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- Reneland-Forsman, Linda, 1962-, et al.
(author)
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From taking decisions to receiving information : Changes in board meeting minutes at Swedish universities
- 2024
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In: Journal of Praxis in Higher Education. - Borås, Sweden : University of Borås. - 2003-3605. ; 6:4, s. 70-96
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study investigates the praxis of university boards by analysing minutes from Swedish universities before and after an autonomy reform that, among other things, changed the board compositions in favour of external members. To ultimately improve higher education policy and paint a more complete picture of the operational side of governance arrangements at Swedish universities, we analyse how institutional management has changed over time. The study identifies orientations and allocations enacted in university board work and communicated in minutes from 2008 and 2018, separated by the autonomy reform of 2011. Results show a shift over time from taking decisions to receiving information, accompanied by a shift in the orientation of decisions regarding education and research to decisions on operation and interaction with society. During this period, external board members became increasingly dominant. Comparing board meeting attendance showed that external members were absent from more meetings than members that represented academic staff and students. The changing function and composition of university boards, combined with strong line management and decollegialisation, raises questions of whether and how the experience of academic core activities, peer quality management, and critical thinking contribute to shaping the policy, praxis, and institutional management of higher education.
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- Reneland-Forsman, Linda, 1962-, et al.
(author)
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Training doctoral supervisors to train researchers of tomorrow : a Swedish example
- 2024
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In: INTED2024 Proceedings. - : IATED Academy. - 9788409592159 ; , s. 2928-2932
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Doctoral education is more important than ever, and PhD-student enrolment numbers are continually climbing, as is the demand for more graduates with high-level research skills. This mobilization can only be realized if there are sufficient well-trained researchers able to take on the challenge of supervision in a world where science is both more important than ever but also debated and mistrusted. But how do you train for supervising an individual, unique project preparing the student for an independent research career? At Linnaeus university with roughly 30 different PhD-programs, we have for six years now practiced and developed a 9-month special university-wide course for doctoral supervisors. The program balances between training for an individual unique project but preparing for a broader research career within what is in comparison a highly regulated education. In Sweden there is a requirement of a full four-years institutional financing before admittance, there are exam objectives, and all programs have course parts (including mandatory courses) in the span of 15-120 ECTS. There is also a national requirement for supervisors training for being a main supervisor, all this together constitute the framing of doctorates. The program aims to promote border-crossing exchanges of experiences between doctoral supervisors from different disciplines and collaborative learning where doctoral supervisors create a reflective community of practice together with seniors. Applicants for the supervision program are expected to have started an independent research career after their own Viva, published nationally and internationally, to have the necessary required higher education pedagogical training, and have supervision experience at advanced level.
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3. |
- Ahlbäck, Tor, et al.
(author)
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Let´s think about it : considering the strengths of Web-based collaboration
- 2005
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In: ICT in Teacher Education. - Jönköping : Jönköping University Press & Encell. - 9197495344 ; , s. 100-111
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper describes work with student collaboration in a distance education teacher-training program at Växjö. A previous study on collaborative strategies was presented new students in order to test possible effects on their learning process. What possible effects could this have on how students used and designed their learning in a Virtual Learning Environment? Were there any signs of an enhanced meta-cognitive awareness compared to previous year? Students’ evaluation of assignment and results from a web-enquiry was analysed. Results showed an increased reflection upon work process and more references to future praxis as teachers shift from a knowledge process to a learning process. Results also show a more strategic use of the tools in the VLE. By giving students some reflective tools prior to their assignment, we have tried to use meta-cognitive thinking as “a way to teach” and not as a “subject” itself.
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4. |
- Eek-Karlsson, Liselotte, 1955-
(author)
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Ungas samspel i sociala medier : Att balansera mellan ansvar och positionering
- 2015
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The growing communication that takes place between young people today causes concern. The purpose of this study is to develop in – depth knowledge of the interaction that young people engage in online. The pedagogic interest is based on an investigation of conditions for social learning and social integration that exist in practice, which unfolds in virtual spaces created by social media. The technology referred to in this thesis is considered to be a social construction, which entails that values circulate between people, technology, and society. The theoretical point of departure is based on a pedagogic theory, which proposes that people develop their ability to cooperate, their social identity, and their understanding of the world through interaction with others. This dissertation includes three studies. The first study investigates support and harassment online (for example, insults). The second study is conducted for the purpose of revealing the discursive patterns in young people’s argumentation, based on a series of interviews. Finally, a text analysis of Facebook’s policy document was performed, with focus on the democratic values that are mediated via this document. The overall result is that considerably more young people feel that they are supported in social media, than those who are harassed. Both a supportive culture and a harassing culture can be defined however. The more often young people support their friends, the more often they find themselves to be the recipient of support. The same relationship pertains for harassing communication. Reciprocity, respect, and being responsible are dominant themes in a close circle of friends. In interaction with friends who are not members of the close circle of friends, communication is characterised by asymmetry and control. The imposition of discipline takes place as a function of both gender and status. The risk of being subject to reprisals is great, if the prevailing system of norms is violated. Young people’s social interaction in virtual spaces tends to be dominated by marketization where strategic behaviour, which primarily is a function of the individual’s social position and profit interest, is observed.
