| 1. |
- Fransson, Göran, 1968-, et al.
(author)
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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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In: ICERI2018 Proceedings. - Sevilla : IATED. - 9788409059485 ; , s. 769-774
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)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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| 2. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(author)
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Case Studies on the Use of Technology in TPD (Teacher Professional Development)
- 2012
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In: US-China Education Review. A. - : David Publishing Company. - 2161-623X .- 1548-6613 .- 1930-1529. ; 2:3, s. 278-290
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, the progress of a three-year cooperative project investigating the current state of TPD (teacher professional development) in Sweden and China in the area of TPD and ICT (information and communication technologies) is summarized. A brief introduction to the field of TPD is given, and thereafter, ICT is related to what in the project is referred to as TETPD (Technology Enhanced Teacher Professional Development). Thereafter, the project as such is given a short presentation, followed by findings regarding policies and initiatives related to TETPD in Sweden and China for investigating the current state of TETPD in each country respectively. The framework for investigating TETPD is presented, and four Chinese and four Swedish cases are compared to some facets showing differences in models for TETPD in the two countries.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Billmayer, Jakob, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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Remote teaching to ensure equal access to education in rural schools
- 2020
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In: Education in the North. - Aberdeen : School of Education at the University of Aberdeen. - 0424-5512 .- 2398-0184. ; 27:2, s. 1-6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An impending challenge in today’s school is to ensure that all students have access to an equal education, which should in turn improve social and economic conditions for both individual and society (Lundahl, 2016). The equality aspect is especially accentuated in rural areas which, unlike metropolitan regions, often have significant difficulties related to long distances between schools, lack of qualified teachers and problems filling the classroom due to diminishing birthrates. This in turn restricts students' right to an equal education in rural areas (cf. Pettersson, 2017).At the same time, digitalization of society is one of the fundamental challenges for the future. The development and broad availability of digital technologies has created new unique opportunities, and pitfalls, for rethinking and reinventing students’ equal access to learning, education and collaboration in the digital age (Collins and Halverson, 2009). Distance and remote teaching are such examples used to ensure equal access to education, not least in rural areas (cf. Hilli, 2020; Pettersson and Olofsson, 2019). Using digital technologies for remote teaching have thereby also, to some extent, changed the way that schools operate and the ways that teaching is being conducted (cf. From, Pettersson and Pettersson, 2020). However, research, networks and collaborations within this area can be said to be scarce not only at a Nordic, but also at an international level (Barbour, 2013; Toppin and Toppin, 2016).Based on the lack of research, networks and collaboration for developing remote teaching as a practice, the significance of a symposium was identified. In May 2020, the international research symposium Remote teaching to ensure equal access to education in rural schools was held at Umeå University in Sweden. At the symposium different strategies to systematically and proactively increase access to education at upper secondary school level using digital technologies were discussed. One basic assumption that emerged during the discussions was that the existence of, and access to, new information technologies is necessary but not sufficient. In the discussions it became obvious that it will be of complementary importance who is empowered to design, create, invent and choose to use the technologies that enhance their personal and professional lives.The symposium resulted in an open call for a special issue of Education in the North, which resulted in a huge interest not only from the Nordic countries but from researchers all over the world. As can be seen in this special issue, research from Australia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Iceland, Scotland, and Sweden with different focuses on aspects of equal access to education in schools are represented. The great promise of this special issue lies in its potential to provide research of interest to a wide audience, including researchers, practitioners and policymakers in both Nordic and international contexts.
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| 5. |
- Lindberg, Ola J., 1966-, et al.
(author)
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Researching school practices with a complementary and symmetrical approach : the case of remote teaching in the rural north of Sweden
- 2020
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In: Education in the North. - : School of Education at the University of Aberdeen. - 0424-5512 .- 2398-0184. ; 27:2, s. 235-241
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This feature describes an ongoing research project on remote teaching in the rural north of Sweden. Remote teaching is a form of teaching in which the teacher and students are separated in space but not in time, and students are accompanied by a designated supervisor at their location. The project is conducted within the framework of the national initiative Development, Learning, Research (DLR) to try out sustainable collaboration models between academia and school practice. At Umeå University, this relation has been described as complementary and symmetrical: complementary in the sense that each part brings unique competencies into the work, and symmetrical in the sense that each part is valued as equal in the work, which allows for a dimension of development work into the research approach. The feature elaborates on opportunities and challenges in conducting complementary and symmetrical research, seeking to promote knowledge built on collaboration between academia and school practice.
