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| 2. |
- Axelsson, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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The Challenge of Transdisciplinary Research : A Case Study of Learning by Evaluation for Sustainable Transport Infrastructures
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 12:17, s. 1-24
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While transdisciplinary (TD) research is desired in order to solve real world sustainability issues, this may be challenging for both academic and non-academic participants. Supporting learning through evaluation, we analyzed a project aiming at sustainable transport infrastructures. After developing a TD research framework as a benchmark, two external independent evaluators interviewed all project researchers, representatives for end-users, and donors. The evaluators compared results with the framework, and evaluators and participants critically reflected on the results together. There were three inconsistencies relative to the framework: (1) limited understanding of TD research among project management, end-users, and most of the researchers; (2) no structured learning process among end-users; instead, they expressed very diverse opinions about what they expected from the project; (3) project leaders had limited understanding of the special challenges of TD research, did not fully understand the status of the project's social system, and thus did not act as facilitators of the required collaborative learning process. Non-academic participants saw themselves as customers and not as partners in the knowledge production process. We conclude that TD problem-solving research requires much time and needs facilitation and training. A preparatory phase with a lower level of funding would be helpful in preparing for TD processes.
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| 3. |
- Pommerening, Arne
(författare)
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Staying on top in academia: A primer for (self-)mentoring young researchers in natural and life sciences
- 2021
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The pace of change in academia is ever increasing, which makes it difficult for anyone to stay up to date with what may be the right long-term strategy, or even the next step in mastering a PhD or to secure a fruitful academic career. Academic mentoring has proved to be helpful to many young researchers in difficult situations and mentoring programmes have been launched at many universities. In its most basic meaning, mentoring is a goal-oriented off-line conversation between a more experienced (mentor) and a less experienced (mentee) person with the objective to empower the mentee to make important work-related decisions. The first chapter of the book offers an introduction to academic mentoring and provides an overview of what academic mentoring entails. In the following chapters, important topics are discussed that may come up in mentoring conversations. These include scientific thinking, doctoral studies, behaviour and disappointments, scientific storytelling, teaching, scientific presentations, early career years, research cooperation, job applications and basic data management. The discussions in each of these chapters were designed with a view to provide food for thought and to invite self-reflection as well as continued discussions with peers and mentors. The book is written in a highly accessible style whilst restricting each chapter to the most essential information so that reading them can be accommodated in any busy schedule. It is not limited to any particular university or geographic region, since the author has worked in a number of different countries and encountered many different academic cultures. The text is also a useful handbook and reference to go with mentoring programmes.
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| 4. |
- Caselunghe, Elvira, et al.
(författare)
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Forskningsperspektiv på naturvägledning
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Literature study shows a lack of Swedish nature interpretation research. The Swedish Centre for Nature Interpretation (SCNI) was established in 2007 by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences. One task of SCNI is to initiate research on nature interpretation. This research overview is intended to provide a jumping-off point. The main purpose was to investigate Swedish research that contributes to development of theory and practice in nature interpretation. In addition, research from other Nordic countries as well as international research was reviewed. A literature search for Swedish scientific publications on nature interpretation, explicitly, revealed a scarcity of such research in Sweden. Of course identifying such studies depends, in part, on how “nature interpretation” and “research” are defined. There are actually a number of Swedish researchers who work with topics that are relevant to nature interpretation, and to some extent this research is also published in scientific media. However, there is a larger quantity of educational literature. Overall, the main finding of this literature search is that nature interpretation research has not been conducted in Sweden, to date. However, relevant studies were found in such areas as outdoor recreation, nature tourism, education for sustainable development, outdoor education, environmental history, museology and environmental psychology. Various key words have been used in the selected databases, since “nature interpretation” generates no scientific hits. Definitions and pedagogical principles for nature interpretation are described in the first part of the report. Then international nature interpretation research and some different occurring theories are presented. Emphasis is then put on Swedish and Nordic research that is relevant for developing nature interpretation. The main findings below include conclusions from both the international and the Swedish/Nordic research and indicate some possible directions for development of nature interpretation research, in Sweden and elsewhere. NATURE INTERPRETATION CAN BE BOTH A MEANS OR AN END IN ITSELF There is a need for scientific development of nature interpretation evaluation principles. In Sweden, but also elsewhere, a common