Conditions for EFL learning and professional development : Finland-Swedish learner and teacher perspectives

Engelskans dominerande roll som internationellt språk och andra globaliseringstrender påverkar också Svenskfinland. Dessa trender påverkar i sin tur förutsättningarna för lärande och undervisning i engelska som främmande språk, det vill säga undervisningsmålen, de förväntade elev- och lärarroller, materialens ändamålsenlighet, lärares och elevers initiala erfarenheter av engelska och engelskspråkiga länder. Denna studie undersöker förutsättningarna för lärande och professionell utveckling i det svenskspråkiga nybörjarklassrummet i engelska som främmande språk. Utgångsläget för 351 nybörjare i engelska som främmande språk och 19 av deras lärare beskrivs och analyseras. Resultaten tyder på att engelska håller på att bli ett andraspråk snarare än ett traditionellt främmande språk för många unga elever. Dessa elever har också goda förutsättningar att lära sig engelska utanför skolan. Sådan var dock inte situationen för alla elever, vilket tyder på att det finns en anmärkningsvärd heterogenitet och även regional variation i det finlandssvenska klassrummet i engelska som främmande språk. Lärarresultaten tyder på att vissa lärare har klarat av att på ett konstruktivt sätt att tackla de förutsättningar de möter. Andra lärare uttrycker frustration över sin arbetssituation, läroplanen, undervisningsmaterialen och andra aktörer som kommer är av betydelse för skolmiljön. Studien påvisar att förutsättningarna för lärande och undervisning i engelska som främmande språk varierar i Svenskfinland. För att stöda elevers och lärares utveckling föreslås att dialogen mellan aktörer på olika nivå i samhället bör förbättras och systematiseras.

Neural correlates of language learning in adults

The human language-learning ability persists throughout life, indicating considerable flexibility at the cognitive and neural level. This ability spans from expanding the vocabulary in the mother tongue to acquisition of a new language with its lexicon and grammar. The present thesis consists of five studies that tap both of these aspects of adult language learning by using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during language processing and language learning tasks. The thesis shows that learning novel phonological word forms, either in the native tongue or when exposed to a foreign phonology, activates the brain in similar ways. The results also show that novel native words readily become integrated in the mental lexicon. Several studies in the thesis highlight the left temporal cortex as an important brain region in learning and accessing phonological forms. Incidental learning of foreign phonological word forms was reflected in functionally distinct temporal lobe areas that, respectively, reflected short-term memory processes and more stable learning that persisted to the next day. In a study where explicitly trained items were tracked for ten months, it was found that enhanced naming-related temporal and frontal activation one week after learning was predictive of good long-term memory. The results suggest that memory maintenance is an active process that depends on mechanisms of reconsolidation, and that these process vary considerably between individuals. The thesis put special emphasis on studying language learning in the context of language production. The neural foundation of language production has been studied considerably less than that of perceptive language, especially on the sentence level. A well-known paradigm in language production studies is picture naming, also used as a clinical tool in neuropsychology. This thesis shows that accessing the meaning and phonological form of a depicted object are subserved by different neural implementations. Moreover, a comparison between action and object naming from identical images indicated that the grammatical class of the retrieved word (verb, noun) is less important than the visual content of the image. In the present thesis, the picture naming was further modified into a novel paradigm in order to probe sentence-level speech production in a newly learned miniature language. Neural activity related to grammatical processing did not differ between the novel language and the mother tongue, but stronger neural activation for the novel language was observed during the planning of the upcoming output, likely related to more demanding lexical retrieval and short-term memory. In sum, the thesis aimed at examining language learning by combining different linguistic domains, such as phonology, semantics, and grammar, in a dynamic description of language processing in the human brain.

