University teachers’ digital stories of sustainable development: A method for learning to teach

In order to help teachers teach sustainability more effectively, we need more knowledge about both their understanding of suitable pedagogical methods and their own positioning in regard to sustainable development. This qualitative research focuses on how teachers see themselves as educators of sustainability and how they experience creative methods such as digital storytelling in supporting their learning. Interviews were carried out with nine university teachers during a staff training course on sustainable development and how it is best taught and learnt. Findings indicate that teachers’ positioning in regard to the teaching of sustainable development varied according to their discipline and their understanding of its four dimensions, namely ecological, social, economic and cultural. Digital storytelling thus proved to be a promising method for supporting holistic learning and teachers’ self-positioning in regard to education concerning this complex domain. However, some restrictions exist in relation to resource-taking and teachers’ need for additional support.In order to help teachers teach sustainability more effectively, we need more knowledge about both their understanding of suitable pedagogical methods and their own positioning in regard to sustainable development. This qualitative research focuses on how teachers see themselves as educators of sustainability and how they experience creative methods such as digital storytelling in supporting their learning. Interviews were carried out with nine university teachers during a staff training course on sustainable development and how it is best taught and learnt. Findings indicate that teachers’ positioning in regard to the teaching of sustainable development varied according to their discipline and their understanding of its four dimensions, namely ecological, social, economic and cultural. Digital storytelling thus proved to be a promising method for supporting holistic learning and teachers’ self-positioning in regard to education concerning this complex domain. However, some restrictions exist in relation to resource-taking and teachers’ need for additional support

Cognitively central actors and their personal networks in an energy efficiency training program

This article aims to examine cognitively central actors and their personal networks in the emerging field of energy efficiency. Cognitively central actors are frequently sought for professional advice by other actors and, therefore, they are positioned in the middle of a social network. They often are important knowledge resources, especially in emerging fields where standard knowledge exchange mechanisms are weak. By adopting a personal network approach, we identified the cognitively central participants of a one-year energy efficiency training program, studied the structure and heterogeneity of their personal networks and determined which features were relevant to achieving these cognitively central positions. At the end of the training, the social networking questionnaire was sent to 74 course participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for the six most-central actors, whose personal networks were larger than those of the other participants. These six actors differed from each other in many respects; there did not appear to be a single explanation for why these persons achieved their central positions. In conclusion, we propose that becoming a cognitively central actor is an intricate process. It cannot be explained only, for instance, by actors’ educational backgrounds, the level of their previous energy efficiency knowledge or their field of know-how. To understand this phenomenon, we must examine which organizations such people come from and how their expert profiles, which are related to their fields and competences, fit into the wider context of energy efficiency. More research is needed to determine whether the results are only typical of emerging fields

