The aims of this paper are to develop knowledge about scaffolding when students in Swedish schools use digital educational material and to investigate what the main focus is in teachers' interventions during a Learning Design Sequence (LDS), based on a socio-cultural perspective. The results indicate that scaffolding were most common in the primary transformation unit and the most frequent type was procedural scaffolding, although all types of scaffolds; conceptual, metacognitive, procedural, strategic, affective and technical scaffolding occurred in all parts of a learning design sequence. In this study most of the teachers and students, think that using digital educational material requires more and other forms of scaffolding and concerning teacher interventions teachers interact both supportively and restrictively according to students' learning process. Reasons for that are connected to the content of the intervention and whether teachers intervene together with the students or not.

As a result of rapid changes in a digitalized society, an initiative is now taken by the Swedish Knowledge Foundation, with focus on ICT in Teacher training. Together with two other projects, the LIKA project was launched at the beginning of year 2006. The LIKA project is a six year collaboration project between four teacher education schools. After finished education teacher students shall be able to apply ICT in everyday professional teaching activities. LIKA has adapted the CDIO method, developed by engineering educational programmes. In order to assure a durable change in both organizational and curricular structures the sponsor has initiated a self assessment program and a parallel evaluation conducted by external researchers.

In this paper we will reflect on how diffusion of information- and communication technology, can be real in Swedish teacher education. We will describe how the Bologna process affects the work with systematic implementation of ICT and how the CDIO Initiative is used as a framework for the development of the LIKA matrix. The LIKA project was launched at the beginning of 2006 and is a six year collaboration project, between four teacher education colleges. The project is financed by the Swedish Knowledge Foundation and the participating institutions. LIKA stands for the processes of Learning, Information, Communication and Administration, which requires digital competences in order to carry out everyday professional teaching and learning activities.

In March 2020, all Swedish university education went online practically overnight due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focuses on how university students experienced emergency remote education in the fall of 2020. This article is framed by a sociocultural perspective of learning and the tools present in such learning contexts. This article provides a thematic meta-analysis of 53 student group reports based on 247 interviews with third-year university students. The findings suggest three themes of particular interest, regarding what areas the students themselves found important or challenging: awareness of what it means to be a student, technology reframing communication, and need for explicit guidance. The findings are discussed in relation to norms, appropriation, self-regulation and tutoring presence as important factors to consider in emergency remote teaching.

The Swedish government recognises foreign academic education and the professional qualifications of its immigrants by allocating resources to programmes that bridge the gap between immigrants’ education and the specific requirements for work in Sweden. The context of inquiry for this thesis is teachers with a foreign teaching degree, who come from 57 countries or regions and are studying at four Swedish universities. They attend a bridging programme called “Further Education for Foreign Teachers” (in Swedish, Utländska Lärares Vidareutbildning). The purpose of this thesis is to study the unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising teachers with a foreign teaching degree encounter in Swedish teacher education, emphasising digital competence. Five different theoretical frameworks and models are used in this thesis: ways of thinking and practising, redefined transformative learning, the framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), the European Digital Competence Frameworks for Citizens (DigComp 2.1), and the Digital Competence of Educators framework (DigCompEdu). A convergent mixed methods research design was applied; the combined datasets consisted of: (a) a web survey to which 228 teachers responded; (b) five focus groups each consisting of 25 teachers; (c) nine individual interviews; (d) 30 reflective texts written by 15 teachers. Findings show that the participants are not a homogenous group and cannot be treated as such. The common ground is that they are foreign-born teachers who have all immigrated to Sweden. The diversity covers a range, from being quite familiar to being unfamiliar with the Swedish educational context. This thesis reveals the diversity of their digital competence, as they score from foundational proficiency levels to highly specialised ones in TPACK as well as in the European framework DigComp 2.1. Furthermore, their expressed digital competence is found within all role descriptors in the European framework for the digital competence of educators DigCompEdu, from newcomer to pioneer. Diversity was found in teaching philosophy, the role of a teacher, view of the students, how learning occurs, and finally, comprehension of the relationship between education and society. Moreover, the findings highlight that some ways of thinking and practising were unfamiliar to the participants, such as teaching and learning methods, new learning environments, examination practices, further, the communication between teachers and students. Unfamiliarity was also found regarding the extent to which society demands digital competence in the curricula. The participants expressed that their roles as teachers in a new country were unfamiliar and took time to get used to. Therefore, placement supervisors were found to be of great importance for the development of teachers’ digital competence, as they function as mediators and model what it is to be a teacher in Sweden. The analysis shows that all teachers, not only teachers with a migrant background, need digital competence at an advanced level to develop digital competence among students. Thus, educators must identify unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising, plan for authentic competence development, and address the diversity in digital competence. This thesis contributes to empirical findings, developing tools and models to assist teacher educators to change monocultural teaching to an inclusive practice in which diversity is integrated.

