that both teachers and students experienced social isolation and they actively expressed the importance of social interaction that occurs both in and outside the classroom. Teachers and students also agreed that digital solutions used during the pandemic could complement ordinary campus-based educational practices in the future. Yet, the pandemic caused striking differences within the university. While some programs strongly resisted changes of their ‘normal’ educational practices, other programs were able to transition to digital education and examination with relative ease. Initially teachers in the medical programs discussed the option of pausing the program all-together due to the pandemic because it seemed impossible to shift towards distance learning as digital solutions were practically non-existent. Later on, the medical teachers put more effort into safeguarding their traditional educational practices by arranging mandatory examinations and laboratory work for the students in the university building despite the pandemic. The teacher program, on the other hand, shifted towards distance learning and examination without much reluctance and had comparatively few problems due to previous experiences within distance learning. However, there was a continued effort to retain and maintain the practical aspects of their education such as work-study courses at schools (VFU). Teachers in Business studies were compelled to invest a lot of time to create new digital solutions, such as pre-recorded lectures, in order to make their education more efficient and accessible. The humanities were quite well-prepared for the shift to digital learning and examinations during the pandemic. Yet, humanities teachers were strong proponents for maintaining and protecting social interactions that occur during in-class teaching as they underlined the importance of education as Bildung. These different responses to the pandemic can be interpreted as being shaped by each programs’ specific educational traditions concerning teaching, content and examinations as well as previous digital experience. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of field (Bourdieu 1996), the different responses among the programs may also be understood as a result of their different positions and degrees of autonomy within the field of higher education. In order to understand the full effects of the pandemic on higher education, we propose the need to contextualize these differences within a larger structure of power relations that govern distinct educational strategies.  

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Utbildningssociologi

Sociology of Education

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