Active teaching-learning methodologies: medical students' views of problem-based learning

The prevailing undergraduate medical training process still favors disconnection and professional distancing from social needs. The Brazilian Ministries of Education and Health, through the National Curriculum Guidelines, the Incentives Program for Changes in the Medical Curriculum (PROMED), and the National Program for Reorientation of Professional Training in Health (PRO-SAÚDE), promoted the stimulus for an effective connection between medical institutions and the Unified National Health System (SUS). In accordance to the new paradigm for medical training, the Centro Universitário Serra dos Órgãos (UNIFESO) established a teaching plan in 2005 using active methodologies, specifically problem-based learning (PBL). Research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with third-year undergraduate students at the UNIFESO Medical School. The results were categorized as proposed by Bardin's thematic analysis, with the purpose of verifying the students' impressions of the new curriculum. Active methodologies proved to be well-accepted by students, who defined them as exciting and inclusive of theory and practice in medical education.

Researching Manufacturing Planning and Control system and Master Scheduling in a manufacturing firm.

The objective of this thesis is to research Manufacturing Planning and Control (MPC) system and Master Scheduling (MS) in a manufacturing firm. The study is conducted at Ensto Finland Corporation, which operates on a field of electrical systems and supplies. The paper consists of theoretical and empirical parts. The empirical part is based on weekly operating at Ensto and includes inter-firm material analysis, learning and meetings. Master Scheduling is an important module of an MPC system, since it is beneficial on transforming strategic production plans based on demand forecasting into operational schedules. Furthermore, capacity planning tools can remarkably contribute to production planning: by Rough-Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP) tool, a MS plan can be critically analyzed in terms of available key resources in real manufacturing environment. Currently, there are remarkable inefficiencies when it comes to Ensto’s practices: the system is not able to take into consideration seasonal demand and react on market changes on time; This can cause significant lost sales. However, these inefficiencies could be eliminated through the appropriate utilization of MS and RCCP tools. To utilize MS and RCCP tools in Ensto’s production environment, further testing in real production environment is required. Moreover, data accuracy, appropriate commitment to adapting and learning the new tools, and continuous developing of functions closely related to MS, such as sales forecasting, need to be ensured.

Development of capacitive sensor for measuring soil water content

The irrigation management based on the monitoring of the soil water content allows for the minimization of the amount of water applied, making its use more efficient. Taking into account these aspects, in this work, a sensor for measuring the soil water content was developed to allow real time automation of irrigation systems. This way, problems affecting crop yielding such as irregularities in the time to turn on or turn off the pump, and excess or deficit of water can be solved. To develop the sensors were used stainless steel rods, resin, and insulating varnish. The sensors measuring circuit was based on a microcontroller, which gives its output signal in the digital format. The sensors were calibrated using soil of the type “Quartzarenic Neosoil”. A third order polynomial model was fitted to the experimental data between the values of water content corresponding to the field capacity and the wilting point to correlate the soil water content obtained by the oven standard method with those measured by the electronic circuit, with a coefficient of determination of 93.17%, and an accuracy in the measures of ±0.010 kg kg-1. Based on the results, it was concluded that the sensor and its implemented measuring circuit can be used in the automation process of irrigation systems.

Soil sampling intensity and spatial distribution pattern of soils attributes and corn yield in no-tillage system

Taking into account that the sampling intensity of soil attributes is a determining factor for applying of concepts of precision agriculture, this study aims to determine the spatial distribution pattern of soil attributes and corn yield at four soil sampling intensities and verify how sampling intensity affects cause-effect relationship between soil attributes and corn yield. A 100-referenced point sample grid was imposed on the experimental site. Thus, each sampling cell encompassed an area of 45 m² and was composed of five 10-m long crop rows, where referenced points were considered the center of the cell. Samples were taken from at 0 to 0.1 m and 0.1 to 0.2 m depths. Soil chemical attributes and clay content were evaluated. Sampling intensities were established by initial 100-point sampling, resulting data sets of 100; 75; 50 and 25 points. The data were submitted to descriptive statistical and geostatistics analyses. The best sampling intensity to know the spatial distribution pattern was dependent on the soil attribute being studied. The attributes P and K+ content showed higher spatial variability; while the clay content, Ca2+, Mg2+ and base saturation values (V) showed lesser spatial variability. The spatial distribution pattern of clay content and V at the 100-point sampling were the ones which best explained the spatial distribution pattern of corn yield.

