This paper describes the process of developing classroom culture that promotes reciprocal intercultural encountering in the primary school. Storycrafting, an oral storytelling method used for democratic encounters between participants, was used to connect classes in Scotland, Finland and Belgium over three cycles of design-based research.…

Traditionally, feedback is regarded as crucial in the context of learning and teaching public speaking. In the current course, we analyzed the feedback provided to students by an artificial intelligence (AI) coach and students' learning experiences in developing public-speaking skills via this tool. The MySpeaker Rhetorich speech coach application…

Developing social innovation and entrepreneurship competences and skills of children and young people is on the agenda of European educational policy-makers. The European research and innovation project "DOIT -- Entrepreneurial skills for young social innovators in an open digital world" suggests using makerspaces and tools, within…

There were two projects at the National Defence University of Finland (NDU), which both ended by the end of 2022. One of them tried to find the answers to the main question: How artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to improve learning, teaching, and planning? The other tried to find the answer to the main question: What new skills do…

Graduates of international business (IB) programs are facing a complex dynamic world in which they need both specific and generalist knowledge they can activate in socially negotiated situations. Their competencies must go beyond narrowly applying knowledge, which requires open minds, transferable social competencies, and skills for crossing…

The processes to assess students' learning acquired in various non-formal and informal learning environments have become increasingly common in Finnish university language centres in recent years. This paper describes new developments at the University of Eastern Finland to assess students' non-formal and informal learning of English for Academic…

This paper describes the theoretical foundation for a work in progress project of developing a mobile learning solution for sloyd education named Talking Tools (TT). Being a learner in a multimodal, blended learning environment entails both consuming and creating own content using a number of media sources and tools. For sloyd education, this…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a research design, which aims to find useful pedagogical adaptations for teaching pupils with autism. Autism is a behavioural syndrome characterised by disabilities and dysfunctions in interaction and communication, which is why it is interesting to explore educational processes particularly from an…

While recognizing the value of "vision," it could be argued that vision alone--at least in schools--is not enough to rally the financial and emotional support required to translate an idea into reality. A compelling vision needs to reflect substantive, research-based knowledge if it is to spark the kind of strategic thinking and insight…

This paper discusses learning language and communication activities that focus on students' concrete involvement in their learning process. The activities first deal with student-produced blogs and digital videos in business Spanish. They then present student-produced podcasts for Swedish business communication learners that are meant for speakers…

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are adequate for analyzing complex scientific and spatial phenomena in geography education. "Google Earth" is a geographic information tool for GIS-based learning. It allows students to engage in the lesson, explore the Earth, explain what they identify and evaluate the implications of what they are…

This article discusses global education in Finnish basic education with the help of two major publications in the field: the National Core Curriculum (2004) and the Global Education Programme (2007). The core values and goals of these documents are considered in the light of selected learning theories, and ongoing research is presented which…

Mathematical knowledge has developed from human activities through thousands of years and is bound to the world and cultures that men and women experience. One can say that mathematics is rooted in humans' everyday life, an environment where people reach agreement regarding principles in mathematics. Through interaction with worldly phenomena and…

This article reports methodological aspects of a research study on the reasoning of teachers. The aim is to describe and evaluate the use of the stimulated recall method (STR) when information and communication technologies (ICTs) are involved in terms of educational settings and therefore in the research setting as well. First, we introduce the…

Describes a study conducted among 10-year old students at a Finnish elementary school that examined the relations and possible interaction of students' motivational orientation and the quality of their inquiry in computer-supported collaborative learning. Topics include social interaction during CSLIE (Computer-Supported Intentional Learning…