Social interaktion vid ofrivillig distansundervisning. : En kvalitativ studie om betydelsen av social interaktion för hur studenter erfar sin utbildning.

Sammanfattning: As a result of covid-19 restrictions universities were encouraged to conduct their education remotely. Because of this remote education students could not live the social life they had expected to do during their education. The purpose of our study is to examine the importance of social interactions for the students' learning/academic success during remote education as well as if it was related to any challenges. Furthermore, we intend to compare how the social interactions differ from remote education to the current university-based education. The study was conducted through a qualitative approach with interviews being conducted with students who began their education when it was remote during covid-19. The collected material has been analyzed using Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, social integration and the educational contract. The results show that the students had a lack of social interactions during the remote education. This has also led to a lack of knowledge acquisition for the student when the education was held remotely. The results further show that the student had struggles with the ability to concentrate and motivation during the remote education as well as experiencing difficulties asking for help. In conclusion the results show that the social interaction during university-based education differs significantly from remote education. When the education switched back to being university-based the students got to know each other, which contributed to a better social interaction.