Quality enhancement in teacher education : Tanzanian teacher educators’ conceptions and experiences

The overall aim of this study was to investigate and examine teacher educators’ conceptions and experiences of quality of teacher education. The research interest therefore was two-fold: a) to deepen understanding of the concept quality and b) scrutinize experiences of teacher educators of quality enhancement. To achieve this ambition the study was conducted in the context of a newly established university college-based teacher education in Tanzania. Two research questions guided the study. The first focused on investigating how teacher educators conceived quality in the domain of teacher education and the second intended to explore teacher educators’ experiences of quality enhancement. The theoretical framework of the study centered on the concepts of teacher education, quality, and criteria for quality enhancement. Phenomenographic and phenomenological approaches under the main umbrella of qualitative research design were selected. Twenty five teacher educators participated in the study. Interviews were used for the collection of the data. The results of the first research question, in brief, indicate that teacher educators’ conceptions of quality are expressed in two main categories, namely, outstanding academic scholarship and adequate professional scholarship. Quality as outstanding academic scholarship was illustrated by two subcategories: excellence and positive transformation. While the former was composed of two aspects, the latter was demonstrated by three aspects. Quality as adequate professional scholarship was described in three sub-categories. The first was improved teaching competency, consisting of two aspects. The second was conscious research orientation, which is displayed by three aspects, and the last was enhancing the ability to reflect, represented by two aspects. The results of the second research question, which focused on exploring teacher educators’ experience of quality enhancement, were classified into two main categories of description: insufficient programs of teacher education and unsatisfactory professional development of teacher educators. From the two categories, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges related to programs of educating teachers, particularly curriculum development and implementation, and the professional development of educators, were exposed. Since the ambition of conducting the study was to deepen the understanding by producing insight that would act as a platform for appraising and enhancing the quality of teacher education, the results hopefully can be used for the development of the quality of teacher education in Tanzania.

Curriculum innovation in teacher education : exploring conceptions among Tanzanian teacher educators

The focus of the study is to understand curriculum innovation from the perspective of Tanzanian teacher educators. It is argued that the deterioration of quality of education in schools is partly to be attributed to the way in which teachers are educated. Curriculum innovation is considered as an essential strategy for bringing about improvement in teacher education. Therefore, in 2000 a new curriculum was introduced; however, right from the inception the curriculum was criticised by teacher educators. The overall aim of the study is to investigate teacher educators’ conceptions of curriculum innovation. In the theoretical framework the main focus is on discussion about different curriculum approaches for teacher education and innovation. In order to achieve the aim of the study, a phenomenographic approach is employed. This approach is used in order to identify similarities and variation in educators’ conceptions of curriculum innovation. The empirical basis of the study consists of interviews with thirty teacher educators working in eight teachers’ colleges situated in various parts of Tanzania. The findings, in brief, reveal variation in teacher educators’ conceptions of the dominant domains of innovation. Two broad conceptions of teaching with six aspects are identified. Conceptions of educational studies are presented in four broad categories of description with four aspects. Similarly, in methodology subjects two conceptions are described with four aspects. On the integration of subject matter studies and subject methods, two broad conceptions are presented with six aspects. Conceptions of textbook prescription policy are characterised in two broad categories of description with four aspects. With the use of modules two broad conceptions are identified with six aspects. In addition, the study identifies four broad conceptions of future curriculum approaches with eight aspects. Looking across the categories of description, the results indicate that educators cope with innovation individually. Three character types of teacher educators are presented: loyal, creative and critical. Furthermore, four types of phenomena suggesting critical areas about teacher educators’ conceptions of innovation are described: educators’ prior educational background, technical factors, student teachers’ factors and shifting from teaching to learning. On the whole, educators express a number of frame factors in the process of change towards the aim of curriculum innovation. This indicates that the new curriculum (2000) is not implemented as intended by curriculum developers. Constraints to the implementation are presented and discussed in detail. From these findings, two models of educators’ stance towards curriculum innovation are presented and can be used as a framework for planning successful curriculum innovations and analysing practice in teachers’ colleges.

