Browsing by Author "Vähämäki, Reeta"

Goals: Due to the Covid-19 situation, Finnish schools moved to distant education in spring of 2020. Interaction is a particularly important element in learning. Studies had shown that it affects the whole experience of learning for students and teachers. The quality of interaction also determines results and attitudes towards future learning. Distant learning has mainly been studied with adults and higher education. These studies showed that good interaction is an especially important element in distant learning. This could be formed through safe on-line environment and well-planned lessons. The purpose of this study is to find out how have students in Finnish schools experienced distant learning in the spring of 2020. Method. There were eight different interviews made for this thesis. There were nine different interviewees altogether in ages between 13-18 during the spring of 2020. Interviews were conducted in the winter of 2021, almost a year after the quarantine. The interviewees were given choises to take the interviews individually, in pairs or groups. They had also an opportunity to choose the interview face to face or with distant connection. About half of the interviews were made via distant connection and all but one individually. The analysis was made using content analysis. Results. The overall impression of the distant learning in quarantine time of 2020 was mainly negative. The results show that experiences of presence and interaction had diminished during distant learning. The interviewees experienced participation and asking during lessons mentally harder than in normal lesson. The learning environments on-line were found to feel unsafe and that was one of the main reason participation was diminished. Many had problems because of the lack of peers in class, and they missed normal school environments and habits, like recess. Positive results were that distant learning tended to be calmer, and it contained less hustle. There is a possibility to create more interaction and participation in distant education classes by thorough and versatile planning and making possibilities to do group work.There should be more ways to cultivate the feeling of safety in distant learning.