goal for publicly financed nature interpretation is to influence people in the direction of sustainable development. Research on interpretation evaluation is needed in order to know whether various activities correspond to our expectations. Also, there is a need to question whether this goal of influencing people is transparent and democratic enough. Internationally, there are both researchers who claim that interpretation can have a positive effect on environmental attitudes and behavior, and those who claim that effective evaluation methodologies for exploring such relationships need further development. Worldwide, interpretive evaluation research has focused heavily on knowledge gain and impacts on attitudes and behaviour, but it has seldom partitioned out the role of the emotional aspects of nature experience, although interpretation instructions stress revelation and provocation for instance. The notion of “participants gaining knowledge” could be widened and include mutual and experiential learning processes. Unlike environmental education, interpretation usually is a rather time limited activity. That could also be a reason to why long term interpretation effects are difficult to evaluate. If any effects appear, it would still be difficult to distinguish what has generated them. Nature interpretation is sometimes seen as a means for fulfilling a greater objective, but in other cases it is seen as an end in itself. For instance, within outdoor recreation, nature interpretation activities could be considered an end in themselves. Whereas nature interpretation efforts within state run nature conservation could be a means for legitimating and promoting poli-tical nature conservation decisions. NATURE INTERPRETATION AS A COMMUNICATIVE ACT The literature review indicated that the number of Swedish or international publications focusing on the communicative act of nature interpretation from an interactional micro perspective seems to be limited. What is happening within and between the persons during a nature interpretation session? How does the interpretation process really occur? Is the interpreter or the participant the one who makes the interpretation for instance? What kind of learning is taking place? CRITICAL RESEARCH ON NATURE INTERPRETATION COULD DEVELOP THEORY AND PRACTICE When discussing what Swedish nature interpretation research could concentrate on, there is not only a need to discuss the topics, but also different scientific approaches that could facilitate a greater understanding. Much of the Nordic research referred in this report is carried out within a positivistic research tradition doing quantitative studies. When approaching social science there are also some publications within hermeneutic research tradition. Critical research tradition, however, is rare among the studies reviewed. Since nature interpretation is not a natural science phenomenon, but a social one, nature interpretation research based on social constructivism has an obvious importance in further development of Swedish nature interpretation research. The role of nature interpretation in society could be better understood by analyzing what discourses characterize Swedish nature interpretation practice today. What ideas of man and nature are taken for granted which could affect the content and format of nature interpretation? Nature interpretation contributes to constructing our nature experiences, something that is seldom analysed. What values and rationalities holds the Swedish nature interpretation discourses? These questions require a critical dimension of nature interpretation research. Another division to make is research that looks for improving nature interpretation practice (how to do good interpretation), versus research that looks for understanding the phenomenon of nature interpretation (research about interpretation). Both kinds are needed. EXAMPLES ON CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF NATURE INTERPRETATION Some discussions in museology are highly relevant to nature interpretation as well. A quote by Ella Johansson (2001) about open air museums illustrates several of the inherent paradoxes in interpretation that could be interesting to further investigate. “… some contrary – or maybe complementary – aspects are lasting and necessary features in a museum: authenticity versus scene, critical distance versus deep empathy, creating knowledge versus ideology, education versus Sunday pleasure.” The content and format of nature interpretation is always a mental and social product, where the involved individuals decide what phenomena and objects are paid attention to and what questions and explanations are suggested. Søren Kruse (2002) argues that “the interpreter designs the participants’ nature visits and determines thereby frames for their nature experiences”. He further writes that: “Nature interpretation is in the centre of the normative minefield of pedagogics, where one could ask oneself: With what right can the nature interpreters claim that their design of nature visits is better than the nature contact designed by the participants themselves? My point of departure is that nature interpretation is not an interpretation of nature, but a production and reproduction of socially constructed descriptions of nature and our relations with it.” THE NEED OF ADVANCING NATURE INTERPRETATION RESEARCH IN SWEDEN Advancement of Swedish research on nature interpretation is needed for several reasons. There are national prerequisites that are unique, such as the Swedish right of public access to nature. Swedish nature interpretation is not yet systematically evaluated from a scientific point of view. There are also a number of educational programmes in Swedish universities within nature guidance and nature interpretation, and connecting these educational efforts to research would strengthen their quality. However, nature interpretation is not a research discipline, but rather a topic that requires research from various perspectives. That interdisciplinary context could be treated by different branches – from public health science, to cultural studies, to forest sciences, if it is combined with communication science, pedagogics or similar fields. Environmental psychology, marketing and media sciences could also provide knowledge about behavioural impacts that nature interpretation often aims for in a general context.
