Browsing by Title
Now showing items 282-301 of 3628
-
(2015)Ethiopia is Africa's biggest coffee exporter nation with deep history. Coffee discovered in Ethiopia and it continues to be pivotal for the country in many fronts till to date. The coffee linkage with Ethiopia is deep-rooted many historians believe back in 9th century coffee discovered by Kaldi, a goat herder. He discovered it after noticing coffee's energizing effect on his goats. The word coffee itself also derived from place called 'Kaffa' where the trees blossomed. Coffee gradually became a world obsession by spreading from highlands of Ethiopia traveled along spice routes to Yemen, Turkey and Europe. Coffee exporting is a significant portion of Ethiopian economy. It accommodates more than twenty five million peasants which indicate its magnitude for the country. It is one of the leading sources of income for the government and other stakeholders. The establishment of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) has seen the Ethiopian coffee trade system being transformed. It created a platform of primary, secondary and tertiary market divisions. In a way that the coffee can be traded based on value addition from one division to the other. Unlike the previous centralized warehousing system, it introduced decentralized warehousing and liquoring centers across the country where the coffee quality checked by use of laboratory tasting. It gives a temporary produce storage services until the coffee is sold and ownership of the produce transferred from seller to buyer. The introduction of modernized and transparent system enabled economic gain and helped farmers to enhance their life conditions. The objective of this study was to identify some of the contradictions that are solved in Ethiopian coffee trade activity by the establishment of ECX. In addition, the emerging contradictions and prevailing disturbances at present as well as the overall benefits it brought in relation to farmers' day to day life conditions were analyzed.
-
Dialogin monet äänet : dialogisuus suomalaisessa kasvatustieteessä Gadamerin hermeneutiikan valossa (2020)Dialogicality is an actual topic in pedagogical studies. Both in theoretical and ordinary speech, the term is often used as a synonym of discussion and interaction. The use of the concept, however, only seldom reveals the equivocal nature of the phenomenon. In pedagogical discourses, it is often difficult to discern the background conceptions or theories determining in each case the concept of dialogue. The aim of the present study is to address this challenge and help to clarify the situation by examining the various ways in which dialogicality has been understood in pedagogical studies in Finland in the 21st century. The research material consisted of 24 international research publications written in English. The material was first studied in relation to the notions and definitions of dialogicality put forward in them, and these were then analysed in the light of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutical philosophy. The research questions to be answered were: 1. How is dialogicality defined in the pedagogical research in Finland during the las two decades 2. What do these conceptions reveal of the understanding of dialogicality, when related to Gadamer’s phenomenological-hermeneutical understanding of its nature? The research combines two different approaches: the material was organized with the method of systematic literature review and it was analysed through philosophical research. The study’s vantage point, and the theoretical framework directing its questioning, was constituted by the phenomenological-hermeneutical thought of Hans-Georg Gadamer. According to the results of the study, there are four central theoretical frameworks defining the research of dialogicality in the pedagogical research in Finland in the 21st century. Apparently, the studies are to a certain extent compatible with each other in their thematic content and in their descriptions of interconnected phenomena, but their ways of understanding the nature of dialogicality prove to be incommensurate. When analysed with the help of Gadamer’s hermeneutics, the research also shows itself as internally divided: the decisive differences are, firstly, whether dialogicality is understood as communication of knowledge, and secondly, whether dialogue is understood instrumentally as a method. With the help of Gadamer’s hermeneutical though, the study attempts to clarify the phenomenon of dialogue and to sharpen the required conceptual grasp and so to elaborate pedagogical research of dialogicality.