Are you searching for a book that discusses teaching excellence from both a global and future perspective? In that case, Global perspectives on teaching excellence - A new era for higher education is a highly relevant and interesting book with contributions from 42 individuals, all involved in higher education in many countries. Christine Broughan, Graham Steventon and Lynn Clouder, researchers from Coventry University in the United Kingdom, are the editors. In this book, the concept of teaching excellence is explored by international authors who highlight a number of key issues. One issue is that teaching excellence has no international definition because it is such a complex subject covering diverse ontological, epistemological and cultural contexts. We can read this book with three questions in mind: If and how teaching excellence can be measured; what impact frameworks, initiatives and awards have on teaching excellence; and, what are the new challenges for global teaching excellence in the 21st century? The authors’ focus is a blend of political, theoretical and applied research which gives the reader many different perspectives on teaching excellence.

Redefined transformative learning refers to learning that implies a change in the learner's identity, which includes cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions and is something all teachers, in this case migrant teachers, experience and negotiate when meeting a new educational context. “Who am I as a teacher in a new country?” migrant teachers ask themselves. To understand oneself as a teacher, one must identify and coordinate the past and present with a future direction, which causes migrant teachers to talk about a transformed professional identity with additional skills. This Element concerns migrant teachers' transformation, how they redefine their professional identity, and how to support this in teacher education.

Digital kompetens är i dagens samhälle en lika viktig kompetens som att kunna läsa och skriva. Därför ska den integreras i all utbildning. Begreppet är dock komplext och föränderligt med många tolkningar. Författarna i denna bok har definierat begreppet som digital teoretisk, didaktisk och teknisk kompetens. Till boken hör ett par filmer och en filmhandledning som inspirerar till arbete enligt bokens riktlinjer för lärarutbildningar, skolor och andra intressenter. Boken presenterar ett holistiskt angreppssätt för integreringen av digital kompetens i högre utbildning, särskilt i lärarutbildningen. Med ett integrationsperspektiv, menar författarna, är det möjligt att synliggöra vilka kompetensutvecklingsbehov som finns samt systematiskt granska och utveckla innehållet i utbildningen. Målet är integration av digital kompetens på ett hållbart sätt i en (utbildnings)organisation där förnyelse och kollegialt samarbete genomsyrar verksamheten. Mer teoretiska kapitel varvas med erfarenheter från författarnas utvecklingsarbete. Dessutom presenteras konkreta modeller och övningar som kan användas både på organisations- och individnivå. Boken vänder sig till lärarutbildare, ansvariga för lärarutbildning, pedagogiska utvecklare och alla som är intresserade av att integrera IT och digital kompetens i högre utbildning. Den är även relevant för andra organisationer som stöd i ett kompetensutvecklingsarbete.

Professional development directed towards migrant teachers is provided at six Swedish Universities. These teachers study 1-2 years to become eligible to teach in Swedish schools. Part of this training is the placement period, where they become familiar with the Swedish school environment while guided by a placement supervisor. In this study, we examine migrant teachers’ experiences with digital technology and media during their placement period, using the theoretical concept of “unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising”. Data in this qualitative study was collected from a total of 34 migrant teachers through five focus groups and nine individual interviews. The migrant teachers’ former teacher education was completed in twenty different countries. A qualitative content analysis was conducted. The results indicate that the placement supervisor is of great importance for the improvement of migrant teachers’ digital competence, as it is defined in the Swedish context. As a role model, the placement supervisor can be a motivator and an inspirational force for migrant teachers. Findings also show that migrant teachers express unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising concerning the curricula, pedagogical methods and in their role as teachers, which has implications for how digital technology and media isused pedagogically.