Bimodal pore distribution on soils under conservation management system for coffee crop

This study aims at detailing bimodal pore distribution by means of water retention curve in an oxidic-gibbsitic Latosol and in a kaolinitic cambisol Latossol under conservation management system of coffee crop. Samples were collected at depths of 20; 40; 80; 120 and 160 cm on coffee trees rows and between rows under oxidic-gibbsitic Latosol (LVd) and kaolinitic cambisol Latossol (LVAd). Water retention curve was determined at matrix potentials (Ψm) -1; -2; -4; -6; -10 kPa obtained from the suction unit; the Ψm of -33; -100; -500; -1,500 kPa were obtained by the Richards extractor, and WP4-T psychrometer was used to determine Ψm -1,500 to -300,000 kPa. The water retention data were adjusted to the double van Genuchten model by nonlinear model procedures of the R 2.12.1 software. Was estimated the model parameter and inflection point slope. The system promoted changes in soil structure and water retention for the conditions evaluated, and both showed bimodal pores distribution, which were stronger in LVd. There was a strong influence of mineralogy gibbsitic in the water retention more negative than Ψm -1500 kPa, reflected in the values of the residual water content.

Construction and calibration of TDR probes for volumetric water content estimation in a Distroferric Red Latosol

The determination of volumetric water content of soils is an important factor in irrigation management. Among the indirect methods for estimating, the time-domain reflectometry (TDR) technique has received a significant attention. Like any other technique, it has advantages and disadvantages, but its greatest disadvantage is the need of calibration and high cost of acquisition. The main goal of this study was to establish a calibration model for the TDR equipment, Trase System Model 6050X1, to estimate the volumetric water content in a Distroferric Red Latosol. The calibration was carried out in a laboratory with disturbed soil samples under study, packed in PVC columns of a volume of 0.0078m³. The TDR probes were handcrafted with three rods and 0.20m long. They were vertically installed in soil columns, with a total of five probes per column and sixteen columns. The weightings were carried out in a digital scale, while daily readings of dielectric constant were obtained in TDR equipment. The linear model θν = 0.0103 Ka + 0.1900 to estimate the studied volumetric water content showed an excellent coefficient of determination (0.93), enabling the use of probes in indirect estimation of soil moisture.

Using an aerial system of remote sensing to detect different nutritional status in Brachiaria decumbens

The aim of this study was to use digital images acquired by cameras attached to a helium balloon to detect variation of the nutritional status in Brachiaria decumbens. The treatments consisted of five doses of nitrogen (0, 50, 100, 150 e 200kg ha-1) with six replications each, evaluated in a completely randomized statistical design. A remote sensing system composed of digital cameras and microcomputers was used for image acquisition, and a helium balloon lifted the cameras to the heights of 15, 20, 25 and 30m. A portable chlorophyll meter and analyses of leaf nitrogen content were used to make comparisons with data obtained by the remote sensing system. Data was acquired in two phases, in different climatic conditions. At the end of each phase, dry matter production was measured. Three vegetation indices were used to evaluate the detection of different nutritional status. The three indices were able to detect the effects of N doses. The indices constructed with the Green spectral band showed to be more efficient.

