Students learn best when they are active and engaged. Even when we combine asynchronous and synchronous communication, it is challenging to get the optimal levels of engagement and communication. A number of different ways of creating communication and interactivity have been tested out including mandatory on-campus seminars, small size groups of students, video conferencing with chat and teaching in real time. This paper presents a holistic approach to increase communication and engagement in online teaching by using the blended learning concept. The paper presents three different types of network models that combine synchronous and asynchronous communication. The methodological approach is mainly qualitative. The empirical data is mainly interviews and observations. The respondents are lectures who are teaching online. The theory this research rests on is theory on communication and relevant theory about online teaching. Findings and results are from Lervik's PhD work. The results show that the following conditions promote communication, dialogue and engagement in online teaching: compulsory campus meetings before starting online teaching, having small groups of students online, communicating through video conferencing with chat and teaching in true time. Blended learning will in this case be a combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication. The main findings of this research are that these lecturers conduct online education through three different network models. These three web network models vary with the aim of facilitating the flexibility of online students that combine work and study. A critical factor is to conduct on-campus seminars at the start of the education as this enables the teacher and students to get to know each other and develop the trust required to have the required involvement, engagement and communication. A high level of involvement and engagement will increase the learning outcome from the subsequent online teaching. The blend of learning opportunities provides the students with different approaches that can support different learning styles.

Terror actions and catastrophes are frequently described in media. As more and more countries experience terror actions and natural disasters, there has been a greater focus on learning how to handle and to manage them. In Norway on the 22 To use games to support the hands on training can thus provide the learners with valuable know how, and support their learning outcome. The learning from this will be beneficial to the organizations they work in as they will have an experience that will aid them in the work on planning for and preparing for crisis in their own organizations.

Koronapandemien aktualiserte undervisning i digitale laeringsmiljø og førte til en bratt laeringskurve for undervisere i høyere utdanning. Studiens formål var å få kunnskap om hvordan undervisere opplevde undervisning i digitale laeringsmiljø for store studentkull under pandemien. Det er utført to gruppeintervju med erfarne undervisere. Hovedfunnene er at underviserne opplever «svarte skjermer» og mangel på respons hos studentene i digitale laeringsmiljø. Dette påvirker dem negativt. De blir slitne og demotiverte og tappes for energi. De opplever at arbeidet mister kvalitet, og at de blir kjedeligere og mindre frie. På den positive siden er det høyt oppmøte, og det tekniske er lett. Gruppearbeid digitalt oppleves også enklere å få til enn i fysiske laeringsmiljø, men utfordringen er at mange studenter forlater gruppearbeidet. Datamaterialet avdekker motsetninger mellom undervisernes negative opplevelser og deres positive holdninger til å videreføre det. Undervisning i digitale laeringsmiljø ser ut til å kunne føre til en behagelig avstand og dermed en risiko for resignasjon for både studenter og undervisere. Det kan dermed vaere mer krevende enn undervisning i fysiske miljø. Undersøkelsen ble gjort da dette var ganske nytt. Forventninger om hvordan undervisning skal vaere, er dermed preget av tradisjonell undervisning i fysiske laeringsmiljø. Erfaringene kan se annerledes ut på sikt.

Abstract-Preparing for crisis and incidents have gained an increased focus, also within the educational system. At The Inland University of Applied Sciences, Campus Rena, in Norway, a Bachelor study is developed to cater for the increased need for educating staff not only in municipalities, but also in private organizations. Regulations and governmental instructions have also created a void between staff that can and know how to handle crisis and staff that need to know how to handle crisis. In addition, the preparedness issue, in order to avoid crisis, has received a lot of attention. The study has until recently been a mix of ordinary classroom education and exercises, both live and table top exercises, both which is costly and time consuming both in planning and execution. Two years ago, some faculty staff and a small group of students started to look into using games for educational purposes. Some of the games were free ware and downloadable from the internet, another game was developed by Bohemia Interactive Simulations (https://bisimulations.com/). Combining using MeTracker (http://www.concordeproject.eu/index.php/results/developments/the-training-tools/1-metracker) for organizing the work during a training process, and the developed game, this has proved to be a powerful tool for learning about how to be prepared for and handle crisis. Even if the initial costs for development and licenses have been somewhat substantial, the tools will provide the students with a unique possibility of simulating crisis in a higher volume than what is possible using live exercises. So far, the faculty staff has developed the scenarios for the students to play. The change from this is now to use a game based environment to play scenarios developed by the students themselves. The students that have tested this is in the third year of their study and the preliminary feedback from the students on this approach has been positive. The paper presents the results from interviews and observations, looking to establish how this approach has supported an enhanced learning outcome. Preliminary results provide support to the ideas of using the students own backgrounds and starting the reflection processes earlier (than in "ordinary" exercises). Also letting the students be actors in their own scenario can contribute towards the learning outcome. This combination of utilizing a game based and computer-based environment, with a physical play sphere, in combination with a prior session with scenario development, can prove to be the next step in utilizing game based learning. The paper also present a theoretical reasoning for utilizing games, and discuss how developing scenarios support reflection processes that will in turn enhance learning outcomes from a course. Kolb's experiential learning cycle in its original form provide valuable clues towards the processes that needs to be considered, and Donald Schön's works regarding the "reflective practitioner" contributes to enhance the understanding of how the learning process and how we as f...

The COVID-19 pandemic can be considered to be a long-term crisis and the outcome of such a crisis is depending on the decisions made during the crisis. As a Higher Education Institution, we are now at a crossroad regarding how to utilize experiences learned during the pandemic. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were only a few online study programmes at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Rena, Norway. During the pandemic, all of the education provided was online.  There are now discussions amongst faculty staff regarding a return to the "ordinary" physical lectures or to embark on a hybrid way of educating students. However, equally important is what the students' perceptions of hybrid versus physical lectures are. We have therefor, through qualitative interviews, investigated what would suit the students’ needs. We have asked the students if they prefer digital teaching, physical teaching or a hybrid which combines both digital and physical teaching. In this paper we present the results from these investigations. The students feedback indicated clearly that they prefer physical teaching, but also that they would like to have access to digital recordings and lectures. We believe that his feedback is an important input to the further discussions on the New Normal in Higher Education Institutions.