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| 5. |
- Algers, Anne, 1961, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers’ perceived value, motivations for and adoption of open educational resources in animal and food sciences.
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal: Emerging Technologies in Learning. - : International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE). - 1863-0383. ; 10:2, s. 35-45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Teachers' motivations behind their view on value and adoption of open educational resources (OER) were investigated based on 101 questionnaire answers from teachers in animal welfare, animal science and food science. A factor analysis uncovered the underlying dimensions for teachers’ motives and indicated that they were complex and linked to subject area. Underlying dimensions for the motives to adopt OER were identified at three levels; individual (e.g. altruism), institutional (e.g. collaboration with peers), and societal (e.g. reaching beyond borders of the academy). The underlying dimensions for the inhibitors for adoption at individual and institutional level were challenges regarding individual competences, quality assessment and teaching practices. When using activity theory, an affinity space could be identified for teachers in animal welfare with its own norms and expectations with regards to the open educational practices. The results suggested that sharing for the benefit of others and collective collaboration with other peers were stronger incentives for teachers in the specific subject of animal welfare than it was for teachers in broader and less contested subject areas. Animal welfare teachers also had low agreement with problems such as OER being deviant to higher education and for being difficult to adapt to teaching context, and these teachers also had a higher adoption rate than other teachers. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that OER challenges the boundaries of higher education and that an affinity space can enable OER adoption.
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| 6. |
- Duveskog, Deborah
(författare)
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Farmer Field Schools as a transformative learning space in the rural African setting
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aims of this research was to understand how education in the rural African faming setting can contribute to development and well-being in a way that is empowering for the poor. The Farmer Field School (FFS) approach, provided an empirical frame for the research. By reflecting on experiences of FFS participants in East Africa, the research tried to answer how the FFS learning experience play out in the daily lives of participants and their families and the role that FFS play in assisting participants to take control over their own development and enhanced well-being. Conceptually the research was framed by constructivist line of thoughts, adult education and transformative learning theories. The research applied a mixed methods approach with a variety of qualitative and quantitative tools including participatory identification of indicators of empowerment, large scale household surveys with a total of 2000 farmers and in-depth interviews. Data analysis from the quantitative survey work indicated a relationship between farmer participation in FFS, empowerment and increased wellbeing in all three countries studied. The study thus argue for an empowerment route to well-being, triggered by group based learning. The research further indicate significant impact of FFS in terms of building the capacity of people to make choices and decisions that ultimately lead to increased uptake of agricultural innovations, access to services and markets as well as collective action. Qualitative data revealed significant social impacts of FFS in terms of changes in everyday life of participants, transformation of self-concept, change in gender roles and relations, customs and traditions, community relations and an increase in household economic development. A number of pedagogical tools applied in the FFS was found to be instrumental in facilitating transformative learning and empowerment. Major conclusions of the study are the need for investment in human capacity and the importance of an appropriate mix of technological and social advancement for development. The implications of the research are relevant within the fields of rural development, gender studies and for transformative learning and adult education theory. Further, the study contributes knowledge on how to measure empowerment in the poverty setting.
