Browsing by Subject "ICT"

Rapid development of ICT has brought it into nearly all areas of everyday living, including craft. Therefore, to retain the unique nature of craft, deep understanding is needed on how use of ICT affects craft, especially craft-design that is the sole basis of craft. In addition, it's also vital to assess the quality of the digital design tools. Little is known about ICT usage's effects on the craft-design process nor about usability of digital design tools meant for craft design. This research had three main objectives: to study usability of applications, meant for craft-design and find the best suited applications for craft-science students to use in their studies, to analyze and describe how using the applications affect students' craft-design processes and to develop and evaluate the performance of a remote evaluation method to study the two previous aspects. This research is a qualitative case study. Five applications were tested by eight participants. To enable authentic real life working environment and style for the participants and to gather research data remotely a remote multi-method was designed for data gathering of this re-search that included questionnaire-, written- and screen events video data. The main data analysis followed the procedures of qualitative content analysis. Usability of the five applications varied from very bad to excellent. Based on the overall usability, the applications that are most advisable for craft-design studies, from the five applications evaluated in this research are iWeaveIt and StitchSketch. Analysis of effects of application usage to participants' craft-design processes revealed three factors that promote changes: usability of the applications, new possibilities and limitations compared to traditional design methods and technical expertise of a designer. Reinterpretations and further development of ideas during the design process was observed in this research, while the participants were using the applications that were evaluated as good or excellent in terms of usability that contradicts with the findings of previous studies. The remote multi-method developed for this research fulfilled the main goals set for it. It gave the participants a possibility to work in their natural working environment without time or place limitations and it still produced rich attitudinal and behavioral data.

The rise of the information and communication technologies (ICT) has been revolutionary for the societies of the 21st century. From an educational perspective, ICT tools have transformed traditional teaching and learning practices in many fields, including language education. This study aims to explore how ICT tools are used in higher education, specifically in English preparatory classes of universities in Turkey. Structured, online interviews were conducted with six EFL teachers working in different private universities. The interview questions were designed to identify teachers’ ICT use, their attitudes toward ICT tools, and potential advantages and disadvantages related to ICT tools. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze interview data. Overall, EFL teachers used traditional ICT tools, such as computers, projectors, and interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in almost all classes, and used various Web 2.0 tools to enrich their teaching practice. Besides, teachers expressed their confidence in using ICT tools, and this finding was independent of their history of ICT training. Teachers considered ICT tools as beneficial, highlighting multiple teaching- and learning-related benefits. Teachers considered infrastructure problems as the main challenge related to ICT use.

Abstract: The EEG measurement protocol is standardized and in use globally. The skull is measured to ensure that the electrodes are placed in the correct position. Measurements are necessary because skull sizes and shapes are different. Studies for placing electroencephalograph (EEG) electrodes on a human head are typically introduced theoretically before students are granted the opportunity to practice. Due to the limited availability of EEG equipment and supervisory staff, students encounter shortened practical training sessions and lengthy waiting periods transitioning from theory to practical components. The main aim of this project was to create a learning environment with game technologies to help students study electrode placement during the idle time between theory lessons and practical training. We set out to determine whether students experienced some learning gain and if they had a positive experience with the learning environment. We simultaneously assessed if fuzzy feedback is preferred over exact feedback. Additionally, the aim was to make use of a design-based approach with the information from a User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) the EEG-simulator. Our group developed and tested a digital learning application that provides a 3D model of a human head, on which learners can practice placing EEG electrodes. We followed a user-centric design science approach to ensure our application appeals to our target audience. We used an observational post-test only design with two experimental groups and a control group. We applied a widely accepted user experience questionnaire to ascertain which of our two feedback systems elicited the best user experience. We also qualitatively analyzed diaries the students kept, as they worked with the learning environment, to better understand future development options for further maximizing the environment’s learning benefit. The overall application was well-received, and students opined that the application significantly enhanced their practical session experience. Although the post-test evaluation showed no difference between the two experimental groups, the user experience questionnaire showed that the fuzzy feedback system was preferred over the exact feedback. Furthermore, it was evident that students who had not used the learning environment struggled more to come to terms with the practical session. The personal experience recording by the students revealed several suggested improvements to the learning environment. We conclude that, with further development, this EEG placement learning application could address the idle period between demonstration lessons and practical training. We also venture to state that fuzzy feedback is preferred because of the high-fidelity mimicry of real teacher feedback. The last part of the research was to develop the EEG simulator so that it will increase theory learning with a simulator, that works, and this is ongoing. We have developed the last EEG simulator version with AR (augmented reality) mobile version that can be used with any smart devices. The future work is to test EEG application and does application influence student's theory learning process.

