“En sitter ju och pratar mer med kameror än vad en gör med människor” -En kvalitativ studie om inställning till distansundervisning och dess inverkan på social interaktion och känsla av sammanhang hos universitetsstudenter vid Örebro Universitet

Sammanfattning: During the year of 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic entailed restrictions that affected Sweden and the world in general. At the request of the Swedish Public Health Agency, Swedish universities were asked to conduct digital distance education. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the attitude to the change from traditional education to distance education among full-time students at Örebro University, can be understood in relation to factors linked to learning. The study also intends to examine whether and how the students experience that their social interaction and sense of coherence has been affected as a result of the change. The results of this qualitative study are based on qualitative interviews with full-time students at Örebro University, who have been involved in the change from traditional education to distance education. Previous research in these subject areas highlight, among other things, the prerequisites for successful distance education, as well as factors that have been found to have an impact on students’ experience of social interaction and sense of coherence. In addition to previous research, the study’s theoretical framework is based on Erving Goffman’s (2014 [1974]) dramaturgical perspective on social interaction and Aaron Antonovsky’s (2005) theory of sense of coherence.The result indicates that the students were predominantly negative about the change, mainly due to the lack of social interaction. The study also shows that the students experienced difficulties within the social interaction during distance education, in terms of impression management, maintenance of traditional norms and the separation between study time and free time. In conclusion, the study shows that the students’ sense of coherence has been affected in various degrees, depending on how they perceive that their sense of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness is met in distance education.