Preparing Students for Successful Online Intercultural Communication and Collaboration in Virtual Exchange

[ES] In the context of Virtual Exchange (VE) it is often assumed that participants will be naturally prepared to interact online successfully with their international partners. However, there is ample evidence in the literature to suggest that VE participants are usually unaware of effective communicative strategies in synchronous and asynchronous online communicative contexts. Through action research, this article investigates how teachers can provide scaffolding for both these communicative modalities in online intercultural environments. It reports on a qualitative content analysis of conversational and self-reported data from a corpus of three VEs that were collected and triangulated in order to identify when, in what areas, and in what ways students could benefit from pedagogical mentoring. The article then presents key mentoring stages and strategies that were identified and provides insight into the type of scaffolding that VE teachers can provide their students to help them achieve successful (a)synchronous online intercultural interaction

Development of an alternative shielding and fastening concept for a printed circuit board : Evaluating lean product development methods effect on knowledge and value creation to the developed concept in a R&D setting

Företag måste ständigt förbättras, testa nya tekniker och innovationer som är framgångsrika för att behålla sin plats på marknaden. Lean produktutveckling har varit en användbar process under dessa förhållanden för företag på grund av dess kunskap- och värdefokus som har lett till förkortade utvecklingstider, ökad vinst och effektivitet. Trots det stora utbudet av studier omleans stora påverkan inom produktion har färre undersökningar gjorts inom forskning ochutveckling (FoU). Det finns därför ett behov att testa lean produktutveckling praktiskt i en forskning och utvecklings miljö. Ericssons produktutvecklingsavdelning för hårdvara i Kista var beställaren av examensarbetet. Telekommunikationsmarknaden är en snabbt växande marknad där företag som Ericsson ständigt måste förbättras för att hålla sig kvar på marknaden. Ericsson har designkrav rörande vikt, installationstid och kostnad. Radioenheterna som Ericsson utvecklar består av skärmlock som skyddar kretskorten från elektromagnetiskt läckage. Skärmlocken möter dagens designkrav men för att bibehålla sin plats som ledande på marknaden finns det ett behov att förbättra produkten och öka kunskap och värde i elektromagnetisk skärmning och fästning. Syftet med detta examensarbete var därför att utveckla ett skärmlockskoncept för ett kretskort med alternativ skärmning och fästning som kunde förbättra designkraven. Projektet syftade även till att utvärdera lean produktutveckling metoder och dess effekt på kunskap och värdeskapandet på det utvecklade konceptet genom att undersöka projektet praktiskt. Projektet utfördes därför genom att processen antogs praktiskt och information gällande dess effekt på det framtagna konceptet utvärderades med hjälp av kvantitativ data från enkätundersökningar. Projekt resulterade i ett skärmlock med alternativ skärmning och fästning som förbättrade designkraven. Processen ledde även till verifiering av att lean produktutveckling kan appliceras i FoU miljöer då de har en stor positiv påverkan på kunskap och värdeskapandet för det utvecklande konceptet. Metoderna leder även till att sprida expertkunskap till utvecklarna vilket ökar kunskap och som kan komma att påverka innovationer framgång.The entire engineering enterprise is being compelled to improve. To keep a position on the fast growing market development companies have a pressure to improve and meet the evolving market by developing products with new techniques and innovations that are successful. Lean product development has been a great process and method to use during these circumstances due to the focus on knowledge and value creation. The focus has led to shortened development time, increased profits and efficiency. Less research has been done on applying lean in research and development environments (R&D) from the initial stages of concept development to the detailed development. There is therefore a need to test lean product developed practically in a R&D setting by applying the methods. The hardware department for radio remote units at Ericsson was the commissioner for this thesis. The telecommunication market is a fast growing market where companies such as Ericsson need to constantly improve in order to stay leading on the market. Ericsson has design demands regarding weight, assembly and costs in their hardware development process. The radio remote radio units consist of shielding coves protecting the painted circuit board from electromagnetic leakage. The shielding covers and their fastening mechanism meet the design demands today. There is however a need to improve in order to stay leading on the market and to continuously develop. The purpose with this master thesis was therefore to develop shieling and alternative fastening for the printed circuit board that could improve the design demands. The objective of the thesis was also to evaluate lean product development (LPD) practically and its methods effect on knowledge and value creation to the developed concept. The effect was analyzed with the help of quantitative research methods. The result of the thesis was an alternative shielding and fastening concept that improve the design demands. The thesis also showed that LPD has a great effect on knowledge and value creation to the developed concept. The method also leads to sharing expert knowledge to the design team, which can lead to great successful innovations, as the developers become the lead users. Waste is also eliminated, as the developer is not dependent on the expert