Electronic waste is the fastest growing type of waste stream in the world, and this development results from the rapidly accelerating digitalization. Electronic devices become obsolete on an accelerating speed, as there are constantly more powerful devices coming to the market. The most significant environmental impacts of this development are greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource consumption. Circular economy has been proposed as a solution to these environmental challenges, and the goal of this approach is to preserve the value of the materials in the circulation as efficiently as possible. One way of implementing the principles of circular economy is the product-as-a-service-based business model. This research examines the differences between the product-as-a-service-based model and ownership-based model in terms of the environmental impacts that are related to the laptop and tablet procurements. The results of this thesis will be utilized in implementing the actions of the City of Helsinki’s Roadmap for Circular and Sharing Economy. This research was conducted as streamlined life cycle assessment, in which the systematic literature review was used for tracking the environmental impacts of the products’ life cycle stages and components. In addition, expert interviews were carried out in order to collect information about the reuse and recycling practices of the supplier companies that follow these previously mentioned business models. Finally, based on the results of the systematic literature review and the interviews, the company specific differences were assessed in terms of the greenhouse gas emissions and material waste that result from the procurements. The City of Helsinki’s annual procurement volumes were used in this assessment. Based on the results of this research, production and use are the most significant life cycle stages in terms of the devices’ greenhouse gas emissions. Printed circuit boards/printed wiring boards, integrated circuits, displays, and casings are the components with the most significant impact. The results suggest that increasing the lifespan of the devices provides opportunities for significantly lowering impacts in both impact categories, if the devices are efficiently recycled after this.

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is an emerging field of research that focusses on how information and communication technologies (ICT) are applied in language teaching and learning. CALL lies at the intersection of several other independent fields of study, i.e. technology, education, and linguistics. The aim of this study is to investigate Finnish EFL teachers’ attitudes and perceptions towards using CALL tools in their classrooms. First, the study presents an overview of the CALL tools that the teachers use in their EFL instruction. Then, it explores the teachers’ reasons behind choosing the said tools. Lastly, this study presents the teachers’ own experiences on the benefits and potential these tools hold in the Finnish comprehensive and upper secondary schools. This study traces the roots and development of the field of CALL and its implications to the theory and practice of technology-enhanced language learning. Evidently, the benefits of using CALL are not limited to the teachers and students but also extend to the other stakeholders in the learning enterprise. For instance, technologies help motivate learners, and promote novel instructional and assessment practices. The study was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods in the data collection and analysis. The advantage of using dual instruments of survey and interview helped delve deeper into the subject matter to discover answers to the research problem. With an online survey, the study contacted 687 EFL teachers in Finnish comprehensive and upper secondary school and received 91 respondents. In addition, the study purposively selected four teachers for in-depth interviews. The data was analyzed and presented using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis. The findings from this study confirm that the use of ICTs in language learning settings continues to grow. In essence, EFL teachers extensively use a variety of CALL tools based on the perceived usefulness and effectiveness in a learning activity. The popular tools are computer applications (word processing) and web resources (audio and video), while mobile applications and social media are rarely used. Secondly, EFL teachers view technologies as complementary tools for instruction, assessment and learning motivation. In most cases, they are confident about integrating the tools in their teaching and learning activities. Furthermore, the teachers hope for more resources and ICT training and support in order to effectively and efficiently use the CALL tools on a wider scale. In conclusion, further research would help establish how teachers have been trained to incorporate technologies in their instructional methodologies and also, there is a need to assess which technologies have a greater impact on attainment of learning objectives.

Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan ICT-yrityksen teknisen asiakastuen palvelupuheluita. Puheluiden osapuolina ovat viroa äidinkielenään, mutta suomea vieraana kielenään vähintään B2-tasoisesti osaavat teknisen tuen asiantuntijat ja suomea äidinkielenään puhuvat asiakkaat. Tutkimuskysymykset ovat seuraavat: 1. Miten palvelupuhelun sujuvuus ja epäsujuvuus ilmenevät, ja mitkä seikat puheluissa aiheuttavat sujuvuutta ja mitkä epäsujuvuutta? 2. Mitkä ovat asiakkaan odotukset teknisen asiakastuen puhelimitse suorittamassa ongelmanratkaisussa? Lisäksi tarkastellaan sitä, miten usein puheluissa sujuvuuden katkeaminen johtuu kakkoskielisen asiantuntijan suomen kielen taidosta. Työn tarkoituksena on löytää keinoja, joiden avulla palvelupuheluista saadaan sujuvampia ja tehokkaampia ja joiden avulla puhelinpalvelun asiakastyytyväisyys paranee, vaikka asiakkaiden antamat arviot ovat jo lähtökohtaisestikin hyviä. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu 162 suomenkielisestä palvelupuhelusta, jotka on tallennettu Tieto Oyj:lla kesällä 2018. Lisäksi käytössä on lähes 2500 asiakaspalautetta, joista tutkittiin tarkemmin niitä, jotka koskevat suomea vieraana kielenään puhuvien asiantuntijoiden hoitamia palvelupuheluita. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytetään vuorovaikutustutkimusta ja tarkemmin keskustelunanalyysiä. Aineiston käsittelyssä noudatetaan GDPR-tietosuojalainsäädännön vaatimuksia. Tutkimuksessa on analysoitu sekä tilanteita, joissa vuorovaikutuksen eteneminen on epäsujuvaa tai ongelmallista, sekä tilanteita jotka etenevät sujuvasti. Analyysin perusteella puheluista erottuu kolme seikkaa, joihin kiinnitetään tarkemmin huomiota. Nämä ovat pitkät tauot puheluissa, ongelmat puheluiden johtamisessa ja asiantuntijan rooliodotusten vastainen toiminta. Työssä osoitetaan, että teknisen palvelupuhelun kaltaisissa institutionaalisissa keskusteluissa pitkätkin tauot puheessa ovat tavallisia, mutta keskeistä asiakaskokemuksen kannalta on se, miten ne valmistellaan. Kun asiantuntija ilmaisee jollain tavalla, että hän aikoo keskittyä ruututyöskentelyyn ja tulossa on tauko keskustelussa, asiakas hyvin harvoin häiritsee asiantuntijan aloittamaa taukoa ottamalla vuoroa itselleen. Hyvin valmistellut tauot voivat kestää usean minuutin ajan ilman, että asiakas pitää niitä ongelmallisena. Valmistelemattoman tauon aikana asiakas saattaa ilmaista epätietoisuutensa siitä, onko asiantuntija enää mukana puhelussa. Toinen merkittävä asia on puhelun johtaminen, johon liittyvät asiantuntijan puolelta myös puhelun tehokas haltuunotto heti tervehdysten jälkeen ja sujuva lopettaminen, kun ongelma(t) on käsitelty. Puhelun aikana asiantuntijan on johdettava puhelua aktiivisesti, jolloin puhelu etenee sujuvasti ja asiakkaan kokemus palvelusta paranee. Asiakkaan antaman tiedon, kysymysten ja pyyntöjen sivuuttaminen voi johtaa asiakkaan toistuviin palaamisiin niihin. Kolmas tarkemmin analysoitu asia on asiantuntijan käyttäytyminen rooliodotusten mukaisesti. Teknisen tuen asiantuntijalta odotetaan palautteiden perusteella hillittyä ja asiallista käytöstä. Mikäli asiantuntija toimii odotusten vastaisesti nauramalla asiakkaalle tai ylikorostamalla ongelman vakavuutta, asiakas menee hämilleen tai alkaa puolustautua. Näiden kolmen pääkohdan lisäksi tutkimuksessa osoitetaan, että Tiedon teknisen asiakastuen kakkoskielisten asiantuntijoiden suomen kielen taito on riittävällä tasolla suomea äidinkielenään puhuvien asiakkaiden kanssa toimimiseen puhelutilanteessa. Tutkielma lisää näköalaa suomenkielisten institutionaalisten puheluiden tutkimukseen niissä tapauksissa, kun asiantuntija ja asiakas toimivat epäsymmetrisessa asemassa toisiinsa nähden. Lisäksi tässä tutkielmassa monista muista Suomessa tehdyistä tutkimuksista poiketen kakkoskielinen osallistuja on asiantuntija ja äidinkielinen toimija asiakas, jolloin huomataan, että riittävällä kielitaitotasolla toimittaessa kakkoskielisen asiantuntijan kielitaito ei ole määräävässä asemassa puhelussa, vaan osanottajat toimivat asiantuntija-asiakas-rooliensa mukaisesti.

