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A situated perspective on learning implies looking at learning as a process of social interaction. Learning is linked to participation and engagement in situations and activities that make up the community of practice. The aim of this study was to explore how important students perceive interaction in the community of practice to be for their learning. We chose a qualitative approach using semistructured interviews. The informants were five interns and five third-year students. The interviews were analysed by using a phenomenographic framework. Four descriptive categories were identified: 1) feeling welcome and included; 2) having enough time and space; 3) the importance of a fellow student; and 4) the patient as my teacher. In environments in which students feel welcome and included, they are allowed to test their ability to gain and develop experience, and they become active participants of a community. As active participants, students have access to a variety of learning situations. If learning is understood as a dynamic process during which all participants develop, there will be mutual interaction between students and the professional community. When learning becomes integrated into practice and has consequences for development of the community, responsibility for the learning of others becomes important.

A quasi-experimental study tested the effect of lecture-based courses and team-based courses on students’ motivation and learning. The results show that students in general were more autonomously motivated and competent in the team-based courses, relative to the lecture-based courses, but also less amotivated and more externally regulated.

The traditional exam has a strong holding within Norwegian higher education and is very often the preferred way of assessing students. Digital technology opens up for alternatives to the traditional exam, but so far focus has predominantly been on exchanging pen and paper with personal computers within the traditional framework. Digital alternatives may come in conflict with existing law governing teaching and assessment at university, as the law was written at a time when digital technology did not exist. We present data from a workshop in which 48 individuals from 11 institutions, academics as well as administration, were asked to identify and discuss challenges related to the introduction of digital alternatives. A case study strategy was considered appropriate as this gave us the opportunity to collect information from representatives from many universities and university colleges across Norway. Lack of knowledge about alternatives to the traditional exam, and lack of knowledge as to how digital technology may be used in assessing students were the kind of challenges most often mentioned. Assessment practices may be rooted in an assessment policy, but data from a survey (29% response rate) indicate that there is little awareness concerning this issue within Norwegian higher education institutions.

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