Selvitys esiopetuksen velvoittavuudesta

Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö asetti joulukuussa 2012 hallitusohjelman ja Koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen vuosien 2011–2016 kehittämissuunnitelman mukaisesti selvityshenkilöt tutkimaan esiopetuksen velvoittavuutta. Tehtävänä oli selvittää mahdollisuudet muuttaa esiopetus velvoittavaksi koko ikäluokan pedagogisesti laadukkaaseen varhaiskasvatukseen osallistumisen varmistamiseksi. Piti myös tarkastella, mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat esiopetuspalveluiden käyttämättä jättämiseen; selvittää toimenpiteet, joita esiopetuksen muuttaminen velvoittavaksi edellyttäisi sekä arvioida keskeiset esiopetuksen velvoittavuuteen liittyvät vaikutukset; vaikutukset lapsille ja heidän perheilleen, taloudelliset vaikutukset, vaikutukset valtion ja kunnallisten viranomaisten toimintaan, yhteiskunnalliset vaikutukset ja muut mahdolliset vaikutukset. Selvitys tuli luovuttaa maaliskuun loppuun mennessä. Selvitystyön perusteella esitämme, että 6-vuotiaiden esiopetus muutetaan velvoittavaksi ja koko ikäluokkaa koskevaksi. Laadukas esiopetus on kaikkien lasten perusoikeus ja erinomainen ennaltaehkäisevän kasvatustyön muoto. Esiopetus takaa hyvän perustan koulun aloittamiselle. Esiopetuksen velvoittavaksi tekemiseen pätee ”Ex post facto” -periaate, jonka mukaan käytännöt ja perusteet ovat jo olemassa; puuttuu vain itse lainsäädäntö. Esiopetuksella on oma ja erityinen keinovalikoimansa pienten lasten kasvatus- ja opetustyössä. Ajallisesti joustava ja lasten turhaa rasittamista välttävä pikkulapsipedagogiikka valmentaa lapsia myöhempää elämää varten. Selvityksessä korostetaan että kuusivuotiaiden lasten elämä ei ole kuitenkaan pelkkää valmentautumista tulevaa varten, vaan lapsuudella on ainutlaatuinen asema ihmisen elämänkulussa, jonka hyvyyttä tulee kaikin mahdollisin keinoin tukea. Pikkulapsipedagogiikka tekee mahdolliseksi joustavan koulunaloituksen. Esiopetus tuo lasten vanhemmille ja perheille hyvän tuen heidän kasvatustoiminnalleen. Vaikka esiopetuksen osallistumisaste on jo nyt korkea, niin lasten säännöllinen ja päivittäinen osallistuminen esiopetukseen vasta takaa parhaat mahdollisuudet oppimiselle ja kehittymiselle. Laadukkaan esiopetuksen paras tae on opettajakunnan pedagoginen osaaminen. Velvoittavuuden mukanaan tuoma pysyvyys tukee sitä. Selvityksen perusteella toteamme, että esiopetuksen velvoittavuudella ei ole taloudellisia vaikutuksia kunnille maksettaviin valtionosuuksiin, koska ne maksetaan jo tällä hetkellä koko kuusivuotiaiden lukumäärän mukaan. Kunnille syntyvät kustannukset arvioidaan pieniksi, koska ikäluokka osallistuu esiopetukseen jo nyt miltei kokonaisuudessaan. Esiopetukseen osallistumattomuuteen ei löydetty yksittäistä syytä, vaan 2–3 % suuruinen kato selittyy monen syyn summana. Valtaosa esiopetuksesta puuttuvista lapsista asuu isoissa kaupungeissa eikä ennakko-odotusten mukaisesti syrjäseuduilla tai haja-asutusalueilla. Koko ikäluokan kattavan esiopetuksen järjestäminen ei aiheuta suuria muutoksia myöskään viranomaisten toimintaan, koska esiopetus on jo nyt osa opetustointa. Esiopetuksen velvoittavuus lisää kunnan viranhaltijoiden mahdollisuuksia pitkäjänteiseen suunnitteluun ja ennakointiin eikä yksittäisten lasten osallistumista tarvitse enää erikseen pohtia

Mixed Methods Social Network Analysis : Theories and Methodologies in Learning and Education

In this volume, mixed methods social network analysis (MMSNA) is mainly discussed as a powerful framework for generating scientific insight. In this chapter, we aim to add a different facet to the discussion by emphasizing MMSNA’s usefulness to inform organizational decision-making and consultancy. Specifically, we give three examples of consultative approaches using MMSNA that deal with themes of leadership, organizational change, and innovation. We discuss the possibilities and limitations of this method of consulting.</p

Digital Stories Representing Agency Enhancement at Work

This case study about agency enhancement at work in a business organization is based on narrative inquiry. After a staff development project lasting 2½ years, the employees produced digital stories concerning their meaningful moments at work. Through social interactional narrative analysis, multimodal transcription, and text analysis, we examined how agency was enhanced according the narratives. Agency enhancement involved the incoherency between present cognitive models, attitudes, and practices of work compared with inner or outer expectations. Employees used lifelong experiences in their digital stories, which provided a rich source of data, including the visuals and transcripts, offering a unique vantage point for narrative analysis. These digital stories revealed the sociocultural, transformative, and situational modalities of agency enhancement as well as the relationship between epistemic selves and sociocultural bindings in the reforming of agency.</div

