Laura Hirsto

Strategies in Home and School Collaboration among Early Education Teachers.

In this study, the strategies teachers use in home and school collaboration were surveyed. The subjects were early education teachers in Helsinki, Finland. Questionnaires were used for the data collection. Factor analysis resulted in the extraction of six strategy types. Strategies representing parents as the recipients of information were most frequently used. Strategies representing two‐way communication were also quite often in evidence. The most rarely used strategies included parents as decision makers, volunteers, or resources in the elaboration of learning. Teachers who had children who were approximately the same age as their pupils were more active in using strategies involving teachers as supporters of parenting and parents as a resource for the elaboration of learning. The strategies found and the implications of the Finnish data are discussed.

Personal Goals and Academic Achievement among Theology Students.

Studying in higher education requires long‐term commitment. Previous studies have shown that commitment, perceived competence, intrinsic motivation and work‐life orientation are positively related to academic achievement. This study examines the kinds of goals theology students have at the beginning of studies, and whether these goals are related to academic achievement during their first three years at university. Personal project analysis was used to acquire information about first‐year students’ study‐related personal goals and related evaluations. The evaluations were factor analysed, and three clusters of students were derived on the basis of the factors: the committed, self‐fulfillers and the non‐committed. The results show that students who perceived progress, were capable and had intrinsic reasons for their goals advanced more rapidly in their studies. The implication is that variation in academic achievement is at least partly a consequence of variation in orientation towards studying at the beginning of the study period.

Motivational Approaches to the Study of Theology in Relation to Spirituality

This study concerns the relationship between motivational approaches to the study of theology and spirituality. The motivational approaches expressed by students are considered in terms of reasons for choosing theology as a field of study, and these factors are compared to dimensions of spiritual sensitivity. A total of 137 first-year students completed a questionnaire covering their motives for enrolling in the Faculty of Theology and their spirituality. The questionnaire was developed on the basis of earlier Finnish studies of motives (Niemela, 1999) and spiritual sensitivity (Tirri, 2004; Tirri et al., 2006; Hay, 1998; Bradford, 1995). The data revealed some interesting and significant relations between the two. On the one hand, the community-sensing dimension of spirituality was related to a spiritual calling and a helping orientation; on the other hand, a spiritual calling was related to the value-sensing dimension of spirituality. Cluster analysis produced three student groups that differed in terms of motivational approach, spiritual sensitivity and uncertainty of career choice. Findings are discussed in the perspective of implications for the study of theology.

Significant networks and meaningful conversations observed in the first-round applicants for the Teachers’ Academy at a research-intensive university

The University of Helsinki established a Teachers’ Academy to reward excellence in teaching. This study focuses on teachers’ significant networks and their meaningful conversations about teaching and learning before the establishment of the Teachers’ Academy. The research data consisted of answers to open-ended questions, and were examined using social network analysis. The teachers’ network consisted of significant relations with (1) colleagues and other teachers, (2) peers in pedagogical courses and pedagogical experts, (3) students, and (4) family members and friends. The conversations with different parties varied in nature, content and the level of confidentiality.

Energy engineering students on their way to expertise in sustainable energy

Abstract Energy engineering is facing new challenges in educating experts in sustainable energy. The aim of this paper is to characterise expertise related to sustainability in higher education. Future challenges and required skills are explored through recent studies, which have listed key competencies that engineers need in their working life. Sustainability and expertise are discussed on the basis of literature and energy curricula are explored on universities’ internet pages.

Medical certificate education: controlled study between lectures and flipped classroom.

BackgroundFinnish permanent residents are covered by social security insurance administered by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. The procedure of insurance is initiated with medical certificate written by the treating doctor. Thus, the doctor must have certificate writing skills accompanied with the knowledge of the content and goals for insurance. Quality certificates are important part of doctors’ professional skills worldwide and most effective teaching methods for learning these should be investigated.MethodsMedical certificate data were collected from two independent courses of fourth-year student taught in autumn 2015 (N = 141) and 2016 (N = 142) in the medical faculty of the University of Eastern Finland. A random sample of 40 students per course was drawn for the analysis. All certificates were analyzed as one sample. This was done to obtain reliable results with internal control group on the differences between two teaching methods, the traditional approach and the flipped classroom (FC) approach, in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The medical certificates were evaluated and scored with a rubric (range: − 4.00–14.25) by two independent experienced specialists.ResultsCompared to students in the traditional classroom, students involved in the FC received significantly higher scores in all relevant sections of the assessed certificates. The mean of the total scores was 8.87 (SD = 1.70) for the traditional group and 10.97 (SD = 1.25) for the FC group. Based on the common language effect size, a randomly selected student from the FC group had an 85% probability of receiving a higher total score than a student from the traditional group.ConclusionIn this study, the FC approach resulted in a statistical significant improvement in the content and technical quality of the certificates. The results suggest that the FC approach can be applied in the teaching of medical certificate writing.

University Lecturers' Experiences of and Reflections on the Development of Their Pedagogical Competency.

ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate university lecturers’ experiences of and reflections on the development of their pedagogical competency during a 9-month university pedagogical course. The effects of long-term university pedagogical training are considered through experienced pedagogical competency by analysing university lecturers’ evaluations of and reflections on their pedagogical competence areas during the course. Data was gathered from 31 participants using a self-evaluation questionnaire and reflective writings, and analysed using a mixed-methods approach. The results show that the participants experienced significant development in their pedagogical competency. However, it became evident that the concept and practice of reflection is not clear, especially in different disciplines. In addition to the number of credits of the training, the design, and the long timeframe of the pedagogical training, the context in which the training is put into practice, as well as the social aspect of reflection, need to be taken into consideration.