Kristin Anabel Eggeling & Carolin Rapp
Abstract
Online by default: Teaching in times of COVID-19 – a new normal?
The 2020-2023 strategy plan of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Copenhagen outlines the aim of an increased digitalization of the teaching in all degree programs. The aim is to strengthen the competences of online teaching of both students and teachers. The COVID-19 crisis accelerated this process by demanding the implementation of online teaching within weeks, if not days. We are at a critical juncture concerning the future of the implementation of online teaching. We ask if the crisis encouraged or discouraged the change towards more online teaching both among teachers and students; how are teachers and students coping with this rapid transition; and which techniques and technologies are most promising for different teaching scenarios? Exploring these questions, we aim to provide the first set of answers to the Dean of the Faculty’s ‘Dekanen’s Dagbog’ where he reflected on March 13, 2020: “Jeg håber, at vi får nogle erfaringer, som giver en langt bedre ide om, hvordan vi bedst kan bruge e-læring, når SAMF åbner fysisk igen. For selvfølgelig kan mødet på Absalon ikke erstatte mødet i seminarrummet eller auditoriet, eller i studenterforeninger og studentercafeer, for den sags skyld. Men dette kunne jo være, at vi også blev bedre til at se værdien i de møder og få læring ud af det, hvis vi kunne supplere med e-læring.” Our results are based on feedback from students at the Department of Political Science (DPS) as well as lecturers at the Faculty of Social Sciences. The findings suggest that we are facing more discouragement than encouragement for the further integration of online teaching. However, some also see positive aspects in the integration of online teaching tools such as the possibility to re-visit content or hearing a larger number of (courseexternal) voices.