As a French teacher at a university in Sweden, I’m faced with some interesting challenges when it comes to using digital tools in teaching, not least because the courses are open to everyone, of all ages, and I often have classes in which the ages range from 18 to 78 (my oldest student).

In my day-to-day work at Lunds University, we are using more and more digital tools, whether in on-campus courses or in distance learning courses (which are an increasingly important part of our teaching). There are a lot of challenges between mastering these tools (interactive platform like the one we use, Canvas, but also zoom, power Point presentation, etc.), which requires full training for us teachers- which we don’t always have access to – and spending a lot of time just using them, and the way in which students grasp them.

Even though Sweden has long been ahead (compared for instance to France where I come from) in terms of technology (mobile phones and computers were part of Swedish daily life when I arrived in Sweden in the 90s, whereas they were almost non-existent in France, especially telephones), and students of all ages are used to these tools, using them can still be complex for teachers and students alike.

The digital development can sometimes go a little too fast, with engineers creating tools that are very, or even too, powerful. And we teachers can sometimes only use a small percentage of these tools (due to lack of time, lack of training, some reluctance sometimes due to the lack of digital capabilities, or the fear of just not be able to use them properly), while students expect us to master them. What’s more, many students today work more often with their phone or a tablet than with a computer, which makes the teacher’s job even harder.

What’s more, we use these tools directly during lessons, for exercises or online texts (to avoid making photocopies), which inevitably creates downtime to explain to some people how to access the right pages or click on the right link. Not to mention the distraction that a computer and its content can cause during a class.

In short, the digital world is changing at breakneck speed, and we teachers have to work hard to keep up. That’s why this course is so interesting!