Forward-Looking Sustainability Agency for Developing Future Cruise Ships

The study addressed sharing of futures insights as a component of sustainability agency for long-term company enhancement in an interorganizational shipbuilders’ network. The purpose was to analyze social structures under “agency” terminology. This joint sustainability project involved a partnership of firms, academia, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) actors in collaborative cruise ship building. The study adapted a mixed method approach where social network analysis (SNA) was enriched with other contextual data to make network data more applicable and accessible. The results revealed a loose and thin network structure, with relatively high trust among network actors. The network’s social structure was found to facilitate insight sharing. Lead firm actors clearly played a central role in enhancing sustainability, and the researchers, as well as industrial association actors, made a significant contribution to insight sharing and transmission. The findings suggest that the case network would benefit from an open and balanced social structure that incorporates a number of insight brokers to enhance forward-looking sustainability agency (F-L SA). Futures insight sharing enhances agency in the context of joint sustainability actions and improves capacity to respond to systemic challenges. Understanding how proactive agency can be promoted in network settings strengthens strategic aspects of managerial practice and contributes to discourse around sustainability agency.© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Guidance in computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning: Capturing aspects of affect and teacher support in science classrooms

Technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry learning has gained a firm position in curricula across disciplines and educational settings and has become particularly pervasive in science classrooms. However, understanding of the teacher’s role in this context is limited. This study addresses the real-time shifts in focus and distribution of teachers’ guidance and support of different student groups during in-person computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning in science classrooms. Teachers’ self-perceptions of their guidance and affect were supplemented with students’ self-reported affect. A mixed-methods approach using video analyses and questionnaire data revealed differences between teacher guidance and support associated with teacher perceptions and group outcomes. Groups’ prior science competence was not found to have an effect on teacher guidance and support, rather the teachers guided the groups they perceived as motivated and willing to collaborate. Teacher affect was compounded by student affect, suggesting that consideration of the reciprocal perceptions of teachers and students is necessary in order to understand the teachers’ role in collaborative learning.</p

Student Teachers' and Experienced Teachers' Professional Vision of Students' Understanding of the Rational Number Concept

The aim of this study was to investigate differences in student teachers' and experienced teachers' professional vision in natural settings and to elicit clues of the relation of in-the-moment noticing and instruction quality of students' understanding of rational number concept. Rational number concept challenges both students and teachers because of natural number bias that learning of rational numbers is vulnerable to. Accurate professional vision and adequate instructions are needed to enhance students' understanding of rational number concept. Mobile eye-tracking technique enables video recording of natural teaching situations from a teacher's perspective with more specific information of teacher's in-the-moment noticing. Combined with cued retrospective reporting, this approach can gather more explicit evidence of teachers' professional vision and instructions. Results indicated that both student teachers and experienced teachers attended to mathematical and fraction-related aspect similarly but differed in interpreting and instructing students' fraction understanding. Student teachers made more advanced interpretations but their instructions were less adequate, whereas among experienced teachers, it was just the opposite. Furthermore, student teachers made more attempts to shared attention when using fraction understanding non-supporting instructions, whereas experienced teachers' attempts to shared attention were related to fraction understanding supporting instructions. Results indicate student teachers' difficulty to transfer pedagogical content knowledge from noticing to actions and experienced teachers to have more enhanced in-the-moment professional vision and its application to teaching. Practical implications for teacher training as well as methodological decisions of in-the-moment professional vision studies in natural settings are discussed

Now it’s Your Turn. Preschool Children’s Social and Emotional Interaction in Small Groups

There is concern over social and emotional skill development in early childhood settings. The aim of this systematic observational study was to examine children’s prosocial and problem behaviors in small group settings. Especially, we studied how gender and closeness of friendships influence on children’s group level behavior. Altogether, nine video recordings were coded to observe peer interactions among children during tablet game sessions, where all 15 participants, aged 5 and 6 years, were allocated into four-member groups. The recordings were coded with a modified version of the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scale. Social network analysis was employed to analyze the density and centrality of the interactions. Our results showed a wide variety of frequencies in different behaviors. In all, prosocial behavior was four times more typical than problem behavior, and there were more initiating than responding behaviors. Unlike prosocial behaviors, which were often verbal, most problem behaviors were nonverbal. The children interacted more actively with their best friends, and boys contributed more to both prosocial and problem behaviors than girls. A practical and concise peer interaction observation tool (PIOT) was developed for this study that can be used to follow children’s social and emotional skills in peer interactions