Playing to Learn: Business Simulation Games as Leadership Learning Environments

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate if participation in business simulation gaming sessions can make different leadership styles visible and provide students with experiences beneficial for the development of leadership skills. Particularly, the focus is to describe the development of leadership styles when leading virtual teams in computer-­supported collaborative game settings and to identify the outcomes of using computer simulation games as leadership training tools. To answer to the objectives of the study, three empirical experiments were conducted to explore if participation in business simulation gaming sessions (Study I and II), which integrate face-­to-­face and virtual communication (Study III and IV), can make different leadership styles visible and provide students with experiences beneficial for the development of leadership skills. In the first experiment, a group of multicultural graduate business students (N=41) participated in gaming sessions with a computerized business simulation game (Study III). In the second experiment, a group of graduate students (N=9) participated in the training with a ‘real estate’ computer game (Study I and II). In the third experiment, a business simulation gaming session was organized for graduate students group (N=26) and the participants played the simulation game in virtual teams, which were organizationally and geographically dispersed but connected via technology (Study IV). Each team in all experiments had three to four students and students were between 22 and 25 years old. The business computer games used for the empirical experiments presented an enormous number of complex operations in which a team leader needed to make the final decisions involved in leading the team to win the game. These gaming environments were interactive;; participants interacted by solving the given tasks in the game. Thus, strategy and appropriate leadership were needed to be successful. The training was competition-­based and required implementation of leadership skills. The data of these studies consist of observations, participants’ reflective essays written after the gaming sessions, pre-­ and post-­tests questionnaires and participants’ answers to open-­ ended questions. Participants’ interactions and collaboration were observed when they played the computer games. The transcripts of notes from observations and students dialogs were coded in terms of transactional, transformational, heroic and post-­heroic leadership styles. For the data analysis of the transcribed notes from observations, content analysis and discourse analysis was implemented. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was also utilized in the study to measure transformational and transactional leadership styles;; in addition, quantitative (one-­way repeated measures ANOVA) and qualitative data analyses have been performed. The results of this study indicate that in the business simulation gaming environment, certain leadership characteristics emerged spontaneously. Experiences about leadership varied between the teams and were dependent on the role individual students had in their team. These four studies showed that simulation gaming environment has the potential to be used in higher education to exercise the leadership styles relevant in real-­world work contexts. Further, the study indicated that given debriefing sessions, the simulation game context has much potential to benefit learning. The participants who showed interest in leadership roles were given the opportunity of developing leadership skills in practice. The study also provides evidence of unpredictable situations that participants can experience and learn from during the gaming sessions. The study illustrates the complex nature of experiences from the gaming environments and the need for the team leader and role divisions during the gaming sessions. It could be concluded that the experience of simulation game training illustrated the complexity of real life situations and provided participants with the challenges of virtual leadership experiences and the difficulties of using leadership styles in practice. As a result, the study offers playing computer simulation games in small teams as one way to exercise leadership styles in practice.

Building object-oriented software with the D-Bus messaging system

Object-oriented programming is a widely adopted paradigm for desktop software development. This paradigm partitions software into separate entities, objects, which consist of data and related procedures used to modify and inspect it. The paradigm has evolved during the last few decades to emphasize decoupling between object implementations, via means such as explicit interface inheritance and event-based implicit invocation. Inter-process communication (IPC) technologies allow applications to interact with each other. This enables making software distributed across multiple processes, resulting in a modular architecture with benefits in resource sharing, robustness, code reuse and security. The support for object-oriented programming concepts varies between IPC systems. This thesis is focused on the D-Bus system, which has recently gained a lot of users, but is still scantily researched. D-Bus has support for asynchronous remote procedure calls with return values and a content-based publish/subscribe event delivery mechanism. In this thesis, several patterns for method invocation in D-Bus and similar systems are compared. The patterns that simulate synchronous local calls are shown to be dangerous. Later, we present a state-caching proxy construct, which avoids the complexity of properly asynchronous calls for object inspection. The proxy and certain supplementary constructs are presented conceptually as generic object-oriented design patterns. The e ect of these patterns on non-functional qualities of software, such as complexity, performance and power consumption, is reasoned about based on the properties of the D-Bus system. The use of the patterns reduces complexity, but maintains the other qualities at a good level. Finally, we present currently existing means of specifying D-Bus object interfaces for the purposes of code and documentation generation. The interface description language used by the Telepathy modular IM/VoIP framework is found to be an useful extension of the basic D-Bus introspection format.

