Yhteisöllisyys voimavarana yliopisto-opetuksen ja -opiskelun kehittämisessä

A sense of community as a resource for developing university teaching and learning The aim of this doctoral research was to determine how a sense of community can be a resource for developing university teaching and learning. The theoretical background is linked to social sciences, social psychology, university pedagogy and educational sciences. The thesis is comprised of two separate studies. Study I consisted of an action research project in which a model of cooperatively developing a teaching and learning culture was created and tested. The focus of study I was the university pedagogy programme of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. The results demonstrated that the theoretical framework and the methods of cooperative learning provide useful tools for developing an academic learning and teaching culture. The approach helps to create a benevolent learning atmosphere. The cooperative learning culture used in the action research project reflected the traditional academic learning culture and also caused a collision between the two cultures. The aim of study II was to determine how Open University students and Bachelor’s degree students experience their teaching-learning environment and the importance of the learning community and peer support to their studies. The results indicated that, with the exception of support from other students, the Open University students experienced their teaching-learning environments on average more positively than the Bachelor’s degree students. According to the Open University students, their own motivation and interest was the most important factor that enhanced studying. Furthermore, the most common factors delaying their studies were their life situation and a lack of time. The sense of community and social relations mainly promoted studying. Open University students experienced that they were supported by their teachers, tutors, other students, the working community, family and hobbies. The research demonstrated that the methods that make good use of communal resources are negotiation of shared goals and rules, working in various small groups, emphasis on shared and individual responsibilities and assessment of the product and the process of learning. The resources of the academic community can be developed if the members of the community develop, in addition to the communal working methods, their communal sensitivity. In other words, they should have an understanding of social psychological and sociological concepts that they can use for observing communal phenomena.

Toimintatutkimus tietokoneavusteisten opetusohjelmien hyödynnettävyydestä ammatillisessa koulutuksessa sähköalalla

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia tietokoneavusteisen opetuksen opetusmenetelmänä ja tietokoneavusteisten opetusohjelmien oppimateriaalina soveltuvuutta erilaisiin sähköalan ammatillisiin opetus- ja oppimistilanteisiin. Tietokoneavusteisilla opetusohjelmilla tarkoitetaan tässä tutkimuksessa erilaisia digitaaliseen muotoon tallennettuja oppimateriaaleja ja tietokoneavusteisella opetuksella näiden digitaalisten oppimateriaalien hyödyntämistä erilaisissa oppimistilanteissa. Opetusteknologian kehittymisen myötä myöskin opettajin valittavissa olevat opetusmenetelmät lisääntyvät ja monipuolistuvat. Vastaavalla tavalla myöskin oppimateriaalit kehittyvät ja mahdollistavat oppijan näkökulmasta entistä yksilöllisemmät opiskelumahdollisuudet. Tutkimuksen viitekehyksen liittyvinä keskeisinä elementteinä olivat tietokoneavusteinen opetus opetusmenetelmänä ja sen valintaan liittyvät tekijät: oppisisällöt ja oppimiselle asetetut tavoitteet, opettajan opetusmenetelmällinen osaaminen, erilaiset oppijat yksilöllisine oppimistavoitteineen sekä käytettävissä olevat erilaiset oppimateriaalit. Tutkimus toteutettiin toimintatutkimuksena ja siihen osallistui tutkijan lisäksi 15 sähköalan opettajaa kahdesta erikokoisesta ammattioppilaitoksesta. Varsinainen toimintatutkimus aloitettiin keväällä 1994 ja se jatkui kevääseen 1996. Lisäksi suoritettiin vertaileva tutkimus, johon osallistui 9 opettajaa kolmesta erillisestä ammattioppilaitoksesta syksyllä 1996 jatkuen kevääseen 1997. Keskeisimmistä tutkimustuloksista mainitsen opettajien heikon tuntemuksen tietokoneavusteisesta opetuksesta ja sen hyödyntämiseen liittyvistä elementeistä. Opettajilta puuttuu taito suunnitella tietokoneavusteisia opetusohjelmia oppimateriaaleina hyödyntäviä opetus- ja oppimistilanteita. Tutkimuksen mukaan opettajilla ei kuitenkaan ole negatiivista ennakkoasennetta opetusmenetelmää kohtaan ja opiskelijat suhtautuvat erittäin myönteisesti erilaisiin tietokoneavusteisiin opetusohjelmiin oppimateriaaleina. Avainsanat: Tietokoneavusteinen opetus, tietokoneavusteinen oppiminen, tietokoneavusteinen oppimateriaali

