Post- COVID-19 Pandemic Education: The Student Perspective

Abstract

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.

From black screens to mediating means

“…The phenomenon of 'black screens' (cf. Vold et al, 2021) were merely relevant in small parts of the present study, while more meaningful uses of digital tools emerged as important. I found that it seems like when digital tools have a well-defined role in the learning environment, while allowing for some student flexibility, digital forms of communicating and media production tools can have a significantly positive impact on student motivation, on the 'flow' of activities and, and ultimately on the final product.…”

“…The way EiT was organized both during and after the pandemic, seems to have overcome some of the challenges of 'black screens' (cf. Vold et al, 2021) and the concern about making the students passive. Rather, it is more relevant to employ the concept of digital tools or mediating means (cf.…”

“…In line with current research (cf. Svihus, 2023;Vold et al, 2021), the students express that the student-active activities were more fruitful than what they associate with more traditional teaching forms, like for example lengthy lectures, which were experienced as rather unsuitable for digital platforms. In this project, there was, apart from an introductory lecture on the first digital day, quite few lectures.…”

“…Studies reporting on teaching in higher education during the pandemic suggest that many students experienced that traditional methods were common and many students experienced the most used teaching methods as relatively unsuitable for digital platforms (Rapanta et al, 2021). Also, 'black screens' became a phenomenon (Svihus, 2023;Vold et al, 2021), referring to the problem of students logging into the digital teaching, remaining invisible or passive to both the teacher and fellow students. However, quite a lot of students report that they had some courses with new and innovative activities, which were well designed for using digital tools and platforms in meaningful ways, and further: quite a lot of teachers in higher education used and learned new methods and developed innovative practices (Gudmundsdottir & Hathaway, 2020;Rapanta et al, 2021).…”

Facilitating Lifelong Learning for Mature Part-time Students: Findings from South Africa and Norway

“…The successful delivery of online education is also contingent on educators' motivation and competence with digital platforms. During the pandemic, many teachers reported feeling demotivated by the impersonal nature of digital interactions (Han and Yin, 2016;Vold and Ranglund, 2019;Vold, Lervik, and Holen, 2021). Consequently, the role of educators' motivation in online education delivery warrants further investigation.…”