Lars Owe Dahlgren

Students' conceptions of subject matter : An aspect of learning and teaching in higher education.

Summary Our intention is to outline a certain view of learning and teaching in higher education. In order to make our generalisations more concrete we have used, as an example, a research project concerned with ways of facilitating a deeper understanding of selected concepts in Economics at University level. This project can be seen as a continuation of previous research, especially within another project entitled ‘Study skill and learning˚s carried out during 1970–74—see, e.g. Svenssons (1976) work with the same title—whose conclusions related to qualitative differences in learning.

From Senior Student to Novice Worker : Learning Trajectories in Political Science, Psychology and Mechanical Engineering

This longitudinal study focuses on the transition from higher education to working life. Research has hitherto described the transition in rather general terms, and there is still only limited knowledge about how graduates construe themselves as professionals, or how they experience the transition to the sociocultural contexts of working life. In this study, the transition is viewed as a trajectory between different communities of practice. Three different Master’s programmes at Linköping University are focused on and compared: political science, psychology and mechanical engineering. The specific aims are to: (i) identify aspects of identity and knowledge formation as reported by informants, both as senior students and later as novice workers with 18 months of work experience; (ii) identify features of discourses of knowledge and competence operating in the programmes and working life; and (iii) to relate the results to differences in the way the programmes are designed. The results indicate that the psychology programme prepares for working life in a rational way, that is, the generic skills and substantive knowledge acquired seem to correspond to the demands of professional work. The other programmes stand out as preparing for working life either by providing generic skills that need to be transformed in professional work, or by containing elements that mainly play a ritual role rather than corresponding to the demands of working life.

The anatomy of learning anatomy

The experience of clinical teachers as well as research results about senior medical students’ understanding of basic science concepts has much been debated. To gain a better understanding about how this knowledge-transformation is managed by medical students, this work aims at investigating their ways of setting about learning anatomy. Second-year medical students were interviewed with a focus on their approach to learning and their way of organizing their studies in anatomy. Phenomenographic analysis of the interviews was performed in 2007 to explore the complex field of learning anatomy. Subjects were found to hold conceptions of a dual notion of the field of anatomy and the interplay between details and wholes permeated their ways of studying with an obvious endeavor of understanding anatomy in terms of connectedness and meaning. The students’ ways of approaching the learning task was characterized by three categories of description; the subjects experienced their anatomy studies as memorizing, contextualizing or experiencing. The study reveals aspects of learning anatomy indicating a deficit in meaningfulness. Variation in approach to learning and contextualization of anatomy are suggested as key-elements in how the students arrive at understanding. This should be acknowledged through careful variation of the integration of anatomy in future design of medical curricula.

Changes in conceptions of meaning, effects and treatment of amblyopia. A phenomenographic analysis of interview data from parents of amblyopic children

The research reported is an experimental study on the effects of intensified education of parents of children with amblyopia on their understanding of the nature of the defect, its origins and treatment. Parents in the control group were exposed to the ordinary information provided at two departments of paediatric ophthalmology, whereas parents in the experimental group, attending the same clinics, were asked to read a booklet aiming at enhancing their understanding of amblyopia and its treatment. Experimental as well as control subjects were thereafter interviewed about their understanding of the meaning of amblyopia and amblyopia-related phenomena. Data were generated in single subject, semi-structured, in-depth interviews which were taped and transcribed in extenso. The interviews were analyzed according to the phenomenographic approach: i.e. the outcome is a description of the various conceptions that emerged in the interviews. In almost all cases the categories of meaning could be hierarchically ordered with regard to the level of understanding implied. Parallel to the interviews the subjects had also filled out a questionnaire assessing general and specific attitudes towards disease and treatment (the Health Belief Model, HBM). The results reveal a superior understanding among parents in the experimental group. The experimental group had also changed attitudes towards disease and treatment in a direction that would favour compliance, more than could be observed in the control group. The outcome is discussed in terms of the role of understanding for a compliant behaviour. It is also emphasised that health care personnel would profit from being aware of the nature of common misconceptions of diseases and their treatment, in the sense that they would be better prepared for entering instructional dialogues with patients or, as in this case, other persons responsible for the management of prescriptions provided.

A winding road – professional trajectories from higher education to working life: a case study of political science and psychology graduates

This qualitative and longitudinal study focuses on graduate employment and the development of graduate employment paths. The aim of this article is to explore the present professional trajectory from higher education to working life, with particular reference to graduates from two different study programmes at Linköping University in Sweden: Political Science and Psychology. More specifically, the article focuses on how graduates construe their professional trajectories in terms of their envisaged future work as senior students, and later as novice and early-career professionals with 18 and 34 months of work life experience. The results indicate that graduates’ professional identities and vision of their future work change over time. The set of categories, depicting the graduates’ vision and experiences of their professional trajectories, do not seem to follow a specific temporal and logical progression in their career. Rather, they appear in different order and at different points in time after graduation. The results, instead, endorse the discourse of lifelong learning and the need for flexibility and employability on the labour market.