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6. |
- Nilsson, Monica, et al.
(author)
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Will this be on the exam? : The tension between use value and exchange value in higher education and its relation to forms of learning
- 2007
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper explores discourses in higher education viewing two pairs of concepts, on the one hand, the concepts of use- vs. exchange value and on the other, the concepts of deep vs. surface learning. Drawing on Yrjö Engeströms’ position of use- vs. exchange value, and his elaboration on the activity system, we assert that any component in an activity system combines two inherent forces which compete yet presuppose one other. It is this dialectical relationship which makes systems dynamic and thus change over time. The paper is based on an empirical study using data from a distance- and net based course in general pedagogy at a Swedish university. In the context of higher education, the tension between use- and exchange value is present on a daily basis in the life and work of instructors and students. A student has to pay attention to rules and regulations that form the structure of the educational institution. For example, the Swedish educational system requires that a student maintain a certain number of credits per semester in order to qualify for a study loan. On the other hand, the university’s state funding is based on how many students pass their exams. For the student, the credit requirement often leads to a strategic approach to learning governed by a wish to pass the test as the major goal. For the instructor, the funding rule compels her to organize the interpreted curriculum so that the content of the course becomes achievable within the course time limit and the level of achievement is measurable. Thus, the student and the instructor have a shared interest. We define these interests as the exchange value of education. However, both the instructor and the student have an interest in reaching a goal beyond the immediate satisfaction of obtained credits. This goal is about developing competence, capabilities, skills and insights held as important in higher education. We define these goals as use value of education.At a first glance one would tend to relate the exchange value of education with what has been defined as the surface approach to learning (Marton & Booth, 1997). The surface approach to learning focuses on what can be called the sign, for example, a text itself (ibid). This implies that memorization, replication and rote learning become the main approaches to learning. A student’s attitude rests on the belief that knowledge is to be declared as rather fixed answers and tested in terms of right and wrong. This is in contrast to the belief that knowledge is constructed through an understanding of complex phenomenon and concepts involving the act of relating previous knowledge and experiences with new knowledge. On the other hand, the concept of the deep approach to learning could easily be related to the use value of education since this approach focuses on what which is signified, for example, the meaning of a text. The deep approach to learning also focuses on using organizing principles to integrate ideas (Marton & Booth, 1997). Hence, this approach leads to a more durable and complex set of competencies, skills, and insights. However, under present conditions this approach might require a longer process, which might not be available within the existing institutional structures. Thus, we assert that, there are a bound to be consequences for higher education in terms of the quality of learning.In this paper, though, we are interested in understanding the dialectical relationship between use- and exchange value and the link to learning. Thus, we want to go beyond the immediate perception of the relationship between exchange value and surface learning, on the one hand, and use value and deep level learning, on the other. In this paper we ask the following two questions. What are the signs of use- and exchange value in communication between students and instructors in higher education? How are manifestations of use- and exchange value approached by students and instructors in higher education aiming at a deep approach to leaning? Thus, the purpose of the paper is to contribute to an understanding of the dialectical tension in the object of the activity of higher education and its relationship to forms of learning. With forms of learning we here refer to surface- and deep approaches to learning but we might also include expansive learning though that is not the main focus of this study.On an applied level, higher education institutions aiming at deep approach to learning and durable and complex competencies, skills, and insights should benefit from this study.
