Individual tasks

Sustainability
What is meant by culture?
My intercultural competence strengths
Inquiry-based learning
Flipped classroom
Where can a teacher find up-to-date reliable legal information. What areas are covered in the various acts and decrees?
How to work with copyrights in the Finnish education?

VOC II

Sustainability

I have actually done the course on sustainable development in School of Business and Information Management in Oulu UAS a couple of years ago. I liked the course very much, I think it was very useful and gave very concrete examples of how we can try to diminish our own use of energy and production of waste at least on a small scale.

To complete the course then, we had to do a small study on some product. In the study we had to find out things like what the product is made of, how it is made, how long it is used, can it be re-used, and how it is disposed. In other words, what is the life cycle of the product and do we consider it sustainable.

My younger daughter was very little then, so I did my study on diapers. It was quite interesting to learn about what different phases there are in diaper production and how diapers are made in general. However, I was very surprised about the fact that finding out the exact components of a diaper was not easy at all. As a result, I changed my behaviour as a consumer so that I stopped bying overseas diapers and started using only Finnish 'Muumi' diapers. (I know I know, I could have supported sustainability even more by using cloth diapers, but owing to my time table then I thought using only Finnish products was my compromise.)

So I do not quite agree with the results of the bachelor's thesis here, I think the course I had was very practical. I do agree with the results of the bachelor's thesis when thinking about how sustainability is taken into account in Oulu UAS, that is, rather well.  

Multiculturalism

Task 1. What is meant by culture?

The concept of culture can be viewed and defined from many different perspectives. In general, the first thought is that it refers to the ways of living and behaving members of a certain group of peole have and share. If culture is viewed on global level, the most obvious defining factor is space, that is, the geographical area we consider one cultural entity. So we can study the cultures based on the groups defined as the Americans, the Finns or the Chinese, for example.

The most obvious (observable) elements of culture are people's clothing and appearances,behaviour, language habits and sometimes also beliefs, traditions and customs. The latter ones can also be non-observable. The other more non-observable elements of culture are norms, roles, rules, expectations, values, and orientation to time and space. For example, we Finns feel more comfortable if we have quite much personal space if compared to the Brazilians.

A very common issue in connection with culture is stereotypes. Unfortunately, quite often stereotypes refer to negative associations we have of a group of people. These stereotypical associations are usually based on only the doings of certain individuals or smaller groups of a wider cultural group but we tend to extend them to involve all members of the culture in question. However, there are also positive stereotypes such as the Asians are good at maths.

It is also common to label people based on the behaviour or other characteristics of individuals. For example, an Indian who is not joking when working with British colleagues in the UK may be a very fun person in other surroundings, but the Indian culture is different when it comes to work and joking does not belong there.

Culture with a capital 'C' refers to the achievements or products accomplished by members of a cultural group. For example, there exists Finnish literature, arts and music. Culture with small 'c' is less concrete than the products of a certain group. Finnish culture in this use means the manners, traditions and beliefs Finns have, the non-observable elements of culture.

Culture can also be seen in different fields of operation, such as the culture of academic education in an English speaking higher learning institution. In this context culture means the values, attitudes and ways of behaving that are shared in that environment. It is important for all students need to learn the culture of the academic world to be able to discuss and debate in a fruitful way, to compare ideas based on their knowledge, to refine theories together and to develop new theories by constructing on the existing ones, these cannot be done in isolation. Byunderstanding the academic culture, the students are able to present their arguments logically, rationally, impersonally, and to see that the arguments are verifiable and precise. 

Task 2. My intercultural competence strengths

It seems to be rather difficult to define the meaning of the expression intercultural competence. I will use it here as referring to my knowledge on different cultures acquired by perceptions and experiences through interaction with people with different cultural background, or by reading or otherwise gaining information about different cultures.

I think that the main concern in a multicultural environment for me and many others as well is the fear of behaving so that someone may feel insulted and I do not even understand that something like that happened let alone why. In Finland, multicultural situations usually mean that English is spoken and the use of non-native language may also increase the risk of misunderstandings for all parties, I may choose some expression incorrectly or my expression may be interpreted in a different way it was intended to.