Cognitively Empowering Internet-Based Patient Education for Ambulatory Orthopaedic Surgery Patients

Tiedollista voimavaraistumista tukeva internet-perustainen ohjaus päiväkirurgisille ortopedisille potilaille Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kehittää tiedollista voimavaraistumista tukeva Internetperustainen potilasohjausohjelma sekä arvioida sitä. Tutkimusprosessi jaettiin kahteen vaiheeseen. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa luotiin sisältö tiedollista voimavaraistumista tukevalle Internet-perustaiselle ohjaukselle päiväkirurgisia ortopedisia potilaita varten. Toisessa vaiheessa arvioitiin Internet-perustaisen ohjauksen (koeryhmä) hyväksyttävyyttä käyttäjien arvioimana ja ohjauksen tuloksia sekä verrattiin Internet-perustaisen ohjauksen (koeryhmä) tuloksia tiedollisesti voimavaraistumista tukevan sairaanhoitajan välittämään ohjauksen (kontrolliryhmä) tuloksiin. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli luoda uusi potilasohjausmuoto joka tarjoaa yksilöllisen, osallistavan ja aikaan ja paikkaan sitomattoman ohjauksen päiväkirurgiseen ortopediseen leikkaukseen tulevalle potilaalle. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä vaiheessa käytettiin kuvailevaa ja vertailevaa tutkimusmenetelmää (ennen ja jälkeen testaus). Tutkimukseen osallistui 120 päiväkirurgista ortopedista potilasta joiden tiedon odotuksia ja heille välitettyä tietoa tarkasteltiin. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisen vaiheen tuloksien ja aikaisemman voimavaraistumista käsittävän tiedon perusteella luotiin sisältö tiedollista voimavaraistumista tukevalle Internet-perustaiselle ohjaukselle. Sisältö rakentui voimavaraistavan tiedon kuudesta eri osa-alueesta. Tutkimuksen toisessa vaiheessa käytettiin randomoitua kokeellista tutkimusasetelmaa. Päiväkirurgiseen ortopediseen leikkaukseen tulevat potilaat randomoitiin koeryhmään (n=72) Internetperustaiseen ohjaukseen ja kontrolliryhmään (n=75) sairaanhoitajan välittämään ohjaukseen. Aineisto kerättiin strukturoitujen mittareiden avulla ja tulokset analysoitiin tilastollisesti. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että kehitettyä tiedollisesti voimavaraistumista tukevaa Internet-perustaista potilasohjausmenetelmää voidaan suositella käytettäväksi ortopedisten päiväkirurgisten potilaiden ohjauksessa ja potilailla on hyvät mahdollisuudet voimavaraistua tiedollisesti sen avulla. Monipuolista tietoa sisältävä Internet-perustainen ohjaus osoittautui käyttäjien näkökulmasta hyväksyttäväksi. Vaikka Internet ohjauksen hyväksyttävyys koettiin osittain heikommaksi kuin sairaanhoitajan välittämän ohjauksen, potilaat käyttivät nettisivustoa ongelmitta ja arvioivat sen helppokäyttöiseksi. Ohjausmuodolla ei ollut vaikutusta hoidosta aiheutuneisiin kustannuksiin. Sen sijaan kustannuksista organisaatiolle voitiin puolittaa sairaanhoitajan ohjaukseen käyttämä aika Internet-perustaisen ohjauksen avulla. Internet-perustaiseen ohjaukseen osallistuneiden potilaiden tiedon taso ja kokemus tiedon riittävyydestä lisääntyivät ohjauksen jälkeen enemmän kuin sairaanhoitajan välittämään potilasohjaukseen osallistuneiden potilaiden tiedot. Ohjausmuodolla ei ollut vaikutusta potilaiden kokemien tunteiden ja oireiden voimakkuuteen. Yhteenvetona voidaan todeta, että tiedollisesti voimavaraistava Internet-perustaista ohjausta voidaan suositella vaihtoehtoiseksi menetelmäksi sairaanhoitajan välittämälle ohjaukselle päiväkirurgiseen ortopediseen leikkaukseen tuleville potilaille.

