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This research continues the tradition of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) studies aimed at better understanding the development of pre-service teachers' TPACK. The aim of the study is to show what are the areas of TPACK that pre-service teachers perceived as important and relevant for them, from a teacher training course. This course can be seen as a one of the many teacher training courses within teacher training. The course is not specially designed for mere educational technology, instead the course focuses on biology, using inquiry-based learning activities supported with various technologies. This study was conducted using qualitative methods. The research data consists of pre-service teachers' (n = 165) answers to two short questions focusing on the elements that pre-service teachers gained from a teacher training science course for building their TPACK. The aim of this method was to highlight only the area that pre-service teachers felt important and relevant without providing any guiding structures. Results show the important role of Pedagogical content Knowledge (PCK) as the core area that respondents gained from the course. The results indicate that the role of Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) remained modest, the number of responses focusing on TPK was low, and the responses remained at a very general level. The results suggest that in order to provide pre-service teachers with better and more balanced support for the development of their TPACK, we need to highlight technology and make its role more explicit, especially from the perspectives of teachers.

Flipped classrooms have become widely adopted in educational settings (e.g., in higher education) worldwide. However, there is a need for more precise understanding of the ingredients for student satisfaction in a flipped setting. The aim of this paper was to investigate university students' experiences of the factors that create a successful flipped course. Ten measures were used to investigate the hypothesized factors affecting satisfaction, which were chosen based on the results from previous flipped classroom studies and higher educational research. These measures were grouped into three dimensions: (1) pedagogical (five measures), (2) social (three measures), and (3) technological (two measures). Exploratory factor analysis was run to analyze the adequacy of the instruments. Results revealed that the factor structure was as expected and that the instruments measuring all ten factors of teaching and learning in a flipped classroom were adequate. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analysis was used to formally operationalize the hypothesized latent constructs, and to build a structural equation model for predicting the student satisfaction of a flipped classroom. In the end, seven factors were found to predict student satisfaction with flipped courses. The highest predictor was guidance from the dimension of pedagogy, and the second-best predictor was experienced teaching for understanding. The results, limitations, and conclusion are discussed in terms of key issues and the development of a flipped classroom pedagogical design for higher education.

This study explores what kinds of social media services children use in their everyday lives, how children describe their strategies for spotting fake news, and what kinds of fake news they report having encountered in their lived experiences. The article is based on an online questionnaire conducted in Finnish comprehensive schools with children and young people (N = 167) aged 12-15. The results show that children are active users of various social media services and that they accessed social media every day. Children perceived fake news as much more than fabricated news reports and weaved these reports together with ordinary lies, rumors, and false information shared in the form of links, videos, posts, messages, and stories. Children recognized that fake news can be produced and shared by anyone with various intentions, including financial and ideological gains, but also personal gains of digital capital, causing confusion, cheating, pranking, and bullying. Children provided examples of various kinds of myths, rumors, and false information spreading in their online communities. Notably, children typically described fake news in terms of its believability and intentions, but deeper-level evaluation strategies, such as the evaluation of the quality and consistency of evidence, were much less discussed. The results contribute to the body of literature by providing children's perspectives regarding the complex problem of fake news and signal the need to develop pedagogical approaches that help children to better understand the basic mechanisms of machine learning, including tracking and profiling, behavior/attention engineering, and psychometrics-based advertising.

Pre-service teacher training is research intensive in Finland. Additionally, teaching as a profession is highly valued among young people. However, quantitative methods courses are challenging for teacher students from many reasons. Particularly, this is due to previous negative experiences and emotions (among other things). Thus, novel approaches for teaching quantitative methods are warranted. In this research we used Flipped Learning, online teaching, and learning analytics to support the content learning. The aim of this research was to investigate teacher students' (N = 40) emotional profiles (i.e., cluster) based on their emotional level (anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment) towards quantitative research methods studies and online behavior. For creating profiles, we used questionnaire data. These profiles were then further analyzed with learning analytics data, more precisely, time-ordered data of teacher students' interactions (i.e., frequencies). Based on the results, three distinct profiles were found: "medium," "pro quantitative," and "scared" teacher students towards quantitative research methods. Further investigation revealed that scared students demonstrated statistically significant transitions between different learning materials and activities within the learning management systems compared to other profiles. Interestingly, pro quantitative had the lowest and medium teacher students had no difference in these results. The results are discussed further in the conclusions.

