Browsing by Author "Vähäkangas, Johanna"

The objectives. The subject of this study was the digitalisation of teaching in the Finnish school system. The purpose of this thesis was to bring forward what parents perceive as the objective of the digitalisation of teaching and also how parents feel the digitalisation has contributed to teaching and learning. In addition, the challenges the parents recognise in connection with the school digitalisation was also an interest of this study. Methods. Two parents of elementary school students in Vantaa were interviewed for this thesis. The data collection was carried out as semi-structured theme interviews conducted by Helsinki University teacher education students in the spring 2015. This was a qualitative study, and the data was analysed using thematic and content analysis. Results and Conclusions. According to the results, the parents felt that the purpose of the digitalisation of schools was to diversify teaching, learn 21st century skills and to decrease expenditure. Parents saw the new digital learning environments and teaching methods as a means to strenghten the ownership of knowledge of the pupil. The new kind of knowledge ownership was seen to increase the pupils motivation. Digital technology was considered an inherent part of shool routines and the everyday life of pupils. Parents also identified challenges in the adoption of digital teaching practices, namely in pedagogical decisionmaking, establishing ground rules for digital methods and practices, furthering co-operation between school and parents and in ensuring adequate funding. The results of this thesis suggest that digitalisation versifies teaching methods and enhances the pupils motivation to learn more. Even so, in order for digitalisation to reach its full potential in elevating teaching and learning, securing adequate funding is important, but significant efforts from the educational decisionmaking and teachers individually are imperative.