| 1. |
- Bernhardsson, Patrik, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Personal Learning Environment For Learning After University
- 2018
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Ingår i: INTED 2018. - 9788469794807
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is becoming increasingly common for universities and schools to use some form of digital system between teachers and students. They usually use a Learning Management System (LMS). Watson [1] discusses the concept and systems used today and believes that the intentions with LMS are good but they lack valuable functions. They have most often been used to distribute instructions to students. It is a unified information that applies to all participants and is not in any way individualized or gives the individual student the unique support that may be needed for a good learning environment.Learning in the digital era requires new skills focusing on different digital artefacts [2]. Learning is also a lifelong process that not only happens in an institutional context. Learning takes place in both formal and informal contexts. Learning and work-related activities are connected today, and education needs to be shaped to support a continued process even after completion of formal learning [3].Instead of standardized one-way solutions for transferring instructions, in which is the way many LMS are used, students should during their time at the college learn tools that support learning and communication with others. By using the tools used in working life during the study time, the boundary is blurred between the school's LMS and tools commonly used in working life. [3]. Many LMS used in higher education is not used in business and the skills gained by students through LMS cannot easily be transformed into knowledge of the tools that companies use. By introducing tools that are widely used in business, students can create their own set of tools for communication, project management and information retrieval. The tools can then contribute to encouraging their own critical search of information based on which they can shape their unique knowledge and to act as an "agentic learner" [4]. The use of an LMS that students cannot use after completing studies does not give the same opportunities for continued learning as a set of ‘open tools’. They need to create a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) so that they can then continue to use same tools after completed studies. [5]Richards et al [6] describes a driven student as an "agentic learner". A self-employed individual with both pleasure and ability to learn as such can determine what needs to be learned from knowledge goals in a syllabus related to the individual's existing knowledge. In order to become such a driven student, a larger "toolbox" for learning is needed than a standardized LMS solution often offers.It is not new tools within LMS, adjustments and minor changes, which are needed. It is a whole new perspective where the focus is shifted from LMS to PLE. It is difficult to create understanding among students how tools locked in an LMS provide knowledge for an upcoming work life. A whole new set of tools is needed or what is described as a system change by Reigeluth [7]. A whole new perspective on what tools that support lifelong learning and not only university studies. Since the LMS is connected to the university the LMS is closed for external access and the student cannot access it after they leave the University.In this paper we discuss, based on a theoretical perspective, whether open cloud-based tools can form the student's PLE to replace the university's LMS.
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| 2. |
- Haj-Bolouri, Amir, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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An information systems design theory for adaptabe E-learning
- 2016
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. - 1530-1605. ; 2016-March, s. 4414-4423
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An Information Systems Design Theory is a prescriptive theory that offers theory-based principles, which can guide practitioners and scholars in the design of effective information systems and set an agenda for on-going research. This paper introduces and describes an ISDT for adaptable E-Learning. We formulate our ISDT based on two cycles of Action Design Research. The cycles were conducted in an authentic organizational setting with end-users, responsible for organizing, producing and distributing civic orientation. Based on our findings, we propose that our ISDT, together with its components, can be used to design, implement and support an information system that incorporates E-Learning, which is not explicitly constrained to the formal context of higher education. © 2016 IEEE.
