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1 – 10 of 59Sandra Carlsson, Karin K Flensner, Lars Svensson and Sara Willermark
Due to the global outbreak of Covid-19, Swedish teachers in upper secondary education were forced to conduct emergency remote teaching. As of today, there is a stream of research…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the global outbreak of Covid-19, Swedish teachers in upper secondary education were forced to conduct emergency remote teaching. As of today, there is a stream of research that addresses digitalization in education in light of the pandemic. Previous studies show that the challenges with the sudden intensification of digitalization have been particularly challenging in practical and aesthetic subjects. The research question is as follows: What challenges did vocational teachers experience during the emergency remote teaching caused by Covid-19 and what emergent tactics can be identified in vocational teaching practice?
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical data consists of (1) interviews with two vocational teachers and, (2) workshops with 25 teacher students from different vocational programmes that addressed vocational teaching during the Covid-19 crisis.
Findings
Emergency remote teaching meant challenges due to the changed socio-material environment that cannot easily be transformed to a vocational teaching setting. The challenges were related to authentic situations and material, problem solving and dexterity. Tactics that emerged as a response to the challenges were mainly connected to attempts to mimic vocational practices.
Originality/value
Contributions include explaining specific challenges and possibilities in developing vocational competence when teaching is digitalised. Furthermore, it increases the understanding of the relationship between theory and practice in vocational education. By adopting a socio-material perspective on vocational competence, the authors enhance the understanding of the importance of a shared socio-material environment.
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Sandra Pennbrant and Lars Svensson
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe work-integrated learning (WIL) related to healthcare pedagogics, and to describe the distinctive aspects of research on WIL with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe work-integrated learning (WIL) related to healthcare pedagogics, and to describe the distinctive aspects of research on WIL with specialization in healthcare pedagogics.
Design/methodology/approach
The general purpose of this theoretical paper is to define and formulate a research agenda within WIL with specialization in healthcare pedagogics.
Findings
WIL with specialization in healthcare pedagogics is a multidisciplinary field of knowledge encompassing education, health sciences and social sciences, and focuses on research and knowledge-creation involving nursing schools in higher education, healthcare organizations and the surrounding community.
Originality/value
The starting point of the research environment is the ambition to gain knowledge about the conditions, processes and outcomes in healthcare education and healthcare organizations, both individually and collectively, intra- and inter-professionally, in the perspective of life-long learning. WIL with specialization in healthcare pedagogics is a research area that can carry out important research in healthcare education and healthcare organization and, thus, contribute to high-quality care meeting current and future needs.
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Amir Haj-Bolouri, Christian Master Östlund, Matti Rossi and Lars Svensson
Although there is a large body of literature available on the foundations of workplace learning (WPL), little is known about designated research methods that systematically…
Abstract
Purpose
Although there is a large body of literature available on the foundations of workplace learning (WPL), little is known about designated research methods that systematically combine intervention, design and learning at work. The purpose of this study is to propose action design research as an alternative method for organizing WPL in general and facilitating pedagogically rich activities in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used a case study approach to focus the action design research method and exemplify its utility through two case studies that emphasize WPL in general and how the method can be used to facilitate pedagogically rich activities in particular.
Findings
The results of the case studies indicate that the action design research method had a significantly positive effect on organizing WPL in organizations systematically, as well as creating a narrative that structures the research process and its outcomes.
Originality/value
The findings help scholars that are in need of organizing WPL research in a systematic way. The findings do also help practitioners in organizations to solve real-world problems and develop new knowledge jointly together with scholars. Consequently, the findings contribute to the existing literature by exemplifying how to facilitate pedagogically rich activities and disseminate the outcomes of doing so in a formalized way.
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Anne Algers, Berner Lindström and Lars Svensson
More collaborative and open learning models are suggested as part of the paradigm shift in the way knowledge is produced, distributed, and used. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
More collaborative and open learning models are suggested as part of the paradigm shift in the way knowledge is produced, distributed, and used. The purpose of this paper is to explore a work-based learning (WBL) model, based on systemic negotiations between actors from the three parties: the academy, the industry, and the students. The purpose is to investigate how teachers, supervisors, and students value negotiated WBL as a boundary activity and to enhance the understanding of the learning potential at the boundary.
Design/methodology/approach
Activity theory is used as a lens to analyse the results from a survey to the three stakeholder groups and interviews of students. The four learning mechanisms are used to explore learning at the boundary between the two activity systems.
Findings
Diversity and mobility in education and work addressed by the notion of boundary crossing are associated with both challenges and a learning potential. There is a constant dynamic between structure and agency, where structure, the negotiated model, influence the individual agency. When gradually removing scaffolding students can as boundary crossers engage behaviourally, emotionally, and cognitively and have agency to handle contradictions at a local level. However, they did not seem to prioritise both systems equally but instead they were gradually socialised into the activity system of the industry.