Feeling Better, Performing Better? Holistically-Oriented Top Performance and Well-Being (HOPE) : Performance Enhancement and Its Perceived Impacts on Musicians

Most musicians choose a career in music based on their love of the art and a desire to share it with others. However, being a performing musician is highly demanding. Despite considerable evidence of the great frequency of performance-related problems (e.g. debilitating performance anxiety) among professional musicians or aspiring musicians in the current Western classical music tradition these problems are seldom discussed openly. The existing system offers musicians very little help in learning how to build sustainable performance success into their musical career. This study it is first of its kind in Finland which addresses the issue on larger scale in a systematic way. I devised the HOPE intervention (Holistically-Oriented Top Performance and Well-Being Enhancement), in order to learn how to integrate professional peak performance and a sense of personal well-being into the lives and careers of musicians. Unlike most interventions in previous research, the HOPE intervention is explicitly holistic and aims at enhancing the whole musician, not just alleviating performance anxiety. Earlier research has not in principle focused on musicians´ psychological well-being or on their subjective perceptions. The main purpose of the study is to understand the perceived impacts of the specially devised HOPE intervention on the participants and particularly in four key areas: performing, playing or singing well-being, and overall (performing, playing or singing and well-being combined). Furthermore, it is hoped that a deeper understanding of performers´ development will be gained. The research method is interdisciplinary and mainly qualitative. The primary data consist of a series of linked questionnaires (before and after the intervention) and semi-structured follow-up interviews collected during action research-oriented HOPE intervention courses for music majors in the Sibelius Academy. With the longitudinal group called Hope 1, the core data were collected during a nine month HOPE intervention course and from follow-up interviews conducted six months later in 2003-2004. The core data of Hope 1 (nine participants) are compared with the perceived impacts on fifty-three other participants in the HOPE courses during the period since their inception, 2001-2006. The focus is particularly on participants´ subjective perceptions. Results of the study suggest that the HOPE intervention is beneficial in enhancing overall performance capacity, including music performance, and a personal sense of well-being in a music university setting. The findings indicate that within all key areas significant positive changes take place between the beginning and the end of a HOPE intervention course. The longitudinal data imply that the perceived positive changes are still ongoing six months after the HOPE intervention course is finished. The biggest change takes place within the area of performing and the smallest, in participants´ perception of their playing or singing. The main impacts include reduced feelings of stress and anxiety (an enhanced sense of well-being) as well as increased sense of direction and control in one's life. Since the results of the present research gave no other reason to believe otherwise, it is to be expected that the HOPE intervention and the results of the study can be exploited in other areas of human activity as well, especially where continuous professional top performance is a prerequisite such as in business or sports. Keywords: performance enhancement, professional top performance, subjective well-being, subjective perceptions, holism, coaching, music performance anxiety, studying music, music.

Matka koulun kestävän kehittämisen maisemassa

A Journey in the Landscape of Sustainable School Development “A Journey in the Landscape of Sustainable School Development” is a story of the Sorrila School development process. This research deals with a school development project as a process, and as a part of international projects on Education for Sustainable Development, with ENSI (Environment and School Initiatives) being the most important. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the change process as a general phenomenon as well as the learning connected to it. The research describes the development period 2001–2008 at the Sorrila Primary school. The research questions are as follows: 1. What did pupils learn during the research and development period? 2. How did the coordinating teacher develop personally? 3. How were the ENSI targets and other closely linked projects reached? 4. What was the feedback from the pupils, their parents and other teachers at the school? 5. How did the developing process proceed in 2001–2008? The method used was integrating action research, which also had ethnographical elements. Narrative was the form of the data as well as the manner of reporting. The method as a whole was integrating, ethnographical action research as a story. The research data consisted mostly of Knowledge Forum notes written by the teacher-researcher. Knowledge Forum is an Internetbased collaborative knowledge-building programme. Pupils’, parents’ and other teachers’ feedback, newspaper articles and students’ writings complied the data, which consists of material from seven years. Sustainable development was the basis of the school improvement. The targets of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) were part of the development projects. According to the research results the school was seen as part of complex systems where manifold and interactive learning took place. The learning of pupils, teachers and the school as a community can be characterised socioculturally. The school was able to reach a level of collaborative transformative learning. As well as several concrete projects, such as Comenius school project, school development consisted of networking at many levels. Along with the projects and networking, the school was able to apply the pedagogy of connection, by carrying out integrative and cross-disciplinary themes and using various learning and teaching methods. International cooperation was a natural part of the work. A figure of Aunt Green, the role model of the teacher researcher, was an innovation which resembled a change agent. The other role of the teacherresearcher as a coordinator, was important for her own professional development. According to the results the change process, which relied on sustainable school development, led the school along a road of positive renewals. It was not a series of projects but an ongoing process. The objectives of the international projects were accomplished to a great extent during the research period. According to the principles of action research, the main results were put forward in order to help others to develop their schools. Frictions and problems as well as positive experiences and rejecting dualities were seen as change forces. Keywords: education for sustainable development (ESD), sustainable school development, teacher professional development, integrating, pedagogy of connection, transformative learning

