Learning, tablet, culture : coherence?

This paper presents understandings of learning in schools where Internet-enabled Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are taken for granted. The context is a full-scale 1:1 tablet project in Danish municipality schools where this study bring forward expressions of learning from one class (12-13 year old children) in order to offer interpretations of how the learning is possible to relate to the use of the tablet and the municipality intentions of changing the teaching and learning culture. The aim is a deeper understanding of learning and the learning-tablet relation. The qualitative research involves asking learners to describe learning with the help of their own pictures of learning situations. The learners' expressions of 'what learning is' are related to tablet use and municipality intentions of developing teaching and learning. Five themes show how the learners express learning, in coherence with the municipality's intentions. Key learning outcomes are related to this coherence and to the fact that learners use tablets in 55% of all expressed learning.Originally included in thesis in manuscript form </p

Analysis of the Digital Transformation of Society and its Impact on Young People’s Lives

Executive Summary This paper aims to offer some analytical and strategic implications regarding the digital transformation of society and its impact on young people’s lives. The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersection between young people’s lives and the digital transformation of society, incorporating the purpose of enhancing social inclusion. In order to do so, 16 different policies, mainly from the Council of Europe and the European Union were selected and analysed. From the analysis, conducted in a way that the underlying or explicitly interpreted problems in specific policies are made visible, four main themes were derived. The themes focus on understanding the digitalisation through perspectives on technology, explaining the understanding of isolated or integrated attitudes, and bringing forward the broad palette of instruments that are offered through national policies to support readiness for the ongoing digitalisation. Moreover, the example of digital youth work is used to understand transformation of organisations. The themes generated two main implications, also considered as outcomes or syntheses. The first implication is understood from leadership and governance perspectives. It implies that the understandings of, and support to, the relation between various levels of decision making and participation, described as chains of command, can be one starting point in supporting digital transformation. More specifically, it can be a mapping of and a more profound understanding of chains of command in national, regional and local contexts. This can be helpful in order to know to whom the ‘right type of questions’ should be addressed, or possibly to discover ‘bottle-necks’ that hamper or block digital transformation. To analyse chains of command may also reveal how different levels of decision-making cooperate and the dialogues between them. This may be useful for instance in order to form or align to various national or international strategies or to understand if and how young people can access services or decision-making processes. All with the ambition to develop transformation readiness, resulting in a situation where young people can access the ‘right information at the right time’ and being able to choose when to use technologies or not. The second implication focus on context-based negotiations of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). More specifically, and to highlight the importance to contextualise ambitions for digital transformation, it means that a deeper understanding of e.g. ‘small decisions’ in everyday work that ‘really matters’ need more attention. The assumption is based on the fact that the use of ICTs in e.g. various organisations today is a result of step-by-step developments throughout history, due to factors like different needs, knowledge, political, economic and technological structures, trends etc. This can for example raise questions that, if social inclusion is the purpose, engage in discussing how ICTs are used in relation to specific purposes and in what sense they may support the view of social inclusion. Hence, can the use of ICTs alter viewpoints of social inclusion, or can viewpoints of social inclusion alter viewpoints on how ICTs should be used? The final conclusion of the paper suggests an integrated attitude between the governance and leadership perspective of transformation readiness and the perspective of context-based negotiations that may result in the ‘small decisions’ of everyday work, including the situation where individuals can choose when to use technologies or not, and the purposes of which they are used for. The result of the integration between perspectives can be seen as a constructive meaning or even an alignment between e.g. users and decision makers; policy and practice; or international and local viewpoints, in this paper with the purpose of enhancing social inclusion

Analysis of the Digital Transformation of Society and its Impact on Young People’s Lives