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| 6. |
- Pettersson, Fanny, et al.
(author)
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Special Issue: Theory and Practice in Remote Teaching, Online Learning, and Distance Education for K-12 : [Special issue introduction]
- 2022
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In: Journal of Digital Social Research (JDSR). - : Umeå University. - 2003-1998. ; 4:2, s. 1-6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There are many situations where digital technology has served as the lifeline or salvation for society. Unexpected and unpredictable situations like catastrophic floods, blizzards, earthquakes, and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic have forced families to stay home, meaning that digital technologies have become important tools for people to work and learn. Other examples are societal and regional challenges such as lack of qualified teachers, diminishing birth rates, and difficulties in filling classrooms that force digital and educational development. The symposium held in May 2021, which resulted in this special issue, was intended to explore possibilities for ensuring equal access to education in rural schools using remote teaching. At the symposium, different strategies to increase access to education in the context of K-12 using digital technologies was presented and discussed. It brought together researchers from Europe and North America, all represented in this issue.
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| 7. |
- Siljebo, Josef, et al.
(author)
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School leadership in a digitalized society : Reflections on the Use of a Survey Tool for Improving Educational Practice
- 2021
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In: ECER programmes.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This presentation will report from a pilot study using a novel quantitative instrument as a mean for findings of scientific relevance as well as of relevance for school development. The aim of the pilot study was to better understand school leadership in the midst of digitalization in school. The project was based on two theoretical positions for understanding leadership in the context of digitalization: Leadership behaviours according to Yukl (2013) and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) according to Engeström, (2015). The essence of leadership in organizations is, according to Yukl (2013),“influencing and facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives”. Leaders can improve the performance of a team or organization by influencing the processes that determine performance.Background: The Swedish government has commissioned a national pilot project to test sustainable collaboration models between academia and the school or school system regarding research, school activities and teacher education for the period 2017 to 2021 (ulfavtal.se). Expectations are to contribute to the research base of the school system, and to conduct research build on equal terms between researchers and schools. In Sweden there is an explicit expectation in the Education Act, that education is to “rest on a scientific grounds and proven experience” (Section 5). This means that teachers and school leaders are to base the exercise of their profession on research and that school development is to be permeated by a scientific approach. Along this argument, a need to develop sustainable collaboration models between the school system and academia resting on common grounds is formulated as a goal of the pilot project. Similar collaborative approaches between practice and academa are adopted in many European countreis. This means embracing a dimension of development work into the approach to research.The idea of forming collaborations between schools and academia to improve the quality of the educational practice is not new internationally. There is a growing body of initiatives with the aim to connect school improvement with external actors such as universities through networks and collaborative partnerships of different kinds (Chapman et al., 2016). Research shows how this may lead to meaningful changes in the teaching and learning processes in schools (Ainscow, 2012). Literature on initial teacher education, professional development for teachers, and educational research, also acknowledges how school–academia partnerships are powerful collaborations that can result in improved practice and results for students (Day & Smethem, 2010). However, only a limited amount of research tries to understand how such partnerships and collaboration forms stem from strategic leadership (e.g., Murphy, 2017).In this paper we address the issue of better understanding how such collaborations can be built on strategic decisions about content for collaboration, when it comes to digitalization in schools. Digitalization and school leadership: As discussed by Olofsson et al. (2015), school leaders often experience digitalization processes as “challenging and difficult” (p. 117). Chua Reyes (2015) showed that school leaders experience that their role has changed “from leading a team of teachers who have been deliverers of knowledge towards leading a team of teacher facilitators” (2015, p. 378). In Sweden, research on school leadership is rather limited (Ärlestig et al., 2016). Studies at hand argues that leadership is important for implementation of digital visions and reforms (Petersen, 2014). Moreover, that school leaders’ professional development is needed to effectively lead for digitalization in school (cf. Håkansson-Lindqvist & Pettersson, 2019; Pettersson, 2018). In 2012, the Swedish School Inspectorate (Lund, 2012) pointed out that school leaders do not actively lead, and support digitalization and that more knowledge is needed for leading digitalization in school.Method: The quantitative instrument is based on two constructs (1) notions of leadership (based on the survey developed by Yukl, 2013); and (2) levels of expansive learning with digital technology (based on the theoretical foundations found in Engeström, 2015). The first construct is measured in four meta-categories: Task-oriented behaviours, Relations-oriented behaviours, Change-oriented behaviours, and External leadership behaviours. The four meta-categories consist of a total of 17 specific component behaviours, such as Clarifying, Supporting, Advocating change and