Uppfattningar av undervisning i utomhusmiljö ur elevperspektiv : Lärande och motivation

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka hur gymnasieelever uppfattar vilken betydelse undervisning i utomhusmiljö har för deras lärande och motivation. Genom att synliggöra variation i uppfattningar av undervisning i utomhusmiljö skulle det skapas förståelse för elevperspektivet i anslutning till frågor kring alternativa undervisningsmetoder som denna undervisningsform är. Metod: Uppsatsen har inspirerats av fenomenografisk ansats som syftar till att belysa variation av uppfattningar som kan finnas i en viss grupp. Uppsatsen bygger på empiriska data som insamlats genom kvalitativa, semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem respondenter, tre flickor och två pojkar, från årkurs ett på gymnasiets naturvetenskapliga program. Datamaterialet kategoriserades sedan med hjälp av fenomenografisk analys i syfte att hitta likheter och skillnader mellan elevers uppfattningar. Empiriska studien kopplades samman med litteratur, tidigare forskning och teorier som berörde fenomenet. Resultat: Resultat av undersökningen visar att undervisning i utomhusmiljö uppskattas av intervjuade elever. Eleverna ser möjligheter med undervisning i utomhusmiljö såsom fördjupade ämneskunskaper i biologi, bättre samarbete och sammanhållning bland elever, ökat lärande och motivation samt social utveckling och ökat fysisk aktivitet. De lär sig genom olika sinnen, genom verklighetsanknytning, Likväl visar studien negativa aspekter med undervisning i utomhusmiljö där lärarens kompetens kan vara en begränsning. Elevernas utsagor omfattas av tre beskrivningskategorier vilka utgör en variation av uppfattningar av vad undervisning i utomhusmiljö är. Dessa tre beskrivningskategorier utgör studiens utfallsrum och kan ses som svar på studiens frågeställningar. Slutsats: Slutsatsen utifrån studiens resultat är att utomhusmiljö har betydelse för elevers motivation och lärande då den medför en möjlighet till att samtliga sinnen stimuleras vilket gör att elever kan uppleva med hela kroppen och därmed förstå bättre det som de ska lära sig. Slutsatsen är även att undervisning i utomhusmiljö kan användas i gymnasieskolan som ett lärande komplement till klassrumsundervisning och ett sätt för gymnasielärarna att variera undervisning och därigenom motivera elever. Didaktiska implikationer: De positiva aspekterna som lyfts fram kan ha en betydelse för gymnasieskolan eftersom det leder till att undervisning i utomhusmiljö kan förstärka undervisningen i biologi då den erbjuder möjligheter till ett varierat undervisningsinnehåll. Förhoppningsvis kan studiens resultat öppna upp för gymnasielärare att fundera över att välja att använda utomhusmiljö som ett komplement till undervisning i klassrummet

Power, Politeness and Liquid Persona : Intercultural Reflection and Virtual Exchange in Teacher Education

This article explores pre-service English teachers’ self-reflections as participants in online intercultural exchange (VE). The aim is twofold: to examine participants’ perceptions of intercultural experiences in response to VE; and, to understand whether and how teacher trainees gain pedagogical insights through self-reflection situated in a cross-cultural online project. The study draws upon two iterations of exploratory research in a VE-project carried out with two cohorts of student groups. The first cycle involved students in Indonesia and Sweden, and the second cycle, a three-way collaboration, involved students in Argentina, Poland and Sweden. This article focuses on the Swedish side and examines empirical data incorporating e-diaries and interviews. A qualitative transcript analysis generated three intersecting themes: language and power, politeness, and participation through digital tools. Two theoretical constructs provide the analytical lens: persona (Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2014) and liquid interculturality (Dervin & Dirba, 2006). The findings challenge fixed notions of identity and interculturality, showing how participants engage in negotiations and fluid constructions of persona in response to perceived expectations of their interlocutors. The findings also indicate affordances of VE as a lingua franca contact zone in developing pre-service English teachers’ self-awareness and pedagogical competences