As always with new people, Finnish or from some other culture, I, and I think most of us do, begin the interaction carefully and try to get to know the other(s) a bit better. Of course if I know that the new person I meet comes from a culture in which, for example, using first names is considered rude, I try to remember not to use their first name. However, it depends a lot on the environment and situation where we meet, it may be quite formal already because of the nature of the meeting.

If I was teaching a multicultural group I would try to create and use material that is neutral and does not have any inappropriate implications to any cultural issues or stereotypes. However, learning everything about other cultures is not possible, but knowing that there are students from certain countries and cultures helps when planning the contents of the course or other unit.

On the other hand, if I travel to a foreign country and experience something as an insult towards me or my cultural background, I will have to think if it really is an insult in that society or is it something we Finns see inappropriate. The most fruitful way of enhancing one's intercultural competences is to be open, attentive and polite when meeting new people. I also hope that the new people I meet understand that my cultural background is different as well and that may be shown in the interaction.

VOC I

Blog homework for task 6 - Inquiry-based learning

Inquiry-based learning as the name suggests starts from questions, the inquiry. In inquiry-based learning the teacher's role changes, the teacher is no longer defining what are the exact questions and answers on a lesson or a course. The responsibility of learning is shared with the students. Of course the teacher needs to monitor and guide the students so that the ILOs are achieved. In a classroom environment in particular, the questions and the process in searching for answers are often created according to a plan and given context, that is, when answering the questions, the learners go through a process planned beforehand.

There are different levels of inquiry-based learning and the least-planned level is open/true inquiry learning, on this level the students pose the questions themselves. Open inquiry learning is considered to be the best in developing critical and scientific thinking and it can be used in more advanced education and research.

Today, when we have a quick access to almost any sort of information on the net, the importance of critical thinking is growing. Anyone can search and read on the net what is said on some particular topic, but finding the most appropriate information may not be that easy. It requires a process to be able to value the relevance of the information and existing answers, furthermore, the learner must also be aware of the fact that information changes as well.

For example, I have now been googling about inquiry-based learning and its phases. The result is that I have found many possible links and also graphics with partly similar but also partly different cycles describing these phases. Most cycles seem to include phases ask, investigate, create, discuss and reflect (https://lindseygail10.wordpress.com/). However, some have added there also steps for creating hypotheses, applying the new knowledge in real life and also generating new questions etc (http://www.inquirylearn.com/Inquirydef.htm).

Although situations where inquiry-based learning is very useful are research or case study, and I'm not doing either right now, I have to do some critical thinking if I am to choose the most applicable cycle example on inquiry-based learning. For example, I need to consider how detailed information should the cycle include, what do I know about inquiry-based learning already, and is there a perfect model for my purpose, or do I need to create my own. Once I have decided about the cycle, I need to think if it really works the way it was supposed to and can I convey the idea of inquiry-based learning by it in this current context.

In a real research project, there would be other participants maybe from different areas or organizations as well. During the whole process of inquiry-based learning, the participants share knowledge and learn from each other and together, and try to view the topics from as many perspectives as possible.

In Laurea University of Applied Sciences, a process named Learning by developing has been taken into use, and it has gained positive results. The starting point is to build a connection to the real working life outside the educational institution. The requirements for scientific research should be pragmatic, in other words, it should develop workplace competence and by that support the regional work.

Learning by developing in Laurea includes three main phases. The first is named as project-based instruction phase and during it the students, lecturers and employers co-operate to form the desired learning environment. In the second phase, the development project is complemented by the elements of progressive inquiry learning to support the students development as investigative developers and to lead to new kinds of learning environments by Laurea.
In the final, learning by developing -phase "the aim is to identify and develop the processes related to the progress of learning and projects, with the help of elements arising from the context of the University of Applied Sciences."  The university can be seen having an important social role and that it has influence on the development in the region, for the process in learning by developing involves students, teachers, employers, clients, at its best the whole community learns.

