| 1. |
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Digitalization and Digital Competence in Educational Contexts : A Nordic Perspective from Policy to Practice
- 2024
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This edited collection presents a Nordic perspective on intensified discussions concerning digitalization and digital competence in the current trends of educational work. Using a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, the book compares Nordic countries' attitudes towards the digitalization of education and demonstrates the Nordic region's position as digital front-runners in a European and global context. The book provides up-to-date cases and future-oriented perspectives on digitalization and digital competence in educational work. Chapters use empirical data gained from policy documents, interviews, and questionnaires to present nuanced discussions, theoretical perspectives, and implications for the future of digitalization in education. Ultimately, this book's reach far exceeds that of its Nordic contexts and will be of use to postgraduate students, researchers, and scholars across the globe involved with digital education, teacher education, and educational policy and politics more broadly . . .
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| 2. |
- Fransson, Göran, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Adequate digital competence – a close reading of the new national strategy for digitalization of the schools in Sweden
- 2018
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Ingår i: Seminar.net. - 1504-4831. ; 14:2, s. 217-228
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, the notion of ‘adequate digital competence’, as it is used in the 2017 Swedish strategy for digitalization of the school system, is in focus. Based on a close reading of the strategy, three dimensions are formulated for discussion: time, context, and interpretation. These dimensions open a more general discussion about the content of policies regarding digital competence. The notion of striving for an ‘adequate digital competence’ for children, students, teachers, school leaders, and other school staff is loaded with a variety of possible meanings. The strategy provides guidance in some aspects, but leaves a lot to local enactment of the strategy.
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| 3. |
- Fransson, Göran, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Conditions for implementing ICT in Swedish upper secondary schools: How national strategies for implementation relate to existing local educational practices
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The implementation and use of information- and communication technology (ICT) in education are high on the educational agendas of most countries. In principle, all western countries now have a policy or strategy for ICT in K-12 schools. Although countries may have similar economic preconditions, they often implement different ICT policies in school (Austin & Hunter, 2013; Ottestad, 2010). ICT policies may also have different rationales and are often over-optimistic about ICT options (Convery, 2009; Egea, 2014; Jordan, 2011) and the use of ICT as a tool for teaching and learning in education (Hammond, 2014). Most research on ICT policies seems to focus on issues such as policy rationale or how policy is implemented in schools. However, few studies focus on the existing educational practices in schools as preconditions for ICT implementation. In this paper, the focus is on how policy implementation strategies, as they are understood in the recently proposed Swedish ICT policy, relate to already established educational practices in upper secondary school settings. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to discuss how policy implementation strategies relate to the existing local practices in three upper secondary contexts as preconditions for integration of ICT.Traditionally, policy has often been viewed as a top-down process, where policy is formulated in one arena and then realized in another (Lindensjö & Lundgren, 2000). However, policy formation processes are rather more complicated than that and can be understood as processes of interpretation and enactment (Ball, Maguire & Braun, 2012). Acknowledging these processes of policy formation (Edwards, 2012) is to acknowledge processes of micro-political manoeuvring, power and negotiation in practice, and to relate the policy enactment processes to the existing preconditions, structures and activities of the contexts in which the policy is to be realized. Thus, understanding how the proposed policy implementation strategies relate to existing practices as preconditions in schools may help us to understand what kind of challenges an ICT policy may face and to formulate more realistic expectations for the use of ICT in education.The kind of analysis that is suggested in this paper may also clarify why the implementation and use of ICT in school is so challenging and why there seems to be a discrepancy between expectations in the policy formulation arena and its use in the realization arena (Author 1, Author 2, Author 3 & Colleague, 20**; Tondeur, van Braak and Valcke’s, 2007). It has been suggested that national and political initiatives