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This study investigates the question of how Engineering education in the Nordic region responds to the challenge of educating future engineers who are ready for professional practice in a digital world. Particular interest is put on identifying who is responsible for the implementation of digital knowledge and what and how subject content is addressed. Our study draws on Bernstein’s pedagogical device model (Bernstein, B. 2002. “Editorial: Basil Bernstein’s Theory of Social Class, Educational Codes and Social Control.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 23 (4): 525–526). The study focuses on the questions of if/how digital transformation leads to change of engineering education content and/or pedagogical approaches. Narratives of 20 university teachers have been collected and analysed. Findings reveal three areas of consideration; there is a connection between how digital knowledge is valued and how the subject is introduced in engineering education, differences in digital knowledge can be linked to the generation gap and, universities are seldom seen as the driving force for digital innovation. It is concluded that education must reflect on the purpose for which digitalisation takes place, continuous training targeting digital transformation should be offered to senior teachers and, universities need to provide increased focus and dedicated time for educational development., QC 20231215

In Sweden, there have been multiple large scale interventions to support compulsory school teachers generally and within specific subjects. Due to the costs associated with such interventions it is critical that interim evaluation measures exist which can indicate potential success. Additionally, evaluation measures which can measure the actual impact of interventions relative to their intended aim are also needed as validation tools. The Swedish regional 'Tekniklyftet' or 'Boost of Technology' project which ran from 2011 to 2013 is presented here as a case study exploring evaluation measures for educational interventions in technology education. Three different evaluation approaches were used as measures of the intended outcomes of the intervention. These included (1) analysing the preconditions which exist in schools for teachers of Technology, (2) analysing the use of local long term technology education planning documents (school work plans) developed during the intervention, and (3) analysing the potential change over time in student performance in Technology based on national grades at the end of compulsory school. The findings gained from each approach indicate that the Boost of Technology project was a success. However, there were shortcomings associated with each approach. They are therefore discussed in the Swedish context with the intention to support future international stakeholders in the evaluation of interventions aspiring to develop technology education., QC 20181008

QC 20170425

This paper engages with how students use multimodality on mobile devices as support for school assignments. The broader aim of this pilot study is to explore understanding of teachers' and students' expressed experiences of students' multimodal mobile use. Focus group interviews and multimodal analysis have allowed investigation of the following research questions: - What experiences do teachers and students express from students' multimodal mobile use related to school assignments? - Which advantages and disadvantages have teachers and students expressed concerning students' multimodal mobile use as support for school assignments? The results show that students and teachers have many different experiences of students' multimodal mobile use related to school assignments. However, the use is limited in several ways. To a large extent teachers and students have expressed that multimodal mobile resources can be used advantageously by students to support school assignments for several purposes. Among disadvantages identified mobile device multimodality in some respects can be disruptive. The result also indicates that different multimodal mobile media have specific possibilities for supporting students' learning as it is related to school assignments., QC 20210510

Computing and computers are introduced in school as important examples of technology, sometimes as a subject matter of their own, and sometimes they are used as tools for other subjects. All in all, one might even say that learning about computing and computers is part of learning about technology. Lately, many countries have implemented programming in their curricula as a means to address society’s dependence on, and need for programming knowledge and code. Programming is a fairly new school subject without educational traditions and, due to the rapid technological development, in constant change. This means that most programming teachers must decide for themselves what and how to teach. In this study, programming teachers’ teaching is studied. With the aim of exploring the connection/possible gap between teacher’s intentions and the teacher’s instructional practice, an expansion of the conceptual apparatus of phenomenography and variation theory is tested. In the article, phenomenography and variation theory and the suggested supplementary theoretical tool (Georg Henrik von Wright’s model of logic of events) are briefly presented and then deployed upon one selected case. Findings reveal that teachers’ intentions (reflected in their actions) include an emphasis (of teachers’ side) on the importance of balancing theory and practice, using different learning strategies, encouraging learning by trial-and-error and fostering collaboration between students for a deeper understanding of concepts. In conclusion, logic of events interpretations proves to be useful as a complementary tool to the conceptual apparatus of phenomenography., QC 20160609

Transparency regarding criteria for success in assessment processes is challenging for most teachers. The context of this study is primary school technology education. With the purpose to establish what criteria for success teachers put forward during the act of assessment, think-aloud protocols were collected from five primary teachers during an assessment act. Results are based on content analysis of think-aloud protocols and quantitative measures of reliability in order to ascertain teachers’ motives for decision-making when assessing Year 5 pupils’ multimodal e-portfolios. Findings show consensus among these teachers, focusing on the execution of the task in relation to the whole, rather than to particular pieces of student work. The results confirm the importance of task design, where active learning in combination with active tutoring is an integral part, including provision of time and space for pupils to finish their work., QC 20150901

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate what are perceived to be the main challenges associated with the integration of social sustainability into engineering education at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Design/methodology/approach - Semi-structured interviews were conducted with programme leaders and teachers from four engineering programmes. The paper focuses on how the concept of social sustainability is defined and operationalised in the selected engineering programmes, how social sustainability is integrated and taught, and what resources are required to support teachers and programme leaders as social sustainability educators. Findings - The findings show that programme leaders and teachers at KTH struggle to understand the concept of social sustainability. The vague and value-laden nature of the concept is considered a challenge when operationalising educational policy goals on social sustainability into effective learning outcomes and activities. A consequence is that the responsibility for lesson content ultimately falls on the individual teacher. Study visits and role-play are seen as the most effective tools when integrating social sustainability into the engineering curriculum. Allocation of specific resources including supplementary sustainability training for teachers and economic incentives are considered crucial to successful integration of social sustainability. The findings indicate that social sustainability education needs to be built on a theoretical foundation. It is therefore suggested that a literature canon be established that clarifies the contours of social sustainability. Practical implications - The findings of the paper can be used as a basis for discussion regarding measures for improving social sustainability training in engineering education, a subject which has attracted relatively little attention, to date. Originality/value - There is a noticeable lack of empirical research on how technical universi, QC 20150930