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_InquiryBased.pdf
http://www.laurea.fi/fi/tutkimus_ja_kehitys/julkaisut/julkaisuarkisto/Documents/A58.pdf
In Finnish: http://www.uasjournal.fi/index.php/kever/article/viewFile/1089/976
http://www.helsinki.fi/science/networkedlearning/eng/delete.html
https://lindseygail10.wordpress.com/
http://www.inquirylearn.com/Inquirydef.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquiry-based_learning

Blog homework for task 5 - Flipped Classroom

When using Flipped Classroom as a teaching method, the learners are given a set of material to be studied before the classroom session. The material can be online videos (recorded lectures) or reading, and once in the classroom, the students should have some knowledge on the topic so that the classroom session can be used for doing the 'homework'. In brief, Flipped Classroom has the same elements as a more traditional classroom session but they are in reverse order.

The core idea behind Flipped Classroom method is to shift from passive to active learning, and by this means to result in deep learning. The shift from passive to active means that the students cannot just sit and wait for the teacher to give the relevant information, but they need to take responsibility of studying independently. I think that it could even happen, that if a student is very interested on the topic, this method may encourage him/her to search for further information as well.

When the students are learning independently (maybe in small groups if not alone), they are also more inclined to really focus on what they are studying, to develop higher order thinking, to analyse and evaluate the contents and meanings. Then during the classroom and while doing the tasks, the teacher has a better opportunity to see if there are misunderstandings on the topic and may guide the learners more explicitly if needed.

It is also possible to go wrong with Flipped Classroom method and to prevent that from happening, the teacher must in advance carefully plan the way how things are done. Flipped Classroom is not only requiring different activity from the learners, it also means that the teacher has to create possible recordings and other material in advance. The teacher also has to prepare as detailed instructions for the students as possible to ensure that their focus is correct.

The history of Flipped Classroom is not very long, in wikipedia, it states that it has been started gradually in the beginning of 90s. At that time, a method having some similarities was used, owing to quite obvious reasons related to equimpent and subjects, in some courses on software and information technology.

On the other hand, the term Flipped Classroom is presented in a wider context of Flipped Learning. In the connection of Flipped Learning, the founders of Flipped Classroom are told to be teachers who developed the method when discovering an appropriate software tool for giving lectures online. They then, in 2007, started to prerecord their lectures. However, these founders admit that in the beginning of 2000s', the idea of inverted classroom had already been presented, but since elements like YouTube didn't exist, it didn't quite take off yet. Today Flipped Classroom method has become and still is becoming more popular because the tools needed for it (PCs, laptops, tablets, and access to the net and materials) are also becoming more common all the time. However, these requirements of web access and certain equipment may also be hinder for using Flipped Classroom method in some cases.

Although Flipped Classroom sounds wonderful from my point of view as an adult student, as a teacher one has to think through the subject and topics, the students age and abilities and to weigh if this method is applicable or not. So it cannot be said that Flipped Classroom would make teachers' work easier, but if the format and level of the material (the subject) matches the students' abilities, and all the prework has been done propely so that the learners know what the expectations are, Flipped Classroom results in students acquiring deep learning on the subject.

http://www.uq.edu.au/tediteach/flipped-classroom/what-is-fc.html 
https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7081.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipped_classroom
http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/06/20/flipped-learning-founders-q-and-a.aspx
http://flippedlearning.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1

Individual task A for session 4 - Where can a teacher find up-to-date reliable legal information? What areas are covered in the various acts and decrees?

FINLEX

When searching for education-related legal information, there are quite many search results with terms like 'opetus' or 'koulutus' ('education' or 'training'). Unfortunately, English translations are available only for some acts and decrees. Here are briefly introduced some of the main contents of acts and decrees, and I have also added here some references, although most of them are in Finnish.

Each educational level have their own acts and decrees. The Finnish high school equivalent 'lukio' has its own decree, so do vocational education and comprehensive school. Also universities and universities of applied sciences have their act and decree.