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7. |
- Reneland-Forsman, Linda, 1962-
(author)
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A Changing Experience : communication and meaning-making in web-based teacher training
- 2009
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This is a study of students’ meaning making in web-based higher education courses. Conditions for students meaning-making change when interaction technology is used to support educational practices. Widened Participation policy activities often use web-based programs to attract “new” groups of more experienced students. The study used a communicative approach and focused on how previous experiences influenced actions and meaning making when students encountered challenges related to course objectives. Mediated Discourse Analysis was used to analyse asynchronous communication in 10 groups during 18 weeks of a 4-year part-time distance education program, training childminders for a Bachelor of Education, specialising in early childhood. Appearances of meaning-making were traced to changes and breaks in student communication and presented as themes of orientations of actions namely: • participation, the manifestation of presence, engagement in course work and the creation of space for engagement • positioning, the creation of a student identity, the organisation of work, and the construction of a group culture • reference, the orientation actions took in a nexus of practices. Where did students go for examples and to challenge theoretical concepts? • changing experience is a collection of moments of reification, when students came to make realisations of relevance to subject and task. This study tells an alternative story to research on web-based education stating difficulties to achieve in-depth communication. The mediated environment offered strength for meaning-making and knowledge building as time, in the opportunity to develop new perspective through thinking and in encountering concepts again and again. As numbers, in the necessary impact of other’s experiences. And as distance, provided by the shift of actions in asynchronous communication, forcing thoughts into written language and making them accessible for reflection and criticism. If we are serious about widening participation we should regard students not only as numbers but instead as a valuable resource that may contribute to change in education. In this context, the combination of new groups of students and web-based scenarios provides future avenues for an informed pedagogical approach to higher education.
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8. |
- Reneland-Forsman, Linda, 1962-
(author)
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A student oriented course design model for higher education
- 2017
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In: NERA 2017 Abstracts, 23-25 March 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research topic/Aim: This is a case study testing a model for designing courses and programs in Higher Education for changing, analysing and implementing student oriented course design. The model addresses processes necessary to activate to diminish the gap between what students bring to learning and course objectives.The model is the product of a fourVyear project with the aim to enhance teachers competences on student activity and support students’ knowledge building processes influencing goal fulfilment and completion rates. The model is now implemented also outside teacher training for independent courses in Pedagogy.Theoretical frameworks: The model is framed by theories of meaning making identifying three main areas of research in Higher Education Pedagogy important to address as didactic considerations when trying to make a stand against more deterministic and neoVliberal influences on education that view students as more passive recipients of knowledge. The three areas with consequences for student meaning making as course design are:Student expectations and experiencesA multimodal turnKnowledge as socially constructedMethodology/research design: This project is action research based in that sense that teachers have been researching their teaching practice constructing the preliminary empirical data (onVgoing project). GoalVfulfilment (retention rates), focusVgroups interview with students and survey data constitute this preliminary empirical data package. Courses studied are courses in preVschool teacher training (campus and flexible) and Pedagogy A (webVbased).Expected conclusions/Findings: Teaching today means spending more time geographically separated from students. We therefore need to create rich learning cultures to promote student activities, initiatives and meaning making processes. Previous research shows that students’ expectations and previous experience colour and orient their actions in a course environment. The design process therefore has to consider student attitudes to and previous expectation of content and higher education studies. At our disposal is a wide range of multimodal technology that should be used to keep student at task and not by teachers to produce knowledge object for consumption. These technologies should also be used for sharing, objectifying and discussing course content, decreasing a pedagogical distance.Here digital media and a careful communication strategy has been used to align student expectation with course managements and used for establishing an understanding for theories and common terms necessary as a foundation for reading course literature and passing exams. In one completely webVbased course 50% of the students passed the first exam compared to 29% of registered students before course development. Developed courses scored high among students in terms of stimulating creativity and critical thinking, feedVback, assessment supporting course aims and information during course.Relevance for Nordic Educational Research: This presentation wish to make a stand in favour of the concept of student oriented learning and not student centred learning. There is a difference between acting from students’ expectations and wishes and acting with student goal fulfilment in focus. A student oriented learning process in Higher Education, instead use what we know about how student learn to make sure that the learning environment offers these keyVcomponents.
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10. |
- Reneland-Forsman, Linda, 1962-
(author)
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‘Borrowed access’ : the struggle of older persons for digital participation
- 2018
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In: International Journal of Lifelong Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0260-1370 .- 1464-519X. ; 37:3, s. 333-344
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study investigates older persons' engagement with digital interfaces as one important way to social inclusion. Digital exclusion and social exclusion are intrinsically intertwined, which put older persons at risk for exclusion. To construct meaningful educational practices for inclusion, more insight is needed to understand consequences of low digital competence. Eighteen men and women (retired) have been interviewed about their everyday encounters with digital interfaces. Results show how older persons ‘borrow’ knowledge from social networks or from contacts at previous workplace, to access technology and digital practices. Data also show a common acceptance of exclusion and changes in lifestyle. These fragile chains, put together to access digital practices jeopardise social inclusion understood as autonomy and participation in society. Informants did not mention community arrangements as resources for access and knowledge, which indicate that hard work is required to promote inclusion of this group. A possible way could be using the power of informally framed learning scenarios. Society cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that groups of citizens are hindered from developing capabilities to maintain a social life, to access the health sector, to enjoy integrity and independence and cultural recreation – to live a capable life.
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