The media environment has radically changed over the past few decades. Transition and transformation of media platforms has enabled algorithms and automation to take over media processes such as production, content generation, curation, delivery, recommendation, and filtering of information. It has also enabled tracking of users' actions, data mining, profiling, and the use of computational and machine learning techniques for purposes like behavior engineering, targeted advertisement, spread of mis- and disinformation, swaying political moods, and many others. In the field of media literacy education, the need to understand algorithm-driven media requires educators to re-think the connections between media literacy education and computing education. This article provides an overview of some computational mechanisms of today's media, and it provides new perspectives for media literacy education. The article suggests ways of intertwining media literacy education with computing education in order to improve students' readiness to cope with modern media and to become critical and skilled actors to navigate in the today's media landscape.

Universities are facing new challenges that pose various demands for developing learning environments. These challenges are related to different pedagogical approaches, the use of information and communications technology (ICT), the diversification of student populations, and new expectations related to working life. This study focused on university students' perceptions of preferred learning environments and their thoughts about the best learning environments for the higher-education level. The main data consisted of answers to open questions from 230 students. Additionally, a questionnaire was used to gain an overall picture of students' experiences in the current learning environment. Five main themes emerged: characteristics of the campus; available resources; flexibility of learning opportunities; pedagogy; and implementation of ICT in education. Further, two larger perspectives were highlighted. One was the need for informal learning environments (where students can study alone or with peers or just hang out). The second perspective pertains to the flexibility of learning, demonstrating the need for learning environments that allow participation without the need to come to the campus for face-to-face meetings. The need for resources (particularly ICT and the support and availability of teaching personnel) was also highlighted. The study provides important perspectives for developing appropriate learning environments for higher education.

This article is about facilitating collaborative, creative improvisations in learning with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and in so doing enhancing under-utilised creative possibilities in education and development in schools, universities, workplaces and in every-day life. Improvisation is defined and earlier research on supporting creative improvisations with ICT is outlined. There follows a conceptual framing where improvisation is seen as a creative outcome of certain cultural ecological interactions in learning environments. It is proposed that these creative improvisational interactions can be facilitated by ICT, and developmental ideas are presented. The purpose of the article is to review current practice and integrate it within an appropriate conceptual framework and thus outline a research and development agenda for future innovative work in the field.

The present study is an extension of studies that measure pre-service teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) confidence. It provides new perspectives on pre-service teachers' TPACK by shifting the focus to concrete concerns and strengths indicated by pre-service teachers. The target group consists of a cohort of first-year pre-service teachers (N = 86) from a Finnish university. The data used in this study were 86 lesson plans with integrated technology written by first-year pre-service teachers, with a specific section where students outlined their confident and challenging areas in the lesson plan. These sections were analysed quantitatively through the theoretical lens of TPACK. Four TPACK areas were found confident, challenging or both confident and challenging for students. For these first-year pre-service teachers, pedagogical knowledge played the most important role, and the outcomes concretize specific aspects of pedagogical knowledge that can be addressed to develop TPACK in teacher education. The results provide important perspectives on pre-service-teachers' development of TPACK, revealing the important position of pedagogical knowledge and detailed perspectives on how pre-service teachers view their readiness to use ICT in education.

While much has been written about the personal, social, and democratic benefits of networked communities and participatory learning, critics have begun to draw attention to the ubiquitous data collection and computational processes behind mass user platforms. Personal and behavioral data have become valuable material for statistical and machine learning techniques that have the potential to profile, infer, and predict people's needs, values, and behavior. As a response, researchers are calling for data literacies and computational thinking to facilitate people's capacity and volition to make informed actions in their digital world. Yet, efforts and curricula towards a greater understanding of computational mechanisms of new media ecology are sorely missing from K12-education as well as from teacher education. This paper provides an overview of tensions that teachers and educators will face when they attempt to bridge participatory learning with a more robust understanding of machine learning and algorithmic production of social and cultural practices.

In this article, we present a study focusing on the learning experiences of business students in an organizational and marketing communication course. The pedagogical approaches of a flipped classroom, collaborative inquiry, and communication in the disciplines guided the planning of the course. A mixed-methods approach was used. The key findings include positive student evaluations of the pedagogies utilized. Moreover, a wide variety of learning outcomes was reported, particularly in the fields of crisis communication and workplace communication. The pedagogies utilized enabled a comprehensive model for teaching communication and contributed to relevant learning experiences and skill development for the 21st century.

The aim of this study is to outline the development and changes in pre-service teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) assessments during the first 3 years in teacher education. Specifically, research was conducted at three measurement points over a 3-year teacher education period. The target group consisted of pre-service teachers (N = 148) from three Finnish universities. Results indicate a growth in confidence related to all TPACK areas during the research period. The strongest gains were in pedagogical content knowledge. In addition, the gains were larger in other areas related to pedagogical knowledge than areas related to technology or content knowledge. In areas without pedagogical knowledge, the changes were more moderate. In the discussion section, recommendations are provided on the potential of longitudinal use of the TPACK model to study and improve the development of pre-service teachers' TPACK.