Safe/brave spaces in virtual exchange on sustainability

This article explores the potential for fostering critical intercultural and global awareness through Transnational Virtual Exchange (TVE) focused on sustainability. The study is based on a lingua franca exchange between university students in Argentina, Poland, and Sweden. A qualitative content analysis of student e-portfolios unveiled reflective dimensions construed here as safe/brave spaces, echoing Andreotti’s (2006) notion of soft versus critical global citizenship education. Using theories of critical interculturality and third space, the analysis shows potential for developing participants’ critical reflection through TVE. However, the findings also reveal how in-depth reflection is often a lonely endeavor, overshadowed by project tasks that might unintentionally steer learners toward safe topics and consensus. So far, critical reflection is an underexplored area in empirical Virtual Exchange (VE) research. Student voices in this study bring to the fore questions regarding what it means to approach global citizenship education critically through online collaboration. The findings have implications for future design of VE projects where the focus is on social change through action-oriented tasks, but where critical and dialogic reflection after the completion of a pedagogical task is the salient part

Are the future citizens motivated to be critical to sources? : – A study of students’ habits, inner motivation and societal views of critical thinking towards sources.

This is a study that has been done on students in high school trying to map out their relationship to the practice of being critical towards sources. The study is built on the world view of the importance of being critical towards sources in a democratic society. The study’s main concepts are the ability of critical assessment of sources and its place in society and students inner motivation. The relevance of critical assessment of sources in society is held as a background to legitimize the study itself. While inner motivation is used as a measuring tool to survey the students relationship to being critical towards sources. The study finds that most of the students assess sources critically at least monthly. Regarding the students inner motivation to learn critical assessment of sources, they find it more meaningful than interesting. The same can be concluded when survey the students inner motivation of assessing sources critically, that a larger portion of the group of student find it more meaningful than interesting. We find differences between different types of sources. The students social views of the assessment of being critical towards sources is that is an important ability to have

Reading the world through virtual exchange : critical interculturality and glocal awareness in English teacher education

Virtual exchange (VE) is a pedagogical approach that connects learners across borders and cultures through online communication technologies. Taking a point of departure in critical social constructivism, this thesis contributes to the VE research field by presenting a collection of studies that explore the intersections of critical interculturality, global citizenship education, and online exchange in English teacher education.  The aim is to explore ways in which VE participants navigate online cross-cultural dialogue and intercultural experiences in projects anchored in real-world issues and connected with the United Nations sustainable development goals. Furthermore, the aim is to examine what pedagogical insights pre-service teachers can gain from participating in VE, as a learning-by-doing experience for their future profession as English teachers. This approach, developed in accordance with critical virtual exchange (CVE), involves engaging the participants in inquiry, action, and reflection, where they explore a topic from multiple perspectives, collaborate with peers from different cultural backgrounds, create tangible products that demonstrate their learning, and reflect on their own assumptions, biases, and learning processes.  Through action research and analysis of participants’ self-reported data and co-created artifacts, this thesis foregrounds the role of critical reflection as interconnected with and generated from the process of collaborative design.  The findings show that, through active participation in VEs designed with a focus on global citizenship education, pre-service teachers can gain self-awareness, professional pedagogical insights, and evoke un/relearning of that which is often taken for granted in their own (educational) cultures. While shedding light on the challenges involved in transnational online collaboration, the thesis demonstrates the transformative potential of VE in teacher education, as well as the need for further research and development of this innovative pedagogical approach as a model that pre-service teachers can transfer to school contexts and explore in their own future classrooms. In an increasingly globalized, digitally advanced, and interconnected world, VE can serve as a conduit for glocalizing the curriculum and promoting internationalization at home in teacher education programs.Paper IV in dissertation as manuscript</p

“Do you feel that you have been able to try what we have read about in the book?” : Teachers’ perspectives on outdoor teaching in science.

The purpose of the study is to deepen the understanding of how teaching in the science subjects is conducted in outdoor environments in grades K-6, based on experienced teachers' percep- tions regarding the focus on opportunities, challenges and strategies, as well as what subject content is considered best suited for this form of teaching. This has been investigated using a qualitative approach through five observations at one school and seven interviews at two dif- ferent schools. The results show that biology is the subject most often taught outdoors and that the teaching has elements of spontaneity, where the teachers capture the phenomena of nature and the stu- dents' discoveries, which helps to make the teaching meaningful and engaging. Teaching con- sists largely of practical activities where students are allowed to concretize the subject content through more senses. According to the teachers, the subject content that is taught outdoors must have a clear connection to the teaching in the classroom. It also emerges that structure and recurring lesson plans are essential in order to get pupils to focus on the subject content and thus increase the opportunities for learning. Based on this, it is suggested that teachers could try taking parts of their science lessons out- doors. By starting on a smaller scale, a sense of security for the teacher can be built up over time as experience is gained. As long as outdoor learning is planned with an awareness of its purpose and how it is integrated into a wider context, and in relation to the learning that takes place indoors, stepping outside the classroom walls can be perceived as meaningful and re- warding for both pupils and teachers

Hur kan företag använda uppförandekoder, vid upphandling med leverantörer vid outsourcing, för att främja hållbarhet i hela försörjningskedjan?

