Project: Collaboration: Digital technology as support for teaching and learning
This project refers to the design, development and use of various ICT tools and methods to improve the quality of the education system as a whole. It features strategic efforts in the form of research and development, capacity building and competences development for which long-term research projects as well as educational initiatives are planned. Within the project, senior and junior researchers, doctoral students, teachers, students, industry and government agencies will be involved.
Project information
Project manager
Italo Masiello
Other project members
Staff at the Department of Computer Science and Media Technology
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, IST Group AB
Financiers
IST Group AB, the Knowledge Foundation, Linnaeus University
Timetable
2018–2028
Subjects
– Pedagogy (Department of pedagogy and learning, Faculty of social sciences)
– Computer and Information Science (Department of computer science and media technology, Faculty of technology)
More about the project
IST Group AB invests several million SEK and starts a ten-year collaboration with Linnaeus University. The Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen) also contributes funding to the strategic collaboration to establish new research in the field of digital technology as support to teaching and learning processes, also known as EdTech.
EdTech at Linnaeus University will combine research and development in transdisciplinary areas, mainly pedagogy and technology but also psychology and design. Initially, the establishment will be between two faculties – the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Technology. It is about research, development and education across two completely different fields that have different traditions and approaches. The two fields also have different approaches to what scientific evidence means and which methods the researchers should use to generate the evidence.
Linnaeus University has employed a professor in EdTech, Italo Masiello, who has a multidisciplinary background, enabling him to stand with one foot in each area. He is to build up the transdisciplinary research activities across the two faculties. A master programme for students with a degree in teacher education or pedagogy as well as for students with a computer science/IT/media technology degree is planned, and the first course is set to start in the autumn semester 2019. The master programme will take a unique approach, where students with different backgrounds and competencies will learn to work together to solve real school-based challenges over traditional disciplinary boundaries.
In addition, two doctoral students with different orientations have been hired, that will be the core of the new transdisciplinary research group. Moreover, strategic partnerships with industry and municipal sectors and internally at Linnaeus University with other faculties are being established.
Digitization in school is an important community assignment. In an interview with the Swedish EdTech Industry, Italo Masiello says: “...the EdTech field is about community development where digital technology is not the only focus, but it is largely about a change in our way of learning, thinking and doing things. We will now set together all this and explore it at Linnaeus University.”