The tempo and presence of university students’ learning across schoolscapes

Abstract Although the term schoolscapes often alludes to physical spaces, contemporary schoolscapes not only exist physically but also virtually, requiring students to navigate through different spatialities and temporalities. In this study, we interviewed six Information and Software Engineering university students to explore how tempo and presence converge with learning experiences within physical and virtual schoolscapes. Using thematic analysis, two themes were identified: I) synchronous learning in designated learning spaces, and II) asynchronous learning in non-designated learning spaces. Presence was the principal concept, which was divided into social presence, co-presence, cognitive presence, emotional presence, teaching presence, and place presence, and captured students’ learning experiences across schoolscapes. Results showed that the tempo of Information and Software Engineering university students’ learning was based on how each category of presence and learning mode (synchronous/asynchronous) related to their learning needs or preferences.