A recent analysis of the “digital condition” of Norwegian higher education finds that a considerable number of teachers are willing to implement the use of technology in the classroom, but only to a limited degree. The study, which was carried out by the “Norway Opening University” (2006), found that there are no incentives for teachers in higher education to pursue and develop their use of technology. Research is still conceived of as far more rewarding than teaching. Another finding was that teachers and administrators lack knowledge about, and therefore have little belief in, the benefits of using technology. Younger teachers tend to use technology more than their older colleagues and the report suggests that they use technology more because they know more about the potentials of the technology. The report suggests that higher education institutions need to simplify the technology used and support academics more consistently. The report also suggests that such peer support will improve the chances of other academics finding the pedagogical use of ICT more legitimate and interesting. However, in the larger picture the report finds that academics have implemented technology to a significant degree. From being a marginal activity a decade and a half ago, it now influences the whole educational field in higher education.
In this article, Erika Löfström and Anne Nevgi contribute to the underresearched field of educational thinking about, and pedagogical knowledge of, web-based teaching among university teachers. Building on theories of meaningful learning and an assumption that good teaching embraces an ability to adopt the learner role, the authors studied a group of teachers that participated in a web-based course. The findings show that the student experience turned out to be a powerful tool for the teachers, resulting in increased comprehension of course design and the learner role. More focus was also put into content contextualizing and facilitating collaboration. Erika Löfström is Associate Professor at Tallinn University, and Post-Doc Researcher at the Centre for Research and Development of Higher Education at the University of Helsinki. Anne Nevgi is Senior Researcher at the same centre.
Kristen Snyder explores the growing complexity of technology in human
communication and its impact on learning and sense making. Snyder
presents a theoretical model called the Digital Culture that emerged
from five years of empirical study about online social development and
communication practices in a professional development program.
Combining elements of communication and cultural theory with a social
constructivist view of knowledge, Snyder suggest that the integration
of technology in our human communication is altering the ways in which
we make sense out of situations and information, which impacts
learning. Snyder is a senior researcher at Mid Sweden University in
Härnösand Sweden.
- A social semiotic perspective on gender, multimodality and learning
Based on a case study of pupils in a fifth grade class and their creation of multimodal narratives, Håvard Skaar found notable gender differences. Asking how girls’ and boys’ story-telling differ and the implications for learning, Skaar observed the pupils when they were creating narratives by use of computers and also made a comparison with the pupils’ hand-written diaries. He found, among other things, that the boys typically preferred to use ready-made resources while the girls’ choices of signs in their stories were more related to own feelings and experiences. Using social semiotic theory as underpinning, Skaar concludes that the girls, through their personal involvement, seemed to learn more than the boys. Håvard Skaar is a research fellow at Oslo University College.
What has happened to ICT in schools over time is the question Gunilla Jedeskog addresses in this paper, and gives a qualitative analysis based on evaluation reports from four national campaigns in Sweden. By means of theories of levels and stages of innovation, Jedeskog emphasizes teacher involvement, time, technology and culture as important success factors in implementing ICT in schools. The schools’ role is changing, as the schoolwork, and Jedeskog sees a shift during the last two decades towards a more bottom-up approach, where human aspects, including teacher and student participation, have become more important. Gunilla Jedeskog is a senior lecturer at Linköping University.
There is a need to develop a broader view of knowledge for dealing with the way in which new digital trends influence the underlying conditions for schools, pedagogy and subjects. This short commentary article, based on my paper at the NVU-conference 2008, will therefore highlight whether a broader view of knowledge - situated learning, digital literacy and the digital revolution can generate new ways of how we perceive pedagogy within the new educational reform in Norway in particular and the digitized school in general. The focus is particularly angled towards the implications this may have for developing new practises for teachers and students.
The 37th Annual Congress of the Nordic Educational Research Association will be held in Trondheim, Norway, 5 - 7 March 2009. Keynote speakers are Ruth Kagia (World Bank), irene Rizzini (University of Rio de janeiro), Roger Hart (University of New York), Jon Smidt (Sør-Trøndelag University College) and Anna-Lena Østern (Norwegian University of Science and Technology). Deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 November 2008, and deadline for registration 31 Januar 2009.
The Dream conference is titled Digital
Content Creation: Creativity, Competence, Critique and takes place in Odense, Denmark, 18-20 September 2008. Keynote speakers include professor David Buckingham, John Hartley, Angela McFarlane and Roger Säljö.
Reviewed by
Stephen Dobson
Professor
Lillehammer University College
Email: stephen.dobson@hil.no
Introduction
Two questions can be asked: firstly, not do we need another book on remediation, but why? And secondly, if this is the case, what kind of book should it be? This review spirals around these questions.
Rhetoric and reality by A. A. Carr-Chellman (Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2005
Reviewed by
Dr. J. Ola Lindberg
Department of Education, Mid Sweden University
Email: Ola.Lindberg@miun.se
Dr. Anders D. Olofsson
Department of Education, Umeå University
Email: Anders.D.Olofsson@educ.umu.se
It seems suitable to begin this review by giving a brief description of the context in which the texts of this book are produced. If it fails to be regarded as a description, then we hope at least it can be regarded as one possible understanding of the context. When contextualizing a book, a good idea seems to be to start with a few words about the editor, Alison A. Carr-Chellman.
by George Lakoff, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006
Reviewed by Geir Haugsbakk
Ph.D.-candidate in Education
Lillehammer University College
Email: Geir.Haugsbakk@hil.no
“To lose freedom is awful; to lose the idea of freedom is even worse.”
This statement by George Lakoff is at the core of his attention in his
last book. And his opinion is that the loss of the concept of freedom
is a tragic incident that has struck a large part of the American
people, not least since September 11, 2001.
Volume 3 – issue 1 – 2007 
A recent analysis of the “digital condition” of Norwegian higher education finds that a considerable number of teachers are willing to implement the use of technology in the classroom, but only to a limited degree. The study, which was carried out by the “Norway Opening University” (2006), found that there are no incentives for teachers in higher education to pursue and develop their use of technology. Research is still conceived of as far more rewarding than teaching. Another finding was that teachers and administrators lack knowledge about, and therefore have little belief in, the benefits of using technology. Younger teachers tend to use technology more than their older colleagues and the report suggests that they use technology more because they know more about the potentials of the technology. The report suggests that higher education institutions need to simplify the technology used and support academics more consistently. The report also suggests that such peer support will improve the chances of other academics finding the pedagogical use of ICT more legitimate and interesting. However, in the larger picture the report finds that academics have implemented technology to a significant degree. From being a marginal activity a decade and a half ago, it now influences the whole educational field in higher education.