and governing have little impact on the use of ICT in school (McGarr, 2009). Rather, it has been emphasized that teachers want to see compelling reasons why they and their students should use ICT for teaching and learning (Howard, 2013; Lim, 2015). This might be related to ‘teacher culture’ and a reason why principals have been identified as key persons when implementing ICT. However, different leadership styles have also been found to give different results when it comes to implementing ICT (Hadjithoma-Garstka, 2011). Indeed, different leadership styles seem to fit different educational cultures. Implementing an ICT policy in local schools has been found to be a multifaceted phenomenon rooted in educational culture (Vanderlinde, van Braak, & Dexter 2012). If contextual matter is of importance for implementing ICT, it is therefore of interest to study how the proposed policy implementation strategies relate to existing educational practices in schools.Methods/methodology The discourse and qualitative content analyses of a Swedish national ICT policy (Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, 2014) identified several suggested strategies for its implementation. These were then related to data from a 4-year research project in three upper secondary schools ‘known’ for their advanced use of ICT for teaching and learning. However, the narratives of advanced use appear to have been projected onto the schools. It is possible to trace this to different specific contextual circumstances: for school A, to the reputation of the municipality regarding the use of ICT in its K-12 schools, for school B, to a specific centre of technology at the school sponsored by a private founder, and for school C, as being known for remote teaching. All three schools are so-called one-to-one schools, meaning that every student and teacher has their own computer.In the three municipalities involved in the project, interviews were conducted with three centralized ICT strategists. In each school unit (A, B and C above), interviews were conducted with the principals and with the local ICT coordinators. These interviews were conducted between September 2015 and February 2016 and focused on the use of ICT in schools in a general sense, policies and routines related to ICT, the challenges and opportunities with ICT, infrastructural issues and professional development for principals and teachers. In total, the three interviews lasted almost three and a half hours.Data has also been collected from teachers and students in the three upper secondary schools. At each school unit, teachers and students were interviewed and observations of the teaching situations were performed. These interviews and observations were conducted between October and November 2015. In school unit A, ten teachers and 13 pupils were interviewed and approximately 22 hours of teaching was observed. In school B, nine teachers and 15 pupils were interviewed and approximately 20 hours of teaching was observed. In school C, six teachers and 10 pupils were interviewed and approximately 9 hours of teaching was observed. In spring 2016 seven subject-oriented group interviews were conducted with in total 21 teachers. Expected outcomes/results The analyses of the policy document identified the following ICT policy implementation strategies:(a) the importance of strategies and plans for policy implementation,(b) local processes of policy enactment, (c) principals strategic leadership,(d) professional development for teachers, principals and management, (e) organized collegial learning and(f) cooperation and strategic alliances.In this proposal, three of the strategies (c, d and e) are used to exemplify and discuss how they relate to existing practices in the three upper secondary schools as preconditions for ICT policy implementation. In the full paper, all six strategies will be discussed in relation to existing educational practices.Regarding principals’ strategic leadership (c): existing practices show that at present the extent to which the principals act as strategic leaders is not clear when it comes to digitization and the use of ICT in the schools. The principals express that digitization is important, but it is not clear which strategies they deploy and how they operate as active strategic leaders in this regard. The ‘ICT issue’ competes with the many other issues that principals have to deal with and does not seem to be prioritized or generate any significant activities.Regarding professional development for teachers and principals (d): there are several issues that teachers and principals are expected to learn about. Analyzing professional development regarding ICT at four levels – the municipal, school, collegial and individual level – suggests that teachers learn most about ICT and its use in teaching and learning at the individual and collegial level, usually as informal learning when two or more colleagues create an informal self-organized professional development activity around a specific issue, application or lesson. This kind of activity could be regarded as informal “collegial learning”. The strategy proposed for organized collegial learning (e) appears to be less frequent. ReferencesAuthor 1, Author 2, Author 3 & Colleague (20**). [details removed for peer review]. Published as an international book chapter. Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactments in secondary schools. London & New York: Routledge.Convery, A. (2009). The pedagogy of the impressed. How teachers become victims of technological visions. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 15(1), 25–41.Egea, O. M. (2014). Neoliberalism, education and the integration of ICT in schools. Acritical reading. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 23(2), 267-283.Edwards, D.B. (2012), “Researching international processes of education policy formation: conceptual and methodological considerations”. Research in Comparative and International Education, 7(2), 127-145. Hadjithoma-Garstka, C. (2011). The role of the principal’s leadership style in the implementation of ICT policy. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(2), 311–326. Hammond, M- (2014). Introducing ICT in schools in England: Rationale and consequences. British Journal of Educational Technology, 45(2), 191–201, Howard, S. K. (2013). Risk-aversion: understanding teachers’ resistance to technology integration. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 22(3), 357–372. Jordan, K. (2011). Framing ICT, teachers and learners in Australian school education ICT policy. The Australian Educational Researcher, 38(4), 417-431. McGarr, O. (2009). The development of ICT across the curriculum in Irish schools: A historical perspective. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(6), 1094–1108. Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook. (3. ed.) Los Angeles: Sage. Lim, M. H. (2015). How Singapore teachers in a pioneer ‘School of the Future’ context ‘deal with’ the process of integrating information and communication technology into the school curriculum. The Australian Educational Researcher, 42, 69-96. Lindensjö, B., & Lundgren, U. P. (2000). Utbildningsreformer och politisk styrning [Educational reform and political control]. Stockholm: HL
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| 4. |
- Fransson, Göran, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Digitalise and capitalise? : Teachers’ self-understanding in 21st-century teaching contexts
- 2019
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Ingår i: Oxford Review of Education. - : Routledge. - 0305-4985 .- 1465-3915. ; 45:1, s. 102-118
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The digitalisation of educational contexts has changed the practice of teaching and learning. In this, teachers have a key role in enacting digital technologies for this purpose and have different opportunities to do so. This article explores how digitalisation can affect teachers by focusing on: (a) how teachers manage to capitalise on digitalisation; and (b) how digitalisation can affect and reconstruct their self-understanding. Two teacher colleagues of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the same teaching team are interviewed and observed. Drawing on the interplay between self-image, self-esteem, job motivation, and task perception, it is shown how the teachers’ self-understanding is played out and changes due to the call for digitalisation. Whereas one of the teachers has been able to capitalise on digitalisation in a way that has been beneficial both professionally and personally, the other has felt pressurised by it. A conclusion is that a limited or extended use of digital technologies should not be taken as an indicator of teaching quality.
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| 5. |
- Fransson, Göran, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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From a student perspective, what constitutes a good (or less good) use of ICT in teaching?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Education and Information Technologies. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1360-2357 .- 1573-7608. ; 23:5, s. 2155-2177
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates what upper secondary school students regard as good or less good teaching using ICT. 367 Swedish upper secondary students in 2 schools responded to a web-based questionnaire. The students were asked to describe one of their teachers who used ‘ICT in a way that made them learn very well, and one who used ICT in a way that made them learn less well’ and to describe what these teachers did and why their teaching was understood as good or less good. 18 themes were identified, of which 17 were combined into eight overall counterpart themes and one non-counterpart theme. ‘Clarity’ was the most prominent theme, followed by ‘teachers’ ‘ICT skills’, ‘uses ICT in a good way’, ‘fun factor’, ‘puts information on the LMS’, ‘varies the teaching methods’, ‘demonstrates how to use ICT’ and ‘general pedagogical skills’. The results show that although the specific focus is on students’ views of their teachers’ use of ICT, general pedagogical skills are a major focus in the themes. Effectiveness is an explicit theme in terms of ICT adding value to teaching and learning, while ineffectiveness is an implicit underlying dimension in the themes relating to less good teaching. It is also evident that the students value the same teacher’s use of ICT in teaching differently.
