Space as an un/equalizer in times of technology and crisis in higher education




Jokila, Suvi; Filippou, Kalypso; Jolkkonen, Anna

PublisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis

2025

Higher Education Research and Development

44

1

193

204

0729-4360

1469-8366

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2024.2429437

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2024.2429437

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/47775935



This paper problematizes the argument that technology supports spaceless education, and analyses how space acts during remote teaching. This study examines how physical spaces can act as un/equalizer among higher education students. With interview data produced by international students studying in Finnish universities during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, our study shows that spaces play a pivotal role in shaping study experiences. When the universities’ physical spaces were closed, the introduced pedagogical practices, along with students’ socio-material realities, formed new entanglements that positioned higher education students in different, often unequal, positions.


This work was supported by Turun Yliopistosäätiö.


Last updated on 2025-18-02 at 09:03