An increasing number of migrant teachers with a foreign teaching degree enter Swedish teacher education to complement their studies to become eligible to teach in Swedish schools. Digital competence is one of the central skills required of teachers in today’s digitized information society. Within teacher education few studies examine how migrant teachers estimate their ability and skills within digital competence. Hence, in the present study, migrant teachers’ digital competence is investigated applying the framework of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK), the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp 2.1), and the Digital Competence of Educators framework (DigCompEdu). A convergent mixed-methods research design was used. The combined datasets consisted of a web survey, focus groups, individual interviews, and reflective texts, which were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The respondents’ initial teacher education was obtained in 57 countries/regions. The findings highlight that migrant teachers’ digital competence is diverse, scoring from both very low to high in TPACK, as well as in DigComp 2.1, from a foundation proficiency level to a highly specialized one. This result implies that further development to enhance migrant teachers’ digital competence must be diversified.

In Sweden, a growing number of students in teacher education have a migrant background. A specific group consists of those with a foreign teaching degree who wish to complement their studies to become eligible to teach in Swedish schools. Within Swedish teacher education, there is a lack of studies examining how migrant teachers perceive the Swedish educational system, how teaching and learning are understood and practised, and how these experiences can be related to migrant teachers’ previous experiences. In the present study, migrant teachers’ encounters with Swedish teacher education at four Swedish Universities were examined in relation to the notions of “unfamiliar ways of thinking and practising” to highlight ways of teaching and learning that are perceived as unfamiliar. Data in this study was drawn from a web survey completed by 228 respondents with a foreign teaching degree coming from 54 countries. Additionally, five focus groups and nine individual interviews were conducted. Furthermore, 30 reflective texts written by 15 participants were analysed. The results highlight the cultural embeddedness of Swedish teacher education and demonstrate how migrant students struggle with unfamiliar teaching and learning methods, epistemological understanding, examination practices and the roles and expectations from society or between teachers and students. To conclude, this research underscores the importance of situated reflexivity and awareness with intercultural experiences in mind, when designing teaching and learning, and supporting inclusion and equality. These findings and the way of identifying the unfamiliarity in teaching and practising may be applicable in other countries as well.

I denna del beskriver vi hur digital kompetens finns i skolans och lärarutbildningens styrdokument. Vi återger vår tolkning av digital kompetens och presenterar den modell som vuxit fram utifrån våra erfarenheter. 

Specialized educational programs previously unavailable to many students are now accessible to students spread throughout the world. In particular, this globalization presents new opportunities and challenges for universities educating professionals in the field of autism treatment. The aim of the present case study is to analyse the experiences of students who participated in an intercultural graduate level blended learning course in applied behaviour analysis with an autism focus. Students were enrolled in universities in four Nordic-Baltic countries. Country based focus group interviews and surveys were used to explore student’s experiences and perceptions. Results indicate that access to expertise and interacting with other cultures were noted to positively affect learning experience. Risk for cultural divide due to discrepancies in technology, differing pedagogical traditions, and understanding of English were also reported. Implications regarding the potential risks and benefits inherent in intercultural blended learning courses are discussed and suggestions are offered for enhancing the success of such courses.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become a common feature in higher education. The idea of opening up education for a wider population has been welcomed by many. How these new learning environments correspond to the requirements of individual learning is an issue of vital importance. In this paper, we will examine the MOOC phenomenon with the theoretical lense of Habermas influenced communicative space and compare the MOOC environment with that of Swedish Study Circles. Our examination suggests that the strong democratic and collaborative tradition of study circles might provide MOOC designers with a model that can help scaffolding MOOC education in ways beneficial to individual learners.

Teacher education in Sweden has been subject to criticism for not providing teachers-to-be with relevant knowledge and skills concerning the pedagogical use of ICT. Only as late as in 2005 a nationwide investment was launched and three projects commenced with the overall aim of enhancing ICT competence within teacher education. One of the projects was called LIKA (Learning, Information, Communication, Administration) which brought together four institutions of higher education in Stockholm region. This six-year project engaged approx. 600 teacher educators and 6 000 pre-service teachers in 245 different activities with the scope of integrating digital literacy in teacher education programs within the participating institutions. The project developed a holistic model for integration of ICT with digital literacy as a key concept including theoretical, didactic/pedagogical, and technical competences. In a holistic model, digital literacy is established both on the individual and organizational levels with the goal of developing a learning organization where collaborative knowledge creation and learning constitute vital parts of everyday actions. This can be obtained through long term commitment of all personnel in systematic improvement of courses and curricula through experimentation and competence development.