In accordance with the fact that the core curriculum for basic education 2014 came into effect in the autumn of 2016, the discussion about teachers' digital competence has flared up in the media. The diverse views regarding the use of digital tools in teaching contributed to the Thesis's subject. The purpose of this survey was to identify the attitude of the teachers towards information and communication technology (ICT), as well as to investigate whether psychological factors and factors in the work environment affect the attitudes of ICT in teaching. The survey was conducted as a quantitative study and was limited to primary and secondary school teachers in Swedish-speaking schools in the metropolitan area. Data was collected using an electronic questionnaire sent to 40 headmasters by e-mail, which were then forwarded to the teachers. The questionnaire was sent out in January-February 2018 and was answered by a total of 87 teachers. The material was processed and analyzed using the SPSS statistics program. The results showed that the teachers largely seemed to be positive to the use of ICT. Nevertheless, there were many open comments that were critical to digitalization, resources and the possibility of further education. Attitudes towards and perceptions of ICT were unrelated to gender, age and school level, number of pupils and work experience as a teacher. However, the psychological factors engagement and workload had a positive versus negative impact on attitudes.

This master’s thesis examines the interplay between personal experiences and the socioeconomic environment to understand the temporality experienced by highly skilled Indian immigrants in the information, communication and technology (ICT) industries in Finland. It begins with introducing the research context that highlights Finland's transformation into a technologically advanced nation attracting skilled migrants seeking better economic prospects and high quality of life. However, the acceptance of immigrants remains a polarized topic, necessitating a balance between economic growth and social inclusion. The theoretical framework incorporates temporality and locality considerations in migration studies to provide a comprehensive understanding. Drawing on interview data with four people working in the ICT industry, two in other sectors and two people involved in the policy-making process, the analysis demonstrates the significance of social factors in immigrants' decisions to stay, emphasizing the role of social networks in job hunting. However, discriminatory barriers and prejudice persist, hindering career progression and utilization of immigrants' qualifications and skills. Overall, immigrants face challenges in building long-term career trajectories due to deskilling, limited job prospects, and time-consuming application processes, creating obstacles to successful career integration in Finland. Considering the flexibility of ICT industry itself when relocating in different countries, it might not be a cost-effective choice for the immigrants to invest their time into integrating into Finland in the long term.

Rapid development of ICT has brought it into nearly all areas of everyday living, including craft. Therefore, to retain the unique nature of craft, deep understanding is needed on how use of ICT affects craft, especially craft-design that is the sole basis of craft. In addition, it’s also vital to assess the quality of the digital design tools. Little is known about ICT usage’s effects on the craft-design process nor about usability of digital design tools meant for craft design. This research had three main objectives: to study usability of applications, meant for craft-design and find the best suited applications for craft-science students to use in their studies, to analyze and describe how using the applications affect students’ craft-design processes and to develop and evaluate the performance of a remote evaluation method to study the two previous aspects. This research is a qualitative case study. Five applications were tested by eight participants. To enable authentic real life working environment and style for the participants and to gather research data remotely a remote multi-method was designed for data gathering of this re-search that included questionnaire-, written- and screen events video data. The main data analysis followed the procedures of qualitative content analysis. Usability of the five applications varied from very bad to excellent. Based on the overall usability, the applications that are most advisable for craft-design studies, from the five applications evaluated in this research are iWeaveIt and StitchSketch. Analysis of effects of application usage to participants’ craft-design processes revealed three factors that promote changes: usability of the applications, new possibilities and limitations compared to traditional design methods and technical expertise of a designer. Reinterpretations and further development of ideas during the design process was observed in this research, while the participants were using the applications that were evaluated as good or excellent in terms of usability that contradicts with the findings of previous studies. The remote multi-method developed for this research fulfilled the main goals set for it. It gave the participants a possibility to work in their natural working environment without time or place limitations and it still produced rich attitudinal and behavioral data.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate the experiences and views of growth companies about employer brand. The selected companies operate in the ICT industry. The research examines the significance of employer brand to growth companies and the ways companies seek to influence their employer brand. As a third matter, the research investigates what kind of development stages of employer brands can be recognized among the interviewed companies. This method used in the study is qualitative and the material has been collected by interviewing seven employees working in different growth companies. The interviewees are all to some extent responsible for their company's employer branding and the management of it. The analysis was made as a content analysis and the approach to the analysis was theory-driven. Employer branding was perceived as an important topic in general, but actions regarding it varied. In companies, employer branding was particularly affected by challenges in general awareness of the company. The importance of the employer brand for companies varied, especially depending on to what extent the company strives to grow in the future. The ways of influencing the employer brand did also vary, with an emphasis on general communication and marketing, recruitment communication and the development of the internal employee experience. Five different development stages of the employer brand were found among the companies, starting from the employer brand's insignificance up to the development stage of strengthening the employer brand.