Degree projects improving co-operation between the teacher education program and schools : - Swedish experiences

In 1977, when teacher education inSwedenwas incorporated into the university system, the main reason was to transform it into an academic tradition. Now, nearly 30 years later, there is still tension between the academic and the vocational tradition; they show up as different and separated elements in a program that is meant to prepare students for a career as a teacher and for a possible future career as a researcher in this field. This tension gives rise to a risk of allowing parallel “tracks” to develop and of isolating the degree thesis work from other courses. On the teacher-training program in which we are involved, close co-operation with partner-schools, where the practical part of the program takes place, has been established. Here, the students´ degree theses are an important factor in making this co-operation work on a concrete level. Accordingly, the purpose of the degree thesis is both to reflect problems in schools and contribute to better teaching in the individual school, but also to offer relevant educational subject matter to the students, which may be adapted as an element in the university’s research environments. From these points of view, the degree thesis is an important part of teacher education and rather more than just a single course. The degree thesis should be an element that gives the students an opportunity to show that they have reached central goals in the teacher education program. It should also be an integral part in the development of critical and scholarly thinking, deepening pedagogical and didactic knowledge and giving the students an opportunity to apply research methods. We will here use two minor case studies: one that compares teacher education programs in five Swedish universities and one minor study at one of those universities, in order to elaborate on the questions: - What purpose has a degree thesis and what role does it play in teacher education? - What criteria are relevant to assessing a degree thesis and what qualities do the degree theses have? - Is it possible to assess a degree thesis fairly and what happens to students who do not pass? - How could the degree thesis be used to improve the contact between the teacher education program and its partner schools in order to contribute to the development of the individual school?

Hot och våld i socialarbetares yrkesutövning : Threats and violence in the socialwelfare secretary occupation.

2004, the SSR, Akademikerförbundet, made a study on the threats and violence as a social secretary in the municipal social services are exposed in their occupation of the "social secretary of threats and violence at work" (T-110192), conducted by Temo ab. We have chosen to use the study on a smaller scale and then made contact with five municipalities in the middle of Sweden to investigate social secretaries experiences of threats and violence. Using the cross-sectional design and a convenience sample, we have gained access to data from 56 people. From a sociological perspective, we have chosen to use Norbert Elias theory of universal configuration and interdependence, and Michel Foucault’s theories concerning power search explanation for the existence of threats and violent situations in the contact between social workers and their clients.

Minimization of stock weight during close-die forging of a spindle

In this paper, Finite Element method and full-scale experiments have been used to study a hot forging method for fabri-cation of a spindle using reduced initial stock size. The forging sequence is carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the hot rolled cylindrical billet is pre-formed and pierced in a closed die using a spherical nosed punch to within 20 mm of its base. This process of piercing or impact extrusion leads to high strains within the work piece but requires high press loads. In the second stage, the resulting cylinder is placed in a die with a flange chamber and upset forged to form a flange. The stock mass is optimized for complete die filling. Process parameters such as effective strain distribution, material flow and forging load in different stages of the process are analyzed. It is concluded from the simulations that minor modifications of piercing punch geometry to reduce contact between the punch and emerging vertical walls of the cylinder appreciably reduces the piercing load. In the flange chamber, a die surfaces angle of 52° instead of 45° is pro-posed to ensure effective material flow and exert sufficient tool pressure to achieve complete cavity filling. In order to achieve better compression, it is also proposed to shorten both the length of the inserted punch and the die “tongues” by a few mm.

Variação, contato e mudança linguística em Moçambique e Cabo Verde : A concordância variável de número em sintagmas nominais do português