-
(2020)The aim of this research was to investigate how the different possibilities and challenges of dialogue and encounter with a student appear in Waldorf school class teachers’ descriptions. Although dialogue has a central role in Waldorf education, little research has been conducted on this topic. This work approaches the concepts of dialogue and encounter with a student from the theoretical framework of Martin Buber’s thoughts on education and philosophy of dialogue, as well as through their interpretations. Furthermore, Waldorf education is examined from the point of view of dialogue and teacher-student encounter. The research material was collected using interviews. The material consists of six interviews of Waldorf school class teachers from three different Waldorf schools in Finland. The research method was theory-based content analysis. The findings of this study indicate, that in line with the idea of dialogue, Waldorf schools’ aim of education and school culture have characteristics of encouraging both the unique potential of a student and the dialogical relationship with the world, while primarily respecting the individuality and otherness of student. The same principles of the school culture of Waldorf schools that promote dialogue and encounter with students, such as artistic qualities, individuality, situation-basedness, and teachers’ self-education, are also distinctive features of Waldorf education. Many of the educational practices of the school culture of Waldorf schools that support dialogue, such as artistic making, 8-year teacher-student relationship, teaching without schoolbooks and the method of child observation, are also based on these principles. Furthermore, they form the basis of the teachers’ dialogical action and attitudes of encounter with a student. This research also brings forth challenges related to dialogical encounters with students in Waldorf schools. Some of the challenges were related to internal attributes of teacher-student relationships, such as defining the uniqueness of a student or losing one’s temper. On the other hand, the issues touched upon the difficulty of harmonizing the ideals and practices of Waldorf education with the neoliberal education policy, making teachers busy and exhausted as well as encounters with students almost impossible. Moreover, the challenges of teacher-parent relationships were experienced as time-consuming and wearing.
-
(2020)Objects. In my Bachelor’s thesis I executed a descriptive literatute review about dialogic teaching and collected a table of the methods used by a dialogic teacher. In this research I observed lessons and used the grouping I had created in order to identify the methods of dialogic teaching. The objective of the study was to examine in what extent dialogue appeared in the teaching of class teachers and teacher students. My research questions were: 1. Which methods of a dialogic teacher can be identified from the observed teachers’ lessons? 2. How is dialogue manifested in the teaching of class teachers and teacher students? and 3. How is dialogue manifested in the teaching of different subjects? In this study I created information about the practices of dialogic teaching. Methods. I examined the topic with the methods of qualitative study with videotaped lessons as my research material. Three class teachers and three teacher students participated in the study. I collected my research data from one school located in the metropolitan area with the help of video observation. As a base for my analysis, I used the grouping from my Bachelor’s Thesis. I analysed my research material by creating different groups of the methods used by a dialogic teacher. Results and Conclusions. All of the class teachers and teacher students observed in this study used dialogic methods in their teaching. For example dialogue appeared in a conversational tone of voice, leaving space for the students’ voices and showing the importance of their claims. The dialogic methods used by the teachers observed could be placed in four groups: building of subject matter, teachers approach, teachers’ feedback and supporting students’ autonomy. From all of the lessons observed, it was possible to identify the most dialogic methods in the Finnish language lessons. It is possible to utilise these research results when teachers want to add dialogue in to their teaching. Concrete ways in which dialogue appears were listed in the study.
-
(2024)Gifted students are a resource we cannot afford to overlook. Every student should receive encouragement and stimulation to develop his/her learning. Right kind of support and stimulation help the student reach his/her full potential. Together with a competent person, the ultimate limit of what a student can master can be found. The purpose of the thesis was to investigate the didactic methods teachers use to stimulate the mathematically gifted students in mathematics. To achieve this purpose, the research questions were formulated as following: ● How does the teacher identify a mathematically gifted student? ● How does the teacher work to support and stimulate the mathematically gifted student? The thesis was a qualitative study and data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Five teachers participated in the interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The results of the thesis show that since neither the curriculum nor teacher education do not provide guidelines, a framework or tools for identifying, supporting and stimulating gifted students, the respondents rely on their work experience, their observations in everyday school life and to the school´s possible action plan. The respondents' didactic methods represent various forms of acceleration and enrichment efforts. Coaching as an intervention is used sparingly. An interesting theme for continued research could be to investigate how the current national development measures are perceived to support teaching and learning in everyday school life when they are realized and put into use. The thesis can be used as a source of inspiration or a toolbox for, among others, teachers who want to orient themselves in the theme.