Mentorointiohjelman kehittäminen toimintatutkimuksen keinoin

Tutkielma on toimintatutkimus mentoroinnin kehittämisestä Osuuskauppa Hämeenmaassa. Tutkielman tavoitteena on ollut suunnitella mentorointiohjelma osuuskaupalle ja kehittää sen sisältöä saatujen tutkimustulosten perusteella sekä kuvata mentoroinnin tuomia hyötyjä ohjelman osallistujille ennen ohjelman päättymistä. Mentorointi on keskeinen osa S-ryhmän osaamisen johtamista. Sen avulla voidaan kehittää tärkeitä osaamisia ja suunnata oppimista organisaation tavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi. Mentorointi tukee henkilöstöstrategian mukaista omaehtoista oppimista, jossa yksilöt ottavat vastuun oman ammattitaitonsa ylläpitämisestä ja kehittämisestä organisaation tuella. Tutkielman viitekehykseen on koottu mentoroinnin ja mentorointiohjelman kehittämiseen liittyviä teorioita ja näkökulmia. Viitekehyksen pohjalta on suunniteltu mentorointiohjelman sisältö ja valmennusmateriaalit. Suunnittelu- ja toteutusprosessi on kuvattu tutkielmassa toimintatutkimuksen luonteen mukaisesti. Ohjelmaa ja sen tuomia hyötyjä osallistujille on arvioitu työssä kirjallisen palautekyselyn ja teemahaastatteluiden avulla. Tutkielman keskeisiä tuloksia ovat ohjelman suunnittelua tukeneen viite-kehyksen kokoaminen ja mentorointiohjelman toteuttaminen sille asetettujen tavoitteiden mukaisesti. Ohjelmaa on kehitetty tutkimustulosten perusteella ja tietoa mentoroinnin hyödyistä osallistujien näkökulmasta on kerätty.

Innovaatioprosessi Balanced Scorecard johtamisjärjestelmässä - Tärkeimmät tekijät prosessin onnistumiseksi

Työn tarkoituksena on tutkia, mitkä ovat tärkeimpiä tekijöitä, joita Balanced Scorecard johtamisjärjestelmää käyttävän organisaatioiden tulee huomioida innovaatioprosessinsa suunnittelussa ja toteutuksessa. Lisäksi työssä tutkitaan, millaisia kytkentöjä innovaatioprosessilla on BSC-johtamisjärjestelmän muihin osa-alueisiin sekä onko BSC ylipäätään sopiva johtamisjärjestelmä innovatiivisuutta tavoittelevalla organisaatiolle. Tutkimusstrategiana on kvalitatiivinen tutkimus ja tutkimusmetodina puolestaan puolistrukturoimaton haastattelu. Työn tärkein tutkimustulos on, että BSC-johtamisjärjestelmää käyttävän organisaation innovaatioprosessin onnistuminen ratkaistaan pitkälti aivan muualla kuin prosessin sisällä itsessään. Organisaation tulee ensinnäkin keskittyä edistämään innovaatioille suotuisaa kulttuuria, tässä organisaation arvot ovat yksi tärkein työväline. Toiseksi, organisaation tulee systemaattisesti kehittää yhteistyötä eri funktioiden ja niissä työskentelevien ihmisten välillä. Kolmanneksi, organisaation tulee mitata systemaattisesti niitä asioita, jotka indikoivat innovaatioiden edellytyksistä ja itse innovaatioprosessin toimivuudesta. Kaikki kolme mainittua tulosta liitetään työssä kirjoittajan toimesta yläkäsitteen johtaminen alle. Työssä tuodaan myös esille se, että organisaatioiden on syytä tarkastella edellä mainittuja kolmea teemaa kahdessa aikaulottuvuudessa – ajassa ennen innovaatioita ja varsinaisen innovaation jälkeen. Siten kunkin kolmen teeman olennaisin sisältö riippuukin aikaperspektiivistä. Yhtenä olennaisena johtopäätöksenä työn tekijä esittää, että BSC-johtamisjärjestelmää käyttävän organisaation ei tulisi investoida merkittävästi varsinaiseen innovaatioprosessiinsa ennen kuin se on kyennyt luomaan innovatiivisuutta tukevaa kulttuuria oppimisen ja kasvun näkökulmassa. Ilman innovaatioita tukevaa kulttuuria prosessissa itsessään tuskin on laadukasta sisältöä. Tämä johtopäätös on selkeä viesti organisaatioille toiminnan priorisoinnin kannalta.