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| 9. |
- Larsson Jönsson, Helene
(författare)
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Studiebesökens pedagogiska potential i högre utbildningar : intervjubaserad studie av Lantmästarprogrammet
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Inom ramen för en fyra-veckors projektkurs genomfördes en intervjubaserad studie om studiebesökens utnyttjande på Lantmästarprogrammet vid SLU. Studiens syfte var att få en inblick i kursledares och studenters uppfattning samt deras pedagogiska tankar om studiebesök. Studien består av tre intervjuer med kursansvariga lärare samt av en gruppintervju med åtta lantmästarstudenter. Intervjumaterialet sammanställdes till ett protokoll som sedan användes för att skapa nya frågekategorier. Intervjuerna visade att det fanns variation mellan olika studiebesök både vad gäller planering, genomförande och återkoppling. De intervjuade lärarna lade stor vikt vid att skapa ett bra förhållande mellan universitet och näringsliv. Lärarna hade många kreativa idéer och hade funderat/provat på att använda studiebesöken på ett sätt så att studenterna hade möjlighet att uppnå en djupare förståelse. Studentgruppen önskade en bättre planering och tydligare mål med studiebesöken så att de kan fokusera på rätt saker när de är ute på studiebesöken. Vidare ser studenterna gärna att de har någon sorts uppgift att ta reda på eller praktiskt utföra under studiebesöken så att de kan koppla ihop teori och praktik. Intervjustudien gav en bra inblick i hur lärare och studenter på Lantmästarprogrammet upplever studiebesöken och kan användas som underlag till vidare diskussion mellan lärare och studenter så att studiebesöken kan utvecklas så att de kan bidra till att ge studenterna en djupare förståelse.
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| 10. |
- Melin, Martin
(författare)
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A roadmap towards action education - The Nextfood approach
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In an age of accelerating change, where society seeks to develop pathways towards a more sustainable future, there is increasing recognition of the need for an educational response. Future change agents must be equipped with the competences needed to deal with the complex challenges of sustainability. Education plays a key role in addressing the threats from climate change and in supporting a transition to more sustainable production and consumption of food and other bio-based products.The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, launched by the United Nations in 2005, aimed “to integrate the values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of learning to encourage changes in behaviour that allow for a more sustainable and just society for all” (UNESCO 2005). Through education for sustainable development, students must become better equipped to link societal and economic activitiesto environmental issues and be better prepared for dealing with societal challenges.In a recent declaration, the European Education Arena 2025, EU-leaders prioritised the need to build on inclusive and high-quality education as a part of the Green Deal Strategy (European Union 2020). An education characterised by transdisciplinary, learnercentered and action-oriented approaches is mentioned as an important means to foster transversal skills. These skills are not confined to a specific task within adiscipline or dependent on a narrow field of knowledge. Critical thinking, creativity, entrepreneurship and civic engagement are among the capabilities most needed in our rapidly evolving society and work life.The NextFOOD consortium was established in 2018. Its members consist of university students, academics, field professionals, farmers and other stakeholders in society. The primary consortium activities are case studies of action-oriented education, sharing of experiences and research. In 2022, the NextFOOD roadmap (Fig. 1) towards a vision of action education was developed from reviewing the outcomes of 12 educational case studies and of several workshops organised by the consortium. The workshopparticipants identified factors that have been critical for them to transform traditional educational approaches to more action-oriented learning. They discussed the challenges they have faced and the strategies they have applied to overcome them. Based on these discussions, we were able to identify which steps seemed critical for success. The purpose of the resulting roadmap is to support the transformation of educational systems in the agrifood, forestry and similar sectors towards the action-orientation that is needed to build sustainability competences among the students (learners). It is to be used by course leaders, educational managers and teaching practitioners at the high school, vocational and university levels who want to drive such a change in educationThe roadmap depicts various signposts, each representing a step towards creating the foundation for educating the next generation of professionals in agri-food and similar systems. The roadmap was presented at the final consortium meeting of NextFOOD in April 2022 and the participants gave their feedback to the final version. As a user of the roadmap, you may likely experience detours and unexpected obstacles as you proceed with the change process. The roadmap is intended as a visual metaphor. It will help you to create ownership and spur creativity, if you adjust the sequence of the steps to your own situation.The usefulness of the roadmap can be enhanced through accessing the NextFOOD Research Protocol (Lenaerts, L., et al. 2019), the NextFOOD Master Manual (Lenaerts, L., et al. 2022) and the NextFOOD Toolbox (Nicolaysen, A.M. et al. 2020). The manual and the toolbox provide different tools (“how-to instructions”) as well as theoretical inputs. The NextFOOD document on “Educational Approaches (Lieblein, G. et al. 2019) provide a further conceptual base for the NextFOOD approach to action education.
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