Difficult with education in wartime Ukraine

– The experiences from the pandemic have helped both university employees and students in Ukraine to cope with the countless trials of the war. But now many of them are very tired of the pressured situation and this major initiative has petered out, Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström explains. She is the project manager for a study on how digital technologies can be used during protracted crises, using Ukraine as an example.

THE NUMEROUS experiences gained during the Covid-19 pandemic should be used to better cope with other crises as well. This is the starting point for the project Digital resilience of Ukrainian higher education institutions in times of crises, where Ukraine serves as an example of how digital technology can be used to keep the higher education system going during the war. The first results from the survey have now been published, says Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström, Associate Professor in Communication.

– THE WAR IN Ukraine is an extraordinary situation that is affecting the entire world, economically, politically and environmentally. There are several similarities with the situation during the pandemic, but a war is, of course, something completely different: For example, the electricity can be cut off at any time, which means that the population must take care of the essentials, such as cooking, and only then do they have time for other things, such as studying. There is insufficient access to textbooks or other material, so it is important to have as much information as possible in your head. And for people who are forced to flee, a computer is not the first thing they would take with them, but rather their mobile phone.

THE PROJECT MEANS that both employees and students from 14 Ukrainian universities have been interviewed, some in 2022, and some very recently in 2023. And mobile phones in particular have proven to be the most important tool, both for teaching, communication and examination, Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström explains.

–Mobile phones are used when teaching on Zoom, Teams or Google Meet, but also for staying in touch, for example via WhatsApp or Telegram. Teaching has become both extremely student-oriented and exceptionally efficient – since you can be interrupted at any time, it is important to use every minute in the best way possible. The lecturers increasingly decide for themselves how they should teach, which often means that which happens to work at that particular moment. It might involve homework instead of classroom exams and the digital signing of documents, among other things.

SINCE IT IS DIFFICULT to know where the students are and when they will have the opportunity to study, many lecturers have started recording short lectures that can be easily shared on different platforms. Timetables and examination dates have also become increasingly flexible.

– But the uncertain supply of electricity has also meant that the lecturers have had to take several steps back. For example, instead of using digital tests, they might send Word files that the students can fill in and send back. In some instances, the students have also been forced to write their assignments by hand and then send them as photos via Messenger.

→ About the project: Digital resilience of Ukrainian higher education institutions in times of crises is a project where researchers at the Department of Applied IT, together with Ukrainian colleagues, investigated how lessons from the pandemic can be useful during war. The Project Manager is Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström, Associate Professor in Communication. Other participants include Aleksandre Asatiani, Natalia Kononova and Liudmyla Grynevych. The study includes interviews with 23 university employees and 17 students from 14 state universities in Ukraine, 11 of which are located in the eastern part of the country.

The part of the study that is from this year shows that many of them, both lecturers and students, have grown tired of the difficult situation, says Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström.

– THE LECTURERS long to return to normality and are tired of always having to learn new technology and come up with innovative ways to teach. And students, especially those who commenced their education during the pandemic and still haven't been on campus, find that their education is too goal oriented. They cannot jump out through their computer screen and give a friend a smile or a pat on the back, everything is very dreary and impersonal.

Eva Lundgren

The interviews were conducted via Zoom or MS Teams during two periods: May–October 2022 and February–May 2023. The recorded interviews comprise approximately 38 hours. Previous results are presented in the article: Use of Digital Technologies in Multiple and Extended Crises: A case of Ukrainian Higher Education.

Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström is the project manager for two more projects, funded by the Swedish Institute: Building Remote Work Capabilities in Higher Education Institutions in Ukraine and Digital Technology for Advancing Awareness and Knowledge of Human Rights in Ukrainian Military.