Understanding and improving quality of secondary school education : conceptions among teachers in Tanzania

Temat för studien handlar om gymnasielärares uppfattningar om kvalitet och om hur kvalitet kan utvecklas i gymnasieutbildningen in Tanzania. Studien är till sin karaktär kvalitativ och består av utprövade semistrukturerade intervjuer med sammanlagt trettio lärare som arbetar i fyra gymnasieskolor både i urbana och rurala miljöer. Lärarna har varierande arbetserfarenhet och undervisar i olika ämnen. Huvudfokus har gällt identifieringen av variationer i lärares uppfattningar om kvalitet. På basen av två forskningsfrågor avslöjar analysen uppfattningar av hur lärare förstår och önskar utveckla kvaliteten på gymnasieutbildningen. Resultaten visar att lärare förstår kvaliteten på utbildningen i sina skolor som försök att möta skolans och samhällets mål, som individuella prestationer och förmågor som att inneha kompetenser och som att möta utmaningar inom utbildning, Identifierade uppfattningar var baserade på lärarnas personliga kunskap, arbetsmiljön och varierande omständigheter som rådde i deras skolor. Uppfattningar om en förbättring av kvaliteten i gymnasieutbildningen innefattade utveckling av lärares motivation, skolmiljön, arbetet i klassrum, kvaliteten på lärares kunskaper och färdigheter och undervisningsmaterial. Ambitionen bakom studien ar att erbjuda en plattform för strategier för att förbättra kvaliteten på gymnasieutbildningen. Resultaten strävar till att ge en fördjupad insikt i uppfattningar hos en utvald grupp av lärare som arbetar under samma villkor inom gymnasieskolor I Tanzania. Av den här anledningen är den genererade kunskapen därför relevant för att belysa lärares uppfattningar även utanför den studerade gruppen av respondenter.

Conceptions of mathematics teacher education : thoughts among teacher educators in Tanzania

This study addresses the question of teacher educators’ conceptions of mathematics teacher education (MTE) in teacher colleges in Tanzania, and their thoughts on how to further develop it. The tension between exponents of content as opposed to pedagogy has continued to cause challenging conceptual differences, which also influences what teacher educators conceive as desirable in the development of this domain. This tension is connected to the dissatisfaction of parents and teachers with the failure of school mathematics. From this point of view, the overall aim was to identify and describe teacher educators’ various conceptions of MTE. Inspired by the debate among teacher educators about what the balance should be between subject matter and pedagogical knowledge, it was important to look at the theoretical faces of MTE. The theoretical background involved the review of what is visible in MTE, what is yet to be known and the challenges within the practice. This task revealed meanings, perspectives in MTE, professional development and assessment. To do this, two questions were asked, to which no clear solutions satisfactorily existed. The questions to guide the investigation were, firstly, what are teacher educators’ conceptions of MTE, and secondly, what are teacher educators’ thoughts on the development of MTE? The two questions led to the choice of phenomenography as the methodological approach. Against the guiding questions, 27 mathematics teacher educators were interviewed in relation to the first question, while 32 responded to an open-ended questionnaire regarding question two. The interview statements as well as the questionnaire responses were coded and analysed (classified). The process of classification generated patterns of qualitatively different ways of seeing MTE. The results indicate that MTE is conceived as a process of learning through investigation, fostering inspiration, an approach to learning with an emphasis on problem solving, and a focus on pedagogical knowledge and skills in the process of teaching and learning. In addition, the teaching and learning of mathematics is seen as subject didactics with a focus on subject matter and as an organized integration of subject matter, pedagogical knowledge and some school practice; and also as academic content knowledge in which assessment is inherent. The respondents also saw the need to build learner-educator relationships. Finally, they emphasized taking advantage of teacher educators’ neighbourhood learning groups, networking and collaboration as sustainable knowledge and skills sharing strategies in professional development. Regarding desirable development, teacher educators’ thoughts emphasised enhancing pedagogical knowledge and subject matter, and to be determined by them as opposed to conventional top-down seminars and workshops. This study has revealed various conceptions and thoughts about MTE based on teacher educators´ diverse history of professional development in mathematics. It has been reasonably substantiated that some teacher educators teach school mathematics in the name of MTE, hardly distinguishing between the role and purpose of the two in developing a mathematics teacher. What teacher educators conceive as MTE and what they do regarding the education of teachers of mathematics revealed variations in terms of seeing the phenomenon of interest. Within limits, desirable thoughts shed light on solutions to phobias, and in the same way low self-esteem and stigmatization call for the building of teacher educator-student teacher relationships.

Towards Innovative Virtual Learning in Vocational Teacher Education: Narratives as a Form of Meaningful Learning

http://www.eurodl.org/.

