The Potential Transformation of the Academic Profession due to Covid-19

Presentatörer: Martin Stigmar, Adrian Lundberg
Språk: Svenska
Rumsvärd: Maria Melén
Typ av session: Rundabordssamtal 45 min
Lärosäte: Malmö universitet
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Abstract

The Covid-19-situation has brought rapid change to what it means to be a university teacher. At the level of everyday work, it has changed spaces, practices and potentially also the identity of individuals who work with teaching and research in higher education. In other words, with the surprising and immediate implementation of distancing measures due to Covid-19, university teachers, as a profession, were suddenly expected to be proficient in digitalised teaching. Teachers are challenged to design teaching for a somewhat unknown setting, and are thus in need of extensive pedagogical support. Not seldomly, developments concerning an increased digitalisation of higher education environments have been met with resistance and critisim. Furthermore and based on pre-corona data material, Malmö University teachers did not seem to view distance and digitalised teaching as characteristic for successful learning environments. Despite the belief that changes in the surrounding environment are directly reflected in the academic profession, it was illustrated how essential teachers’ conceptions of teaching with technology in higher education are for the implementation for digitalised teaching and learning. Nested in the current situation dominated by what has been called emergency remote teaching and aiming at contributing to an improved understanding of the development of the academic profession, this pilot project approaches the Covid-19-situation with one overarching research question: What does this rapid transformation, or even quantum leap, into digitalised higher education mean for university teachers’ sense of professional identity and professional practice? Our research question is addressed with three empirical studies: 1. Teachers’ and students’ narratives 2. Questionnaires from teachers and students 3. Q methodology in a pre/post-corona research design