A didactical design perspective on teacher presence in an international online learning community

This paper is based on a study of the student learning experience in a particular module of an international Masters programme that included a large element of online learning. It builds on earlier work which highlighted the importance of design and development of social infrastructure for supporting the development of an online learning community by revisiting the data from the perspective of a didactical design framework. The overall aims of this study are to consider how, as teachers, we designed and developed teacher presence and how this was achieved in practice from the design of teaching-studying-learning processes through development to interaction in the online learning community

Systemic design of an Idea Zone at a science center.

In this working paper we bring key systems and cybernetics ideas to the design of an Idea Zone in a large regional science center. Most notably, we bring the ecology and systems approaches of Gregory Bateson and the cybernetic systems designapproachesofRanulphGlanville,tothisevolvingdesign project and explore how our learning from this particular case may also inform more general systemic design principles. This includes issues of context at many levels, movement across boundaries, as well as the importance of the design of a communicationprocessforthedesignofanIdeaZon

Music as an agent to human development: a systems approach

Human beings are uniquely rhythmic beings — without rhythm there is no life. From conception to death the human being is embedded in rhythmic patterns and pulsations. Patterns of biological and personal functioning represent the everchanging rhythmical dance of life. This article will discuss the connections between the structural and functional components of the individual and music. The dynamic processes observed in the interactions between the human being and music in various contexts lead to an understanding of the dynamics of developmental outcomes which are never a steady hum, but rather symphonic

Supporting Collaborative Reflection at Work: A Socio-Technical Analysis

This study presents an analysis of a tool that supports collaborative reflection at work. So far, research has focused on individual reflection or reflection in an educational context. Therefore, little is known about designing support for collaborative reflection at work. In four studies that use an application for collaborative reflection support, built based on prior empirical work, the paper presents an analysis of the ways workers used the tool for collaborative reflection. The analysis was based on log data and material from interviews and observations. The results show that there were different ways in which people used the application and that the impact of using it differed among groups. Besides positive effects, open issues in reflection support emerged. The paper presents insights on and design challenges for collaborative reflection support and potential solutions for these challenges. The findings are related to a model of collaborative reflection support and they emphasize that such support needs to be understood as socio-technical in nature if it is to succeed in practice. Finally, the study proposes designs for further work on tools supporting collaborative reflection

On the development of textual competence in primary education

The aim of this article is to present the results of an action research project, which has been put into practice in Primary Education. This project was intended to develop students’ textual competence, considering both comprehension and textual production. Our starting hypothesis was that teaching the schematisation of text types, focusing on linguistic devices that underlie text production, would promote the development of textual competence, leading to the production of more coherent and cohesive texts. In order to test this hypothesis we implemented the project in three phases. First, before the intervention, we collected texts produced by the students. Secondly, we implemented a didactic program designed to develop students’ textual competence. Lastly, after the intervention, we collected students’ texts once again. Data was analyzed according to categories that confer cohesion and coherence to different types of texts. Narrative, descriptive, and explanatory texts were assessed in terms of 1) building an autonomous text; 2) hierarchisation of information, and 3) textual organisation. Overall, results indicate that students developed their text conceptualisations, their understanding of the different structures of texts, and produced better writing. Indeed, their written work shows a marked progression from the beginning of the intervention program to the end of the program.RESUMO. O objectivo deste artigo é apresentar os resultados de um projecto de investigação-acção posto em prática no ensino básico. Este projecto pretendia desenvolver a competência textual dos alunos, em termos de compreensão e de produção de textos. A nossa hipótese inicial era a de que o ensino da esquematização de tipos de texto centrada nas marcas linguísticas subjacentes à produção textual promoveria o desenvolvimento da competência textual, levando à produção de textos mais coerentescoesos. Para testar esta hipótese, implementámos o projecto em três fases. Primeiro, antes da intervenção, coligimos textos produzidos pelos alunos. Numa segunda fase, implementámos um programa didáctico destinado a desenvolver a competência textual dos alunos. Finalmente, após a intervenção, voltámos a coligir textos dos alunos. Os dados foram analisados de acordo com uma categorização que confere coesão e coerência a diferentes tipos de texto. Os textos narrativos, descritivos e explicativos foram avaliados em termos de 1) construção de um texto autónomo; 2) hierarquização da informação, e 3) organização textual. De uma maneira geral, os resultados indicam que os alunos desenvolveram as suas conceptualizações textuais e o seu conhecimento sobre as diferentes estruturas textuais, e produziram textos melhores. De facto, os seus trabalhos escritos evidenciam um progresso evidente do início para o fim do programa de intervenção

