Spaces for interpreting digital learning

Digitisation is part of our lifeworld, so the fact that it is reaching university teaching is not surprising. Nevertheless,  there has been much discussion because  existing communication practices in teaching are being  challenged. The question is what new practices constitute a  gain and where caution is called for. This paper highlights a  weakness that is revealed in digitally organised teaching. The digitalisation of understanding the world also means a  distancing from its physicality, which began already with  the invention of writing. Things are becoming more and  more abstract without us noticing. This also applies to what  is taught, which involves an alienation that then became  more directly experienced through the loss of the presence  of the teacher. The contexts that give the world its  concreteness are lost. This has consequences for teaching  and the way teaching handles science. This paper seeks to  make the kind of alienation caused by digitisation more  concrete and to suggest ways this can be countered  without losing sight of the new possibilities that digitisation offers.