Eleven som aktør i dialog med kunst : ungdoms erfaring med kunstundervisningens innhold og metode i faget kunst og håndverk i norsk grunnskole

Avhandlingen har sitt utspring i mitt engasjement for elevers møte med kunst i grunnskolen i faget kunst og håndverk og mitt syn på ungdom som kompetente bidragsytere til forskningen om fenomener som angår deres liv. Elevene er informanter til, eller aktører i, forskning på fenomenet dialog med kunst. Dialog med kunst er her definert som en helhetlig prosess som innlemmer alt fra elevenes møte med visuelle kunstverk til deres eget skapende arbeid. At avhandlingens fagdidaktiske problemområde er elevers praktisk skapende virksomhet, knytter undersøkelsen til slöjdpedagogisk forskning. Avhandlingens overgripende hensikt er å bidra til utvikling av fagdidaktikken i kunst og håndverk med utgangspunkt i elevenes erfaringer med kunstundervisningens innhold og metode på ungdomsskoletrinnet. Studien består av kasusstudier på to ungdomsskoler. Data ble innsamlet igjennom intervjuer, deltakende observasjon, dokumenter, prosessbøker og foto av formingsprodukter. Ungdoms dialog med kunst i skolen blir analysert og fremstilt ut fra et erfart og et operasjonalisert perspektiv. Funnene speiles i ulike fagdidaktiske tendenser, det vil si ulike hovedoppfatninger i debatten om det moderne samfunn, og i et virksomhetsteoretisk perspektiv. Resultatene fra undersøkelsen utfordrer oss til en fagdidaktisk nyorientering når det gjelder ungdoms møte med kunstverk i skolen, i retning av et mer ungdomskulturelt innhold og relasjonelle kunstmøter som er narrative, tolkningsorientert, opplevelsesorientert, dialogiske og flerstemmige. Undersøkelsen viser at elevene liker det praktisk skapende arbeidet, men at undervisningen i sterkere grad bør ta i bruk digital kunnskap og handle om hvordan kunst kan brukes som utgangspunkt for skapende arbeid, og den bør legge til rette for det læringspotensialet som ligger i dialogen elevene imellom. Elevene liker en undervisning som ikke bare handler om estetiske virkemidler, materialer og teknikker, men også om kommunikasjon og ytringsfrihet. Resultatene viser at det frie skapende arbeid består av tre likeverdige aspekter: det individuelle, det kulturelle og det sosiale. Både funnene og avhandlingens virksomhetsteoretiske perspektiv kan bidra til diskursen om kreativitetsbegrepet og identitetskonstruksjon i vårt moderne samfunn. Virksomhetssystemet blir i denne avhandlingen utviklet til en teori for skapende arbeid i faget kunst og håndverk, et overgripende fagdidaktisk rammeverk for bild/bildkonst og slöjdfaget satt inn i et nordisk utdanningsperspektiv.

The nature of communication structures of university students in an international web-based computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) course

Communication, the flow of ideas and information between individuals in a social context, is the heart of educational experience. Constructivism and constructivist theories form the foundation for the collaborative learning processes of creating and sharing meaning in online educational contexts. The Learning and Collaboration in Technology-enhanced Contexts (LeCoTec) course comprised of 66 participants drawn from four European universities (Oulu, Turku, Ghent and Ramon Llull). These participants were split into 15 groups with the express aim of learning about computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). The Community of Inquiry model (social, cognitive and teaching presences) provided the content and tools for learning and researching the collaborative interactions in this environment. The sampled comments from the collaborative phase were collected and analyzed at chain-level and group-level, with the aim of identifying the various message types that sustained high learning outcomes. Furthermore, the Social Network Analysis helped to view the density of whole group interactions, as well as the popular and active members within the highly collaborating groups. It was observed that long chains occur in groups having high quality outcomes. These chains were also characterized by Social, Interactivity, Administrative and Content comment-types. In addition, high outcomes were realized from the high interactive cases and high-density groups. In low interactive groups, commenting patterned around the one or two central group members. In conclusion, future online environments should support high-order learning and develop greater metacognition and self-regulation. Moreover, such an environment, with a wide variety of problem solving tools, would enhance interactivity.