Discourses of digitalising university education

Critical reading of vision texts from the perspectives of learning and expertise

Authors

• Leena Isosomppi University of Jyväskylä Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius
• Minna Maunula Jyväskylän yliopisto, Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius
• Minna Maunumäki University of Jyväskylä, open university

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.117105

Keywords:

digitalisation, university education, critical discourse analysis, higher education policy, neo-pedagogy

Abstract

Our research focuses on the discourses that orient higher education pedagogy and the representations in these discourses of knowledge, learning, expertise and the roles of teachers and students in the digitalising university. The research material includes 1) the key documents of the “Higher Education and Research for the 2030s” vision work published in 2017-2019 as a result of the vision work initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture, 2) the Digivisio project application (2020) jointly prepared by the Finnish higher education institutions, and 3) the national policy of the higher education and research community on open access to learning materials (2020) regarding the digitalisation of education. In addition to locating and describing the discourses, the aim of the study is to make visible how they define the conditions for university pedagogical development, based on critical discourse analysis. We identified the following discourses in the data: platform economy, government, information system, technological ubiquity, service design and scientific community. The technological-economic discourses and the discourse of government together construct a national vision of a "learning ecosystem" that is successful in educational competition. The meanings of learning and expertise are reduced to the measurable knowledge capital of the individual, while the roles of the teacher and the student are defined by economic and technological logics. The discourses of the visionary texts narrow down the examination of pedagogical starting points, in line with neo-pedagogy, reducing them to efforts to enhance teaching and learning activities and the use of digital tools. As these discourses become stronger, they also impose techno-economic language on the discourse of pedagogy. The development of sustainable education requires strong university pedagogical research and a pedagogy based on digitalisation, as well as a multi-voiced debate based on the arguments of university pedagogical research.