Developing a Cross-Disciplinary Framework for Collaborative Research in Multi- and Intercultural Education
This chapter sets out an approach to professional development and team building in a newly established faculty in a Finnish university. A method is given for mapping the academic and professional experiences of eight faculty members across disciplinary boundaries to arrive at a cross-disciplinary framework for collaborative research in multi- and intercultural education. Building cumulatively on faculty members’ expertise, the mapping revealed three interconnected themes as a basis for collaborative research: boundary transactions between knowledge, skill and language; boundary objects as representations and carriers of culture; and technological mediation of boundary encounters. A collecti…
Preparing teacher-students for twenty-first-century learning practices (PREP 21) : a framework for enhancing collaborative problem-solving and strategic learning skills
With regard to the growing interest in developing teacher education to match the twenty-first-century skills, while many assumptions have been made, there has been less theoretical elaboration and empirical research on this topic. The aim of this article is to present our pedagogical framework for the twenty-first-century learning practices in teacher education. We will first review the current status of policy frameworks for the twenty-first-century learning skills. Based on our previous work and current understanding in the field of learning sciences, we will next elaborate the processes and strategies for collaborative problem-solving skills and strategic learning skills to specify curre…
Using Video Conferencing and Video Recordings for Upper Secondary Distance Teaching: Teachers' View Points
In Finland the “Isoverstas” (formely ISOverkosto) network of schools coordinates the development of upper secondary distance learning services. The community actually is quite extensive with 65 member schools. In this paper we introduce the results related using synchronous and asynchronous online video resources for distance teaching. The topic is approached broadly at the level of schools and different support services as well as the pedagogical practices of individual teachers. The research data consists of wiki stories written by teachers, the interviews of selected teachers, and an online survey. Data-based content analysis was chosen as the main analysis method with the aim of highlig…
Examining pre-service teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge as evolving knowledge domains : A longitudinal approach
The aim of this study is to outline the development and changes in pre‐service teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) assessments during the first 3 years in teacher education. Specifically, research was conducted at three measurement points over a 3‐year teacher education period. The target group consisted of pre‐service teachers (N = 148) from three Finnish universities. Results indicate a growth in confidence related to all TPACK areas during the research period. The strongest gains were in pedagogical content knowledge. In addition, the gains were larger in other areas related to pedagogical knowledge than areas related to technology or content knowledge. In areas…
Insights into Finnish first-year pre-service teachers’ twenty-first century skills
This study focuses on Finnish pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their twenty-first century skills, especially their learning strategies, collaboration and teamwork, as well as knowledge and attitudes related to ICT in education. The target group consist of 263 first-year pre-service teachers from three universities. The results outline how pre-service teachers perceive their twenty-first century skills, the relationships between different areas of these skills, and the differences among pre-service teachers in terms of perceived skills. The results indicate that the pre-service teachers perceive themselves as skilled learners in terms of learning strategies used as well as collaboration …