Executive Summary This paper aims to offer some analytical and strategic implications regarding the digital transformation of society and its impact on young people’s lives. The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersection between young people’s lives and the digital transformation of society, incorporating the purpose of enhancing social inclusion. In order to do so, 16 different policies, mainly from the Council of Europe and the European Union were selected and analysed. From the analysis, conducted in a way that the underlying or explicitly interpreted problems in specific policies are made visible, four main themes were derived. The themes focus on understanding the digitalisation through perspectives on technology, explaining the understanding of isolated or integrated attitudes, and bringing forward the broad palette of instruments that are offered through national policies to support readiness for the ongoing digitalisation. Moreover, the example of digital youth work is used to understand transformation of organisations. The themes generated two main implications, also considered as outcomes or syntheses. The first implication is understood from leadership and governance perspectives. It implies that the understandings of, and support to, the relation between various levels of decision making and participation, described as chains of command, can be one starting point in supporting digital transformation. More specifically, it can be a mapping of and a more profound understanding of chains of command in national, regional and local contexts. This can be helpful in order to know to whom the ‘right type of questions’ should be addressed, or possibly to discover ‘bottle-necks’ that hamper or block digital transformation. To analyse chains of command may also reveal how different levels of decision-making cooperate and the dialogues between them. This may be useful for instance in order to form or align to various national or international strategies or to understand if and how young people can access services or decision-making processes. All with the ambition to develop transformation readiness, resulting in a situation where young people can access the ‘right information at the right time’ and being able to choose when to use technologies or not. The second implication focus on context-based negotiations of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). More specifically, and to highlight the importance to contextualise ambitions for digital transformation, it means that a deeper understanding of e.g. ‘small decisions’ in everyday work that ‘really matters’ need more attention. The assumption is based on the fact that the use of ICTs in e.g. various organisations today is a result of step-by-step developments throughout history, due to factors like different needs, knowledge, political, economic and technological structures, trends etc. This can for example raise questions that, if social inclusion is the purpose, engage in discussing how ICTs are used in relation to specific purposes and in what sense they may support the view of social inclusion. Hence, can the use of ICTs alter viewpoints of social inclusion, or can viewpoints of social inclusion alter viewpoints on how ICTs should be used? The final conclusion of the paper suggests an integrated attitude between the governance and leadership perspective of transformation readiness and the perspective of context-based negotiations that may result in the ‘small decisions’ of everyday work, including the situation where individuals can choose when to use technologies or not, and the purposes of which they are used for. The result of the integration between perspectives can be seen as a constructive meaning or even an alignment between e.g. users and decision makers; policy and practice; or international and local viewpoints, in this paper with the purpose of enhancing social inclusion

Inramning av upplevda värden av utbildning : när perspektiv på lärande och IKT är relaterade

This thesis offers dialogue about the relations between learning and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The dialogue is guided by the question of how to design education to increase perceived values of learning. It pays attention to how learners approach learning availabilities in various learning settings based on learners’ perceived values of learning. The aim is to understand the perceived values of learning in order to reflect its relation to ICTs. The field of learning is understood from the perspectives of formal, non-formal and informal learning. The field of ICTs is understood from the perspectives of information, communication and technology. The perspectives of learning and ICTs are chosen as a way to understand them by ‘going back to basics’ to find an origin or a point of departure for reinterpreting and understanding them. This approach has influenced the presentation of the thesis and how it is structured so that dialogic and interpretive research opens up dialogic spaces for reflections regarding the relations between learning and ICTs. Two studies in two different education systems, formal and non-formal, are included in the thesis work. The data are collected via qualitative methods such as photo interviews and individual and group interviews in which learners’ expressions of learning are in focus. The approach of the included articles that present the two studies was to first understand learning and then relate it to the understanding, potential and use of ICTs. The results and contributions from the articles are summarised via the three perspectives of the perceived values of learning, the relations between learning and ICTs and the influences of perceived values of learning. The theoretical tools, pedagogical attitude and positioning of ICTs guide the discussions and analysis of these perspectives towards the conclusions of the thesis work. The reader of the thesis can expect a journey along a winding road, which both addresses and involves policies’ and researchers’ implications and conceptions of learning and education. A framework for the perceived values of education when perspectives of learning and ICTs are related is considered to represent the understanding of the coherent whole of the thesis work. Three main contributions of the thesis work are put forth. The first contribution is the framework for perceived values of education, or the perceived value framework (PVF). The second contribution is the understanding of perceived values of learning. The third contribution is the specific photo interviews about learning situations that is considered to be a contribution to already existing methods such as photo-eliciting (Cappello, 2005) and stimulated recall (Haglund, 2003).

Learning in non-formal education : is it “youthful” for youth in action?