Typically acts and decrees on each level of education deal with issues like the definition, principals and goals of the education in question, who/what institutes may teach besides the municipal education, what subjects must be taught, how the educational institute's own and the students' accreditation must be done. Also there are acts and decrees on the working hours and holidays, on how the safety of students/pupils has to be ensured, how to deal with undisciplined students.

On vocational education level, in addition to the items mentioned above, many things related to the concrete working life are dealt with (Laki ammatillisesta peruskoulutuksesta 21.8.1998/630 and 6.11.1998/811 Valtioneuvoston asetus ammatillisesta peruskoulutuksesta). For example, the acts and decrees include points like contacts to working life and agreements on learning at work, apprenticeship training, how the labout code is applied to apprenticeship training, and student's work safety. Furthermore, acts and decrees define how to plan the requiements a student must fulfill to be accepted to the education, how the professional know-how is shown, cancelling of education right if safety of patients or customers, for example, is not taken into account by the student, and drug tests.

In addition, there is decree for the qualifications of the teaching personnel, and since we are studying on that area, I will present a bit more detailed information on it. The decree on the qualifications includes professionals like principals, class teacher, teachers of specific subjects, school counselor etc. Also for example, people teaching on temporary basis have their own qualification requirements. A vocational teacher needs to have an appropriate university degree for the subject and level of education, also pedagogic studies, mimum 35 or 60 ECTs are required. In addition, teachers within vocational education should have three-years' working experience on the field in question. In healthcare education, if it is required from the professionals in the working life, the teacher of those professionals may also need to be a legalised professional of the work in question. Furthermore, if someone has studied abroad and wants to be qualified in Finland, the education gained abroad needs to be estimated/approved in the recognition system. (14.12.1998/986 Asetus opetustoimen henkilöstön kelpoisuusvaatimuksista)

Special schools like the Rescue Institute (Pelastusopisto) or Academy of National Defence (Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu) have their own laws due to their special nature. Rescue Institute educates people on rescue services and emergency centers, the target audience is both the vocational training and training of officers in rescue services. In addition, there are acts and decrees on the special care for the disabled and on the educational center for prisoners. 

Here are some of the useful references in FINLEX:

- Perusopetuslaki 21.8.1998/628 (preschool, primary school and compulsory education) --http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1998/en19980628 Basic Education act
- Perusopetusasetus 20.11.1998/852
- Laki ammatillisesta peruskoulutuksesta 21.8.1998/630
- Valtioneuvoston asetus ammatillisesta peruskoulutuksesta 6.11.1998/811
- Laki ammatillisesta aikuiskoulutuksesta 21.8.1998/631
- Ammattikorkeakoululaki 9.5.2003/351  --http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2003/en20030351 Polytechnics Act
- Valtioneuvoston asetus ammattikorkeakouluista 15.5.2003/352
- Yliopistolaki 24.7.2009/558 --http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2009/en20090558 Universities Act
- 21.7.2006/607 Laki Pelastusopistosta
- 22.12.2006/1316 Laki Rikosseuraamusalan koulutuskeskuksesta
- 30.12.2008/1121 Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu
- 18.12.1998/1058 Laki opiskelijavalintarekisteristä, korkeakoulujen valtakunnallisesta tietovarannosta ja ylioppilastutkintorekisteristä
- 21.8.1998/633 Laki taiteen perusopetuksesta
- 14.12.1998/986 Asetus opetustoimen henkilöstön kelpoisuusvaatimuksista

National Board of Education

The Finnish National Board of Education offers on their web pages among other things collections of legal information on different levels of education. There is also some detailed information, for example, on how an injury during education in conditions parallel to working life is compensated. The act 'Laki opiskeluun liittyvissä työhön rinnastettavissa olosuhteissa syntyneen vamman tai sairauden korvaamisesta 30.12.2002/1318' defines those compensations that are not included in the act on accident insurance.

