Tuutorointi avoimen yliopiston opetuksessa : tuutoroinnin kehittämistä koskeva toimintatutkimus

Models for the development of generic skills in Finnish higher education

This article examines how Finnish universities and other higher education institutes have responded to the challenges posed by rapid changes in the world of work and societies all over Europe, particularly with reference to the development of generic skills. The data were collected by means of individual and group interviews at three Finnish higher education institutes, including two universities and one university of applied sciences. The interviews involved 63 persons in charge of management, development and teaching at these institutes. As a result of the qualitative data analysis, we distinguished four models to represent the development of generic skills, which we named (1) Specialist …

Valmistumisen tukeminen korkeakouluopinnoissa

It takes the Entire University Community to Educate Students in Becoming Academics

Development of scientific thinking is considered an essential but challenging aim of academic studies. In practice, this challenge becomes evident when students begin preparing their theses. Therefore, proper guidance combined with suitable guidance methods are needed. The staff of university libraries face this daily challenge through students’ questions, which often start as ‘what’ questions and morph into ‘how’ questions. Based on these genuine necessities, a new collaborative model to implement guidance for students was developed at the Open Science Centre, Library at Jyväskylä University, Finland. The model is constructed of three intertwined principles: 1) strengthening student agency…

Supporting and constraining factors in the development of university teaching experienced by teachers

Higher education calls for reform, but deeper knowledge about the prerequisites for teaching development and pedagogical change is missing. In this study, 51 university teachers’ experiences of supportive or constraining factors in teaching development were investigated in the context of Finland’s multidisciplinary network. The findings reveal that the supportive factors in teaching development arise from the nature of the development itself, i.e. from the teachers’ opportunities to act as active agents in an authentic development process. Furthermore, the circumstances of the development also play essential roles (both constraining and supportive) in teaching development. Such support, at …

Tutkinto takana : yliopistojen kandipalautekyselyn sekä maisterien ja tohtorien uraseurantakyselyjen 2018, 2019 ja 2020 tulokset

Seamless Learning Environments in Higher Education with Mobile Devices and Examples

The use of seamless learning environments that have the potential to support lifelong learning anytime and anywhere has become a reality. In this sense, many educational institutions have started to consider introducing seamless learning environments into their programs. The aim of this study is to analyze how various educational university programs implement the design elements for seamless learning environments with mobile devices. For that purpose, three cases involved in a Finnish teaching development project are explored by conducting semi-structured interviews with key participants. The themes of the interviews were related to the theoretical background for (mobile) seamless learning …

Assessment of students’ agency in Finnish and Spanish university courses: Analysis of measurement invariance

This study reports on the measurement invariance of the Agency of University Students Scale in data consisting of Finnish and Spanish university students (n = 645) and presents cross-national findings on student agency assessment. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the metric invariance for 10 factors, which allows comparisons of covariance structures and correlation analyses, and can, for example, be used to examine background factor effects on agency across groups. At least partial scalar invariance was confirmed for six factors, allowing comparisons of mean values between Finnish and Spanish students. Differences were found in the experiences of personal and relational res…

“Sitting at the Stern and Holding the Rudder” : Teachers’ Reflections on Action in Higher Education Based on Student Agency Analytics

Digital technologies in teaching and learning in higher education have the potential to enhance student agency. Student agency is an essential resource to nurture, especially at times when students face challenges emerging from the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. In addition, contemporary policymaking has identified the importance of student agency. Student agency analytics is a process utilizing learning analytics, specifically psychometrics and machine learning to provide teachers insights about the agentic resources of their students. Four teachers in higher education were provided with student agency analytics results of their mathematics courses. The teachers partici…

Understanding the Study Experiences of Students in Low Agency Profile: Towards a Smart Education Approach

In this paper, we use student agency analytics to examine how university students who assessed to have low agency resources describe their study experiences. Students ( n=292 ) completed the Agency of University Students (AUS) questionnaire. Furthermore, they reported what kinds of restrictions they experienced during the university course they attended. Four different agency profiles were identified using robust clustering. We then conducted a thematic analysis of the open-ended answers of students who assessed to have low agency resources. Issues relating to competence beliefs, self-efficacy, student-teacher relations, time as a resource, student well-being, and course contents seemed to …

Identifying Themes for Research-based Development of Pedagogy and Guidance in Higher Education

The high value accorded to the research-based development of education in higher education communities means that researchers in the field have an important role in determining the foci of such efforts. However, it is important to ask whether higher education research is providing answers that satisfy practical educational needs. In this study, themes in higher education research published in Finland during 2000–2008 were compared to those addressed in non-refereed writings published by higher education teachers and students. The thematic analyses, (n = 1,298) focusing on topics related to learning, studying, and their promotion revealed the need for a broader life-wide framework for develo…

University Teachers as Developers of Technology-Enhanced Teaching—Do Beliefs Matter?

