WGLN - Wallenberg Global Learning Network

WGLN Announcement 2009

WGLN - method of application 2009

Collaborations – find universities and schools

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SVEN STRÖMQVIST, professor i lingvistik, Lunds universitet, vice ordförande WGLN

”WGLN betyder väldigt mycket för uppfinningsrikedomen och utvecklingen av nya pedagogiska verktyg”

Vi måste komma ikapp och utnyttja de digitala färdigheter som barn och ungdomar har i dag, för att på den vägen motivera dem att ta sig an svåra inlärningsproblem inom ämnen som matematik, naturvetenskap och språk. Det är fascinerande att se hur många lägger ner enormt mycket tid och energi på att klara ett svårt datorspel. Tänk om de kan lägga lika mycket tid på grundläggande matematik, eller att tänka kreativt kring problem som miljöförstöring eller människans hälsa – då har vi fantastiska möjligheter framför oss! Men det krävs att vi på allvar lever oss in i och utnyttjar de möjligheter som finns i det digitala mediet, och inte bara återskapar gamla vanliga böcker på internet.

De senaste åren har WGLN möjliggjort en kreativ idéperiod med många små projekt. Det har lett fram till nya verktyg som förstärker pedagogiken. Hittills har de framför allt prövats i universitetsmiljö, men nu byter vi fokus och inriktar oss mot skolan. I fortsättningen vill vi förverkliga användningen av ny informationsteknologi i verkliga klassrum, från tidigaste skolålder till och med gymnasiet. Det kan räcka med att få fram ett tiotal skolor som i sin tur kan tjäna som goda förebilder för andra. För att det ska bli riktigt bra skjuts på utvecklingen när det gäller forskning om lärande så behövs det också en mycket mer intim relation mellan forskning på universitetsnivå och undervisning och utveckling på skolnivå, och där spelar WGLN en avgörande roll.

JANNIE JEPPESEN, mediepedagog Broängsskolan, Botkyrka

”Det är en utmärkt chans att få stöta sina idéer med forskarna. De har ett annat perspektiv och WGLN blir därför en fantastisk mötesplats.”

På Broängsskolan jobbar vi redan mycket med digitala medier och processer. Nu har vi precis inlett ett projekt där alla i årskurs ett får en personlig dator. Eleverna ska arbeta med den som sitt naturliga val av verktyg under sitt första skolår. Tanken är att de ska lära sig att läsa och skriva med hjälp av datorn, vi mejlar och chattar och vi kommer att bygga upp en wiki. Det är en plattform på nätet där alla kan gå in och lägga in sin kunskap, och vem som helst kan sedan gå in och redigera och lägga till information. Målsättningen är att wikin ska följa barnen från årskurs ett upp till årskurs nio, och att de under tiden ackumulerar sin kunskap och fördjupar den. Vi ser att barn och unga kan vara väldigt bra på vissa specifika saker, men de har liten kunskap om hur tekniken fungerar bakom kulisserna. De vet inte skillnaden på hårdvara och mjukvara, och kan ofta inte program som Word och Excel, kunskaper som krävs i arbetslivet. WGLN är en mötesplats där praktikerna får träffa forskarna. Det är en utmärkt chans att faktiskt få stöta sina idéer med forskare, som har ett annat perspektiv. De har också lika stort behov av oss för att få kontakt med verkligheten utanför den akademiska världen.

CRAIG HELLER, professor i biologi, Stanford University, ordförande WGLN

“The ICT is like an 18-wheeler coming down the highway right at us, and either we are going to jump onboard and steer it in the right direction, or we are going to be run over by it.”

The real significance is that WGLN-projects make it possible to bring together the content experts from different faculties with pedagogical experts and along with technological experts. It is by bringing together teams from these three different areas that we are able to produce really innovative and creative products to improve learning and education. The collaboration between Stanford and Sweden is a really unique aspect of the WGLN. For our students the cross-cultural contact is extremely important. I remember talking to engineering students from both countries. I asked the Swedish students what do they learn from interacting with Stanford students, and they said: “The Stanford students are so creative. They just get in there and do things, and they come up with the wildest ideas!” And the Stanford students were impressed by the Swedish students: “Oh, they are so rigorous and well-trained. They really plan things out well.” So the projects flourish because each team brings its own level of training and expertise, and they learn from each other. The collaboration has been a wonderful success during these ten years. Now we are trying to create many new partnerships with schools, where materials and methods can be implemented for the next coming years. There will be a “smorgasbord” of technologies, and we just want the most creative people and the most fertile ground for growing these implementations. We must remember that the ICT is here and the kids are using it. This is like an 18-wheeler coming down the highway right at us, and either we are going to jump onboard and steer it in the right direction, or we are going to be run over by it. Kids have to have the facility to use this technology when they enter the workforce, and it must be part of their educational experience. The challenge is how can we best use it and how can we get the best learning as a result of applications of this technology.