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| 3. |
- Haj-Bolouri, Amir, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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CollaborGeneous : A Framework of Collaborative IT-Tools for Heterogeneous Groups of Learners
- 2015
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Ingår i: New Horizons in Design Science. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 9783319187143 - 9783319187136 ; , s. 376-380
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper, we present our designed prototype: CollaborGeneous. CollaborGeneous is a framework of collaborative IT-tools for heterogeneous groups of learners in Civic Orientation. It is designed to serve different types of activities for producing, maintaining, distributing and presenting digital learning-material within Civic Orientation. The significance of introducing our prototype is relevant for both practitioners and researchers within Design Science Research. The novelty of our artifact lies in its characteristic of use in the intersection between Civic Orientation and Information Systems, providing different groups of learner's necessary tools to collaborate and create an open digital experience of Civic Orientation.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Work integrated learning boosts students' experience of readiness for working life
- 2020
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Ingår i: INTED2020 Proceedings. - Valencia : IATED. - 9788409179398 ; , s. 4101-4105
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Self-efficacy and Self-esteem of readiness are important factors for students to succeed in an internship. These factors affect how an individual handles new situations and possible threats. By testing their theoretical knowledge in a practical context, the internship can have a positive effect on the student's experience of being successful in working life.Work integrated learning is one approach that may support students progression towards increased readiness for working life. What characterizes work readiness and how can it be achieved?The study was conducted at the bachelor's degree programs ‘Digital Media’ and ‘3D-animation and visualisation’, at University West in Sweden. During the fifth semester students have the opportunity to carry out internships in a workplace. These internships are conducted as a course at the university which also gives higher education credits. The time spent on the course is split between the workplace (80%) and the university (20%). Every fortnight the students meet with faculty staff at a seminar to discuss a given topic. The purpose of the course is to give the student the opportunity to integrate theory from the university studies with practical experience in a workplace.The students spend the majority of the time in the workplace however every second week they meet in a seminar on campus, in which they discuss their experiences in the workplace. As a preparation for the seminar, the students are given different thematic questions to reflect on. Based on all students answers, in the seminar the students reflect on similarities and differences in each others’ texts. Additionally, a supplementary summarizing question is given to the students during the seminar.Prior to the start of the course, the students make their own estimation of how ready they feel they are for working life on a scale from 1-10. After the course, the estimation is revised along the same scale. In addition to this estimation, conversations are conducted between the students, regarding readiness for working life.The study is a mixed methods approach and consists of three sets of data: five group interviews á three hours with 7-15 participants in seminars, two online surveys and 50 written reports from all together 15 students.In the paper we report on how students gradually increase their feeling of being more sure of what type of work tasks they prefer to do in the future, which skills they already have or need to develop further, and what type of workplace they want to work at related to for instance: level of creative freedom, level of collegiality, type of governance etc. These insights, we argue, are vital characteristics of students’ experience of ‘readiness for working life’. We discuss how these characteristics are important aspects of self efficacy and how they are related to the design of the course and ultimately a work integrated learning approach to teaching and learning within higher education.
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| 5. |
- Bernhardsson, Lennarth, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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An eye for an I : a framework with focus on the integration of work and learning in higher education
- 2018
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Ingår i: INTED 2018. - : IATED. - 9788469794807 ; , s. 4923-4927
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Higher education plays a new role in the society and the highly specialized labor market, and higher education institutes are expected to interact with and contribute to the surrounding society. University West in Sweden is since 2002 commissioned by the government to develop the pedagogical strategy called work-integrated learning (WIL) and WIL is the “trade mark” for the University. This means that pedagogical methods are based on WIL and that the faculty is working on further refinement and development in order to maximize the pedagogical gain offered by using the synergy between theory and practice.Work-integrated-learning activities are often implemented in a course as methods aligned to the learning outcomes regarding knowledge in the specific subject. However, another perspective is that the capacity to reflect and understand the integration of theory and practice could actually be a learning outcome in itself. From this perspective, it is vital to theoretically frame and formulate stringent learnings outcomes. To have a clear framework for this is important for curriculum design, course delivery and assessment, as well.In a self-evaluation conducted at the University, including focus groups with, both undergraduate and post graduate students, teachers, researchers and managers, a call for a framework has been expressed.In this conceptual paper, we propose a framework to support, design, delivery and assessment of work-integrated-learning progression, i.e. understanding of the integration between theory and practice. This framework is inspired by theories regarding constructive alignment [3], the SOLO taxonomy, agentic learning, SAMR-model and the RAT-model. RAT means Replacement, Amplifying and Replacement [4] while SAMR is the acronym for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition [5]. Our WIL-4U has also been inspired by SOLO taxonomy [6]In short, the framework for progression includes a progression from being descriptive regarding the observed practice, skills for comparing and evaluating practices, to be agentic in how theory and practice could be used in synergy for evolving, new theory and development of practice. Thereby, putting on eye on the “i” in WiL.Ultimately such a framework could support the progression of “WiL-understanding” through an educational program, and that students after graduation have developed readiness for “life-long-learning” and could be agentic at workplaces in the sense that practice and theory are used in synergy.
