”Opinnot ikään kuin leijuvat olohuoneessamme”

Etäopiskelijan arki oppimisen ja kehityksen ympäristönä ja neuvottelun paikkana

• Maria Peltola Oulun yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6952-0379
• Teemu Suorsa Oulun yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5639-1149
• Jussi Silvonen Itä-Suomen yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6915-1518

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33336/aik.122021

Abstract

The article explores the everyday life of an adult distance student in the context of continuous and multi-modal learning. The conditions of everyday life, including its participation and meaning structures, form the actual learning environment for distance learners. Development and learning mean changing the entire human–environment system, which reorganizes itself through everyday negotiations. The negotiations refer to agency and are part of the agent’s relationship to the surrounding conditions, possibilities for action and limitations. Agency has two sides: maintaining prevailing conditions and changing them. The research material consists of 39 university students’ descriptions of their everyday life in the home learning environment. In the research process and analysis, we utilized the subject-scientific understanding of everyday life and participation. An adult studying remotely negotiated in relation to 1) overlapping participations, 2) changes in nature of transitions, and 3) the paradox between flexibility and available opportunities. In addition, we identified four ways to relate to the available opportunities: 1) balancing, 2) floating, 3) paralyzing and 4) redefining.