We had to do a PowerPoint instead : Highschoolstudents’ stories about distance learning in Theatre during theCorona Pandemic 2020/2021

During the Corona Pandemic 2020/2021, upper secondary education in Sweden is periodically conducted at a distance. This narrative study aims to create knowledge about how this affects the teaching of the aesthetic program’s theater education from a student perspective; through the students' stories from distance education, we can get information about how the students experience effects on drive, interaction and learning in Theater. A socio-cultural and relational perspective permeates the essay and the ten informants' stories are linked to governing documents, previous research in theater didactics, didactic design and digitization, digital tools in drama and theater teaching and reports from authorities on the impact of distance education on teaching and learning. The result is presented in two parts, a chronological and a thematic story. The analysis shows that students generally have difficulties related to motivation and creativity during periods of digital education. Students in need of special support are particularly affected when they don’t receive the help they need to establish routines and get started with their tasks. The interaction between students and between students and teachers has weakened significantly as the students work alone at home and this affects both their well-being and mental state. Group development stagnates or regresses when the students don’t have joint theater projects and do not meet in real life. However, there are individual differences; students with social anxiety have been helped by the distance education and many students believe that they have, after all, learned what they should, because they have implemented the planned elements in some form. A discussion about online theater teaching, development of didactic digital tools, loss of knowledge and the students' social situation during distance education ends the essay