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| 6. |
- Bernhardsson, Lennarth, 1954-
(författare)
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An Eye for an I : Focus on integration in WIL
- 2022
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis describes the development and change of forms within a course with a focus on Work-Integrated Learning (WIL). For several years I have been responsible for a course and at the same time author of the syllabus for the course and seen how weak the integration is, and how it is perceived by the students, between theoretical knowledge and the practical work during an internship period. This has resulted in two interventions and processing of the syllabus and above all the methods and pedagogy used for the implementation of the course.In the beginning, the internship period contained four presentation seminars where the result was only a joint listening to the other students' stories and presentations. This resulted in a discussion and conceptual paper that focused on the importance of integration and how this can be made visible. The first change in curricula was inspired by Flipped Classroom, where students had to submit their narratives in advance in an online shared document. Prior to the seminar, it was assumed that they would then read each other's text and reflect on similarities and differences in experiences and learning in the workplace where they had their internship period. This resulted in a more reflective conversation during the seminars which can be called Peer Reflections where the conversation was always based on previous reflections and each other's thoughts.The second intervention was carried out in implementation at the same time as it was to be compared with the student's experiences of seminars in a control group that carried out a similar course structure with presentation and examining seminars. The change was inspired by a model from Australia that they call Huddles. This is a concluding seminar as a briefing of the practice. The issues that are discussed are carefully selected in collaboration with the students and have a clear anchoring in their experiences during the practice. The change, which was then implemented, after inspiration from Huddles in one group, with as before four seminars during the internship with carefully selected themes. At the same time, I was inspired by models for evaluating differences in teaching when technology is introduced, such as the SAMR model (substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition) and how this could be seen as a form of progression if technology was changed to AIL. The SOLO taxonomy was also the inspiration for describing the assignments and themes before each seminar.The research questions presented in this licentiate thesis focus on the students' experiences of how these changes contribute to a better understanding of the integration of what is taught at the university in the form of theory and the practical knowledge they learned in the internship.Qualitative data collection has taken place through observations and focus groups in both the group where changes have been implemented and in the group that conducted accounting and examining seminars. The results show that the integration in the students' understanding of theory and practice increases. They also experience a progression in their reflections and the seminars, while the students in the control group experience their seminars as scattered and they do not contribute to any knowledge development.The licentiate thesis also contributes to considering WIL as a complex concept with different areas of responsibility. The university teaches on the theoretical side, Work-Integrated Education (WIE) while on the other side of the dichotomy theory and practice where students are largely responsible for Workplace learning (WPL). Between these, several different activities can be carried out, including Huddles, which can be described as work-based learning (WBL). The university can contribute to these activities with, for example, simulations, the teaching of relevant software used by companies and organizations in the field. Workplaces can also contribute with concrete assignments in the form of various projects that the students are allowed to carry out or perhaps with guest lectures and concrete cases. Seeing WIL as an umbrella covering different forms of activities with different organizational responsibilities can make it easier to see the importance of the different activities and these can be integrated. WIL is not only WIE.In addition to the view that AIL is an umbrella concept with several different types of activities, ideas are also given on how Huddles can be introduced as a pedagogical method and how progression can be developed within Work-integrated Education and Learning with inspiration from different models.