Patient education to support self-management of patients with mental illness

This study explores areas which need to be improved to develop the quality of patient education to support self-management of patients with mental illness in psychiatric hospitals. The study was conducted in five phases during the period 2000 – 2007. First, patients‘ (n = 313) satisfaction with patient education were investigated. Second, patients' (n = 51) experiences of patient education were explored. Third, a national survey was conducted to investigate realisation of patient education from the staff (n = 55) viewpoint. Fourth, outcomes of patient education were investigated by evaluating the impacts of different patient education methods on patients‘ (n = 311) attitudes towards medication, knowledge level and importance of information. Fifth, patients‘ (n = 16) perceptions of different patient education methods were explored. Patients reported poor satisfaction with patient education (Phase I), and they have considerable need to receive information during their hospital stay (Phase II). Described by staff, the content of patient education covered almost all informational areas investigated. However, discrepancies related to the realisation of patient education were found. (Phase III.) Evaluation of different patient education methods indicate that patients derived benefits from structured patient education with supportive methods (Phase IV) and patients also perceived that these methods supported their information receiving (Phase V). In order to improve the quality of patient education to support self-management of patients with mental illness patient education should be systematically and individually provided to all patients by using different educational methods. Realisation of this should be ensured by providing written instructions, improving nurses‘ knowledge and skills as well ensuring operating conditions.

Images of imagination : an aesthetic approach to education

Visual art practice has generally been described as a lonely affair, thinking about what an artist has experienced in the outside world. This study is an inquiry into a visual art practice of another kind: the relational one. The research purpose is twofold. The first purpose is to shed light on a visual artist’s conceptions of art, education and scholarship. The second purpose is to by reasoning on imagination and a rhizomatic formation interpret the relations created between art, multimodality and literacy learning as an aesthetic approach to education. By inquiry into a specific collaborated long-term art practice, the study conveys how the meaning making elements of an arts based learning practice gradually transform an artist’s and a teacher’s concepts of art education to an aesthetic approach to education. In the art practice examined the typical Finnish rye bread and a poem have represented a cultural theme that has been elaborated through art conventions. The poem and the rye bread have in the art practice been articulated as cultural representations of as well as symbolic projections on the Swedishspeaking minority culture in Finland. The study connects art informed inquiry to a hermeneutic research rationale where the research reasoning is generated through a rhizomatic alliance between empiric data and theories. The reasoning is constructed as an interpretation pattern that expands throughout the study. The study arguments that the rhizome as an aesthetic formation can be appropriate to refer to when articulating arts based meaning making and when creating arts based educational strategies, dialogues, aesthetic learning and multimodal literacy in education. The study investigates an aesthetic approach to research in education, which means that the art practice surveyed is interpreted through articulation appropriate to poetic aspects of art, education and research.

Integrating environmental education in primary school education in Tanzania : teachers’ perceptions and teaching practices

The study focuses on primary school teachers’ perceptions of environmental education, its integration into primary school education and teachers’ teaching practices in Tanzania. The thesis is based on empirical research. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are based on Palmer’s (1998) model of environmental education. According to the model, meaningful environmental education should include education about, in or through and for the environment. The study is supported by national and international literature from research done on environmental education and education for sustainable development and policy statements. The study is qualitative in nature, adopting phenomenography and phenomenology as points of departure. The empirical data was collected from four primary schools in Morogoro region in Tanzania. The study sample consisted of 31 primary school teachers. Data was collected through interviews and lesson observations. According to the results of the study, primary school teachers expressed variations in their perceptions of environmental education and education for sustainable development. Most of the teachers focused on the aspect of knowledge acquisition. According to Tanzanian education and training policy, environmental education has to be integrated into all subjects. Although there is environmental education in the primary school curriculum, it is not integrated on an equal footing in all subjects. Some subjects like science, social studies and geography have more environmental content than other subjects. Teachers claim that the approach used to integrate environmental education into the school curriculum was not favoured because many claimed that what is to be taught as environmental education in the various subjects is not shown clearly. As a result, many teachers suggested that to ensure that it is taught properly it should be included in the curriculum as an independent subject or as specific topics. The study revealed that teachers’ teaching practices in integrating environmental education varied from one subject to another. Although most of the teachers said that they used participatory methods, lesson observations showed that they limited themselves to question and answer and group discussion. However, the teachers faced a number of barriers in the teaching of environmental education, some of which include lack of teaching and learning resources, time and large class size. The role of teachers in the implementation of environmental education in developing an environmentally literate citizenry is of great significance. The responsibility of the government in developing a curriculum with clear goals and content, developing teachers’ capacity in the teaching of environmental education and provision of teaching and learning materials needs to be taken seriously by the government in educational plans and programs.