-
(2015)Action video games have been found to improve many cognitive skills. Most established findings are related to faster information processing speed and improved attentional capabilities. Many of the same cognitive processes are better on elite athletes of interceptive sports compared to non-elites. This study aimed to find some preliminary evidence whether the improvements in cognitive processes gained from action video gaming might be beneficial in ball sports. This was done by comparing the performance of action video game players and nonaction-video players on an anticipation of coincidence test. Anticipation of coincidence is a laboratory test, where the task is to anticipate when a moving object arrives at a certain point and to coincide a button press with it. Performance on the task is thought to depend on information processing speed and attentional capabilities. When the speeds and possible speed changes are similar to those encountered in real ball sports, elite athletes of these sports are generally more accurate in the task compared to non-elites. Elite athletes differ from non-elites in their gaze patterns as well. For example, athletes fixate to the target quicker and their quiet eye, meaning the last fixation or tracking gaze before a motor action on a specific target lasting at least 100 ms, is longer. Thus, it was studied whether action video gamers fare better on the anticipation of coincidence task in different constant speeds and in deceleration conditions, and whether their gaze patterns are different compared to non-gamers. 10 action video game players and 9 nonaction-video game players participated in the experiment. The results show that action video game players are more accurate in the task in most constant speed conditions and in a deceleration condition with slow speeds. There was some variation in gaze patters, including that action video gamers had quiet eye more often in fast speeds. The results suggest that action video game players can program more accurate motor responses based on the speed of the target and reprogram wrong motor actions better than nonaction-video game players. In addition action video game players are better able to track fast moving targets. As these skills are important in ball sports, this possible linkage between action video games and ball sports performance should be studied further.
-
(2020)Fraction knowledge is central for daily activities, such as cooking and personal finance, but many students have difficulty with fractions. Fraction knowledge has been found to predict later mathematical performance in comprehensive school. Virtual manipulatives (VM) and concrete manipulatives (CM) are effective approaches to teaching fractions, but previous research has not been able to reach a consensus on which manipulatives are the most effective. This quasi-experimental study employed a pre- and post-test design to investigate the differential effects of VM and CM in a fraction intervention on students’ fraction skills. In addition to fraction skills, students’ arithmetical fluency was measured. Fidelity of intervention, social validity and time-efficiency of the manipulatives were also investigated. Fourth and fifth grade participants (N = 115) from Southern Finland were assigned to VM and CM intervention groups. The intervention was implemented during six 45-minute lessons over two weeks. Lesson contents were the same for both groups in spite of the manipulative. Results revealed that the CM group outperformed the VM group in fraction skills, which suggests that CM should be favored in fraction interventions. Additional implications for research and practice are discussed.
-
(2015)Previous studies have confirmed that educational practices have not changed with the digitalization of society. The use of ICT in teaching is mainly low and there is an ongoing public debate regarding the Finnish students well-being. This study tried to find out is there a hypothesized gap between the technology-mediated practices of adolescents and school. The aim of this study was to investigate how and how much ICT is used for learning and what kind of technological attitudes and school well-being experiences students have. It was also examined how the use of technology, attitudes and well-being are interrelated and which factors of these phenomena can explain academic achievement, schoolwork engagement, school value, happiness and school burnout. Finally it was investigated what kind of profiles of ICT use and attitudes could be found among the participants. The study was part of the Mind the Gap -project. The data was collected by questionnaire in the 2013. The participants (n = 735) were sixth graders from Helsinki. The use of digital technology, technology attitudes and school well-being were examined by mean values and gender differences by t-test. Correlational analysis and stepwise regression analysis were carried out to find out the factors that were related to academic achievement, schoolwork engagement, school value, happiness and school burnout. Students were grouped into profiles that represented their technological attitudes and use of ICT using SPSS two-step cluster analysis. One-way ANOVA and cross-tabulations were used to examine group and gender differences. The results indicated that the technology is not used on a regular basis to support learning, even though the students felt quite high ICT enthusiasm (the use of technology was seen as a positive contribution to the schoolwork engagement). Information-orientated use was reported most common. Mechanical technology use (eg. writing) was the next most common, producing technology use (eg. projects, multimedia) came in the third. Communicative technology use (online discussion about schoolwork) was the least common. The majority of the sixth graders felt relatively high schoolwork engagement, happiness and school value. Further, students reacted positively towards the teacher's activity and the conditions of the school. ICT enthusiasm was associated with lower experience of school value, schoolwork engagement as well as negative experiences of teacher's activities. Technology-related problem-solving predicted schoolwork engagement positively. Information-orientated use, and fear of failure using technology were repeatedly negative predictors for school well-being and positive predictors for school burnout. Four different groups (actives, slackers, passives, enthusiastics) showed clear differences in the use of technology, attitudes, school well-being and the associations between these phenomena. To conclude, teacher's role and how the technology is used in schools appears essential. It's important to understand students' predispositions towards using digital technologies and support adolescents' natural ways of utilizing ICT. Students need guidance to understand the possibilities of digital technologies as collaborative and creative learning tools. This, however, does not happen by chance. Therefore, I argue, that there is a need in basic education to build new support systems for national, municipal, school and grade levels to minimize the gap between the technology-mediated practices of adolescents and school.
