TEACHER PERSPECTIVES ON HIGHER EDUCATION THROUGH REMOTE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Towards acceptance of multi-access blended learning designs.

Abstract

Skill shortages are a major challenge in Swedish society. Higher Education (HE) is crucial in developing multi-access blended learning designs to support lifelong learning and re-education, particularly in underserved regions.

This thesis explores decentralized approaches to delivering student centered HE in Sweden, focusing on synchronous learning activities in remote learning settings. This is relatively new to traditional campus universities and lacks sufficient re-search, especially from the faculty´s point of view. The study investigates three dis-ciplines: medical education, engineering preparatory year, and pre-school/primary school teacher programs.

Through semi-structured interviews and literature reviews, this thesis examines the adoption of blended learning designs using the theoretical frameworks Community of Inquiry (CoI) and Technology-Mediated Learning (TML) theory. The phronetic approach is used to analyze the power relations on extrinsic (policymakers, stake-holders, and students) and intrinsic (including pedagogical digital competence) lev-els.

The teacher perspectives on HE through RLE:s provide this study with a pragmatic view of teaching. The teachers acknowledge the format as being different from their previous learning settings and see the potential for improvement to gain a broader acceptance within a sometimes reluctant faculty. The themes present in the interviews include concerns about equality; limitations in the mediation of non-verbal communication and visual distance; pedagogical digital competence and the ability to talk about technology and the need for collaborative competence development.

The benefits of this development outweigh the drawbacks, emphasizing the importance of exploring different communication methods and modalities in blended learning designs.

The thesis suggests further research on the spatial aspects of RLE:s.