This study identified barriers and enablers of a university-wide pedagogic shift to Active Blended Learning (ABL). ABL is an approach to learning and teaching that promotes student centredness through teaching in small groups, with a focus on sense-making activities and interactions in and outside the physical or virtual learning space. Data gathered through a survey of academic staff, followed by in-depth interviews, were analysed using thematic analysis. The normalisation and effective embedding of digital technology and small group teaching were two major enablers of pedagogic transformation to ABL. Inconsistent teaching practices and the lack of student engagement with learning activities emerged as two of the main barriers. An in-depth understanding of effective, student-focused higher education teaching is a cornerstone of large-scale pedagogic change processes. Recommendations are put forward for higher education institutions considering changes to their learning and teaching strategies.
The field of socio-educational services is focused on the value of relationships, proximity, support and intervention on site, at home or in users’ facilities, and all those elements are difficult to convert digitally. Nevertheless, during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, smart working also became part of the everyday life of social educators. This study discusses the role of technology in the work of the educator during the pandemic period and possible future developments. The study offers an insight into the influence of Covid-19 on socio-educational services, focusing on the function of technology both in maintaining contact with the users where the service was suspended and in reshaping the assistance that continued to be provided. The research study highlights that, despite the challenges and the initial disorientation faced by educators, digital technologies can constitute important working tools to assure the continuity of the pedagogical relationship also in the socio-educational and care contexts.