This study aims at investigating the profiles of teacher educators in order to explore their ability to prepare preservice teachers for technology integration in education. Specifically, the current study examines whether teacher educators can be grouped on the basis of their attitudes toward ICT (in education), their ICT self-efficacy to design ICT-rich learning environments, their competencies to use ICT in their teaching practice and the strategies they use to prepare preservice teachers for technology integration. These strategies are included in the SQD (Synthesis of Qualitative Data) model and comprise: (1) teacher educators as role models, (2) reflecting on the role of technology in education, (3) learning how to use technology by design, (4) collaboration with peers, (5) scaffolding authentic technology experiences and (6) providing continuous feedback. Data were collected from a sample of 284 teacher educators in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, and submitted to latent profile analysis. The added value of the current study lies in the account of how SQD strategies and a typical set of determinants of ICT integration can be associated within teacher educators' profile. Based on the profiles emerging from this study, teacher training institutions should consider their teacher educators to be gatekeepers when preparing future generations of teachers for the learning environments of the twenty-first century. In the discussion section, the implications for practice and future research are discussed.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) topics into K–12 school curricula is a relatively new but crucial challenge faced by education systems worldwide. Attempts to address this challenge are hindered by a serious lack of curriculum materials and tools to aid teachers in teaching AI. This article introduces the theoretical foundations and design principles for implementing co-design projects in AI education, empirically tested in 12 Finnish classrooms. The article describes a project where 4th- and 7th-graders (N = 213) explored the basics of AI by creating their own AI-driven applications. Additionally, a framework for distributed scaffolding is presented, aiming to foster children’s agency, understanding, creativity, and ethical awareness in the age of AI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools are facing challenges to meet the demands of the information society and the student generation of today. Not only are students carrying their mobile phones everywhere, they are also familiar with different online environments, especially social software. This situation can be seen both a challenge and a chance for schools, as mobile technologies and social software can be used as tools for building flexible learning environments to foster students' collaborative learning. This paper examines the possibilities of mobile technologies and social software in the contexts of blended learning and collaborative learning theories. The paper also provides two concrete examples of how these possibilities have been put into practice in higher education, namely teacher education. It provides ideas for the use of mobile technologies and social software in teaching and learning. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

The focus of Thematic Working Group 1 at EDUsummIT 2017 centred on the need for alignment in education systems and was driven by two key questions relating to (a) if and how all the parts of an education system work together to support the type of learning envisioned in the twenty-first century, and (b) if there is alignment, what is the purpose/vision of that education system and does it meet the needs of its learners. Arising from the discussions held, the group advocated the use of a tool such as the UNESCO framework (ICT competency standards for teachers: competency standards modules, UNESCO, Paris, 2008a; ICT competency standards for teachers: policy framework, UNESCO, Paris, 2011) as a way to conceptualize a systemic approach to reform and to enable policy makers and stakeholders in a system to think about ways in which they can align changes with the goals of any proposed reform. Taking the Irish Education system as an example, this paper illustrates how the UNESCO framework has enabled policy makers in Ireland to adopt a systemic approach to policy formulation which aligns educational strategies across a range of elements "to leverage strengths, coordinate investments, consolidate gains, and advance national development goals and visions" ("Kozma in Hum Technol Interdiscip J Hum ICT Environ" 1(2):117-156, 2005). To counter the potential danger of a top-down imposition of the UNESCO framework, the group also proposed the Educational Vision and Mission Framework (EVMF) as a tool to support system wide (both top-down and bottom-up) reflection on the purposes of schooling in a rapidly changing world. The group concluded that what is defined as the purpose of education should inform alignment and suggest that application of the UNESCO framework and EVMF could enable the necessary alignment to support the educational, social, and economic transformation necessary for the complex connected global world of today and tomorrow.

The aim of this paper is to provide insights into differences between pre-service teachers based on the areas of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and the areas of theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in the context of using information and communication technology in education. The target group consisted of 267 first-year pre-service teachers at 3 Finnish universities. Differences between pre-service teachers were outlined using cluster analysis based on their knowledge of different TPACK areas (the respondents' weak and strong areas). To see how the TPB areas aligned with the 4 TPACK clusters, 1-way analysis of variance was used. Statistically significant differences between the 4 clusters were found in all the TPB areas except subjective norms. These results provide insights into the differences among pre-service teachers in the context of TPACK and the TPB. They also suggest that instead of considering pre-service teachers as one homogenous group, we need to understand the variations among their abilities and knowledge in order to be able to provide them with support they need within teacher education.