What does it mean to be a good teacher and clinical supervisor in medical education

The aim of this study was to describe the different ways medical teachers understand what constitutes a good teacher and a good clinical supervisor and what similarities and differences they report between them. Data was gathered through interviews with 39 undergraduate teachers at a medical university. The transcripts were analysed using a phenomenographic approach. Three categories regarding what it means to be a good teacher and clinical supervisor respectively were identified. Similarities between the two hierarchies were seen with the most inclusive categories of understanding what it means to be a good teacher or supervisor focuses on students’ learning or growth. In the third category a good teacher and supervisor is seen as someone who conveys knowledge or shows how things are done. However, the role of being a clinical supervisor was perceived as containing a clearer focus on professional development and role modelling than the teacher role did. This is shown in the middle category where a good clinical supervisor is understood as a role model and someone who shares what it is like to be a doctor. The middle category of understanding what it means to be a good teacher instead focussing on the teacher as someone who responds to students’ content requests in a partially student-centred perspective. In comparing the ways individual respondents understood the two roles, this study also implies that teachers appear to compartmentalise their roles as teachers and clinical supervisors respectively.

Developing a Community of Practice around Teaching : a Case Study.

It is neither easy to change teacher thinking, nor is it easy to influence teaching practice by handing teachers the tools to do this in a course. It is suggested in this paper that it is not enough to let teachers who teach take a course on teaching in higher education. The process of influencing teachers’ thinking should include working with the communities within which they practise. One way of doing this is to apply the theory of communities of practice to the academic department. Drawing from quantitative, as well as qualitative, data during one year, this case study describes the process of a collaborative project aimed at increasing the educational quality at a research‐intensive department, and how what happened in the project seemed to contribute to the development of a community of practice to include teaching and learning.

Being a mentor for undergraduate medical students enhances personal and professional development

Background: There is increasing evidence of the positive effects of mentoring in medical undergraduate programmes, but as far as we know, no studies on the effects for the mentors have yet been described in the field of medicine. Aim: This study aims to evaluate an undergraduate mentor programme from the mentors’ perspective, focusing particularly on the effect of mentorship, the relationships between mentoring and teaching and the mentors’ perceived professional and personal development. Methods: Data was gathered through a questionnaire to all 83 mentors (response rate 75%) and semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of 10 mentors. Results: Findings show, for example, that a majority of respondents developed their teaching as a result of their mentorship and improved their relations with students. Most respondents also claimed that being a mentor led to an increased interest in teaching and increased reflections regarding their own values and work practices. Conclusion: Being a mentor was perceived as rewarding and may lead to both personal and professional development.

Alcoholic females II. Causes of death with reference to sex difference

The aim of this study has been to explore and compare the mortality of 100 female and 100 male alcoholics, admitted to a department of alcoholic diseases in 1963–69. The patients were early cases and mortality was studied during an observation period of 6–12 years. A total of 18 women and 16 men died. As compared with the general population, mortality was 5.6 and 3.0 times higher than expected for the women and men, respectively. Among the women a significant excess mortality was found for accidents, suicides, diseases of the respiratory system, and especially cirrhosis of the liver. Mortality among the men was significantly higher than expected due to suicides, diseases of the circulatory system, neoplasms, chronic alcoholism, and acute alcohol poisoning. The excess mortality from suicides found for both sexes was highest in the female group. Despite the hitherto rather small number of deaths in the two groups, the high frequency of cirrhosis of the liver among the women is striking.

How to think about interprofessional competence: A metacognitive model

Different professions meet and work together in teams every day in health and social care. To identify and deliver the best quality of care for the patient, teamwork should be both professionally and interprofessionally competent. How can enhanced education prepare teamworkers to be both professionally and interprofessionally competent? To achieve interprofessional skills and design effective interprofessional curricula, there is a need for metacognitive frameworks focusing on the relationship between theories and the problem-solving process as well as the structure and content of professional competence. The aim of this article is to discuss the need for shared metacognitive structures/models as a tool for securing successful interprofessional learning and developing personal, professional and interprofessional competence to improve the quality of care. A metacognitive model for interprofessional education and practice is presented in this article. This model has been developed as a tool for analyzing professional competence on three levels: individual, team and organization. The model comprises seven basic components of professional competence and the way they are related and interact. Examples of how this metacognitive model can be used in the early, middle and late stages in interprofessional education are given.