Kouluruokailuhenkilöstö matkalla kasvattajaksi

The National Board of Education in Finland has defined school catering as a part of education in comprehensive schools. School catering is defined in Finnish law and is financed by the municipalities. The emphasis on supplementary education in the school curriculum obliges the whole staff to learn new professional roles and to co-operate in the school com-munity. An in-service training programme, Smart Catering Staff (SCS) was designed and put into practice among school catering staff. The aim of the one-year SCS programme was to add to and encourage the development of the know-how of catering personnel regarding new challenges in the school community as well as to enhance and empower their educator’s role in the school. The content of the programme consisted of four two-day intensive teaching sessions as well as assignments which were carried out between theese sessions. The main contents of the SCS programme were personal and organizational learning, school curriculum concerning school catering, school culture and co-operation, customer service, and the role of catering staff as educators. The data in this action research was gathered from 2000 to 2008. The results show that the SCS programme can change the work community culture in that the catering staff is more encouraged to participate in the development projects of the school, and can see themselves more as educators alongside the teaching staff. It is concluded that in school communities all adults can be educators, but to achieve this aim empowering in-service training is needed. The school catering staff’s commitment to participation in the education align with the educational goals of the school unite children’s and teens safety nets. This can affect for example the growth of communal responsibility and prevention of alienation. Key words: School Catering, Smart School Catering Staff, Expanded Education, School Community, Action Research

Lapset ja nuoret ympäristökansalaisina : Ympäristökasvatuksen näkökulma osallistumiseen

Children and young people as environmental citizens the environmental education perspective to participation This doctoral thesis examines the participation of children and young people in developing their own environment at school, as a part of environmental education. The aim of the research is to assess and consider children and young people s environmentally responsible participation and its effectiveness in relation to the participants own learning and the end results of the participation. The research combines the perspectives of environmental education and citizenship education through the concept of environmental citizenship. Environmental education, which enhances environmental citizenship, offers children and young people the possibility to be active citizens and learn about citizenship in their own lives by taking action themselves. The research is made up of two parts which complement each other. The first part consists of an action research carried out in the Joensuu Lyseo Upper Secondary School, where an environmental education course with a traffic-related theme was planned, developed and evaluated. The second part is made up of an interview survey carried out in Helsinki. In the survey actors from schools and various city offices, who were involved in development projects of school environments, were interviewed. According to the research results, all-round cooperation and more open relations with those outside of the school environment are important ways to support environmental citizenship in schools. Thus, environmentally responsible participation offers a chance to learn competence that an environmental citizen needs the knowledge, skills and willingness to act that have not been successfully taught through traditional school education. The research introduces a model of environmentally responsible participation as a learning process, in which learning is studied through the development of competence, self-empowerment and social empowerment. The model makes the context of environmental education visible and puts emphasis on reflection in the learning process. A central factor in children and young people s self-empowerment is the sense of being heard and taken into consideration. At the moment children and young people s rights to participate are strong, due to legislation, school curricula, and several national and international agreements. Despite this, involving them in developing their own immediate surroundings has not become a part of schools and planning organisations daily life and established methods. Reasons for this situation can be found in the lack of regard and resources for these matters, in the complex nature of planning and a long time frame, and the problems of ownership and of reaching each other. Central to overcoming these obstacles are a gradual change in conduct and mentalities and the strengthening of teachers and officials competence. Children and young people need different ways and methods of varying levels of involvement, structures and arenas which enable participation and in which environmental citizenship can be realized. Key words: environmental citizenship, environmental education, citizenship education, children and young people s participation, social learning, self-empowerment, social empowerment, school, community planning

