This book highlights that language matters permeate all areas of higher education and that language matters for everyone involved in academic institutions: in policy, in teaching and learning, in administration, in research and in leadership. The chapters in this volume address national, institutional and local levels, and range from legal texts to students’ and teachers’ stories across disciplines. It provides a useful picture for all those who work in the various fields of higher education. 

Vid Högskolan i Borås (HB), liksom vid alla våra lärosäten, formuleras och konstrueras visioner, planer och riktlinjer årligen i form av lokala styrdokument. Tre av dessa styrdokument1, Policy för kursutvärderingsarbetet vid Högskolan i Borås, Plan för jämställdhet och mångfald för anställda vid Högskolan i Borås och Likabehandlingsplan för studenter vid Högskolan i Borås, är föremål för det strategiska utvecklingsarbetet som här presenteras. I vårt utvecklingsarbete fokuserar vi på implementering av styrdokument utifrån ett pedagogiskt perspektiv, vilket i det här sammanhanget innebär att undervisande personal kopplar styrdokumenten till undervisning och kurser. Som arbetsmodell för detta har vi valt fokusgrupper.

En grundläggande tanke med högre utbildning är att bidra till förmågan hos människor till självständigt tänkande. Ett vedertaget sätt att uppnå detta är att tillhandahålla tillfällen för reflektion kring den information som levereras i form av föreläsningar och litteratur. Reflektion behöver också uppstå när en lärare ger återkoppling till en student på olika former av utfört arbete. Högre utbildning är traditionellt förankrad i begreppet konstruktiv kritik där fokus ofta ligger på att bedöma ett arbete utifrån fel och brister. För lite uppmärksamhet har ägnats åt att förstärka studentens lärande genom att betona det som studenten gjort bra. Gene - rella och svepande formuleringar i positiv anda försvinner lätt i mängden av detal - jerad negativ kritik. I denna artikel presenteras därför en grundläggande modell som konstruerats för att i stället fokusera på att uppmuntra studenten. Modellen utgår från att en öppenhet främjar till att både skapa och ta emot återkopplingen. Med denna modell kan återkopplingen bli verklig och användbar för studenten och därmed kan ett självständigt och konstruktivt tänkande utvecklas.

This paper gathers practitioner perspectives on tuition-free online courses and their potential to improve equality in higher education. Through an intersectional lens of race, gender, income, and indigeneity, this paper focuses on the experience of people living with disabilities (PLWD) as a further marginalized sub-population within diverse marginalized populations. Of note, disability-knowledge held by PLWD and by their family members can position them as sensitive and effective healthcare or disability-care providers. At the same time, society often does not grant an easy pathway to this education and licensure. The existing landscape of massive open online courses (MOOCs) may present tuition-free learning, but accreditation can rest upon payment and other complex structures. Even after PLWDs gather financial resources for official accreditation, prospective employers have the autonomy to determine whether this learning is valid. In a global context, low-income families may experience internal competition for financing between PLWD and non-disabled siblings. Securing a future in which payment models and disability-needs are accommodated for in MOOCs can alter multiple life trajectories in the families of PLWD and ensure that the intersectionally marginalized may equally benefit from open education. 

This research paper is about one aspect of the current internationalization, or Europeanization, of higher education of today. It addresses in particular linguistic issues in relation to or as an aspect of internationalization/Europeanization and how they are discursively constructed. Recent developments in Swedish higher education language policy texts are used as an example. Even though the ongoing mapping shows small signs of linguistic plurality, the dominant position of English is not challenged.

