Relational Needs in Higher Education

Beskrivning

This is a work-in-progress study on digital relational competence in higher education (HIE) teachers. The background of the study is the development of hybrid and online education at a university in Finland and how the university can support teachers in their professional development. The research question pertains to university teachers' experiences in creating and maintaining positive teacher-student relationships (TSR) in distance or hybrid teaching. The aim is to identify teacher relational needs concerning digital relational competence (DRC) based on experienced HIE teachers' work with online or hybrid teaching and learning to create more caring and efficient learning processes to support student learning and teacher efficacy. The study departs from three aspects of relational competence in teachers: a) communicative competence, i.e. the teacher's ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally to achieve resonance between the student and the teacher, b) differentiation competence, i.e. the teacher's ability to regulate distance and closeness with the
student, c) socio-emotional competence, i.e. the teacher's ability to regulate emotions concerning the student. Relational competence can be challenging in distance-learning environments as there is often a lack of nonverbal clues to navigate and manage teaching, learning and social relations. The interviews will utilize sensitivity, responsivity and psychological safety, anticipative designs and orchestration within entangled pedagogy. Semi-structured interviews will be carried out during the spring of 2023 with approximately ten higher education teachers with experience of teaching multiple online or hybrid courses. The interviews will be structured around the operationalization of teachers' relational competence and how teachers are strategically anticipative, sensitive and responsive in their teaching online. Qualitative content analysis will be carried out to find themes related to the higher education teachers' strategies for managing relational aspects in a digital environment.

Period	17 juni 2023
Evenemangstitel	Relation-Centered Education Network conference, June 15-17, 2023: Relational systems: Multiple relationships in interaction
Typ av evenemang	Konferens
Plats	London, StorbritannienVisa på karta