This study investigates variable noun phrase number agreement (VNA) in two second language varieties of Portuguese, spoken in Maputo, Mozambique and in Mindelo, Cape Verde. Quantitative VARBRUL analysis is carried out based on recordings made in Maputo and Mindelo 2007 and 2008. Previous quantitative studies on VNA in varieties of Brazilian Portuguese (Guy, 1981; Lopes, 2001; Andrade, 2003) as well as on VNA in first and second language varieties of Portuguese from São Tomé (Baxter, 2004; Figueiredo, 2008, 2010) indicate contact between Portuguese and African languages as the main origin of this phenomenon. VNA in Brazilian Portuguese is, however, interpreted by Scherre (1988) and Naro & Scherre (1993, 2007) as the result of language internal drift. Varieties of Portuguese from Mozambique and Cape Verde are particularly interesting to contrast in order to investigate influences from African languages on VNA, as in Mozambique Bantu languages are first languages of the vast majority of Portuguese speakers, whereas in Cape Verde, practically all Portuguese speakers are first language speakers of Cape Verdean Creole, whose substrates are West African, and not Bantu, languages. Comparison is also made with previous studies from Brazil and São Tomé. The results of this study comment previously postulated explanations for VNA in Portuguese in various ways. The analysis of the variables onset age and age stratum indicates that VNA in the analyzed varieties is a phenomenon linked to the acquisition of Portuguese as a second language and/or language contact rather than the result of internal drift. The fact that all the compared varieties tend to mark plural on pre-head components contradicts Bantu transfer as an explanation for this pattern, and raises the need to also consider more general explanations based on language contact. The basic structural similarity between the compared varieties suggests the existence of a grammatical restructuring continuum.

Teacher’s leadership in web-based language courses in Dalarna University, Sweden

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss how teacher’s leadership can be used as a teaching method in web based language education. The environments that offer online courses provide a wide field for discussion on the contact between teacher and student. My intention is to contribute to the debate on teacher leadership in online courses. In my earlier studies on leadership, I have explored how some religious leaders affected different social movements in Brazil during the military dictatorship (1964-1985). Pruth (2004) by examining the three kinds of legitimacy described by Max Weber I aimed at seeing and analyzing how religious leaders used different teaching methods to explain their messages to ordinary citizens. Thus my research showed how educational leadership is a way to get people to reach their goals. I became interested in the subject teacher’s leadership whenI participated in a survey of the teaching methods of language courses in Dalarna University which is funded by the NGL Center of Dalarna University. In  this project, we have made interviews with the teachers, undertaken the course plans (in the language department at Dalarna University) and categorized the learning outcomes. A questionnaire was constructed based on the learning outcomes and then either sent out remotely to teachers or completed face to face through interviews. The answers provided to the questionnaires enabled the  project to identify many differences in how language teachers interact with their students but  also, the way of giving feedback, motivating and helping students, types of class activities and materials used. This made me aware of how teachers use their leadership or not in their teaching. My focus is to look at the relationship between teachers and students as an important part of the development and quality of online courses. The teacher's performance on campus is different from online courses. I want to understand how the contact between teachers and students in online courses develop and look at how students can make use of this contact and what influence the teacher's leadership has on the ability for the students to achieve the goals of their course

Beröringsbehandling hos patienter med cancer : En litteraturöversikt

Bakgrund: Varje år diagnostiseras cirka 64 000 personer med cancer och tumörsjukdomar är den näst vanligaste dödsorsaken i Sverige. Att få diagnosen cancer innebär en påfrestande tid både fysiskt och psykiskt. Sjuksköterskans arbetsuppgift är bland annat att lindra lidande och främja för god hälsa. Beröring är ett allmänmänskligt livslångt behov och blir extra tydligt när en dödlig sjukdom drabbar en människa. Syfte: Syftet är att belysa erfarenheter av beröringsbehandling hos sjuksköterskor och patienter med cancer. Metod: Studien har valt att genomföras som en litteraturöversikt, där 14 vetenskapliga artiklar användes varav 5 kvalitativa och 9 kvantitativa. Resultat: Resultatet delades in i två områden: Patienters erfarenheter av beröringsbehandling och sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av beröringsbehandling. Under området patienters erfarenheter framkom två kategorier: lindrande inverkan och främjande inverkan, samt underkategorierna: fysiskt obehag, psykiskt obehag, välbefinnande och närhet. Under området sjuksköterskors erfarenheter framkom en kategori: utbildning i beröringsbehandling samt underkategorin: upplevelser av beröringsbehandling. Slutsats: Beröringsbehandling har en kortvarig symtomlindrande inverkan på smärta, ångest, illamående samt ger ökat välbefinnande och livskvalitet. Därtill förbättrades kontakten mellan sjuksköterska och patient som bidrog till att den existentiella ensamheten minskades. Sjuksköterskorna såg patienten som en individ istället för en patient med en sjukdom.