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1 – 10 of 31Ola J. Lindberg, Anders D. Olofsson and Göran Fransson
The purpose of this paper is to examine Swedish upper secondary school teachers’ and students’ views and use of ICT in education.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Swedish upper secondary school teachers’ and students’ views and use of ICT in education.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 25 individual teachers and 39 students in small focus groups were interviewed. A qualitative content analysis was performed using NVivo11. The analysis was conducted in three steps: with each individual teacher, the student groups and the cohort of teachers and students. A comparative analysis was also conducted.
Findings
The teachers’ views and use of ICT are diverse. Teachers and students identify similar challenges when using ICT in education, e.g. time and subject, the shortcomings of a school’s learning management system (LMS) and teachers’ digital competence. Students report an extensive out-of-school use of smartphones and an extensive in-school use of laptops and LMS.
Research limitations/implications
The relatively small number of teachers and students in three schools make generalisations difficult. The examination of teachers’ and students’ views and use in the same context reveals new knowledge.
Practical implications
The study may influence teachers’ use of ICT in education, based on a better understanding of students’ use.
Social implications
The study may lead to a better understanding of teachers’ and students’ different perspectives and a more enhanced and sustainable in-school use of ICT.
Originality/value
The originality is that teachers’ and students’ views and use of ICT in education are examined at the same time. The paper contributes new knowledge about how teachers and students conceptualise and use ICT in upper secondary school practices.
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Anders D. Olofsson, Ola J. Lindberg and Göran Fransson
The purpose of this paper is to explore upper secondary school students’ voices on how information and communication technology (ICT) could structure and support their everyday…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore upper secondary school students’ voices on how information and communication technology (ICT) could structure and support their everyday activities and time at school.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 11 group interviews were conducted with a total of 46 students from three upper secondary schools. NVivo PRO 11 was used for a qualitative content analysis.
Findings
The results show that ICT plays a central role in the students’ schooling, not in terms of “state-of-the-art” technology, but rather as “state-of-the-actual”, by for example supporting the writing process and for peer support, digital documentation and storage.
Research limitations/implications
A relatively small number of students in three schools and three specific programmes make generalisations difficult.
Practical implications
Students’ perspectives on the “state-of-the-actual” could influence teachers’ use of ICT in education, their professional development activities and the development of an in-school ICT infrastructure.
Social implications
The study could lead to a better understanding of students’ expectations and use of ICT at school and in everyday life.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper is the focus on students’ voices about how the basic use and functionality of ICT could structure and support their everyday activities at school.
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Anders D. Olofsson, J. Ola Lindberg and Trond Eiliv Hauge
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the use of blogs as part of a formative assessment practice, to report how reflective peer‐to‐peer learning can be designed and provided in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the use of blogs as part of a formative assessment practice, to report how reflective peer‐to‐peer learning can be designed and provided in online higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The research relies on a qualitative approach. The empirical setting comprised an online higher education course in which 23 students were enrolled. All students wrote individual blogs, and the analysis was done using all postings and comments from the blogs. For the analysis the ICE (Ideas, Connections, and Extension) three level classification model was used.
Findings
The designed blog exercise turned into an informal and formative type of assessment that scaffolds the students' learning, providing a reflective peer‐to‐peer technology‐enhanced learning design.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to one online higher education course. Additional research on educational technology and e‐assessment is needed. In particular, research on the informed design of technology‐enhanced learning practices characterized by formative e‐assessment and the role of the designed use of blogs in the facilitating and enhancement of the students' peer‐to‐peer learning.
Practical implications
The paper demonstrates that the design and use of blogs embrace a formative assessment approach that cultivates the students' reflective peer‐to‐peer learning.
Originality/value
The paper provides insight into the designed use of blogs in online higher education together with the potential in formative assessment for learning. The ICE three‐level classification model provides a dynamic possibility to analyze online higher educational practices.
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Anders Segerstedt and Thomas Olofsson
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a special issue about the construction industry and the management of its supply chains. It aims to discuss and point to some differences…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a special issue about the construction industry and the management of its supply chains. It aims to discuss and point to some differences and possible similarities with traditional manufacturing and its supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is mostly a literature review and contains official statistics.
Findings
The market of the construction company is mostly local and highly volatile. The long durability of the construction “product” contributes to the volatility. The product specification process before the customer order arrives shows different degrees of specifications: engineer to order, modify to order, configure to order, select a variant. (The common make‐to‐stock in traditional manufacturing does not exist.) A construction company only executes a small part of the project by its own personnel and capacity. This is a way of risk spreading and risk mitigation and to compensate for an unstable market. If a construction company wants to establish a new concept, from “engineer to order” to e.g. “configure to order”, it must be engaged earlier in the business process and with other than usual customers, which might complicate the process.
Research limitations/implications
Experiences from Sweden and Swedish developments are the main source of information.
Originality/value
The paper introduces the articles that are a source of scientifically generated knowledge regarding various problems and opportunities associated with supply chain management in the project‐based construction industry.
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Anders D. Olofsson, J. Ola Lindberg and Ulf Stödberg
The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of students' meaning‐making processes, as they are part of an e‐assessment practice via written blog posting upon their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of students' meaning‐making processes, as they are part of an e‐assessment practice via written blog posting upon their own, and their co‐students' performances, presented online through shared video media.