-
(2022)Growth folder is a tool based on the definition of portfolio, that has been used in the early childhood education since the 90’s. With the development of digital technologies, a digital option has developed alongside the paper-based growth folder, and digitality is thought in many ways to enhance its capabilities. Being a tool that is based on documenting and on processing those documents, digital growth folder in early childhood education shares common ground especially with the pedagogical documentation, but in literature there are also many other possibilities attached to it. The aim of this study was to find out what different perceptions early childhood education teachers have about the digital growth folder as well as the actual working with it. The meaning of this study is to find out, what kind of possibilities early education teachers themselves think are included in digital growth folder. The collection of research material and analysis was in this study guided by the qualitative phenomenographic framework, which states that there is just one common reality, whose phenomena each individual experiences and comprehends in individual ways. The research material was collected by interviewing six early childhood education teachers, each with at least two years of experience in using the digital growth folder in their work. The material driven analysis proceeded through the identification of meaning units and their categorization to finally form two description category systems. Based on the perceptions of early childhood education teachers interviewed, a digital growth folder is a tool or means with different uses and purposes. The purpose was influenced by early childhood education staff, the child, and the child’s family. Digitality appeared as a factor that seemed to have both negative and positive effects on the digital growth folder. Based on teachers’ perceptions, working with the growth folder appeared as a process, that contained documenting but also processing those documents. The working with the growth folder was affected on the one hand by the resources related to digital devices and time, on the other hand the organizing the work.
-
(2017)Goals In this study, a week-long digital storytelling project was conducted in a labour market training course in adult education. The study problem was: how collaborative learning was present in the groups in the labour market training course and what it contributed to producing digital storytelling videos? The theoretical background in this study is Global Sharing Pedagogy -model and the collaborative learning aspect of it. For collaboration, the theoretical background are the central concepts of Hakkarainen's studies and the productive agency by Schwartz & Lin. Methods This was a case-study. The subjects in this study consisted of two labour market training groups that were united for the purposes of this study and ages of participants were from 20 to 50 years old. They were split into four smaller groups which were used as cases in this study. The smaller groups had members between four and seven. The project lasted for one week and there was from three to six hours of work each day. At the end of week, the digital stories were reviewed together. The data for this study consists of field diary during the working phase, group interviews with the groups and the finished digital stories. Each group was a separate case and the descriptions from both observation and interviews were searched for signs of collaborative learning. Each case was also compared to other cases to find differences and similarities. Results and conclusions The descriptions of learning in groups had clear aspects of collaborative learning. Each group had some aspects but three of four groups, the dedicated, the independents and the supported had significant collaborative learning present in every part of the project while the wanderers had lesser collaborative learning present. The results reveal that digital storytelling is a good tool to use in adult education to promote both collaborative learning and 20th century skills in students.
