Search results for "ta516"

Towards practical reflexivity in online discussion groups

2017

This paper continues the discussion about student-driven, interactive learning activities in higher education. Using object-oriented activity theory, the article explores the relational aspects of reflexive practice as demonstrated in five online discussions groups to develop students’ conceptual understanding. The purpose of the research is to describe both the process of reflection during online interaction and how practical engagement with the discipline is supported through pedagogical guidance. The students wrote short texts on the practice of health promotion ethics and discussed their perspectives in relation to theory and research. The analysis proved the importance of structural de…

Is There a Need for a European Institutional Research?

2013

Recent changes in European higher education have accompanied a strong desire and need by national ministries to have comparable data across institutions and a growing recognition from campus leaders that effective planning and decision-making requires reliable institutional data and analyses. This has induced changes and restructuring of duties and roles of administration, administrative staff and academic staff. In North America, internal institutional data analysis is often referred to as institutional research. We examine the roles and functions of institutional research within North America and how the changes within European higher education have created a purpose for institutional res…

Factors promoting vocational students’ learning at work: study on student experiences

2012

In order to promote effective pedagogical practices for students’ work-based learning, we need to understand better how students’ learning at work can be supported. This paper examines the factors explaining students’ workplace learning (WPL) outcomes, addressing three aspects: (1) student-related individual factors, (2) social and structural features of workplace and (3) educational practices related to the organising of WPL periods. The data were collected from final-year vocational students (N = 3106, n = 1603) via an Internet questionnaire. The findings from regression analysis showed that students’ WPL outcomes cannot be seen merely as consequences of student-related individual factors…

Building workplace learning with polytechnics in Finland: multiple goals and cooperation in enhancing connectivity

2013

This article examines the goals of employers when they organise work placements for students. It explores how far, in cooperating with polytechnics, employers adhere to a connective model of students’ work experiences within their organisations. The paper makes use of a quantitative study based on employers’ responses to a questionnaire (n = 269). The study identifies four groups of employers: employers who emphasise the employment perspective, cooperative developers, employers with multiple goals and employers concerned with the development of their own work. The differences in employer profiles are discussed with respect to development of curricula and the higher education system. The pap…

Shaking the Status Quo: Business Accreditation and Positional Competition

2018

Modern business schools exist in a complex world of rankings, ratings, and credentials. Some argue that in increasingly competitive global higher education markets, signaling status and quality has actually become more important than having them (Gioia & Corley, 2002; Trank & Rynes, 2003). For many contemporary business schools, international accreditations have become key means and first steps in pursuing legitimacy and global status. In this essay, we elaborate in detail on a business school’s international accreditation process, including its motivations and outcomes. We conclude that while accreditation processes are, at best, fruitful quality improvement exercises, the inherent motivat…

The role of maternal support of competence, autonomy and relatedness in children's interests and mastery orientation

2013

Abstract The present study investigated the extent to which mothers' support for their children's sense of competence, autonomy and relatedness predicts their children's interest in math and reading, and also their mastery orientation, during the transition to primary school. One hundred fifty-two children were examined twice during their first grade year regarding their interests and mastery orientation (Time 1 and Time 2). Mothers filled in a diary and questionnaire measuring maternal support, also on two occasions (Time 1 and Time 2). Children's school performance in reading and math was tested at the beginning of the first grade (Time 1). The results showed that, after controlling for t…

ELT in Finland

2018

Gender as a theme and a concept in teacher students' Masters' theses

2014

In this study, Master’s theses from the field of teacher education have been analysed from the perspective of equality and gender aware research and education. Master’s theses from the field of teacher education reveal something about the world views constructed in teacher education. This study examines which kind of 1) selected topics and themes and their justifications, 2) conceptualisation of gender and 3) educational conclusions connected to gender topics do the Master's thesis contain. The material was selected from the thesis databases of two Finnish university teacher education units. All theses from the field of education completed in 2000-2007, with names or abstracts including wor…

Task persistence mediates the effect of children’s literacy skills on mothers’ academic help

2015

This longitudinal study aimed at examining the relationship between children's task persistence, mothers' academic help, and the development of children’s literacy skills (reading and spelling) at the beginning of primary school. The participants were 870 children, 682 mothers, and 53 class teachers. Data were collected three times – at the beginning and the end of Grade 1 and at the end of Grade 2. Better literacy skills predicted higher persistence in completing school tasks and, correspondingly, higher persistence was related to better subsequent skills. Also, lower task persistence at the end of Grade 1 corresponded to more frequent academic help from mothers in Grade 2. Moreover, child…

Experiences in Sense Making: Health Science Students’I-Positioning in an Online Philosophy of Science Course

2014

This article reports on a qualitative study on the dialogical approach to learning in the context of higher education. The aim was to shed light on the I-Position and multivoicedness in students’ identity building and to provide empirical substantiation for these theoretical constructs, focusing especially on the connection between personal knowledge and theoretical knowledge. The study explored how health science students’ reflections on their work and discipline-related experiences provided resources for making personal sense of and understanding the subject studied. The students took an online course on the philosophy of science. To study students’ internal and external dialogue in terms…