Afterschool interventions in STEM are linked to learning gains during the school day. These opportunities engage and excite students about STEM concepts since they observe a more hands-on, project-oriented approach. Often these opportunities for afterschool interventions are infrequent in nature and leave gaps for students in their maturation and understanding. Herein we describe the first report of an afterschool intervention, named "NE STEM 4U," targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged middle school youth via a twice weekly, year-long intervention, studied across two years. We assessed the impact of this program on i.) short-term, individual student gains in STEM content knowledge and ii.) delivery of the program in terms of appropriateness for age group and content using the DoS observation tool. We observed statistically significant gains in STEM content knowledge over short-term assessment using a multiple-group, pre-test post-test research design comparing scores in content before and after the intervention. In this report, we highlight the impact of this nascent program in Omaha Public Schools.

With growing concerns over children's data agencies, researchers have begun to draw attention to children's and young people's privacy practices in social media environments. However, little is known about the experiences of pre-service teachers who play a key role in educating future generations. This study aimed to address this gap by exploring Finnish pre-service teachers' conceptions and experiences of data agency in social media environments. Drawing from in-depth interviews of pre-service teachers (N = 14), the analysis revealed that pre-service teachers construct their data agency in terms of social frames and shared social norms, and they also recognize the lack of understanding regarding wider socio-technical systems within which data agencies are situated. This research argues that without a sophisticated understanding of algorithmic governance and commercial use of data, it is unlikely that these future teachers would be prepared to facilitate children's and youth's agentive actions in a data-driven society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on Finnish pre-service teachers' perceptions of their twenty-first century skills, especially their learning strategies, collaboration and teamwork, as well as knowledge and attitudes related to ICT in education. The target group consist of 263 first-year pre-service teachers from three universities. The results outline how pre-service teachers perceive their twenty-first century skills, the relationships between different areas of these skills, and the differences among pre-service teachers in terms of perceived skills. The results indicate that the pre-service teachers perceive themselves as skilled learners in terms of learning strategies used as well as collaboration and teamwork. When it comes to understanding how to use ICT in education, they perceived their level of knowledge lower. The strongest variation between respondents was seen in the areas of knowledge and attitudes related to the use of ICT in education.

This research focuses on Finnish students' (n = 84) experiences of using personal iPads in their studies through 3 years of upper secondary schooling. It is based on results from one of the first schools in Finland where all the new students were provided with iPads at the start of their studies. Data consists of: (i) 127 short stories written by students about how they would advise a new teacher and a new student to use iPads in teaching and learning, and (ii) four group discussions on the same topics. Qualitative thematic analysis of the data was guided by the TPACK framework. Results suggest that: (i) teachers' pedagogical approaches changed little in response to the new devices and remained largely teacher-centred, and (ii) students do not have the confidence to radically change learning styles to take advantage of the affordances of the devices. The value that iPads add to teaching and learning is difficult to quantify because of the complex and often conflicting factors involved. Overall, the findings imply that teachers' TPACK is generally resistant to change and students' proto-TPACK is insufficiently developed to initiate change. An approach that systematically develops both students' "and" teachers' TPACK is advocated.

With regard to the growing interest in developing teacher education to match the twenty-first-century skills, while many assumptions have been made, there has been less theoretical elaboration and empirical research on this topic. The aim of this article is to present our pedagogical framework for the twenty-first-century learning practices in teacher education. We will first review the current status of policy frameworks for the twenty-first-century learning skills. Based on our previous work and current understanding in the field of learning sciences, we will next elaborate the processes and strategies for collaborative problem-solving skills and strategic learning skills to specify current, rather general claims presented regarding the discussion on twenty-first-century skills. We will also provide concrete case examples facilitating strategic learning skills, collaborative problem-solving skills, and the skills to use information and communication technologies in contexts of our previous studies.

Twenty-first century skills have attracted significant attention in recent years. Students of today and the future are expected to have the skills necessary for collaborating, problem solving, creative and innovative thinking, and the ability to take advantage of information and communication technology (ICT) applications. Teachers must be familiar with various pedagogical approaches and the appropriate ways to use ICT to support the development of their students' twenty-first century skills. The technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework provides a theoretical model for studying the ways in which teachers use ICT in education. Still, the TPACK framework faces certain difficulties, especially concerning the instruments currently used for studying TPACK. These challenges are primarily related to the psychometric properties of the instruments and areas of pedagogical knowledge. Within this paper we introduce a new TPACK questionnaire, the TPACK-21 questionnaire which is grounded on twenty-first century skills. The TPACK-21 questionnaire is validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results provide a six factor CFA model aligning with the TPACK theoretical framework. Also, the associations among TPACK sub-constructs, and the weak and strong areas of pre-service teachers' TPACK will be discussed.

