From black screens to mediating means

Abstract

The paper reports on an empirical case study that explores innovative teaching practices in higher education, including digital, physical, and blended learning activities. The study followed the Master’s course ‘Experts in Teamwork’, where the students worked with practical assignments based on real-life challenges formulated by an external collaboration partner, which included actors from the health care department, the school management, and the ICT management in the local municipality. The students also gained experience with creative media production and worked with various digital tools and software.
 The findings show that the students experienced the project as motivating, highly educational and relevant to working life. It seems that digital tools contributed to flexibility, particularly for interactivity with the external partners and for group work. Both for students and the teachers the use of screens and software like Zoom and Teams opened for new ways of thinking about collaboration and provided an extended learning space and increased learning potential. However, screens also imply limitations, for example in terms of communication noise, possible passive forms of participation or even withdrawal from some of the students. Moreover, practices that include digital, physical and hybrid learning activities are highly complex, which require that the activities are particularly well planned and thoughtfully organized. The learning situation is therefore characterized by increased demands and expectations - for both students, teachers, and the institutions.