Sanna Eronen leads the support and development of teaching

The centre's 18-person staff act as partners in the support and development of teaching for individual teachers, teaching teams, and degree programmes. OPE strengthens university pedagogical expertise and collaborates closely with the university pedagogical team in the Faculty of Education and Psychology.

The centre supports staff involved in teaching in the technical and pedagogical aspects of teaching planning, implementation, and development, both online and on campus.

A new initiative is pedagogical support related to curriculum work, for which workshops and consultations on generic skills are one concrete example. An important collaboration network is digipedamentors composed of experts from the faculties.

"Excellent development efforts of the University of Oulu attracted me to apply for this job. The role seemed so interesting and fitting that I just had to apply," Eronen says.

Sanna Eronen comes to the University of Oulu from Vaasa, where she spent the last three years as the education director for the university of applied sciences and built a new unit for teaching and learning services. Before that, she worked at the University of Vaasa as a coach in digital teaching and learning and as a pedagogue in a joint learning centre of five higher education institutions.

Throughout her career, she has trained numerous university teachers in digital and pedagogical skills and created support structures and roles for the support and development of teaching and pedagogical well-being for higher education institutions.

"Collegiality and sharing expertise are essential in the development of teaching and also in curriculum work. Teaching is not an individual sport, nor should it be in the university."

Eronen is a qualified English teacher from the University of Jyväskylä, but development tasks took hold of her. She also worked in Jyväskylä for a long time, including in the field of online teaching since the early 2000s.

Developing teaching for students

What challenges university teachers the most?

"Time," answers Eronen without hesitation. Among the many tasks of university staff, it can be difficult to find time to develop one's own teaching and learn new things.

"Often, however, it is enough to at least stop for a moment to reflect on one's own teaching. Even small changes can significantly improve student experience. These insights often arise in encounters with other teaching staff. At OPE, we want to provide opportunities for this across faculty and unit boundaries."

The needs for teaching support are diverse, ranging from pondering the malfunctioning of systems to scripting an entire course. The OPE centre has two excellent studios in Linnanmaa, where studio professionals take care of the entire technical process of recording online material.

At universities, teaching can easily be overshadowed by research, but Eronen is optimistic that teaching is valued in Oulu.

"One indication of this is the university pedagogical programme approved this spring, the implementation of which our centre coordinates. The university is also planning a career path for teaching-focused positions. There is a desire to invest in guidance expertise and to develop university pedagogical education and its impact. Through Noste project, many development initiatives are being carried out in faculties and services. Pedagogical leadership is also being strengthened by supporting degree programme directors in their work. In December, we will organise the first celebration of teaching called Northern Pedagogy."

Teachers are currently discussing, among other things, the impact of artificial intelligence on teaching and learning. Another current theme is learning analytics.

"In Moodle, you can activate progress tracking and use data to identify students who need stronger guidance during the course. Nowadays, learning can be broken down, and guiding feedback is provided during the course."

"Our centre exists for the students, and we aim to think of the student first. We fulfil this mission by supporting teachers and developing teaching. A pedagogically well-being teacher meets students and brings security and well-being to the teaching environment."

Remote and nearby

Online teaching came to universities with a bang, at the latest during the corona pandemic. Students' preferences are still very divided on whether they want to study on campus or as flexibly remotely as possible.

"Fortunately, good teaching is good both on campus and online. Good online teaching is clear, coherent, and supportive of learning. It can be designed to be interactive or completed independently."

Eronen herself currently works partly on campus and partly remotely from Vaasa. Her family, including three school-aged children, still lives there. On the day of the interview, she is wearing silver earrings with the letters MOM on them.

"On Oulu days, my kids and I reach each other daily by phone, and a mother is still a mother even when she is away. I believe that the responsibility of parenting can be well shared."

Between the children's hobbies, Eronen herself enjoys activities such as jogging and exercise, especially in forest nature.

"I am an enthusiastic chamber choir singer. There was a high-quality choir in Vaasa, and at the moment I am looking for a new hobby and getting to know the city. The salmon soup at the market hall, Nallikari, and just getting to know the jogging trails in good company keep the everyday life balanced in Oulu as well. I still need to get a bike. I like it here."