Table 3 Overview of coded themes
From: Desirable and realistic futures of the university: a mixed-methods study with teachers in Denmark
Main themes and subthemes | Description | |
|---|---|---|
Maintain our mission to educate new generations (n = 15) | ||
A research-based approach to the world | Interest in critical and research-based approaches to problems in the world | |
The mission of higher education | In defence of academic practices and values. Concerns for deterioration of academia, higher education differs from schools with an applied perspective | |
Lifelong learning | Higher education offers foundational knowledge as a stepping stone for lifelong learning | |
Erosion of professional identities | Concerns for loss of a strong professional identity | |
A critical approach to technology | Interest in approaching technology such as AI from a critical perspective but without rejecting them per-se | |
Inspiring teachers, inspired students (n = 12) | ||
Student learning | Concerns about low quality student learning and engagement | |
Quality teaching | Interest in old-fashion teaching which is of high quality | |
Time | Concerns about having limited time to do quality teaching | |
Automatisation | Concerns for automatisation of teaching and learning | |
Limitation of digital technologies | Concerns about the role of digital technologies/devices and suggestion for digital degrowth | |
Arguable demands (n = 12) | ||
Corporate influence | Concerns for the influence of corporate companies | |
Financial cuts | Concerns for the government’s management of universities | |
Modules of knowledge | Concerns for modularisation of education | |
Buyers’ market | Universities are presented as offering services, and students as buyers | |
Well-being | Concerns for students and teachers’ well-being and level of stress | |
Hybrid borders (n = 6) | ||
Benefits beyond cognitive knowledge | Statements of the university as a place of identity formation and embodied encounters, beyond knowledge (with students in mind) | |
Interdisciplinarity | Interest in expansion of disciplinary practices and knowledge through the integration of other disciplines | |
Internationalisation | Statements that present the university as (becoming) a global institution | |
Diversity | Inclusion of student diversity | |
Not sitting on an academic pedestal (n = 4) | ||
An applied approach to education | In favour of presenting real-world problems to students and assessing students’ ability to apply what they have learned | |
Disruption of practice (n = 4) | ||
Digital technologies as disrupters | Statements of the ways that digital technologies and applications might disrupt existing practices | |
Revisiting core elements of teaching and learning | Statements expressing a desire for modifying core educational elements such as examination practices | |