From panic to planning: extending the notion of presence to create sustainable digital learning environments

Abstract

The transition from physical learning spaces to fully digital learning environments in annus horribilis 2020 has challenged Institutions and educators in re-thinking teaching in a time of crisis. E-learning is now phasing out from the initially "Fight-or-Flight" mode in handling panic during the first lockdowns and is currently trying to cope with the pandemic from a more sustainable long-time perspective. Issues have been enlightened concerning teaching and learning on a broader scale, focusing on the need to reconsider traditional teaching practices that nowadays seem not only obsolete but often incompatible with online teaching and learning. It is crucial to give the students flexibility and several possibilities in how, when, and where they engage with their Institution, curriculum, tasks, and peers. Nevertheless, there is a need for a clear structure or framework to aid and guide the students, providing shared arenas for feedback, teamwork, peer learning and social interaction in both physical, hybrid and fully digital learning environments. Through these contact points, we can build a sense of co-presence and mutual understanding between educators and learners to remove barriers that prevent learning. The notion of "presence" has often been discussed and used as an argument in the comparison between "on campus" and online education, strengthening the position of those who deem e-learning to be less useful and less engaging, namely because of the lack of physical presence. However, Institutions and educators need to recognize the current "state of things" as a part of the new norm and a point of no return. It is a question about combining the qualities of physical "in locus" education and the potential of digital learning in a post-pandemic world. By sharing first impressions from a research project at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), this paper attempts to balance and re-direct the discussion towards extending the notion of presence and human interaction to develop sustainable digital learning environments independently of the pandemic situation.

From panic to planning: extending the notion of presence to create sustainable digital learning environments