MARCIA LINN, professor i kognitionsvetenskap, University of California, Berkeley, och chef för TELS, Technology-enhanced Learning in Science Center

”Visualisations increase students’ interest in science.”

We know students now are making their own visualisations all the time. There is literally hundreds of thousands of World of Warcraft-visualisations online that students have made, and it seems to me that we have a real opportunity to find ways to stimulate this kind of activity in their learning of science. In science there are many aspects that you can’t see, so visualisation can make those unseen processes visible, like chemical reactions. Students often have very surprising ideas of how chemicals interact. Sometimes they think that single molecules have colour and viscosity. But there are also things that happen on such a grand scale that you can’t visualise them, like global climate change, and there I think a visualisation can bring to life factors that might be too confusing to understand otherwise. Another example is things that happen too fast, like a car crash, where a visualisation gives another opportunity to sort out what’s happening in a situation. We also want to show that science happens throughout life. Right now I think that students too often think that science ends when they walk out the door of the classroom. From the results we’ve found that teachers have become more effective in identifying questions that can be used in the classroom. Another benefit is that our materials provide teachers with information about their student’s thinking during the time in class, and they can access student comments while they are teaching to alter instructions and to plan the lessons for next day. This makes education more efficient in the long run. WGLN is an incredibly exciting project and I hope that some of the collaborations will use resources that are already out there in the field. The TELS’ resources is one example. The partners could use the modules, the assessments and the overall environment. It seems to me that a good way to give this research a head start and increase the outcome is to build on already successful materials and make them better, rather than starting from scratch.

Symposium

Harnessing Technology for Learning – University and School Partnership

March 31 - April 1, 2008
at Lund University, Humanist laboratory

Participants

Click here to view a compilation of participants, schools and projects.

Lectures

Click here to view a selection of videos from the lectures.

Sessions available in pdf format

Children’s and adolescents’ digital culture

How do we catch up?

Tara McPherson

Approaches to implementation in school

How to be successful

Deborah Stipek

Improving teaching and learning

Interactive boards in the classroom

1 - Ann-Charlotte Markman
2 - Ann-Charlotte Markman

Ann-Charlotte Markman

	Improving teaching and learning Solutions in a US classroom Don Rizzi	Don Rizzi
	What cognitive science tells us about learning Peter Gardenfors	Peter Gärdenfors
	Rethinking Evaluation Useful activity for improvement or just another academic hurdle? Introduction speech and discussion forum	Intro: Sven Strömqvist Speaker: Fredrik Svensson Discussion forum Moderator: Ulf Wickbom
	Sven Stromqvist

Opportunities to implement current WGLN findings

Craig Heller

Collaboration opportunities with the Humanities labs at Lund and Umeå

Sven Stromqvist

Patrik Svensson

Sven Strömqvist

Patrik Svensson

Culture and ICT in a Swedish community

Effect on learning environment

Lars Cuzner

Interactive visualization and simulation tools – do they make a difference?

Marcia Linn

Cooperation school-university: models for cooperation and how to achieve sustainability

Peter Becker

Demos

There will be several demos in parallel of technologies for learning, smaller presentations of ongoing projects, and hands-on demos in computer classrooms.

Speakers

Peter Becker, Interactive Institute, Stockholm
Göran Bexell, Vice Chancellor, Lund University
Lars Cuzner , Artist, Umeå

Peter Gärdenfors, Professor, Lund University
Craig Heller, Professor, Stanford University, Chairman WGLN
Marcia Linn, Professor, Berkeley University
Ann-Charlotte Markman, Principal, Rösjöskolan, Sollentuna
Tara McPherson, Associate professor, University of Southern California

Don Rizzi , Mathematics teacher
Deborah Stipek, Dean of School of Education, Stanford University
Sven Strömqvist, Professor, Lund University, Vice Chairman WGLN
Johan Stålhand, Executive director, Wallenberg Foundations

Fredrik Svensson , Rektorsakademien
Patrik Svensson, Director of HUMlab, Umeå University
Ulf Wickbom, Free lance journalist and moderator

Useful Links and Documents

WGLN homepage

Map Hum Lab

Map Lund

More information about Demo sessions.