Adoption of information technology based patient education in psychiatric nursing

The overall goal of the study was to describe adoption of information technology (IT)-based patient education (PE) developed for patients and nurses use in psychiatric nursing. The data were collected in three phases during the period 2000-2006 in a variety of psychiatric settings in Finland. Firstly, the development process of IT-based PE for patients with schizophrenia spectrum psychosis was described. Secondly, nurses’ adoption of IT-based PE and the variables explaining adoption were demonstrated. Moreover, use of daily IT-based PE in clinical practice and factors associated with use were identified and described. And thirdly, nurses’ experiences of the IT-based PE after one year clinical use were evaluated. IT-based PE program was developed in several stages based on users’ needs and it included information and multimedia applications. Altogether, almost 500 IT-based PE sessions were carried out by the nurses on the study wards and revealed nurses’ activity in educating patients using IT to vary and depend on the hospital in which they worked. Almost 80% of all the possible IT-based PE sessions involved 93 patients and 83 nurses. Less than 2% of the IT-based PE sessions were interrupted and less than 10% suffered disturbances due to the patients or external causes. Moreover, the patients whose education took more days had poorer mental status than those whose education was carried out over a shorter period. After a year’s experience, advantages and disadvantages were described by the nurses for both patients and nurses of the IT-based PE. IT-based PE can be used even on closed acute psychiatric wards with patients with serious mental health disorders. However, technology adoption requires time, and therefore, it must fit in with clinical practice. Collaboration between users and developers is needed when developing user-centered methods in the area of mental health services. Moreover, it is important to understand factors that affect IT adoption in healthcare settings. IT-based PE is one option in interactive and co-operative health care practice between patients and nurses. Therefore the staff should begin to refer patients to established, credible and well-maintained Internet sites that provide information on common psychological problems. Even if every nurse should be trained and engaged to carry out IT-based PE, by targeting the training especially for the most active nurses aids them to support the less active ones. Adoption should also be understood from a perspective that includes aspects related to the context where it is implemented and examine how and in what circumstances it works.

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance This thesis deals with enabling change in universities, more explicitly enhancing education for sustainable development with tools for quality assurance. Change management is a discipline within management that was developed in the 1980s because business changed from being predictable to unpredictable. The PEST mnemonic is a method to categorize factors enabling change; such as political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors, which all affect higher education. A classification of a change, in either hard or soft, can help understanding the type of change that an organization is facing. Hard changes are more applied to problems that have clear objectives and indicators, with a known cause of the problem. Soft changes are applied to larger problems that affect the entire organization or beyond it. The basic definition for sustainable development is: the future generations should have similar opportunities as the previous. The UN has set as a global goal an integration of education for sustainable development (ESD) at all levels of education during 2005- 2014. The goal is set also in universities, the graduates of which are future leaders for all labor markets. The objective for ESD in higher education is that graduates obtain the competence to take economic, social and environmental costs and benefits into account when making decisions. Knowledge outcomes should aim for systematic and holistic thinking, which requires cross disciplinary education. So far, the development of ESD has not achieved its goals. The UN has identified a need for more transdisclipnary research in ESD. A joint global requirement for universities is quality assurance, the aim of which is to secure and improve teaching and learning. Quality, environmental and integrated management systems are used by some universities for filling the quality assurance requirements. The goal of this thesis is to open up new ways for enhancing ESD in universities, beyond the forerunners; by exploring how management systems could be used as tools for promoting ESD. The thesis is based on five studies. In the first study, I focus on if and how tools for quality assurance could be benefitted for promoting ESD. It is written from a new perspective, the memetic, for reaching a diversity of faculty. A meme is an idea that diffuses from brain to brain. It can be applied for cultural evolution. It is a theory that is based on the evolutionary theory by Darwin, applied for social sciences. In the second Paper, I present the results from the development of the pilot process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The development of the model is based on a study that includes earlier studies, a survey in academia and an analysis of the practice in 11 universities in the Nordic countries. In the third study, I explore if the change depends on national culture or if it is global. It is a comparative study on both policy and implementation level, between the Nordic countries and China. The fourth study is a single case study based on change management. In this study, I identify what to consider in order to enable the change: enhancing ESD with tools for quality assurance in universities. In the fifth Paper, I present the results of the process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The model was compared with identified drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems. Finally, the process model was piloted and applied for identifying sustainability aspects in curricula. Action research was chosen as methodology because there are not already implemented approaches using quality management for promoting ESD, why the only way to study this is to make it happen. Another reason for choosing action research is since it is essential to involve students and faculty for enhancing ESD. Action based research consists of the following phases: a) diagnosing, b) planning action, c) taking action and d) evaluating action. This research was made possible by a project called Education for Sustainable Development in Academia in the Nordic countries, ESDAN, in which activities were divided into these four phases. Each phase ended with an open seminar, where the results of the study were presented. The objective for the research project was to develop a process for including knowledge in sustainable development in curricula, which could be used in the quality assurance work. Eleven universities from the Nordic countries cooperated in the project. The aim was, by applying the process, to identify and publish examples of relevant sustainability aspects in different degree programs in universities in the Nordic countries. The project was partly financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and partly by the participating pilot universities. Based on the results of my studies, I consider that quality, environmental and integrated management systems can be used for promoting ESD in universities. Relevant sustainability aspects have been identified in different fields of studies by applying the final process model. The final process model was compared with drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems in universities and with succeeding with management systems in industry. It corresponds with these, meaning that drivers are taken into account and barriers tackled. Both ESD and management systems in universities could be considered successful memes, which can reflect an effective way of communication among individuals. I have identified that management systems could be used as tools for hard changes and to support the soft change of enhancing ESD in universities with management system. Based on the change management study I have summarized recommendations on what to consider in order to enable the studied change. The main practical implications of the results are that the process model could be applied for assessment, benchmarking and communication of ESD, connected to quality assurance, when applied. This is possible because the information can be assembled in one picture, which facilitates comparison. The memetic approach can be applied for structuring. It is viable to make comparative studies between cultures, for getting insight in special characteristics of the own culture. Action based research is suitable for involving faculty. Change management can be applied for planning a change, which both enhancing ESD and developing management systems are identified to be.