Originality/value
When WBL is framed by a negotiated partnership it can manage and customise inherent conflicts of interest and enhance individual learning opportunities at the boundary and can be conceptualised as an open learning practice.
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In an action‐oriented research project, the Laboratorium for Interaction Technology at the University of Trolhättan Uddevalla, together with six of Sweden's county…
Abstract
In an action‐oriented research project, the Laboratorium for Interaction Technology at the University of Trolhättan Uddevalla, together with six of Sweden's county administrations, is aiming at developing an academy for all scholastic education and training hosted by the county administrations. The point of departure for the paper is a classification of the educational needs reported by national special interest groups covering a wide range of the fields of expertise that characterises work and organisation of the 21 county administrations of Sweden. The demanded courses can be classified with respect to two orthogonal dichotomies: inter‐ vs intra‐disciplinary scope of content and educational objectives being focused on adapting to, or changing a existing practice. The paper goes on to present and discuss three major challenges for work‐integrated e‐learning: the expert dilemma; situatedness vs decontextualisation of work practice; and the aspect of planning for the unknown. It is argued that addressing these obstacles calls for techno‐pedagogical designs that are inspired and influenced by a number of scholastic traditions ranging from traditional classroom education and case methodology to seminars and the learning circles of liberal adult education.
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Mohammad Azeem Khan, Masudul Hasan Adil and Shah Husain
The purpose of the paper is to address money demand instability and investigate the impact of economic uncertainty, stock market uncertainty and monetary uncertainty on money…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to address money demand instability and investigate the impact of economic uncertainty, stock market uncertainty and monetary uncertainty on money demand in India over the period 2003Q1–2019Q4.
Design/methodology/approach
The study checks the stationarity of the variables through standard unit root tests. Based on the mixed order of variables' integration, the authors adopt the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to confirm the cointegration and check the stability of the money demand function (MDF).
Findings
The findings confirm the presence of cointegration and reveal a well-specified MDF, which exhibits stable parameters. Besides the conventional variables, all forms of uncertainties emerge as the essential long-term determinants of money demand. Long-run findings show that people demand more money to avoid the future financial crunch amid high economic, monetary and stock market uncertainties.
Practical implications
The paper recommends, based on the findings, incorporating the monetary aggregates in the monetary policy framework as one of the essential information variables to control the fluctuation in the price level under the current flexible inflation targeting (FIT) regime.
Social implications
The findings also add to the knowledge of economic agents in terms of the overall response of individuals to changes in different forms of uncertainties, thereby helping to formulate their portfolios more diligently.
Originality/value
The current work is the first of its kind in the Indian context. The incorporation of uncertainty measures in the MDF adds to the existing knowledge on money demand.
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Nils M. Høgevold and Göran Svensson
“Business sustainability” refers to the total effort of a company – including its demand and supply chain networks – to reduce the impact on the Earth's life‐ and eco‐systems. The…
Abstract
Purpose
“Business sustainability” refers to the total effort of a company – including its demand and supply chain networks – to reduce the impact on the Earth's life‐ and eco‐systems. The objective of this paper is to describe a business sustainability model based upon a case study of a European manufacturer.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach was applied describing the efforts of business sustainability in the demand and supply chain networks of a Norwegian office chair producer. It is based upon a series of semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with top executives of the company as well as observations and content analyses of internal and external documents about the company's efforts of business sustainability.
Findings
The case study shows that business sustainability is not about doing just one thing, but that a multitude of simultaneous efforts (e.g. actors, resources and activities) should be in place. Furthermore, business sustainability is not only about a company's own business operations, but its whole demand and supply chain networks which need to be included and taken into consideration.
Research limitations/implications
The case study in focus is limited to just one company's effort of business sustainability and its demand and supply chain networks. It provides a business sustainability model that offers opportunities for further research.
Practical implications
Focusing on the corporate impact of the natural environment can be highly profitable. Business sustainability and by extension the carbon footprint of demand and supply chain networks is becoming a criterion in the decision‐making process of customers across industries. Business sustainability is a concern to everybody in society as the indicatives of climate change and global warming become more evident and troublesome. No one can have missed the fact that the weather is becoming more extreme, causing damage around the globe.
Originality/value
The authors argue that research into business sustainability needs at this stage of development to be inductive rather than deductive – it may be an irreversible mistake to try to re‐package existing theory into business sustainability, as climate change prediction and the poor condition of the Earth have not been fully understood or comprised in previous theory.
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