Higher education change is an important area of investigation in Sweden today. It is the largest government sector and its transformation is therefore societally important. This research paper is about one aspect of the changing characteristics of internationalising, or Europeanizing, higher education of today. It addresses in particular the question of language(s) in relation to, or as an aspect of, internationalisation. One of the key dimensions of change is in relation to the importance of international exchange and communication. The increased emphasis on English as an academic lingua franca in higher education practices, policies and quality assessment is significant, and this dominant position needs to be addressed. By close up research on linguistic issues in policy processes on internationalisation, taking Sweden as an example, this present study aims at drawing attention to language issues as part of academic practices. Recent developments in Swedish higher education language policy are used as an example. The webpages of 27 Swedish universities and approved language policies of these universities (all in all twelve) have been investigated, theoretically and methodologically framed within a critical tradition and CDA. Mapping of language plurality and an initial analysis on content and discursive construals, show that language diversity and awareness exists to some extent; that inclusive language practices are to be found; that attempts to problematize linguistic traditions are made; that implications on academic work in some areas can be described as immense, e.g. on language competences in relation to teaching and that the dominant position of English is unchallenged.

De utvecklingsarbeten som presenteras i denna rapport är en del av den högskolepedagogiska grundutbildningen som finns vid Högskolan i Borås. Syftet med utbildningen är att stödja universitetslärare att utveckla ett reflekterande och kritiskt undersökande förhållningssätt till sin praktik samt att stimulera till en pedagogisk diskussion. Att forska i egen praktik (aktionsforskning), utvecklar såväl undervisning som utbildning samt bidrar till individens utveckling mot ’Scholarship of Teaching and Learning’.

Bernstein (1971) claims that a curriculum defines what valid knowledge is. A question to be asked in accordance with this then is: what is defined as “valid knowledge” in the teacher education curriculum in Sweden? The governmental bill of 1999/2000:135 states that teacher education will educate teachers to encounter a multicultural school and a society characterized by diversity. What traces of multiculturalism are visible in the curriculum? What perspectives on multiculturalism might teachers of tomorrow thereby receive in their education? The purpose of our study has been to uncover multicultural discourses in the course syllabi in “the general area of education”, AUO, in teacher education. In the study, 177 course syllabi from 22 universities in Sweden were scrutinized. Multiculturalism, according to our interpretation, is not only a question of ethnicity and nationality or religion but also of class. One of our main results has shown that the multicultural discourse is formed on the basis of a monocultural perspective, i e Swedish and middleclass. Culture, irrespective of being about class or ethnicity, is “talked about” as a feature belonging to the Other both on an individual and collective level. Previous research into educational contexts reveals similar findings (for example Gundara, 2005; Lahdenperä, 1997; Sjögren, 2001). Our findings also show that the multicultural discourse is characterized by deficits. In syllabi, issues of ethnicity/nationality and multilingualism are expressed as if they were issues of functional disorder. Pupils when being categorized as “not Swedish”, for example, are seen as having certain characteristics that will disenable them from learning. Their culture affects the pupils’ capacity for learning and teacher students have to learn about the Others’ background. In what follows an introduction to teacher education in Sweden, a presentation of how this study was carried out and a closer analysis of its results will be provided. The concluding section will include a short discussion of the possible pedagogical consequences that this may entail.

DN DEBATT 9/10.

Antalet studenter som vill bli lärare sjunker. Alla tycks vara överens om att det beror på dålig kvalitet på lärarutbildningarna. Men då missar man ett grundläggande faktum: det finns färre unga vuxna än för tio år sedan. De studenter vi så förtvivlat söker existerar inte, och nu hotas lärarutbildningarnas kvalitet på riktigt, skriver fyra experter på pedagogik.