Becoming a caring nurse : the heart of the matter in nurse education

This thesis in caring science didactics is based on a thinking, where the fundamental basis for the didactic is science-based, i.e. it does not emanate from the nursing profession but brings forward a didactic that grows out of caring science and its core substance and ethos. This view on didactics arises from the caritative theory developed by Eriksson. The overall aim of the study is to clarify the meaning and essence of understanding, as well as to explore and deepen the understanding of student nurses' processes of understanding and becoming with the intention of developing a theory model for caring didactics. The overarching research questions are: What is the essence of understanding (of caring science knowledge)? What are the possibilities and importance of understanding in the appropriation of caring science? What characterizes and impels the process of becoming? The thesis consists of four sub studies and a summary section. The overall methodological approach is hermeneutic involving quantitative as well as qualitative methods. The data for the study has been collected through a longitudinal research project that followed student nurses at three universities during their entire education. The empirical sub studies form the basis for the interpreted knowledge that is formulated in the new understanding. This new understanding have, through additional theory-charging with the theory fragments from Gadamer, generated the heuristic synthesis which is illustrated in the theory model. The findings shows that understanding can be described as something unlimited, as an endless movement, which can be illustrated as a lying eighth, a lemniscate. The lemiscate of understanding is characterized by seeing, knowing and becoming and consists of seven differently named phases; the acquired horizon of understanding, the encounter of horizons, the dialogue of horizons, the fusion of horizons, application, reflection and shaping a new horizon of understanding. Bildung (formation), is the ultimate imprint of the endless spiral movement of understanding. Ethos and arête constitute the hubs around which the lemniscate of understanding circles. These include the spirit and driving force that the student carries within. The caring culture encloses the lemniscate of understanding. The caring culture provides the life space of understanding and the prevailing basic values are evinced in the culture.

University students’ regulation of learning and text processing – examples from medical and teacher education