Completeness of the description of manipulation and mobilisation techniques in randomized controlled trials in neck pain:A review using the TiDieR checklist

Study design: A secondary analysis of a systematic review. Background: Manipulations or mobilizations are commonly used interventions in patients with mechanical neck pain. The treatment effects have often been studied in randomized controlled trials (RCT) which are generally considered the gold standard in evaluating the treatment effects, mainly due to its high internal validity. External validity is defined as the extent to which the effects can be generalised to clinical practice. An important prerequisite for this is that interventions used in clinical trials can be replicated in clinical practice. It can be questioned if interventions utilized in randomized controlled trials can be translated into clinical practice. Objectives: The overall aim of this study is to examine whether the quality of the description of manipulation and mobilization interventions is sufficient for to replication of these interventions in clinical practice. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed. Two independent researchers used the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) which is a 12-item checklist for describing the completeness of the interventions. Results: Sixty-seven articles were included that used manipulation and/or mobilization interventions for patients with mechanical neck pain. None of the articles describe the intervention e.g. all the items on the TIDieR list. Considering item 8 (a-f) of the TIDieR checklist only one article described the used techniques completely. Conclusion: Manipulation or a mobilization interventions are poorly reported in RCTs, which jeopardize the external validity of RCTs, making it difficult for clinicians and researchers to replicate these interventions

Knowledge Management, Information Technology and Learning in Construction Projects

ICT (Information and Communication Technology) usage in construction is limited when compared with other industries. This may be due to the unique characteristics of the construction industry and the tendency for late take-up of ICT solutions. The amount and diversity of information created and referenced during a typical construction project is considerable. Most people working in the construction business have been involved in projects where costs have enormously exceeded the budget, where timetables have caused problems, and where the end results have been useless or even unhealthy for people. The KM (Knowledge Management) in construction projects fails, and there is no commitment to improve the process even if productivity in the industry is very low compared to other industries. Construction professionals work in complex and heterogeneous networks of human beings and various artefacts. Productive participation in knowledge-intensive work requires that both individual professionals and their communities and organisations continuously transform their practices, develop new competencies, advance their knowledge and understanding, as well as produce innovations and create new knowledge. This present thesis is a case study conducted within the Prolab project in Vaasa University. This study deals with the issues and problems of knowledge management in construction projects. The focus is in construction ICT and solutions that have emerged in this field. There are five published articles that relate to these themes. The empirical part for this study comes from the Prolab project interviews in five demanding public construction projects. The informants were project stakeholders; end-users of the buildings, such as nurses and teachers; architects and special designers; as well as project managers and contractors. My conclusions are that the knowledge processing tools are in use but they are not used in as centralized or intelligent way as they could be. It seems that the solutions are not interoperable because of technical problems. In addition, I found problems related to inefficient information flow, lack of communication and project participants not being ready to utilize the modern technologies, as well as to the lack of centralised KM strategy. In order to improve the process, construction companies must integrate learning with dayto-day work processes in such a way that they not only share knowledge but also provide access to knowledge at any level. The knowledge portal systems that include BIM (Building Information Modelling) operations and perceive user and business requirements are one way to innovative project management systems. Continual discussion between customer and the application provider is necessary for the best results.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Facilitating the emancipation of the learner

Learner independency focuses on the learner’s ability to take responsibility for and to manage his/her learning processes. But this conceptualisation lacks an important component, namely the consideration of the learner’s movement towards becoming an emancipated learner, demonstrating a high degree of agency with a thorough meta-cognitive grasp of the quality of his/her actions. This article presents a theoretical basis for the process of learner emancipation and describes a model for conceptualising such processes. The model operationalises learning in terms of learner actions. Learner action is considered a function of theorising and practice, and four classes of learner action are distinguished, namely the actions of a consultant, a theorist, a practitioner and an entrepreneur. Examples from existing courses in Psychology illustrate how the core tenets of the model can be operationalised in practice

Gray areas inside black boxes: Tracing actor-networks and ethics in professional design practice

In this study, I analyze professional designers’ experiences of exercising agency and enacting ethics in design practice. This research is based on a focus group and a series of individual interviews with design and technology practitioners at technology companies and design consultancies. First, based on grounded theory analysis, I present a thematic analysis of ethical issues in professional design practice and the mitigating strategies used by designers. Second, based on actor-network theory (ANT), I present three vignettes to describe the human and nonhuman networks of professional designers and how they increase agency and ethics in design. The contributions of this work include an application of actor-network theory to professional design practice, an empirical account of the human and nonhuman networks of professional design practice, and descriptions of how agency and ethical responsibility are distributed and shared across humans and nonhumans