External monitoring. In total, this part of the survey consists of 49 questions, all modified to address the current state of leadership at the respondent workplace. The second construct is measured in 18 questions related to three levels 1) how respondents use digital technologies in their daily work, 2) how the use has changed the daily practice, and 3) how the use has changed the way they work, communicate, and operate in the entire organization. The questions concern to what degree the use of digital technologies has developed new ways of organising and talking about daily practice. Item are designed as fixed-response format (Wilson, 2005) and responses are on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not relevant) to 5 (absolutely essential). A series of background questions of relevance for the different constructs are also asked. The instrument is available online and will be administered as an online self-administered questionnaire. In this pilot study, the survey was distributed to all school leaders in one municipality in the northern Sweden (N = 44 with a response rate of 90 %). As can be seen, the total number of school leaders in municipalities in this region is low, but the tests have been made covering the total number of respondents possible. As such, awareness of this challenge is kept in mind in terms of analysis and inferences possible by use of the data.Expected Outcomes: The possibilities for the results of the survey to be used as a basis for school development is discussed, as is the possibilities for the approach to be a way of conducting research, and thus also development work of relevance for school practice with the outspoken intention to improve the quality of the educational practice. Even if the data at the moment is not fully analyzed yet, there are some interesting trends in the material. For instance, due to the participant school leaders, Task-oriented and Relations-oriented leadership behaviours are more important than Change-oriented behaviours, when it comes to leading digitalization in school. There are also some interesting discrepancies between what is judged as important for their school organisations on one hand, and what is important in their leadership on the other. These trends seem to be of importance for strategic decisions about content for continous collaboration, and thereby for school development when it comes to digitalization in school. For the approach to be a collaboration form that provide genuine possibilities for research to be the scientific ground that educational quality should rest on, as is intended in the education act, there are a number of possibilities as well as challenges such as the inconsistency of the educational practice as such and the contextual boundaries of knowledge of what works and improve the quality of practice.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
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Digitalization and Digital Competence in Educational Contexts : A Nordic Perspective from Policy to Practice
- 2024
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Editorial collection (peer-reviewed)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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| 10. |
- Fischer, Gerhard, et al.
(author)
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Rethinking and reinventing learning, education and collaboration in the digital age : from creating technologies to transforming cultures
- 2020
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In: The international journal of information and learning technology. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2056-4880 .- 2056-4899. ; 37:5, s. 241-252
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: The digitalization of society results in challenges and opportunities for learning and education. This paper describes exemplary transformations from current to future practices. It illustrates multi-dimensional aspects of learning which complement and transcend current frameworks of learning focused on schools. While digital technologies are necessary for these transformations, they are not sufficient. The paper briefly illustrates the applicability of the conceptual framework to the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes that design opportunities and design trade-offs in relation to digital technologies and learning should be explored by envisioning the cultural transformation that are desirable for making learning a part of life.Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the work conducted at the symposium "Rethinking and Reinventing Learning, Education, and Collaboration in the Digital Age-From Creating Technologies to Transforming Cultures" that took place in Engeltofta outside of Gavle, Sweden in September 2019. The symposium invited scholars in collaborative analysis of design opportunities and design trade-offs in relation to digital technologies and learning and explored design strategies for systematically and proactively increasing digital technology's contributions to learning and collaborating. The paper first provides a condensed introduction of a conceptual framework summarizing current practices, their problems and promising alternatives. Multi-dimensional aspects of learning and lifelong learning will be briefly described as promising future alternatives to school learning. Examples of transformative practices are supporting the major argument of the paper that creating new technologies is an important prerequisite to address the fundamental challenge of transforming cultures. The unanticipated but fundamental event of the occurrence of COVID-19 will be briefly described to provide further evidence for the need and the applicability of our conceptual framework for rethinking and reinventing learning, education and collaboration in the digital age.Findings: The paper provides a condensed introduction of a conceptual framework summarizing current practices, their problems and promising alternatives. The framework includes multi-dimensional aspects of learning and lifelong learning as a promising future alternative to a focus on school learning.Originality/value: This paper describes exemplary transformations from current to future practices. It illustrates multi-dimensional aspects of learning which complement and transcend current frameworks of learning focused on schools.
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