Always on Duty: The Contradictory Working Conditions of Online Tutors (original) (raw)

This paper discusses the working conditions of teachers who work in online higher and adult education. It is based on questionnaire data from Swedish Net university teachers and an analysis of online postings in a sample of online courses in Swedish adult education. Our analysis suggests that a major consequence of going online is that the anticipated collective exchange of experience is marginalised and replaced by increased individualism. Meeting the 'needs of the student' means that the teacher is always on duty in a pedagogical call centre and giving more time to individual students than to the collective. Is this phenomenon an artefact of our research methods