Virtuell verklighet (VR) har kommit att bli en alltmer tillgänglig resurs för skolor och en växande grupp lärare implementerar teknologin i sin undervisning. VR är ett exempel på en resurs som erbjuder intressanta potentialer för elevers kunskapsutveckling. Genom VR kan ämnesinnehåll och kunskaper göras tillgängliga på nya sätt då tekniken gör det möjligt att uppleva platser och innehåll i en 3D-miljö som går bortom klassrummet. I ULF-projektet Virtuella lärmiljöer som stöd för elevers kunskapsutveckling i studiehandledning på modersmålet (VRiS) arbetar två studiehandledare på modersmålet, en IKT-pedagog, en VR-konsult och tre forskare tillsammans med att utveckla teoretisk och praktisk förståelse för elevers kunskapsutveckling i studiehandledning på modersmålet genom anpassade VR-miljöer. Studiehandledning på modersmålet är ett stöd som finns i svenska skolor för att stötta flerspråkiga elever att nå kunskapskraven i de olika skolämnena. Det har visat sig att studiehandledning inte alltid ger det förväntade stöd som eleverna är i behov av och att den i flera fall inte anpassas till elevers individuella behov. Syftet med projektet är att utveckla en didaktiskt anpassad studiehandledning med anpassade VR-miljöer för att främja elevers kunskapsutveckling. Med hjälp av iterativa och design-baserade metoder (DBR) undersöks följande fråga: Hur kan studiehandledningen utformas och användas för att främja elevers lärande genom anpassade VR-miljöer? Projektets resultat visar att studiehandledarna använder anpassade VR-miljöer som en resurs för att stötta elevernas förståelse av ämnesspecifika begrepp i främst NO-undervisningen. De planerar och organiserar sin undervisning i VR med fokus på att visualisera och materialisera begrepp och innehåll för eleverna genom att anpassa existerande VR-miljöer eller skapa egna miljöer med 3D-modeller och objekt som eleverna kan interagera med.

This multi-case study examines the educational change in municipal adult education (MAEd), during and directly after the Covid-19 pandemic. Applying Fullan’s educational change perspective, we analyze teachers’ professional development in terms of evolving materials, changing pedagogies, and altered beliefs about teaching and learning. Data were collected in 2020-2022 from questionnaires, interviews, and question-answer sessions with MAEd teachers (n=140) from the three largest cities in Sweden. The findings demonstrate a pronounced exploration of disparate learning theories, growing recognition of online and hybrid modes of education delivery, remediation of materials, and raised attention to teaching quality and design with clarity and structure. Besides signs of professional development, the study provides empirical evidence for institutional adaptation to respond to crisis, learn from experiences and emerge prepared for future challenges. Conclusively, the study findings indicate that sustainable reshaping of MAEd requires proactive and strategic leadership that aligns with policy and national directives and grassroots initiatives. © 2024 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

This study sheds light on Swedish teachers’ pedagogical digital readiness by highlighting the connections between curricular goals and teaching practice. Based on an ongoing research project aiming to explore and develop primary teachers’ digital multimodal teaching and assessment of three iterative cycles in the study design, the analysis focuses on teacher teams’ reflective discussions (cycle 2) of meaning potentials in students’ knowledge representations and the alignment of these with teaching designs previously implemented in the classroom (years 1–6). The findings demonstrate the development of new understandings, beliefs, and critical pedagogies challenged by the broad goal of adequate digital competence in subject-based curricula promoting mainly the competent use of digital resources. Swedish teachers struggle with digital readiness to develop subject-specific pedagogical knowledge attuned to the critical recognition of students’ engagement in digital multimodal practices without support for qualitative knowledge assessment. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Sara Willermark, Anders D. Olofsson and J. Ola Lindberg. All rights reserved.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nordic higher education institutions (HEIs) as any other learning providers had to abruptly switch from onsite in-person delivery strategies to a more ‘pandemic-friendly’ online mode. To manage these emergent transformations of learning environments successfully, development of teachers’ digital competence became pivotal. This study investigates the experiences of teachers and students from HEIs in the Nordic countries of the impact of the transition to online teaching during the pandemic crisis on teachers’ professional digital competence (TPDC). The findings indicate that the pandemic promoted teachers’ creativity and innovation, enabling individual initiatives, openness, and decentralization that demonstrates the Nordic HEIs readiness to mobilize relevant digital infrastructure and exert academic freedom in times of crises. The study further broadens the concept of TPDC involving aspects of well-being and physical environment as additional indicators, to ensure equality, inclusion, and sustainability in the future of online education in higher education. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the education of disadvantaged groups, relegating already marginalized people. It required their teachers to rapidly develop digital competencies to ensure that their students could overcome potential challenges and succeed in their education. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the pandemic on the development of professional digital competence of teachers working with adult migrant learners.

By analyzing responses from questionnaires, a workshop and interviews with Swedish Municipal Adult Education (MAE) teachers working in migrant-dense areas in Sweden, we identify notions and perspectives of Teachers’ Professional Digital Competence (TPDC). We explore the challenges they encountered and the skills they deemed essential for managing them. The findings show the necessity of teachers considering learners’ study conditions, development of digital literacy skills, and cultural awareness to ensure inclusive online education for migrant learners.

Virtual reality (VR) is an example of a technology that invites new ways of how to design learning activities. The aim of this study is to explore how teachers organize onsite and distance learning environments for multilingual study guidance to promote students’ subject-specific learning. Multilingual study guidance is a support in Swedish schools to enhance the development of students’ subject-specific learning in native language. There are limitations in the ways in which multilingual study guidance is designed. It is often the case that learning activities are not grounded in students’ individual needs. VR constitutes a resource that can support individualized learning activities. The study is part of a Design-Based research project involving 3 researchers, 1 VR-designer, 2 teachers, 3 students from 2 schools in a cyclic process of systematic, iterative and reflective development of concrete educational activities. The results of the designs for learning demonstrate a planning for student-active practice where the student is encouraged to engage with the knowledge content in the virtual space moving around, showing knowledge by pointing/selecting, getting familiar with objects by holding them, watching a process, etc. The students are expected to show and demonstrate their knowledge, while discussing using acquired concepts in the knowledge domain. 

The study has pivotal implications for both research and practice regarding developing theoretical and practical outcomes in the context of developing students’ subject-specific learning in multilingual study guidance.