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| 7. |
- Bernhardsson, Lennarth, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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An Intercultural University with Hubs, Nodes and Feeds
- 2011
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Ingår i: EDU Learn 2011 Proceedings. - 9788461504411 - 9788461533244 ; , s. 4755-4758
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Linköping University and University West in Sweden have during the last decades developed intercultural courses together with indigenous groups in the Nordic countries, Latin America and Africa.We have recently developed ideas about how the modern web-based tools could give the possibility to create a sustainable and mutual communication . The ideas are based on the use of technologies in the field of Web 2.0 and refer to tools such as blogs and RSS feeds and readers of such feeds.Readers can be set so that the transmitted information is displayed in the individual's own language, although it is written in another language. Similar features are also available for direct real-time translation of such blogs or other websites. Many blogs also allow, by special functions, to read and subscribe to the content of other blogs. By creating structures that link the course blogs "inwards" towards a common hub, portal information are made available in such a way that the individual participant or group courses can easily find relevant information from other participants or from the education provider. The use of such hubs also create incentives to study digital communication tools and how these can operate in different educational models with education and lifelong learning in focus.Course blogs or group blogs are created on various free sites on the web. Examples include Wordpress.com or Blogger.com. The place does not matter if there's a feed so others can subscribe. If the group wants to link information from other blogs or sites with feedback there is a need for functionality locally on the system. The aforementioned systems have such features.A study group blog provides feedback to the course blog and a group blog can also subscribe to various feeds for different categories of course blogs. The hub shares in the same way information in both directions with one or more course blogs. The hub may also include links to the various systems and also addresses for individual feeds or combined for different course groups or a common language.The implementation of a hub according to the above model of intercultural courses also provide experiences that can be used for other courses in which several courses are given to groups that are dispersed geographically and also in time. There is also an opportunity to communicate and provide material from their own or joint "learning environments". It can be seen as experiments with forms of support to the "Personal Learning Environment" and opens for use of the “Open Educational Resources ", especially such as the participants themselves find interesting and want to spread to others.
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| 8. |
- Bernhardsson, Lennarth, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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Combining pedagogical strategies and ICT support for fostering the digitalized agentic learner
- 2017
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Ingår i: INTED2017 Proceedings. - : IATED. - 9788461784912 ; , s. 1433-1441
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Higher education is facing exceptional challenges due to an increased complexity on the labour market. The work life of today is highly specialized and demands continuous education, i.e. lifelong learning. Higher education must focus on developing competencies for work life, beyond traditional theoretical knowledge [1]. To cater for these demands, higher education must adopt more application-oriented and trans-disciplinary research [2]. Moreover, colleges and universities could more systematically take responsibility for career development and adjust curricula for both traditional and non-traditional students [3]. A crucial question to address is how higher education could foster a student to become a “lifelong learner”? From a pedagogical perspective, it is of course vital to teach a student how to learn [4], aiming at achieving the skill to become a self-directed learner. Interestingly, it is argued that the qualities for being a proactive and agentic learner in higher education are the very same abilities required for effective professional practice [5]. We need to use educational strategies, e.g. work-integrated learning (WiL), as a part of the preparation of becoming an agentic learner, that permit them to successfully negotiate, engage and learn from what they are afforded, for both personal and professional outcomes [6]. Furthermore, we need to adopt important key factors that support fostering agentic learners [7]. In parallel to pedagogical strategies and key factors, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could play an important role for continuous learning [8-10]. Research shows that over the recent years, social media has been pointed out as a tool, not only for external communication, but also for informal learning within organizations [11-14]. In this paper we wish to suggest a combination where important pedagogical strategies are combined with ICT-support. Moreover, we wish to suggest a strategy for how this combination could be practiced in higher education, making the transfer to work life smoother. We acknowledge that students of today most often have good knowledge of the use of various digital tools such as Facebook, Youtube etc. This is however often constrained to the use of various platforms and tools for entertainment and social contacts. How these tools can be used for learning portfolios, both during their studies and for lifelong learning, is less known and used. We suggest that students during their education choose digital tools based on individual preferences and build a personal learning environment (PLE) [15]. The PLE should include “open tools”, such tools are available outside closed systems within organizations, in order to be useful also after graduation. The student has the possible to develop and re-use knowledge of tools and platforms to work in the new context, working life. However, the use of a PLE will not in itself do the trick. Portfolio is one of many tools to assess learning. When the digital development progressed and applications on the Internet has expanded, the portfolio characteristics can be changed to the e-portfolio [16]. We advocate that both teachers and student need support for developing pedagogical strategies that optimize the use of ICT and aims at fostering agentic learners. We suggest that an e-portfolio may constitute such a joint support. In this paper we will show that an e-portfolio and PLE can support important factors for fostering agentic learners who in an efficient way take advantage of modern ICT. In sum, we suggest an approach for fostering “digitalized agentic learners”.