The overall purpose of the thesis is to investigate dominant discourses operating in the changing of HE concerning questions of language policy. It has been studied at a national level, analysing reports and government bills, and at an institutional level, analysing university language policy, taking Sweden as an example. The research questions address language ideals and language competences. The analyses reveal that discourse strands of economy/market, inclusion and success operate, often entangled with each other in discursive knots, in construing what and how languages are valued, and what kind of language competences academics and students need. An overall finding suggests that economic reasons and market values have become more and more salient in construing ‘language’, concurrently defining participation and prosperity. The findings show that it is primarily Swedish and English, i.e. as parallel languages, that are construed as language ideals. Swedish, as the national language, is constructed as essential for protective and democratic reasons. Academics are construed as protectors of Swedish scientific terminology and as facilitators of Swedish scientific learning. English, as the international language, is at present constructed as essential, or inevitable, for the interests of a liberalised research and educational market. However, the findings suggest a transformation from the 1970s when English was construed as important for reasons of solidarity and worldwide responsibility. English as an obvious and natural foreign language in Sweden is construed for professional, rational and participatory reasons. Multilingualism, beyond Swedish-English bilingualism, is not valued in HE in the 2000s, nor are minority languages or immigrant languages acknowledged in relation to HE. Instead of recognising the potential linguistic repertoire of multilingual students and academics, the findings indicate that perspectives of deficiency prevail. Transnational students and academics are construed as English proficient, and only as English proficient. English-language students are construed as important for universities. Market values and market forces incorporate success for students, but also for universities through these students. The constructs of language ideals and competences in language policy of Swedish universities are interdiscursively connected to the national level. A parallel Swedish-English language ideal construes Swedish as principle and English as more relevant as educational levels get higher. Ideas of linguistic progress for students and of subject-lecturers as language teachers are prevalent. The Swedish language ideal is to a large extent construed in relation to the plain language movement. Commodifying processes operate in the construals of language by externalising language from people, construing it as an added value, an instrument or a technical matter. Finally, the educational implications of the findings are discussed in relation to academic work.

In distance education, learning often takes place without collaboration with fellow students. Hence, distance students mostly need to study on their own. The aim of this study is to enhance the quality of distance students’ learning processes. An intervention was implemented where a peer-learning structure was tested targeting students’ development of academic writing. The intervention consisted of a structure for the creation of learning spaces to enable student-driven collaboration around scientific writing assignments. Theoretically, the study adopts a sociotechnical approach, consequently assuming that the peer learning spaces are social spaces. A sociocultural approach informs the orientation of the intervention, where learning occurs through collaboration and interaction in a specific context. Three aspects of the construction of the peer learning space have been identified: the structuring, the perception, and the experience of it. Going forward, structural as well as social dimensions of peer learning and learning spaces will be investigated.

This Research Full Paper presents a semi-systematic literature review of the application of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in online engineering education. In a generally undertheorized field, the CoI framework has gained considerable attention as a theoretical and methodological means to understand and facilitate learning experiences in online learning environments. However, despite excellent contributions in both these areas, there is a concern about the effect of the disciplinary context and there are calls for more studies investigating disciplinary differences and blended learning environments. We observe that no study to date has tried to summarize and synthesize CoI’s application in engineering education, making informed judgments about its potential for educational research and practice in this particular context difficult. This review aims to contribute to closing this gap. Based on the reviewed articles, we conclude that CoI is a promising framework not only as an evaluation tool for online and blended learning environments in engineering education, but also for the design of online engineering courses that want to build their learning design on a collaborative constructivist view of learning. Due to the relatively limited number of CoI-based studies in online engineering education, we conclude that more research of CoI is needed in the field, especially in specific learning contexts. Compared to the richness of the general literature on CoI and in other fields, the utilization of CoI in engineering education is still very new and appears to still be in a junior state. We suggest several directions for improvement and further research both in order to foster CoI’s theoretical development as well as to provide practical guidance for the design of engineering specific learning environments based on reliable and valid research.

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has gained considerable attention as a theoretical and methodological means to understand and facilitate online learning experiences. Following calls for more studies investigating disciplinary differences and blended learning environments, this semi-systematic literature review summarizes and synthesizes CoI’s application in online engineering education, to provide a base for informed judgments about its potential for educational research and practice in this particular context. Based on 22 reviewed articles, we show that CoI is a promising framework not only as an evaluation tool for online and blended learning environments in engineering education but also for the design of online engineering courses that want to build their learning design on a collaborative constructivist view of learning. However, compared to the richness of the general literature on CoI and in other fields, the utilization of CoI in engineering education is still very new and appears to still be in a junior state. Accordingly, we suggest several directions for improvement and further research.