Previous research has identified a well-established link between teachers' beliefs and the practical implications of technology-enhanced learning (TEL). Until recently, there have been few studies ...

Student agency analytics: learning analytics as a tool for analysing student agency in higher education

This paper presents a novel approach and a method of learning analytics to study student agency in higher education. Agency is a concept that holistically depicts important constituents of intentional, purposeful, and meaningful learning. Within workplace learning research, agency is seen at the core of expertise. However, in the higher education field, agency is an empirically less studied phenomenon with also lacking coherent conceptual base. Furthermore, tools for students and teachers need to be developed to support learners in their agency construction. We study student agency as a multidimensional phenomenon centring on student-experienced resources of their agency. We call the analyt…

Opetussuunnitelmatyön 2018-2020 arviointi Jyväskylän yliopistossa

Factors Constraining Teachers’ Wellbeing and Agency in a Finnish University : Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers to undergo a sudden shift toward technology-enhanced teaching and learning, challenging their capacities for change in many ways. This study explores those factors constraining teachers’ wellbeing and agency that influenced their capacities as teachers in a Finnish university during the first year of the pandemic. Two sets of data were collected, with an online survey in the spring (n = 297) and autumn (n = 246) of 2020. At both times, challenges with workload, time management, and interactions with colleagues were found to be the most constraining factors. Difficulties with work–life balance and home office facilities seemed more of an issue in the spr…

University-wide, top-down curriculum reform at a Finnish university: perceptions of the academic staff

This study examines academic staff’s perceptions of a university-wide, top-down curriculum reform in terms of the management of the reform, the support provided by the university’s administration, and the utilisation of the university’s guidelines. Differences between faculties are also scrutinised. The study was conducted at a multidisciplinary public research university in Finland using the survey method. The data (n = 394) consisted of academic staff’s responses to multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Correlation coefficients, exploratory factor analyses, and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were utilised to analyse the quantitative data. Responses to the open-ended questions …

Course Satisfaction in Engineering Education Through the Lens of Student Agency Analytics

This Research Full Paper presents an examination of the relationships between course satisfaction and student agency resources in engineering education. Satisfaction experienced in learning is known to benefit the students in many ways. However, the varying significance of the different factors of course satisfaction is not entirely clear. We used a validated questionnaire instrument, exploratory statistics, and supervised machine learning to examine how the different factors of student agency affect course satisfaction among engineering students (N = 293). Teacher’s support and trust for the teacher were identified as both important and critical factors concerning experienced course satisf…

Interaction and eEducation: What kind of support is needed to develop university teaching?

Higher education institutions are facing an on-going pressure to develop pedagogy which promotes high-quality learning, supports studying in various learning circumstances, and integrates technology. Flexible and meaningful learning possibilities which develop skills for the world of work, like active agency, collaboration and construction of knowledge through interaction with others, are needed in university education. To address these needs, a multidisciplinary network for developing university teaching was introduced at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland in 2011. Even though the main focus of the developmental work is based on the strategy of the university jointly shared among teacher…

University as a workplace: searching for meaningful work

Work in academia is changing, and research suggests that not all the changes are desirable. Higher education is developing in a direction heavily criticized, especially in relation to the concepts of neoliberal and academic capitalism. In this article, we explore meaningful work in a university context. Our focus lies on individual lecturers’ positive opportunities to make work meaningful and the university a better place to work for both students and faculty. We examine meaningful work as a relational phenomenon: how meaningfulness is constructed through features such as dialogue, expertise, interaction and sharing of ideas. Our empirical findings are based on analysis of qualitative and q…

Tutkimuksellisia työkaluja yliopisto-opetuksen arviointiin

University Teachers’ Conceptions of Their Role as Developers of Technology-Rich Learning Environments

This phenomenographic study examines how a diverse group of university teachers conceptualised their role as developers of technology-rich learning environments at one university in Finland. The research findings illustrate a variety of conceptions. Five qualitatively different ways of understanding teachers’ roles regarding the development of technology-rich learning environments were found: 1) innovator, 2) early adopter, 3) adaptive, 4) sceptic and 5) late adopter. In order to connect the whole set of interconnected roles to a theory of change, Everett Rogers’ innovation diffusion theory was exploited in the last phase of analysis. Finally, hierarchically structured categories were creat…

The Finnish Version of the Affinity for Technology Interaction (ATI) Scale : Psychometric Properties and an Examination of Gender Differences

The pervasiveness of technical systems in our lives calls for a broad understanding of the interaction between humans and technology. Affinity for technology interaction (ATI) scale measures the tendency of a person to actively engage or to avoid interaction with technological systems, including both software and physical devices. This research presents a psychometric analysis of a Finnish version of the ATI scale. The data consisted of 796 responses of students in a Finnish university. The data were analyzed utilizing factor analysis and both nonparametric and parametric item response theory. The Finnish version of the ATI scale proved to be essentially unidimensional, showing high reliabi…