I och med den ökade globaliseringen och att företag blir allt större har de fått ett ökat ansvar för hela sin försörjningskedja och en större fokus på hållbar utveckling. Uppstår det någon typ av skandal i kedjan är det oftast huvudföretaget som får stå för skulden, därmed har företag börjat införa så kallade uppförandekoder. Koderna är dokument med riktlinjer och krav inom hållbar utveckling som företagen vill att deras leverantörer ska följa. De införs vid upphandlingen med leverantörerna och kan antingen vara ett muntligt eller skriftligt avtal som medföljs i kontraktet. Många företag har arbetat med hållbar utveckling länge men uppförandekoder är något de har börjat införa då det är något som har blivit allt mer populärt under den senaste tiden. Många företag bygger sina koder på internationella organisationer så som ILO, OECD samt mänskliga rättigheter. Teorin påpekar även att för att koderna ska vara effektiva bör det utföras någon form av uppföljning, så som kontroll av leverantörernas fabriker. Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka hur företag använder koderna med sina leverantörer när de arbetar globalt och om koderna kan bidra till hållbar utveckling. Studiens frågeställning är därför följande: Hur kan företag använda uppförandekoder, vid upphandling med leverantörer vid outsourcing, för att främja hållbar utveckling? För att besvara frågeställningen intervjuades två stora globala svenska företag som både arbetar med koder och har en etablerad hållbarhetsstrategi. Resultatet av undersökningen visade att företagen använder koderna i sina kontrakt vid upphandlingen med leverantörerna för att säkerställa att de ansvarar för hela sin kedja och försöker bidra till hållbar utveckling. En slutstas som kunde dras var att koderna i sig inte främjar eller bidrar direkt till hållbar utveckling. Koderna är en grund och ett första steg till hur företag skall kunna arbeta och främja hållbarhet i hela produktionskedjan. Hållbar utveckling nås först när en uppföljning av koderna utförs. Följs inte koderna upp blir det bara en pappersprodukt. Undersökningen påvisade även att det är viktigt att företagen vid upphandlingen även påpekar vikten av uppföljningarna och att de inte ska ses som något negativt utan som ett förbättringsarbete. Det är även något leverantörerna själva borde arbete med och därför skulle det vara bra om företagen kunde hjälpa dem med att starta upp ett eget förbättringsarbete.The increased globalization and the fact that companies are becoming larger has led to the pressure of that companies must take responsibility for their whole supply chain and focus more on sustainable development. If there are any problems within the supply chain the blame and responsibility will be on the head company and not the suppliers. Therefore companies have started to work with codes of conduct. The codes are documents which contain guidelines, requirements and demands, containing sustainability questions, which the supplier must agree to follow to become a supplier. The codes are introduced in the contract and can either be negotiated orally or written in an appendix in the contract. The investigated companies use the codes in their contract as an appendix. Many companies have been working with sustainable development for a long time but the codes are something that has become more popular during the last years. Many companies base their codes on international organizations such as ILO and OECD and also human rights. The theories of this study even show that the code itself is not enough, therefore companies must perform some kind of audit. The aim of this study is to investigate how companies use the codes with their suppliers when they have a global supply chain and network and if the codes can contribute to sustainable development. The main question of this study is: How can codes of conduct, when negotiating with suppliers when outsourcing, contribute to sustainable development? To answer the questions two global Swedish companies were interviewed, they both work with the codes and have an established sustainability strategy. The results from the investigation showed that the companies use the codes in the contract when negotiating with the suppliers to certain that they are taking their responsibility and trying to contribute to sustainable development. One conclusion of the study is that the codes don’t directly contribute to sustainable development itself. The codes are a first step to how companies should work with sustainability in their supply chain. Sustainable development is first achieved when the company makes an audit. Without the audits the codes would just be paperwork. Another conclusion is that when negotiating with the suppliers focus should also be on point out that the audits are very important. They should not be associated as negative but as a way of improving their work. It is something that the suppliers themselves should work with and the companies should therefore try to help the suppliers with some kind of support of how to start this action