Kokonaisvaltainen fysiikanopetus peruskoulussa fysiikan valinnaiskurssilla

Holistic physics education in upper secondary level based on the optional course of physics Keywords: physics education, education, holistic, curriculum, world view, values A physics teacher s task is to put into practice all goals of the curriculum. Holistic physics education means in this research teaching, in which the school s common educational goals and the goals particular to the physics curriculum are taken into account. These involve knowledge, skills and personal value and attitude goals. Research task was to clarify how the educational goals involving student s values and attitudes can be carried out through the subject content of physics. How does the physics teacher communicate the modern world view through the content of the physics class? The goal of this research was to improve teaching, to find new points of view and to widen the perspective on how physics is taught. The teacher, who acted also as a researcher, planned and delivered an optional course where she could study the possibilities of holistic physics education. In 2001-2002 ten girls and two boys of the grade 9th class participated in that elective course. According to principles of action research the teacher-researcher reflected also on her own teaching action. Research method was content analysis that involved both analyzing student feedback, and relevant features of the teacher s knowledge, which are needed for planning and giving the physics lessons. In this research that means taking into account the subject matter knowledge, curriculum, didactic and the pedagogical content knowledge of the teacher. The didactic includes the knowledge of the learning process, students motivation, specific features of the physics didactics and the research of physics education. Among other things, the researcher constructed the contents of the curriculum and abstracted sentences as keywords, from which she drew a concept map. The concept maps, for instance, the map of educational goals and the mapping of the physics essence, were tools for studying contents which are included in the holistic physics education. Moreover, conclusions were reached concerning the contents of physics domains by which these can be achieved. According to this research, the contents employing the holistic physics education is as follows: perception, the essence of science, the development of science, new research topics and interactions in physics. The starting point of teaching should be connected with the student s life experiences and the approach to teaching should be broadly relevant to those experiences. The teacher-researcher observed and analyzed the effects of the experimental physics course, through the lens of a holistic physics education. The students reported that the goals of holistic physics education were achieved in the course. The discourses of the students indicated that in the experimental course they could express their opinions and feelings and make proposals and evaluations. The students had experiences about chances to affect the content of the course, and they considered the philosophical physics course interesting, it awakened questions, increased their self-esteem and helped them to become more aware of their world views. The students analytic skills developed in the interactive learning environment. The physics teacher needs broad knowledge for planning his or her teaching, which is evaluated in this research from contents maps made for the tools of the teaching. In the holistic physics education the teacher needs an open and curious mind and skills for interaction in teaching. This research indicates the importance of teaching physics in developing attitudes and values beside substance of the physics in class environment. The different points of view concerning human beings life make it possible to construct the modern world view of the students and to develop analytic skills and the self-esteem and thus help them in learning. Overall and wide points of view also help to transfer knowledge to practice. Since such contents is not employed by teaching the physics included in the standard curriculum, supplement relevant teaching material that includes such topics are needed.

Becoming to Know: Essays on Extended Epistemology of Knowledge Creation

This qualitative, explorative study, which comprises four essays, focuses on knowledge management (KM). It seeks to answer the question: How can the knowledge creation theory of KM benefit from social learning theories? While studying the five development phases of knowledge creation theory of KM through 1995-2008 and applying some social learning theories in essays, the concepts of knowing, learning and becoming have emerged. Drawing on these three concepts and on becoming ontology and extended epistemology as research philosophies the study suggests the ‘becoming epistemology’ concept and develops the ‘becoming to know’ framework. The framework proposes becoming as phronesis of dialectic interactions between learning and knowing. It shows how becoming to know evolves as an interplay between concrete experience and logical thinking in the present and in a living context. The proposed framework could be considered a contribution to the current development phase of the knowledge creation theory of KM because it illustrates how ontological and epistemological knowledge spirals come together, which is the essence of the knowledge creation theory of KM.

A Relationship Mediated Theory of Internal Marketing (summary section only)

This report presents a new theory of internal marketing. The thesis has developed as a case study in retrospective action research. This began with the personal involvement of the author in an action research project for customer service improvement at a large Australian retail bank. In other words, much of the theory generating ‘research’ took place after the original project ‘action’ had wound down. The key theoretical proposition is that internal marketing is a relationship development strategy for the purpose of knowledge renewal. In the banking case, exchanges of value between employee participants emerged as the basis for relationship development, with synergistic benefits for customers, employees and the bank. Relationship development turned out to be the mediating variable between the learning activity of employee participants at the project level and success in knowledge renewal at the organisational level. Relationship development was also a pivotal factor in the motivation and customer consciousness of employees. The conclusion reached is that the strength of relationship-mediated internal marketing is in combining a market focused commitment and employee freedom in project work to achieve knowledge renewal. The forgotten truth is that organisational knowledge can be renewed through dialogue and learning, through being trustworthy, and by gaining the trust of employees in return.