University students’ personal worldviews in action - perspectives on contextual experiences in two professional careers

The aim of this paper was to investigate Finnish theology students’ and teacher education students’ experiences of the learning environment provided by their faculty in relation to their personal worldview. Previous research supports the theoretical idea that religious questions are intertwined in the personal worldviews and values of students and, in turn, affect their motivational constructs. In this study, first and second-year higher education students of theology and teacher education responded to a questionnaire concerning religious or ideological perspectives on their personal worldviews and their experienced position in the learning environment as part of the religious majority or minority. According to the results, theology students experienced that their personal worldviews had affected their goals and that they were more committed to their personal worldview than teacher education students. However, teacher education students reported significantly higher certainty in career choice. Among teacher education students, male students reported more often than female students that they were committed to their personal worldview and that their personal worldview had affected their goals. The effects of personal worldview on goals and commitment to one’s personal worldview varied significantly in terms of majority, minority, and non-religious group among both teacher education students and theology students. Members of majority and minority and non-religious groups thought differently about the importance of privacy in personal perspectives on religion and spirituality. Certainty of career choice varied significantly between religious minority and majority groups only among theology students.Peer reviewe

How do learning environment experiences relate to personal worldviews among the students of theology?

Peer reviewe

Perspectives on University Students’ Self-Regulated Learning, Task-Avoidance, Time Management and Achievement in a Flipped Classroom Context

Peer reviewe

Editorial : International Perspectives on Worldviews in Education – Introduction to the Special Issue

Non peer reviewe

Experiences and outcomes of craft skill learning with a 360° virtual learning environment and a head-mounted display

Peer reviewe

Ideal vs. experienced : University teachers’ perceptions of a good university teacher and their experienced pedagogical competency

This study explores how university teachers perceive the features and characteristics of a good university teacher and how they self-evaluate their experienced pedagogical competency. Furthermore, this study explores how the experienced pedagogical competency and perceived features and characteristics of a good university teacher are related. The data were collected by a questionnaire (N=73) from two groups of university teachers: the participants and non-participants of an educational development project. The results showed that the teachers perceived a good university teacher as having a wide knowledge base, having versatile professional roles, and continuously developing their professional competency. They also self-evaluated social reflection, emotions, and active participation in teaching development as core areas of their pedagogical competency. The university teachers' perceived ideal of a good university teacher was mainly consistent with their experienced pedagogical competency, however, an emotional aspect was not perceived to include the ideal of a good university teacher. Comparing the two groups revealed differences in how the university teachers experienced their expertise as teachers. It seems that strategic educational development projects can act as gateways todevelop teaching skills through systematic development of teaching for university teachers who may not find formal university pedagogy courses suitable for them.Peer reviewe

Exploring Students' Experiences of Self-Regulated Learning during a Large Flipped Classroom Course in Teacher Education

Peer reviewe

Transforming Higher Education Teaching and Learning Environments – Introduction to the Special Issue -Editorial

Non peer reviewe

Emotions and social reflection in being and developing as a university teacher

Abstract: The purpose of this case study was to understand what kinds of emotions university teachers experience in teaching, how these emotions influence the way the teachers experience their pedagogical competency and being and developing as a teacher, and how they reflect on their teaching and teaching-related emotions. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with nine university teachers participating in an educational development project. Our results show that the teachers experienced positive, negative, and mixed teaching-related emotions and that these emotions influenced their experience of themselves as teachers and of their pedagogical competency. All teachers reflected on their teaching experiences, and most also shared and reflected on their teaching-related emotions with others. Social reflection can be a powerful tool in developing as a teacher, as it enables a personal evaluation and interpretation of teaching-related emotions and experiences. Higher education institutions should offer supportive environments for academic personnel, encouraging social reflection and providing opportunities for sharing teaching-related emotions. We found that an educational development project, in addition to more traditional staff training programs, can be a fruitful context for teachers’ pedagogical development, since it can provide opportunities for joint discussions on the application and development of pedagogical perspectives.Peer reviewe