Furthermore, there are introduced ways how the trainers/intitutes can interfere when a student appears not to be suitable for the education in question, and how the acts and decrees need to be applied in vocational education. The SORA guide is a part of guidance for handling difficult situations with students, it was mentioned also in the group Behaviorist's presentation. The polytechnics and universities need to have their own more concrete internal guidance on these subjects as well. Some of the information is available in English too.

http://www.oph.fi/english
http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2002/20021318
http://www.oph.fi/koulutus_ja_tutkinnot/ammattikoulutus/103/0/sora-opas >
Links to guides on safety http://www.oph.fi/saadokset_ja_ohjeet/turvallisuus_ja_oppilashuolto,
http://www.oph.fi/opetustoimen_turvallisuusopas/turvallisuuden_edistaminen

Ministry of education and culture

On the web pages of Ministry of education and culture, the reader can find information on the different areas the ministry administers. The areas are among others day care, education, training and research; the arts, culture, sports etc. For foreign readers, there is information also in English, which makes accessing and using the given information easy.

There is a comprehensive list of references to the acts and decrees concerning, for example, vocational education in Finland, but this list seems to be only in Finnish. The items on the list are accompanied by short introductions on the contents, which is helpful when searching for particular information.

http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/?lang=en
http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/Koulutus/ammatillinen_koulutus/lait_ja_saeaedoekset/?lang=fi

Trade Union of Education (OAJ)

The Trade Union of Education (Opetusalan Ammattijärjestö OAJ) is the only labor market organization in the world that promotes the interests of teaching personnel from early childhood education to adult education. On their web pages readers can find links to information such as the qualifications of teachers on different levels of education system in Finland.

OAJ takes care of matters influencing teachers' employment and position (salaries, holdays etc.), and ensures that all the requirements of the law are fulfilled by the employer. As other trade unions, OAJ offers its members help when having issues with employers.

http://www.oaj.fi/cs/oaj/Tietoja%20OAJsta
http://www.oaj.fi/cs/oaj/Kelpoisuudet
http://www.oaj.fi/cs/oaj/Edunvalvonta%20ja%20vaikuttaminen

Individual task B for session 4 - How to work with copyrights in the Finnish education?

Copyright in education

There is a lot of information on copyright in education on site called 'Opettajan työ ja tekijänoikeudet' ('Teacher's work and copyright') www.operight.fi. If I as a teacher wanted to knowabout what I can or cannot do with some copyright protected material (movies, music, music videos, books, etc.) I would definitely start from this web site.

The pages present the questions and answers, for example, can a teacher download a song from a cd to a school PC and play it to the class, and the answer is quite easy to interpret: the songmay copied to PC only for private use but not to be played in public at school. However, if the original cd has been legally purchased, it is allowed to play the song for the class from the cd.To an average reader without any legal training trying to find the exact answer directly from thelegal texts can be quite difficult, so this kind of more down-to-earth approach is very useful.

When planning and writing my blog, I was also thinking about if we students are allowed to take material from other web pages to our blogs. According to the information on Teacher's work and copyrights pages, all preliminary schools, high schools and vocational schools have permission for digital copying and use of those copies from 1.8.2014 onwards. Well, that answers to my question if I work as a teacher in a vocational school, but does not state exactly if can I copy or use material when I'm studying in a kind of updating education in a university of applied sciences. That is something that I must check directly from the school. But as mentioned already, the pages are very useful for teachers.

Copyright Act 404/1961 defines what is considered as material that can have copyright and also exceptions to it. Exceptions are for example situations when material is used for educational purposes. I must admit that interpreting the legal text is not for a layman but my assumption is that all educational institutes have clarified this process for their part and applied for the possibly needed permissions to enable quality learning in their institutes.

Ministry of Education and Culture also have information on copyright on their pages. Since here we are on the high level of administration, the information is somewhat governmental. However, there are introduced also the EU cooperation and international copyright treaties which are also relevant in today's world. When searching for information online, there are no country boundaries that would clearly indicate when using some other than data of Finnish origin.

http://www.operight.fi/artikkeli/luvat/digilupa
http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1961/en19610404.pdf
www.minedu.fi/OPM/Tekijaenoikeus/?lang=en