The general aim of the thesis was to study university students’ learning from the perspective of regulation of learning and text processing. The data were collected from the two academic disciplines of medical and teacher education, which share the features of highly scheduled study, a multidisciplinary character, a complex relationship between theory and practice and a professional nature. Contemporary information society poses new challenges for learning, as it is not possible to learn all the information needed in a profession during a study programme. Therefore, it is increasingly important to learn how to think and learn independently, how to recognise gaps in and update one’s knowledge and how to deal with the huge amount of constantly changing information. In other words, it is critical to regulate one’s learning and to process text effectively. The thesis comprises five sub-studies that employed cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental designs and multiple methods, from surveys to eye tracking. Study I examined the connections between students’ study orientations and the ways they regulate their learning. In total, 410 second-, fourth- and sixth-year medical students from two Finnish medical schools participated in the study by completing a questionnaire measuring both general study orientations and regulation strategies. The students were generally deeply oriented towards their studies. However, they regulated their studying externally. Several interesting and theoretically reasonable connections between the variables were found. For instance, self-regulation was positively correlated with deep orientation and achievement orientation and was negatively correlated with non-commitment. However, external regulation was likewise positively correlated with deep orientation and achievement orientation but also with surface orientation and systematic orientation. It is argued that external regulation might function as an effective coping strategy in the cognitively loaded medical curriculum. Study II focused on medical students’ regulation of learning and their conceptions of the learning environment in an innovative medical course where traditional lectures were combined wth problem-based learning (PBL) group work. First-year medical and dental students (N = 153) completed a questionnaire assessing their regulation strategies of learning and views about the PBL group work. The results indicated that external regulation and self-regulation of the learning content were the most typical regulation strategies among the participants. In line with previous studies, self-regulation wasconnected with study success. Strictly organised PBL sessions were not considered as useful as lectures, although the students’ views of the teacher/tutor and the group were mainly positive. Therefore, developers of teaching methods are challenged to think of new solutions that facilitate reflection of one’s learning and that improve the development of self-regulation. In Study III, a person-centred approach to studying regulation strategies was employed, in contrast to the traditional variable-centred approach used in Study I and Study II. The aim of Study III was to identify different regulation strategy profiles among medical students (N = 162) across time and to examine to what extent these profiles predict study success in preclinical studies. Four regulation strategy profiles were identified, and connections with study success were found. Students with the lowest self-regulation and with an increasing lack of regulation performed worse than the other groups. As the person-centred approach enables us to individualise students with diverse regulation patterns, it could be used in supporting student learning and in facilitating the early diagnosis of learning difficulties. In Study IV, 91 student teachers participated in a pre-test/post-test design where they answered open-ended questions about a complex science concept both before and after reading either a traditional, expository science text or a refutational text that prompted the reader to change his/her beliefs according to scientific beliefs about the phenomenon. The student teachers completed a questionnaire concerning their regulation and processing strategies. The results showed that the students’ understanding improved after text reading intervention and that refutational text promoted understanding better than the traditional text. Additionally, regulation and processing strategies were found to be connected with understanding the science phenomenon. A weak trend showed that weaker learners would benefit more from the refutational text. It seems that learners with effective learning strategies are able to pick out the relevant content regardless of the text type, whereas weaker learners might benefit from refutational parts that contrast the most typical misconceptions with scientific views. The purpose of Study V was to use eye tracking to determine how third-year medical studets (n = 39) and internal medicine residents (n = 13) read and solve patient case texts. The results revealed differences between medical students and residents in processing patient case texts; compared to the students, the residents were more accurate in their diagnoses and processed the texts significantly faster and with a lower number of fixations. Different reading patterns were also found. The observed differences between medical students and residents in processing patient case texts could be used in medical education to model expert reasoning and to teach how a good medical text should be constructed. The main findings of the thesis indicate that even among very selected student populations, such as high-achieving medical students or student teachers, there seems to be a lot of variation in regulation strategies of learning and text processing. As these learning strategies are related to successful studying, students enter educational programmes with rather different chances of managing and achieving success. Further, the ways of engaging in learning seldom centre on a single strategy or approach; rather, students seem to combine several strategies to a certain degree. Sometimes, it can be a matter of perspective of which way of learning can be considered best; therefore, the reality of studying in higher education is often more complicated than the simplistic view of self-regulation as a good quality and external regulation as a harmful quality. The beginning of university studies may be stressful for many, as the gap between high school and university studies is huge and those strategies that were adequate during high school might not work as well in higher education. Therefore, it is important to map students’ learning strategies and to encourage them to engage in using high-quality learning strategies from the beginning. Instead of separate courses on learning skills, the integration of these skills into course contents should be considered. Furthermore, learning complex scientific phenomena could be facilitated by paying attention to high-quality learning materials and texts and other support from the learning environment also in the university. Eye tracking seems to have great potential in evaluating performance and growing diagnostic expertise in text processing, although more research using texts as stimulus is needed. Both medical and teacher education programmes and the professions themselves are challenging in terms of their multidisciplinary nature and increasing amounts of information and therefore require good lifelong learning skills during the study period and later in work life.