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

Abstract

<p>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.<br></p>