In the spring of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced universities to radically change their teaching approaches, and switch to on-line and hybrid teaching. Both teachers and students tried to make the best of the new situation, and the switch resulted in the rapid adoption, development and adaptation of digital teaching tools. Contrary to expectations, the majority of students studying during the pandemic successfully completed their study programme. In many newspaper articles, however, both students and teachers complained, arguing that on-line teaching is by far inferior to in-person, on-campus teaching, and several protests were organized by students demanding restitution of tuition fees. Nevertheless, the Leiden University’s digitalization strategy document presented at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year, emphasizes the positive aspects of the rapid development of digital tools, pointing out the successes and stressing the need to integrate these tools in ‘blended’ and hybrid teaching. Blended and hybrid teaching are presented as crucial in promoting teaching innovation, as well as more flexible study approaches allowing students to develop their own tailor-made study programmes. While the strategy document focuses on the positive aspects of digital teaching tools, no systematic study has been conducted on how both students and staff experience(d) the use of these tools, what the impact of the tools was and is on teaching and study loads, and what staff and students expect from using these tools in the future. This internship, offered by the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology focuses on finding answers to these questions, focusing specifically on the Faculty of Social Sciences.

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