-
(2019)Aims. This thesis aims to study how digital technology can overcome disabled student’s learning obstacles or restrict their learning opportunities in vocational special education context. In addition, the thesis addresses to what degree digital equality is achieved with the available aiding digital technology. Previous studies have shown that digital technology can support learning and overcome challenges set by physical disabilities. However, it is not yet clear what kinds of challenges and restrictions digitalization and digital technology can set for the disabled in studying and for the realization of their equal opportunities. Deepening our knowledge of the possibilities, limitations and questions of equality regarding digital technology helps us to understand the conditions for achieving educational equality for disabled youth. Methods. I used ethnography as my research method and collected the data in upper secondary vocational education. I observed three business and administration students needing intensive special education at their lessons or practical training environment. I also interviewed the students, their teachers and school specialists. As a basis for my ethnographic analysis was meanings found behind the data and the critical point of view offered by the chosen paradigm. Results and conclusion. According to the results, digital technology helped overcome physical challenges and enabled the student’s participation in their studies, but only to some extent. Individual unsuitability, limited functionality, lack of developmental sophistication and slow of use of aiding digital technology restricted studying and achieving digital equality. The results showed that digital technology enables much but can also create inequality if the aiding digital technology does not support individual challenges. The digitalization of education and the development of aiding digital technology should take account of the individual needs of the disabled to achieve educational equality and advance their employment opportunities.
-
(2021)The purpose of this study is to investigate how craft teachers in Finnish basic education perceive their digital technology competence, how they integrate digital technology in their teaching and which factors influence the teachers’ experiences of their own competence to integrate digital technology in crafts . The aim is to map the current state of digital technology competence of craft teachers, so that it is possible to become more aware of the factors that promote and prevent it. The research data was collected with a structured questionnaire and interview. 17 craft teachers responded to the research questionnaire, and four craft teachers participated in the interview. The Likert-scale survey was part of a larger Growing Mind research project. The two datasets were analyzed separately. In the questionnaire analysis, the frequencies, medians and standard deviations of the answers were examined. The interview material was analyzed qualitatively combining data-driven and theory-based analysis. The results indicated that craft teachers' experiences of their own digital technology competence varied. However, teachers felt that their technological competence was sufficient, and instead of static competence, they emphasized the importance of maintenance and continuous development of the competence. Digital technology was perceived as supportive to teaching, but its use in teaching remained rather one-sided. Teachers viewed digital technology as a teaching tool. There were numerous factors influencing teachers' technological competence, and in addition to the teacher's own technological know-how, it is also important to consider the context where teachers work. The teachers identified the lack of technological equipment, programs and applications as the biggest obstacle of developing their own technological competence.
-
(2023)Digital gaming is common nowadays regardless of age, as the majority of individuals aged 10 to 75 play digital games at least occasionally. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate the connection between digital gaming and well-being. Additionally, exploring the relationship between digital gaming and academic performance is essential, as school-age children and students also play digital games. Previous research on the topic has been conducted, but there is relatively little qualitative research based on adult experiences. This study focuses on the experiences of adults who have played a significant amount during their lives and how they perceive gaming’s impact on their well-being, academic performance, and school well-being. Interviewees were asked to define well-being in terms of physical, mental and social aspects, as well as academic performance and school well-being. They were also asked to define problematic gaming. The goal of this study is to gather more information about the positive and negative influences of gaming on an individual’s well-being and academic performance. Educators can use the gathered information when planning the gaming education of the children or youth. The research was conducted as a qualitative study, and data were collected through written interviews with six participants. The interviewees were selected on the assumption that they have played a lot at some point in their lives. The chosen research method was phenomenography because the study focused on the interviewees’ own experiences and perceptions of the phenomenon under investigation. The study found similarities with previous research. Interviewees described connections between digital gaming and well-being like those found in previous studies. One observed connection was the reduction of stress as a result of gaming. Similarities were also found in the interviewees’ perceptions of physical, mental and social well-being, as well as academic performance and problematic gaming, compared to previous research. An example of such similarity was linking the feeling of competence to mental well-being. This research provided a player-centric perspective on digital games. Especially for mental and social well-being, benefits were perceived from gaming. However, drawbacks were also identified and could be described on personal experience. It can be concluded that digital gaming has connections to perceived well-being in its various aspects, both positively and negatively. Academic performance may suffer from excessive amounts of gaming according to interviewees.