Swedish teacher education has been subject to criticism for not providing teachers-to-be with sufficient training in the pedagogical use of ICTs. In 2005, a nationwide initiative was launched by the Swedish Knowledge Foundation to improve this situation in teacher education. One of the projects, called LIKA (Learning, Information, Communication, Administration), brought together four institutions of higher education in Stockholm region to integrate ICTs in teacher education. This six-year project engaged approx. 600 teacher educators and 6 000 teacher students in 245 different activities. In this paper, we analyze the experiences from LIKA project that aimed at taking a novel approach to ICT implementation combining the latest technology with participatory and collaborative approaches to teaching and learning. The project applied a holistic model emphasizing at one hand the importance of regarding theoretical, pedagogical, and technical competences as equally relevant parts of digital literacy, and on the other hand, the importance of including all aspects of teaching profession into the system of competence development i.e. Learning, Information, Communication and Administration. In a follow-up survey we examined whether the central ideas from LIKA project still define the competence development and organizational learning activities at departments, which are involved in teacher education, and what kind of new developments have taken place since the end of the project period in 2013. The survey responses indicate that crucial issues for the integration of digital literacy remain the same over the years: how to create and maintain a learning organization in the academic environment of higher education, and how to preserve a functioning, up-to-date notion of digital literacy. Our respondents maintain that digital literacy has increasingly become a part of everyday practices in teacher education. However, the challenges of dispersed teacher education programs involving several departments and the strenuous working conditions of teacher educators make it hard to develop the notion of digital literacy and make ICTs an inspiring part of their pedagogic practice.

MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses have emerged in the discourse of the present day higher education as a solution for the 21st century educational challenges. This paper discusses how realistic and appropriate the original ideas of MOOCs are in the wider, global context, particularly in the context of developing regions. Do MOOCs promote democratization of education by making it accessible to all? Or do they reinforce educational hegemony of the Western world thus constituting a further link in the history of cultural imperialism of the global North over the global South? We will argue in this paper that in order to open up education through MOOCs, local adaptations are required. The contextualization of MOOCs, particularly pedagogical and linguistic considerations, are examined and design recommendations formulated.

There are more than one way forward for HEIs that wish to strategize how to best advance engagement with the wider society, address the changing need for professional development, develop learning technologies and establish international collaboration such as for research. The current study investigates, compares and discusses HEIs’ strategies for three areas: technology-enhanced education (including open courses); professional development of academic staff and research collaboration and engagement with business and other community stakeholders. The last issue is discussed in relation to Perez Vico et. al.’s (2014) categories of collaboration. The four HEIs involved in this study are the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, SIM University, Singapore, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Stockholm University, Sweden. Formal documents about strategies and policies from each university are scrutinized in conjunction with interviews with managers who are responsible for educational development. Concepts and strategies for advancing blended learning courses and open and online courses are investigated. Making education available for lifelong learning, supporting economic growth, developing the region and interacting with the surrounding society are missions mentioned by some of the HEIs. The four HEIs apply different strategies to action mission statements and strategic plans.

The last decade has experienced an increase of children diagnosed with autism creating a demand for behaviour analytic supports. However many countries lack expertise and university based coursework in behaviour analysis as it applies to autism. The purpose of this paper is to present two master level higher education courses which utilized blended learning technologies. The first course adhered to BACB certification guidelines, and was designed and implemented through collaboration between The University of North Texas and Stockholm University. The second course was subsidized by Nordplus Higher Education and introduced applied behaviour analysis and autism to a group of students enrolled in four Nordic-Baltic universities/colleges. Courses were evaluated using different formats. Findings are discussed related to topics raised at higher education summit held at the University of North Texas which focused on issues pertaining to designing, implementing, and supervising behaviour analytic interventions in autism.