Stockholm university

Research project Experiences of teaching and learning during the pandemic

Teachers and students at Stockholm university quickly had to adjust to online course delivery in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Despite the challenging circumstances, the spring term 2020 provided an opportunity to collect data on how both students andteachers experienced an emergency transition to online teaching.

Illustration och bild på Covid 19 virus.
FOTO: TIRAWAT SAMATTAPHAN

This project consists of several parts with the aim to understand the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis on teaching and learning. Two questionnaires - one for teachers and one for students -  was distributed to all teachers and students in June 2020 and 2021.

The findings suggest course teachers and leaders devoting particular attention to issues regarding student participation, both in the formal context of the course and informally, in connection with the course. Additionally, university management is encouraged to include time for educational development for teachers to enable purposeful and research-based teaching as well as hinder stress and fatigue among teachers.

The project also includes comparative, international studies with participation from, among others, Sydney University in Australia and Stanford University in the USA.

Project description

The project examines teachers' and students' experiences of teaching activities in the transition to online teaching in the spring of 2020, and then again a year later. The project contains several subprojects. 

The first sub-project consisted of a case study of what the transition looked like at Stockholm University and Stanford University in the USA. This is published as a chapter in the book 'Renewing Higher Education: Academic Leadership in Times of Transformation'. 

The second sub-project involved a comparison between the results from the survey sent to teachers and students in June 2020 and 2021. The survey results are published in three reports which you will find under publications. 

Another sub-project that began in 2021 is an international comparative study of how the educational context varies with the results of the survey that was sent out, as the same questions were sent out at three different universities in three continents, in Sweden, USA and Australia. 

 

In 2022, the analyzes will continue in particular with a focus on the following areas:

  • Examination methods - how have they changed and what did it mean?
  • Feedback practitioners - what do they look like and how do they differ between faculties?
  • Students with special needs experiences of teaching online.
  • Teachers' way of working through collegiality and development + institutional cultures.
  • Teaching - how is it experienced and what obstacles do you experience online? 

 

Project members

Project managers

Members

Cormac McGrath

Senior lecturer

Department of Education
Cormac McGrath

Joakim Edsjö

Professor

Department of Physics
Joakim Edsjö

Annika Käck

Universitetslektor, studierektor

Department of Special Education
AK

Helena Reierstam

Senior lecturer

Department of Education
Helena Reierstam, PhD student

Eva Edman Stålbrandt

Senior lecturer

Department of Education
Eva Edman Stålbrandt

Eva Svärdemo Åberg

Senior lecturer

Department of Education
Eva Svärdemo Åberg

Maria Öhrstedt

Senior lecturer/Director of Studies

Department of Education
Maria Öhrstedt- Foto: Sören Andersson

Cissy Ballen, Associate professor,

Auburn University, Texas, USA

Reed Curtis, Senior Lecturer

University of Borås

Professor Pauline Ross

University of Sydney, Australia

Shima Salehi, Assistant Professor

Stanford University, California, USA

Dr Vicky Tzioumis

University of Sydney, Australia

Professor Carl Weiman

Standford University, California, USA

Publications