-
(2022)Objectives. The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to assess the methodological quality of intervention studies examining the effect of digital learning games on the reading skills of children with or at risk of reading difficulties. Learning games can serve as a tool to motivate and engage in learning when a child needs more time and repetition to learn. Learning games are utilized in teaching, but the results for their effectiveness vary. The target groups for special needs education are small and heterogeneous in their skills, which makes it challenging to demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions. Methods. The dissertation was carried out as a systematic literature review using PRISMA guidelines. The studies to be evaluated were retrieved from the databases ERIC (Proquest), PsycINFO (Ovid), SCOPUS (Elsevier), Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) and Web of Science. The studies selected for review (n = 13) were published between years 2011 and 2022, were peer-reviewed and English-language intervention studies. The target group was children with reading difficulties or at a risk of reading difficulties, and the intervention sought to influence reading skills through digital learning games. The evaluation was carried out based on the criteria of the EPHPP framework. Results and conclusions. The majority (8) of the intervention studies were rated as strong, three as moderate and two as weak. For the study design, all were assessed as strong for evaluation, while for selection bias and blinding, all studies were rated as only moderate. For confounders, all but one was rated as moderate. Weak ratings were given to only a few studies for data collection methods and withdrawals and dropouts. Based on the results of this study, there is the most room for improvement in the reporting of these two parts to ensure the reliability of the studies.
-
(2023)Previous studies on the interaction in digital games have mainly investigated the portions that make up the entire interaction in digital games. Aim of this study is to expand the concept of interaction in digital games and find out what the interaction in digital games is like and how the interaction in digital games can be influenced by game education methods. I collected the data for this study by interviewing six game educators who work with children and teenagers. As a data collection method, I used a semi-structured thematic interview, for which I had prepared the interview questions in advance based on the theoretical literature I had read. I analyzed the material using thematic analysis and highlighted key themes for this study and reported them. According to my interviewees, the interaction in digital games was versatile and consisted of different extremes. Interaction in digital games can be either positive or negative, with acquaintances or strangers, in the same space or over the network, related to the game or not, and through speech, text or in-game gestures. The interaction in digital games is therefore influenced by the game that is played, the company that is played with and the place where the game is played. According to my interviewees, the game education methods that can be used to influence the interaction in digital games were providing safe gaming environments for young people and teaching manners. Players who have learned good interaction skills through game education can intervene in toxic behavior in games and spread positivity and good behavior models forward.
-
(2015)Many international organizations have defined the so called 21st century learning skills that students should have in order to be successful in today's society. Digital literary is one of those skills. Experts say that schools do not really have the concrete tools to teach these skills. Research shows that digital storytelling is one way to develop many of the important 21st century skills. The purpose of this study is to analyze how students could develop their digital literacy by creating digital stories. More precisely, what kind of media content production, editing, and sharing skills will they learn by making their own video stories. This study is based on Digital Storytelling Project by the University of Helsinki. The project was a part of Finnable 2020 research funded by Tekes. This study involves all the 6th graders that participated to the Digital storytelling project from Finland, a total of five classes. The research material consists of student and teacher interviews and video stories made by the students. The research material was analyzed with content analysis. The framework for the analysis was based on research on digital literacy, digital storytelling and film narrative. The results of this study show that the students learned many digital literacy skills involving media content production by creating video stories. By making their stories the students learned to plan their own content, to search for relevant information and material to their stories, and to use mobile devices for filming. They also learned about filming, and how to deliver their own message through the video stories. By editing their stories the students practiced how to edit and remix pictures and videos with different video editing tools. By sharing their video stories with others the students learned how to share information, how to evaluate their own work and the work of others, how to consider the audience, and how to interact and influence through video stories.