Design/methodology/approach
The research relies on qualitative data to provide an analysis of students' use of the educational technology tool called VoiceThread©. These data were provided by collecting Swedish higher education students' postings and comments in relation to two video clips published in VoiceThread. The formal learning sequence model by Selander together with theories on communication and reflection were used in the analysis.
Findings
The data and the analysis show that shared video media and blogging embrace a potential to facilitate communication and reflection among online higher education students. In addition, the design of the course seems to strengthen the use of formative e‐assessment.
Research limitations/implications
The research reported on in this paper should, preferably, be followed by additional research on educational technology, social software and e‐assessment; informed design of practices of formative e‐assessment; and the role of formative e‐assessment in the facilitating and enhancement of the students' learning and meaning‐making processes.
Practical implications
This paper provides researched‐based ideas of ways in which teachers in online higher education can design their courses, if they want to cultivate the students' communicative and reflective skills.
Originality/value
This paper provides an important insight into the use of shared video media and blogging in online higher education, especially, the way it can be designed for within a formative e‐assessment course approach.
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Caroline Berggren and Anders Olofsson
– The purpose of this paper is to look at how results from a large-scale study can be understood in the context of contemporary gender and entrepreneurship research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at how results from a large-scale study can be understood in the context of contemporary gender and entrepreneurship research.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is inspired by a mixed methods methodology. To gain a qualitative understanding of the general patterns in a large-scale study, research results in articles from the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship (IJGE) were used. To make such a heterogeneous research field as appears in IJGE comparable, a model was created that helped us to focus our attention when reading the articles. The core of each article was identified.
Findings
The categorisation of the articles in IJGE resulted in three perspectives: liberal, functional and structural. The liberal and functional perspectives improved our understanding only partially because these perspectives usually focused on a certain aspect in the society. The structural perspective more readily lent itself for interpretation of our large-scale results.
Research limitations/implications
The dissonance between our perspective and the perspective of others has been a challenge; it has been a delicate task.
Originality/value
This could be a way to improve communication of research not only within a perspective, but also between perspectives. It is important that scholarly journals provide the possibility to express different perspectives on, as in this example, gender and entrepreneurship.
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Anders D. Olofsson and J. Ola Lindberg
With a philosophical stance in relation to education, this paper aims to discuss different understandings of participation in an information and communication technology…
Abstract
Purpose
With a philosophical stance in relation to education, this paper aims to discuss different understandings of participation in an information and communication technology (ICT)‐supported distance‐based teacher education program in Sweden.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on early results from two studies, both of which involved a group of teacher‐trainees, with one interview and one questionnaire.
Findings
The findings indicate that there is a need to be explicit about the ontological assumptions inherent in the intended use of ICT. The conclusion is that the program in question is built on assumptions of realism and that ICT lays the ground for individual participation and works to tell the students apart.
Originality/value
Helps in understanding how ICT, and its use, can have different effects on different groups.
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Jonas Höög, Olof Johansson and Anders Olofsson
The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a follow‐up study of two Swedish schools in which, five years previously, the principals had been successful leaders. Had…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a follow‐up study of two Swedish schools in which, five years previously, the principals had been successful leaders. Had this success been maintained?
Design/methodology/approach
Two schools were revisited to enable the authors to interview principals and teachers as well as conducting observations of the schools in operation.
Findings
The identification of sustained leadership success was compromised because the original principals were no longer at the schools, their replacements had also left and their (“third generation”) replacements had just arrived. Strong teacher teams had served to maintain school standards.
Originality/value
The paper adds to the literature on the vital role of the principal in determining a school's success and also points to the value of strong, cohesive teacher teams.
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Jonas Höög, Olof Johansson and Anders Olofsson
This paper seeks to describe the Swedish compulsory school system and explore a hypothesis about the relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to describe the Swedish compulsory school system and explore a hypothesis about the relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for successful principalship.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of earlier research, argues that a principal's success depends on how he or she alters school structures and cultures so as to foster school improvement. A successful school is defined in Swedish law and policy documents as a school that shows high performance both in academic and social goals. Based on this definition, three schools were chosen for this study. All three had increased their academic results in the last four years.
Findings
Findings from the study support the hypothesis that principals contribute to the improvement of academic and social goals of their schools by the strategic work they do to change school structure and culture. Furthermore, the principals changed their schools' structures and cultures in directions that were consistent with the opinions and cultures of the school district. Being able to read and work with the culture and structure of the school district was vital for principal success.
Originality/value
Provides information on the important relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for successful principalship.
Details
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Brian Waterfield, B. Herod and Peter Moran
The ISHM—Japan Chapter, comprising some 500 members, was represented at ISHM '84 by 60 members, 30 of whom attended as a group. Twelve papers were presented by Japanese delegates…
Abstract
The ISHM—Japan Chapter, comprising some 500 members, was represented at ISHM '84 by 60 members, 30 of whom attended as a group. Twelve papers were presented by Japanese delegates at the Conference held in the Loews Anatole Hotel from 17–19 October.