This article offers insights into the practices of a non-formal education programme for youth provided by the European Union (EU). It takes a qualitative approach and is based on a case study of the European Voluntary Service (EVS). Data were collected during individual and focus group interviews with learners (the EVS volunteers), decision takers and trainers, with the aim of deriving an understanding of learning in non-formal education. The research questions concerned learning, the recognition of learning and perspectives of usefulness. The study also examined the Youthpass documentation tool as a key to understanding the recognition of learning and to determine whether the learning was useful for learners (the volunteers). The findings and analysis offer several interpretations of learning, and the recognition of learning, which take place in non-formal education. The findings also revealed that it is complicated to divide learning into formal and non-formal categories; instead, non-formal education is useful for individual learners when both formal and non-formal educational contexts are integrated. As a consequence, the division of formal and non-formal (and possibly even informal) learning creates a gap which works against the development of flexible and interconnected education with ubiquitous learning and mobility within and across formal and non-formal education. This development is not in the best interests of learners, especially when seeking useful learning and education for youth (what the authors term "youthful" for youth in action).Originally published in thesis in manuscript form with title: "Non-formal learning: 'youthful' or 'youthless' for youths in action?"</p

Skolledarskap i Sverige : en forskningsöversikt 2014–2018

The purpose of this research overview is to understand the main contemporary research objects that characterizes the research field of school leadership in Sweden. Published literature within the field between 2014 and 2018 together with a mapping of research interests from 99 university teachers in the state funded education programme for principals, form the understandings of the field. The results indicate that the field is constituted by the interests of foremost understanding governance, policy, inspection and school leaders work and pedagogical leadership. A need of systems thinking, investigations of skills and competences, and lack of critical research are examples that calls for new directions in future studies within the field

Learning Situations : Learning and the Use of Mobile Technology from a Learners Perspective

What is learning from the learners’ point of view and how does this relate to the use of mobile technology? Young learners (6-14 years old) created own photos of learning situations, which served as premise in a qualitative research approach. Explorative conversations and photo-based group interviews were used as methods. Inspired by the methods Stimulated Recall and Photo Eliciting, a total of 283 photos were taken by the learners including 21 group interviews generated individual statements and utterances from 207 pupils in Scandinavian schools (K-9). The authors are especially interested in discussing the methodology, a section that could be seen as fairly unorthodox in some research communities, since this workshop paper contributes with awareness and discussion about research methods in which young people have an important role as co-producers of knowledge.

Exploring visual method in the field of educational leadership : Co-creating understandings of educational leadership and authority in school organisations

This paper contributes to method development in educational leadership research. The focus is on a visual method and the inclusion of visual material in data collection and analysis. Core concepts in this paper are educational leadership, power and authority. The method was used in face-to-face interviews in a research project that studied the steering and governing in, and of, Swedish schools. The method enhances verbal narratives when informants reason and motivate their understandings of positions, relations and hierarchies within the organisations. We found that using visual material encouraged informants to reason and problematise formalised leader positions, their relations and the hierarchies that appear. The method helps to visualise the informants’ understandings of the power distribution within the organisation depending on whether positions are described as distant or close, horizontal or vertical. The method made the informants take a stand on complex matters, reflect, and gain insights about their organisations. It provided us, as researchers, with rich data material. By making subjective understandings visual, implicit assumptions were made explicit. This could challenge the knowledge on existing leadership and power norms within educational organisations, and most likely in other forms of organisations as well

Foundations For a Tablet-Mediated Learning Culture : CSCL in Education with regard to Learners' Perspective of What Learning is

What is learning from the learners' point of view and how does this relate to the use of tablets? Young learners (6-14 years old) created own photos of learning situations, which served as premise in a qualitative research approach. Explorative conversations and photo-based group interviews were used as methods. Inspired by the methods Stimulated Recall and Photo Eliciting, a total of 283 photos were taken by the learners including 21 group interviews generated individual statements and utterances from 207 pupils in Scandinavian schools (K-9). Seven themes from [5] show the children’s view on "what learning is" with respect to their definitions of learning situations and then related to the use of tablets With the seven themes as a starting point, the authors are especially interested in discussing foundations for tablet-mediated learning cultures and its relation to CSCL in education