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| 9. |
- Bernhardsson, Lennarth, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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Designing For An Active Learning Classroom : How Technology Makes A Difference In Higher Education
- 2019
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Ingår i: ICERI2019 Proceedings. - : IATED. - 9788409147557 ; , s. 4109-4116
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Active Learning Classroom (ALC) has been introduced in many universities designed to promote active, student-centered learning to facilitate new teaching and learning situations. However, it is well known that technology per se do not create new teaching practices. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of technology in instructional design created for an active learning classroom. We explore a case of instructional design in an ALC, within the context of a university in Sweden and students at a bachelor's degree program in informatics. An action oriented research approach was applied. Data includes; engaged classroom observations; a student survey; and teachers’ interviews. The results show that technology came to play an important role in the instructional design in terms of affecting the engagement and pace in the teaching situation. Contributions includes unpacking how the functionality of technology can affect the teaching situation in a technology intense ALC environment as well as instructional design suggestions created for a ALC and that is considered fruitful by students and teachers.
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| 10. |
- Bernhardsson, Lennarth, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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Flipped And Open Seminars As A Method For Work Integrated Learning
- 2019
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Ingår i: INTED2019 Proceedings. - Valencia : The International Academy of Technology, Education and Development. - 9788409086191 ; , s. 4458-4466
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since 2002 University West, Sweden has had a mission from the Swedish government to develop methods for work integrated learning (WIL). WIL is thus a “trademark” of the university and the university is continuously developing teaching models to enhance a synergy between theory and practice with the goal to improve education and students’ lifelong learning. A challenge in such work is a decreasing engagement among students to participate in seminars at campus, especially during periods of internship. In the study underlying this paper we therefore explore a new teaching and learning method that aims to stimulate students to come to campus and to discuss their experiences with peer students and teachers during their internship.The internship and the seminars are organized as a ‘WIL course’ in the fifth semester of the candidate program ‘Digital Media’. As part of the course the students spend four days a week in a workplace where they contribute substantially to the work at the workplace. One day a week they spend at campus to reflect, write and discuss topics related to the work and organization at the workplace e.g. organizational culture, how a work day is organized, how design work is organized, and how the workplace treats its customers. The students and teachers meet once every second week for a seminar where they discuss the above-mentioned themes. The reflections made at the seminars and the conversations are important for the learning goals at the course. However, the teachers experience a moderate interest from the students’ side to participate and the students tend to be ill prepared.To increase the value and learning for the students, a new approach for better structure and engagement has been introduced, where students in beforehand writtenly reflect on questions about their workplace in relation to the theme of the week. They write in open and shared documents so that all students before the seminare can take part of each others reflections and as such come to the seminar with a wider perspective on the particular theme. The seminar is then held at the campus where the themes are discussed and workplaces compared with help of a shared matrix where the students can place their workplace regarding level of structure, formality, creativity etc . As such the seminar has a ‘flipped’ character and the ICT tools for learning used are open and editable over time for all participants.The empirical material is based on 24 hours participant observations, 10 students’ written reflections and the course curricula. The findings show that the flipped and open approach to the seminars has made the students more engaged in reflections about their workplace, not only during the seminar at campus but also during their work at the workplace. The shared document stimulates reflections of differences between workplaces that has not been so clear before, and the matrix has helped the students to take the reflections to a higher level by reflecting over organizational culture and workplace conditions. By comparing each other’s experiences from a spectrum of different aspects/themes they get a more nuanced picture of the skills and competences needed in the workplace, and they get more strengthened in their professional role. The recurrent discussions over time during the course therefore contribute to make the students more experienced than they would had been by only having got the experience from their own workplace.
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