This paper engages with how students use multimodality on mobile devices as support for school assignments. The broader aim of this pilot study is to explore understanding of teachers’ and students’ expressed experiences of students’ multimodal mobile use. Focus group interviews and multimodal analysis have allowed investigation of the following research questions: - What experiences do teachers and students express from students’ multimodal mobile use related to school assignments? - Which advantages and disadvantages have teachers and students expressed concerning students’ multimodal mobile use as support for school assignments? The results show that students and teachers have many different experiences of students’ multimodal mobile use related to school assignments. However, the use is limited in several ways. To a large extent teachers and students have expressed that multimodal mobile resources can be used advantageously by students to support school assignments for several purposes. Among disadvantages identified mobile device multimodality in some respects can be disruptive. The result also indicates that different multimodal mobile media have specific possibilities for supporting students’ learning as it is related to school assignments., QC 20210511

QC 20160404

QC 20170508

This paper engages with how students use multimodality on mobile devices as support for school assignments. The broader aim of this pilot study is to explore understanding of teachers' and students' expressed experiences of students' multimodal mobile use. Focus group interviews and multimodal analysis have allowed investigation of the following research questions: - What experiences do teachers and students express from students' multimodal mobile use related to school assignments? - Which advantages and disadvantages have teachers and students expressed concerning students' multimodal mobile use as support for school assignments? The results show that students and teachers have many different experiences of students' multimodal mobile use related to school assignments. However, the use is limited in several ways. To a large extent teachers and students have expressed that multimodal mobile resources can be used advantageously by students to support school assignments for several purposes. Among disadvantages identified mobile device multimodality in some respects can be disruptive. The result also indicates that different multimodal mobile media have specific possibilities for supporting students' learning as it is related to school assignments. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2015., Export Date: 23 September 2015

In this article, the development of the Swedish informatics curriculum during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990sis studied and described. The study’s design is inspired by the curriculum theory presented by Lindensj¨oand Lundgren [2000], who suggest using the concept of arenas (the arenas of enactment, transformationand realisation) when discussing curriculum development. Data collection in this study comprises activitiesand actors in the arenas of enactment and transformation. Collected data include contemporary articles,journals, reports, booklets, government documents and archived documents. Findings show that informaticseducation in Sweden evolved from primarily focusing on programming knowledge related to automatic dataprocessing and offered exclusively in vocational education (the 1960s and 1970s) to later (early 1980s) beingintroduced in the upper secondary school curriculum under the heading Datakunskap. The enactment of theinformatics curriculum in 1983 encompassed programming, system development and computing in relationto applied sciences and civics. Mathematics teachers did much of the experimental work. It is shown that thecompetencies of upper secondary school teachers at the time rarely corresponded to the demands of the subject(content knowledge, resources and pedagogical skills). Stereotypical examples were therefore developedto support teachers in instructing about the subject content. When implemented in the theoretical naturalscience-programme, system development/systemisation was transformed into a twofold issue, comprisingvocational attributes and societal aspects of computer programming. The implementation of today’s informaticseducation, including programming in the curriculum, should draw from lessons learned from history.For a successful outcome, this study emphasises the necessity to understand 1) the common incentives forintroducing computer programming in the curriculum, 2) the requirement for teachers’ pedagogical contentknowledge and 3) the st, QC 20150227

In recent years, significant efforts have been made at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm to integrate sustainable development in the university’s Bachelor and Master education. However, a self-evaluation study carried out in 2012 showed that many programme coordinators and teachers at KTH still struggle with how to integrate social sustainability in their programmes. Based on interviews with programme coordinators at four engineering programmes at KTH we analyse what are perceived to be the main challenges associated with integration of social sustainability in the university’s engineering education. The paper reports on data acquired through the interviews, focusing on three questions: (1) How is the concept of social sustainability defined and operationalized in the selected engineering programmes? (2) How is social sustainability taught in the selected engineering programmes (learning objectives, teaching methods, pedagogical strategies/tools)? (3) What resources (training efforts, material/tools, etc.) are (according to the informants) required in order to support teachers and programming coordinators in their professional roles as (social) sustainability educators?, QC 20140219

This book presents the scientifi c output of the TUFF research school in Sweden. In this school, a group of active teachers worked together on a series of educational research studies. All of those studies were related to the teaching about technology and engineering. The research program consisted of studies at various angles of view: a philosophical view, a national view, and a classroom practice view. The book is a showcase of how a well-conducted research program for teachers can lead to good contributions to technology education research. A selection of topics: the nature of technological knowledge, mental images of engineers and engineering, the process of choosing for a study in technology, teachers’ beliefs about technology education and assessment. These topics are directly related to major issues in the international technology education research agenda. The studies presented here were the basis of the authors’ Ph.D. theses. The teachers’ chapters are preceded by a description of ideas behind the TUFF research school and the way it was realized., QC 20140113

Part of book: DOI 10.1007/978-94-6209-443-7ISBN 978-946209443-7ISBN 978-946209442-0QC 20211012

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