Many pre-service teachers are members of the net generation and are expected to be familiar with different ICTs, yet several studies have indicated that they are not necessarily able to use them for teaching and learning. The notion of teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) is central to this concern. In this study we use the responses of 146 pre-service teachers to open-ended questions about the experiences and knowledge of ICT and pedagogy they brought with them when they entered university teacher training. The data were analysed qualitatively with content analysis based on an integrative framework generated from a number of theoretical perspectives. Derived categories and subcategories were used to construct a framework for "proto-TPK" as a basis for establishing a starting point for the coordinated development of TPK with students in their university training and early careers.

This study focuses on upper secondary and vocational level teachers as users of social software i.e. what software they use during their leisure and work and for what purposes they use software in teaching. The study is theorised within a technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, the emphasis is especially on technological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge. Four hundred thirty seven teachers were surveyed using an online questionnaire with Likert scaled statements and open-ended questions. Results suggest that the number of different types of social software actively used for teaching is small and that the potential of social software as a tool for supporting collaborative learning has not yet been realised. Discussion of the results is framed in the context of teachers' developing technological pedagogical content knowledge.

This article focuses on personal learning environments (PLEs). The idea with PLEs is to put students in a more central position in the learning process by allowing them to design their own learning environments and by emphasising the self-regulated nature of the learning. This study describes the structure, functions and challenges of PLEs made by 33 students from vocational and polytechnic level schools in Eastern Finland after the first year of using them. Document and artefact analysis revealed that students built their PLEs for: mirroring the conventional learning environment; as an environment for reflection; as an environment to showcase skills; and as an environment for collaboration and networking. Student reflections indicate that building and using a PLE is a challenging task which requires specific teacher and pedagogical support. Designing a PLE demands both ICT skills and an awareness of one's own learning methods.

The research reported here is concerned with a critical examination of some of the assumptions concerning the "Net Generation" capabilities of 74 first-year student teachers in a Finnish university. There are assumptions that: (i) Net Generation students are adept at learning through discovery and thinking in a hypertext-like manner (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Prensky, 2001); and (ii) when they enter the teaching profession, members of this generation will be able to transfer these characteristics into their teaching practices (Prensky, 2001). The research is formulated around an extended framework for student teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge. The students designed learning modules incorporating the use of information and communication technology (ICT). The learning modules were subjected to document and artefact analysis incorporating concept-driven coding. Supplementary data were collected through a questionnaire concerned with the students' adoption of new technologies. The findings suggest that assumptions about Net Generation student teachers' abilities to adopt and adapt ICT in their teaching are highly questionable and that greater attention should be given to the development of their technological pedagogical knowledge. (Contains 3 tables.)

This paper takes as its starting point assumptions about use of information and communication technology (ICT) by people born after 1983, the so called net generation. The focus of the paper is on social networking. A questionnaire survey was carried out with 1070 students from schools in Eastern Finland. Data are presented on students' ICT-skills generally; their access to the Internet; their use of social software; and time spent on the Internet compared to watching television. Results show that whereas there are some general characteristics of ICT use that can be applied to net generation students, when it comes to social networking there are differences in the way they use software. A critique is offered of generalisations about the net generation and some implications for learning arising from the findings are discussed. (Contains 7 tables.)

The Finnish high school system in rural areas is facing challenges because of a decreasing number of the students. This situation places new emphasis on online learning. Online learning offers new possibilities for high schools to provide equal learning opportunities for their students. This paper explores students' readiness to adapt their studying habits in the networked high schools by outlining their beliefs about online learning. Beliefs are assumed to direct people's actions, in this case activities concerning studying online. Three hundred second year high school students from Eastern Finland who had not had the experiences of learning online were studied. The findings suggest that students polarize into negative, neutral and positive groups based on their beliefs concerning online learning. Results also indicate that students' knowledge about the possibilities of online learning is quite superficial. In contrast to theories about collaborative learning practices, students see online learning rather differently. Students with negative and neutral beliefs especially see online learning merely as a static "warehouse" of materials and study-alone learning tasks instead of offering possibilities for collaborative knowledge building. (Contains 6 tables.)