Students’ agency profiles in relation to student-perceived teaching practices in university courses

This study addresses the gap in our understanding of the role of pedagogy in agency construction among higher education students. In the present study, profiles of students’ agency experiences were identified and analysed with respect to the students’ perceptions of teaching practices in their courses (i.e., student-centred learning activities, forms of instruction, and student-teacher roles). The Agency of University Students (AUS) Scale (Jääskelä et al., 2017) was used to assess the students’ experiences of their personal, relational, and participatory resources of agency. Agency profiles were found to be associated with students’ perceptions of teaching practices in the courses. The find…

Opetussuunnitelmatyön 2015-2017 arviointi Jyväskylän yliopistossa

Assessing agency of university students: validation of the AUS Scale

Fostering agency as a core component of professionalism is seen as a critical task of higher education. However, the tools for assessing university students’ agency, and the pedagogical and relational resources needed for its development, are lacking. The present study describes the theoretical foundations and factor structure of the newly developed Agency of University Students (AUS) Scale, which assesses students’ course-specific agency. In the factor analysis, ten factors emerged. Four of these – Interest and motivation, Self-efficacy, Competence beliefs and Participation activity – are seen to represent individual resources of agency. The other four factors – Equal treatment, Teacher su…

Upskilling of Academics' Pedagogical Professionalism : Trainers’ and Participants’ Experiences of University Pedagogical Courses

How does university teachers’ pedagogical training meet topical challenges raised by educational research? A case study from Finland

Through a literature review, this study identified research themes related to university pedagogy and examined how these themes appear in the curricula of university pedagogy courses and in the experiences of the participants and trainers of these courses at a Finnish research university. The literature review produced a multidimensional model of the relationships between identified themes, which can be used as an analytical tool for examining pedagogical training. Analysis of the courses revealed a need to broaden the understanding of the course contents and practices and their alignment to global, societal, and labour-market needs. peerReviewed

Feeling Good and Being Inspired on Campus : Meaningful Work in Academia

Theories related to good and caring organisations have gained interest amongst researchers. In particular, the concept of meaningful work has been under discussion recently in academia. This study contributes to knowledge of the concept of meaningful work by examining it from the perspective of good and caring organisations in the higher education context. Our focus this chapter is on the positive opportunities individual lecturers have to make their own work meaningful and to promote their students’ experiences of meaningfulness. The empirical findings are based on the analysis of qualitative data collected from a management course with special attention to relational features, such as dia…

Oppimisen laatu ja opiskelun joustavuus: ohjauksellisen pedagogiikan ydin

Blended learning Jyväskylän yliopiston avoimessa yliopistossa kuvataan blended learningin ajatusta käsitteellä ohjauksellinen pedagogiikka. Se edustaa pedagogisia ratkaisuja, jotka tukevat opiskelijan aktiivista ja yksilöllistä oppimista sekä tarjoavat joustavia opiskelumahdollisuuksia. Toisaalta sillä ymmärretään opettajan pedagogista taitoa organisoida opetus siten, että opiskelijan oppimispolku olisi eheä, mielekäs ja tuottaisi hyviä oppimistuloksia.

Teacher beliefs regarding learning, pedagogy, and the use of technology in higher education

This study examines university teachers’ beliefs about the role of technology in achieving the pedagogical aims of learning within teaching development initiatives at a Finnish university. The initiatives targeted technology adoption in teaching and learning and were enhanced within teacher groups, with support from a university level network program. Thematic interviews were conducted with the members of 11 initiative groups, covering 18 teachers from various disciplines. The qualitative content analysis revealed diverse belief groups. Technology was perceived as a tool for: the promotion of self-paced studying without explicit learning aims; active and interactive learning; integrative le…

Jyväskylän yliopiston henkilöstön pedagogisten koulutusten (YPE, TACE, APO) arviointi ja kehittämismahdollisuudet : arvioinnin loppuraportti

Jyväskylän yliopiston koulutusneuvosto hyväksyi 22.4.2020 henkilöstön pedagogisten koulutusten kehittämiskohteet ja toimenpiteet. Vararehtorin Marja-Leena Laakson päätöksellä 24.8.2020 Koulutuksen tutkimuslaitos otti vastaan tehtävän toteuttaa toimenpide 2.1, pedagogisten koulutusten sisältöjä ja kokonaisrakennetta koskeva arviointitutkimustyö. Professori Päivi Tynjälä asetti 24.8.2020 pedagogisten koulutusten arviointitutkimustyöryhmän. Työryhmän tehtävinä oli olemassa olevien kokonaisuuksien ja rakenteiden arviointi suhteessa ajankohtaiseen korkeakouluopetuksen ja -oppimisen tutkimukseen, yliopiston strategiaan ja koulutuksen kehittämisohjelmaan, korkeakoulutuksen ja tutkimuksen VISIO 203…