-
(2022)Objectives. Home economics education should establish action which tackles challenges and opportunities related to daily life and digital tools. Previous studies have shown that the most important predictors of home economics teachers’ information and telecommunication technology use are the teacher-level factors of digital competence, perceived usefulness of information and telecommunication technology in home economics teaching and the school-level support. In addition, there is a connection between perceived usefulness of information and telecommunication technology in home economics teaching and its use for facilitating pupils’ learning. This study investigates use of digital tools in home economics teaching, in a sense of what kind of experiences and perceptions home economic teachers’ and teacher students’ have. Thus, finding out how digital tools are used in home economics teaching and which factors have an impact to pedagogical decisions. Methods. This study combines two types of data, thus being a mixed-methods study. Data was collected by a questionnaire from Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Estonian home economics teachers and teacher students (n222). 1) Qualitative data was analysed by using thematic analysis, but only using Finnish home economics teachers’ and teacher students’ responses. 2) Part of qualitative data was quantified by using Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Estonian respondents’ answers. 3) Quantitative data was analysed by using SPSS-program. Means, standard deviations, t-tests and cross-tabulations were calculated from the data. Results and conclusions. Home economics teachers and teacher students used digital tools particularly to ease teachers work tasks and to support pupils’ learning. By respondents’ experiences digital tools bring value to teaching and the use of digital tools is favourable. Home economics studies have supported and encouraged teacher students to use digital tools, but there is need for further and greater support in the future, especially at teacher training.
-
(2023)Background and goal. The aim of this study is to examine which technical challenges teachers in elementary school experience while using digital tools, aswell as how the challenges affect their work. Teachers’ experience with the education for using digital tools is also a focus for this study. Earlier research suggest that network-, storage- and login difficulties are usual in the classroom, while the administrative programmes are difficult to use. These challenges mainly affect the teachers timewise and are a cause for frustration. Studies also suggest that teachers aren´t always properly educated or knowleadgable with the use of digital tools. Methods. This study is of qualitative nature. I have interviewed six elemntary school teachers (year 1-6), from two different schools in southern Finland. The answers have been analyzed with thematical analysis. Results and conclusions. Teachers experience different kinds of technical challenges with digital tools. Network-, storage- and login difficulties were common challgenes. The teachers put more emphasis on the difficulty of using the different administrative programmes, and pointed to several issues with them. Waste of time and frsutration became apparent as two main outcomes of teachers experiencing technical challenges. Regarding teacher education, most of the teachers felt quite comfortable with the use of digital tools, but pointed out some weaknesses in their knowledge, i.e. the Smartboard was a digital tool many teachers felt a bit unfamiliar with. The teachers felt the need for more education. Support was a theme that came up in many oft he interviews, where the teachers pointed out that the supporting network for technical difficulties is a bit lacking. First and foremost it isn´t easy to know who to contact with which problems, which led to the collegial support being the first choice. My study show that teachers still experience different kinds of technical challenges with digital tools. Some of my results confirm earlier studies, which show that things haven´t necessarily improved or changed, while teachers feel the need for a change in the administrative side of the work. Teacher educationwise there is a need for more availible eduaction and courses, that offer learning on different knowledge levels, aswell as the support structures may need a closer look. The support structures may need renewing or changing to reliev the teacher´s work.
-
(2017)In the 1970s information technology started to become part of everyday life and as a result of this process, computer programming has become an important theme in the digital society both in the labor-market and on the educational field. In this study, I examine high school students' everyday conceptions of computer programming and technological development. I explore these conceptions relying on the theory of social representations which is focused on defining how people make foreign technical and scientific phenomena familiar. I interpreted the meanings produced by the high school students in relation to the cultural history of computer programming and especially in relation to the general meanings given to computer programming on the educational field. As a separate research question I examined computer programming in relation to meanings that are connected to technological development. The aim of this study is to offer more understanding about how computer programming is made familiar in an increasingly digital society where it has emerged as an important skill, especially through education. I produced my data by interviewing seven high school students who had attended a voluntary high school course combining electronics and programming. I analyzed the interviews discourse-analytically by defining oppositions that describe the social representation of programming. I also produced concepts that seemed to synthesize the oppositions and examined subject positions that were constructed in the speech. Besides, I analyzed how the representations of programming and technological development were connected in the speech. The representational field of programming was constructed by the oppositions of human-computer, material-virtual, technical-playfulness and proximity-remoteness. I defined the opposition human-computer to be the most fundamental themata of the social representation of computer programming. Programming was perceived as taking technological development to the next level. Technological development was seen as a partly autonomous process but humans were still given the most fundamental role in the definition and delimitation of technologies. On the basis of this study it can be summarized that high school students saw programming as an important phenomenon which at the same time was difficult to approach and define. This observation r a challenge for the establishment of programming both in education and in the wider society.
Now showing items 282-301 of 3628