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| 6. |
- Fransson, Göran, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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On the Swedish National Grade School for Digital Technologies in Education – GRADE : Expectations and experiences of doctorial students and supervisors
- 2018
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Ingår i: ICERI2018 Proceedings. - Sevilla : IATED. - 9788409059485 ; , s. 769-774
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Swedish National Graduate School for Digital Technologies in Education (GRADE) is a cooperative venture between six Swedish universities established during 2018. Within the field of educational sciences and in the area of digital technologies in education, GRADE aims to strengthen the expertise in the area and to increase national and international cooperation in research training activities.Over a number of years, and from multitude of sources (cf. Brown & Davis, 2004; Fisher, Higgins & Loveless, 2006; Kafai & Resnick 1996), research has stressed that increased digitalization in schools leads to a complexity that needs to be taken into account on different levels, from different perspectives and with different designs, methodologies and theoretical perspectives (cf. Olofsson, Lindberg, Fransson & Hauge, 2015; Price, Jewitt & Brown, 2013; Tondeur, Valcke & van Braak, 2008). At a micro-level, the learning situation of students, teachers and school-leaders changes and it becomes important to deepen the knowledge about the impact digital technologies has on the fundamental conditions for teaching and learning of different school subjects (cf. Chun, Kern & Smith 2016; Leung & Baccaglini-Frank, 2017). On a macro-level, conditions for education as such changes and digital technologies becomes an important object of study as agents of change (Wong & Li, 2008). The digitalization of K-12 schools has long been highlighted in policy as a necessity (cf. Kirkman et al, 2002; OECD, 2010). However, research and evaluations (cf. Fransson et al, 2012; OECD, 2015; Wastiau et al, 2013) show that many substantial challenges remain. One of the fundamental pillars of GRADE is the interdisciplinary approach. Several disciplines are present (Applied IT, Curriculum studies, Education, Informatics, Technology and Learning, Educational work, Work-interated Learning) in researching digital technologies in K-12 schools with the ambition to contribute to the continued implementation, integration and use of digital technologies in Swedish K-12 schools that stems from the evidence-based knowledge produced within the activities of GRADE. The research within GRADE will be characterized by close cooperation with stakeholders from school practice, with the aim to contribute to concrete school development. In GRADE, a multi-level approach that involves multiple layers or levels of school activities will be encouraged. When possible, studies will be longitudinal. This will imply studies from an organizational and management perspective, e.g. studies of school leaders and other members of senior management positions responsible for digital technology use and implementation. Also implied are studies of teachers' teaching practices and didactical considerations, as well as studies of the students in classrooms and their learning using digital technologies. This will also imply that several issues with a bearing on the digitalization of education, for example regarding school policy, teaching, learning, assessment and professional development will be researched from different perspectives and with different methodological approaches. In this paper, these points of departure will be explored based on the expectations and experiences of the first twelve admitted doctoral students and their supervisors.
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| 7. |
- Grankvist, Olov, et al.
(författare)
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Can physicians be replaced with gynecological teaching women to train medical students in their first pelvic examination? A pilot study from Northern Sweden.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Patient Education and Counseling. - : Elsevier. - 0738-3991 .- 1873-5134. ; 96:1, s. 50-54
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective The main objective was to gain a deeper understanding of how medical students perceive and experience learning from gynecological teaching women (GTW) instead of physicians in their first pelvic examination. A second aim was to describe how the women experience their roles as GTW.Methods Data were collected from individual interviews with 24 medical students from a medical school in Sweden and with 5 GTW. Discourse analysis was performed to acquire a deeper understanding of the informants’ experiences and to understand social interactions.Results Five themes revealed in the medical students’ experiences: “Hoping that anxiety will be replaced with security,” “Meeting as equals creates a sense of calm,” “Succeeding creates a sense of security for the future,” “Wanting but not having the opportunity to learn more,” and “Feeling relieved and grateful.” One theme revealed in the GTW experiences: “Hoping to relate in a trustworthy way.”Conclusion To replace physicians with GTW may facilitate the learning process and may also help medical students improve their communicative skills. Using GTW will hopefully further improve students’ basic medical examination techniques and physician–patient relationships.Practice implications Since GTW seems to increase self-confidence and skills of medical students performing their first pelvic examination we recommend that the use of GTW is considered in the training of medical students.
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| 8. |
- Gustafsson, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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In service of school digitalisation in Sweden – a study on ICT coordinators' conditions for work in a local municipal context framed by national educational policy
- 2024
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Ingår i: Education and Information Technologies. - : Springer Nature. - 1360-2357 .- 1573-7608.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to explore, analyse, and critically discuss conditions for Swedish ICT coordinators working on school digitalisation in a local municipal school context. More specifcally, the study draws on findings from interviews with 13 Swedish information and communication technology (ICT) coordinators working in eight municipalities that have adopted two contrasting approaches to school digitalisation. One is a general approach with a strong element of individual within-school accountability in the work, and the other a specifc approach in which such work is addressed more as an organisational process with involvement of municipal governing officials. Findings show that the two approaches set different conditions in terms of how and with whom the ICT coordinators work and the foci of their efforts although both are framed by the same national educational policy. A conclusion is that the ICT coordinators' role, function, and responsibility should be considered in parity to the level of support, in-school resources, and mandate given to them, not least when organisational instability and reorganisations hamper the work in progress.
