”Jag kan inte säga att jag lärde mig något nytt… ”

Abstract

Earlier research show that students during the Covid-19 pandemic were greatly affected by the subsequent implementation of distance education in upper-secondary school throughout Sweden. This study aims to explore students’ experiences of distance education, specifically related to the subject of Visual Art. Six students from two different upper-secondary schools in Sweden with a Visual Arts-program were interviewed. The aim of this qualitative study is to answer the following questions: How do upper-secondary students experience that their motivation was affected by distance education in the Visual Art subject? How do upper-secondary students experience that their ability to learn practical techniques and gain knowledge of materials in the art subject was affected by the distance education? How do upper-secondary students enrolled at a Visal Art-program experience distance education generally? The study uses the phenomenological empirical phenomenological psychological method (the EPP-method, as described by Aspers, 2009) and relates its result to the sociocultural perspective theory of learning and Motivation (as described by Gärdenfors, 2010, and Richard & Deci, 2020). The results indicate that distance education in the Visual Art-subject hindered learning of practical techniques, which partly seems to be a result of delayed feedback and communication. Students also experienced isolation and a lack of social interaction with their peers, which greatly affected both the ability to learn new techniques and the motivation to the Fine Art-subject itself. Students’ reports of positive aspects of distance education mainly include autonomy regarding their own time and schedule.