Students as partners to organize an international conference. What did they learn?

In Finland higher education system consists of both theoretical universities and universities of applied sciences (UASs). Today students in higher education institutions are encouraged to find their way and teaching and learning occurs in different environments. A scientific conference provides prerequisites for high-quality, working-life based higher education experience as well as familiarizes with research, development and innovation practices. Furthermore, an international conference offers both new possibilities to disseminate one’s research and development work and to build international co-operation and new networks. The Finnish Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (FTeHS) works on voluntary basis and needs extra help in conference building. This offers a great opportunity to cooperation with students. The recruitment criteria for the students were e.g. prior experience in conferences or equivalent, and good English language skills. The master level students, five of them, were chosen in late autumn 2017 from the two Universities of Applied sciences. The article enlightens students’ experiences related to the preparatory and execution phases of the conference. The instructions are given what the conference work is. The article describes how students are planning, realizing and evaluating the conference in collaboration with conference organizations, and simultaneously having a fruitful and many-sided learning experience. The research data was collected via meeting notes made by the student in meeting’s secretary role, students’ learning reports, emailing messages and WhatsApp messages. Article focuses on student’s learning more than teaching

To Learn How to Learn as a Subject

AbstractProblem Statement: The use of a concept like learning in policy documents for Higher Education is said to serve instrumental goals (Biesta, 2010). Who is the subject and where? The existential perspective in drama seems to represent the total opposite to instrumentality. When aiming for depth in the studies for future making professionals in a context of formal education, concepts as well as actions need to be elaborated. Research Questions: 1. How could drama pedagogy as a reference point offer an alternative interpretation of learning in Higher Education? 2. Which drama-pedagogical tools foster students to position themselves as learners and teachers of other students? Purpose of the Study: To explore features of a drama approach to research-based education and demonstrate how fostering this perspective in daily activities for teachers and students in HE enables positioning of being subjects. Research Methods: This study is undertaken by a directed analysis of literature review (Hsieh &Shannon 2005). The study is a result of a cumulative process based on our former empirical papers (Silius-Ahonen & Gustavson 2011, 2013). Findings: Demonstration through drama exposes knowledge, skills and values authentically to a reader with drama literacy. Fostering students to be able to observe and interpret professional contextual know-how requires a pedagogical design where learners can switch between the “mantle of the expert” (Heathcote, 1986) and the curious exploring child. Conclusions: We argue that the existential perspective in the arts opens up a deeper insight and a human response to other people, salient for a professional context

MOOCs as open online learning tools for developing competences related to digital health and social care services for multidisciplinary students

Digital health and social care services are increasing worldwide, and the rapidly changing nature of the world is creating a need for new competences among health and social care students and professionals. The purpose of this paper is to describe the pedagogical solutions of the SotePeda 24/7 national educational development project and to explore especially the massive open online courses (MOOCs) related to digital health and social care services as open (CC BY-SA 4.0) and flexible opportunities for developing the competence of multidisciplinary students and professionals. The data were collected via an online questionnaire from 266 Finnish University of Applied Science (UAS) students participating in the 20 MOOCs piloted during the spring 2020 semester. The majority of the participants (87.6%) came from the health and social care fields. From the 913 registrees, 562 (62%) completed the MOOCs. While piloting the MOOCS, the COVID-19 pandemic influenced heavily, and this may have increased the number of participants in the MOOCs, but also affecting the MOOCs in decreased retention and increased number of dropouts. To motivate students to actively complete the MOOCs, most were offered as 1-ECTS credit courses. Shorter study units were used as they were considered more flexible than longer ones, allowing students to find time to complete them more easily. The data were analysed using nonparametric quantitative methods. According to the results, the MOOCs were very successful in offering students flexible and open online learning opportunities and tools for developing their competences. MOOCs can potentially be efficient tools also in developing professionals’ competences and pursuing lifelong learning. There is a fruitful ground in Finland to utilize open online learning opportunities as tools for developing competences because the already wide usage of digital tools and solutions in the country

Tulevaisuuden flow

Kirja-arvostelu: Kehittyvä minuus : visioita kolmannelle vuosituhannelle / Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi : Rasalas kustannus, 2006

Maailmanpolitiikassa tarvitaan globaalia etiikkaa

Kirja-arvostelu: Maailmankansalaisen etiikka / Juha Sihvola. Helsinki, 2004

Naisten lahjakkuudesta

Kirja-arvostelu: Naislahjakkuus / Kari Uusikylä. Jyväskylä : PS-kustannus, 2008

Rauha on iso kala

Kirja-arvostelu: Anna mun kaikki kestää : sovinnon kirja / Pekka Haavisto. WSOY, 2011

Niin paljon kuuluu rakkauteen

Kirja-arvostelu: Elämme, siis kuolemme : keskustelukirjeitä / Jörn Donner & John Vikström. Helsinki, 2002. Kirja-arvostelu: Geenien tulo yhteiskuntatieteisiin / Yrjö Ahmavaara, Tatu Vanhanen : Atena. Jyväskylä, 2001.Paluu politiikkaan / Matti Wiberg : Kunnallisalan kehittämissäätiö, 2001.2002.Kirja-arvostelu: Rakkauden filosofia / Eero Ojanen. Helsinki, 2002

80000 sotalasta

Kirja-arvostelu: Sotalapsi ei unohda / (toim.) Jarmo Knuuttila, Kari Leivo. Helsinki, 2000