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| 9. |
- Gustafsson, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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Local translation work on national school digitalisation policy in Sweden – a challenging endeavour with signs of strong rural resilience
- 2023
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Ingår i: NERA Conference 2023. - Umeå.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research topic/aim: This abstract explores rural municipality contexts in Sweden and signs of rural resilience in local translation work on national policy on school digitalisation. The goal with this abstract is to contribute with knowledge about rural municipalities and their contextual capacity of responding and adapting to national school policy and change in a digital age. In the abstract, two research questions are addressed: (1) How do rural municipalities work with translating national school digitalisation policies into local and contextual actions? and (2) How can this work be understood from a rural resilience perspective?Theoretical framework: The abstract uses a combined theoretical framework to explore signs of rural resilience building in the municipalities. This framework builds on (a) Selwyn’s (2018) areas of policy activity of digital technology in school policy - (1) technology resources, (2) use of digital tools in the schools, (3) curriculum concerns, and, (4) issues of organisation and governance as well as 8b) Roberts’ et al. (2017a; 2017b) central forms in resilience thinking – (1) multi-scalar resilience, (2) normative resilience and (3) integrated policy conceptions of resilience.Methodology/research design: During August until December in 2021, data were in two steps collected from 36 out of 40 Swedish municipalities categorized by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions as C8 (rural, not large on tourism). First, short phone interviews with municipality key persons asking them to describe their work with three recent Swedish national school policies on digitalisation and digital competence. Second, via the key persons collecting any additional written local policy in terms of strategic and/or action-oriented plans for the work with school digitalisation and/or digital competence.Expected results/findings: The findings in the proposed abstract makes it possible to argue in favour of the adaptability in Swedish rural municipalities in terms of resilience building. That rural municipality contexts need recognition in their national school digitalisation policy work, and that increased national clarity of both the intended meaning and desirable outcome of local policy translations could provide a more solid support for the rural municipalities - including further development of a strong rural resilience.Relevance to Nordic educational research: This abstract is relevant due to the rural perspectives have been lacking in Nordic educational research concerned with aspects of local translation work on national school digitalisation policy. Moreover, and in opposite to the abstract proposed here, such research seldom highlights the contextual complexity of this policy work when addressing the various levels of policy, challenges of local mobilisation, and individual approaches to policy.References:Roberts, E., Anderson, B.A., Skerratt, S., & Farrington, J. (2017). A review of the rural-digital policy agenda from a community resilience perspective. Journal of Rural Studies, 54, 372-385.Roberts, E., Beel, D., Philip, L., & Townsend, L. (2017). Rural resilience in a digital society: Editorial. Journal of Rural Studies, 54, 355-359.Selwyn, N. (2018). Technology as a focus of education policy. In R. Papa and S. W. Armfield (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Educational Policy (pp. 457-477). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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| 10. |
- Gustafsson, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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'This Is How We Do It!' : rural resilience in local translation work on national school digitalization policy
- 2024. - 1
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Ingår i: Digitalization and digital competence in educational contexts. - London : Routledge. - 9781032409863 - 9781032409870 - 9781003355694 ; , s. 28-38
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter explores the building of rural resilience with the influence of national school digitalization policy visible in local policy translations. Focusing on 36 Swedish rural municipalities, the chapter reflects on the ability of rural municipalities to respond and adapt to national school policy and change in a digital age. The findings show that local work on translating national school digitalization policy is a rather challenging endeavor for rural municipalities. The findings in four areas of policy activity of digital technology in school policy – (a) technology resources, (b) use of digital tools in the schools, (c) curriculum concerns, and (d) issues of organization and governance – make it possible to argue in favor of adaptability in rural municipalities in terms of resilience building. We conclude that rural municipal contexts need recognition for their national school digitalization policy work. Moreover, increased national clarity of the intended meaning and desirable outcome of local policy translations could better support the rural municipalities, including further development of strong rural resilience.
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