<p>The purpose of this study is to outline students’ attitudes towards ICT in the learning of English. The research was carried out as action research at a vocational high school in Sweden. The study aims at giving answers to the questions what the students’ attitudes towards ICT are, to what extent they think that ICT affects their learning and if ICT use changes their attitudes towards English. The students had little or no previous experience of ICT. For a period of two months, they used ICT in their English studies. This work was organized according to Svensson’s (2008) definitions <em>ICT as a tutor</em>,<em> ICT as a tool </em>and<em> ICT as an arena</em>, which are connected to behavioristic, cognitive/constructive and social constructivist/socio-cultural learning perspectives, respectively. For example, the students read and listened to texts online, wrote their own dialogues for a movie and maintained their own blogs. After each module, they evaluated the method and at the end of the project they were interviewed. The study shows that most of the students were positive towards ICT in learning English. They were most positive towards ICT as a tutor, which was interesting given that behavioristic ways of learning are often criticized by today’s scholars. Furthermore, the students claimed that ICT gives them new opportunities to learn. Not surprisingly, to learn in a way that suits the individual learner was seen as positive. They stated that it was difficult to comment on the impact that ICT might have had on their performance after such a limited period of time, but they indicated that they thought that they had improved at least a little. During the interviews, a few students claimed to have changed their attitudes towards English a little, in a positive way, but it was difficult to confirm this after such short time.</p>

Background Every company nowadays needs to use ICT artifacts to cope with the business development. The adoption and use of ICT involves different actors who make sense of ICT in relation to their work environment. This thesis focuses on the relationships between the actors involved in SME’s ICT adoption and their influence upon the process. Purpose          The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interactions between different actors in the SME’s network and analyze how they influence the SMEs ICT adoption process. Method          An embedded single case study strategy was chosen as research strategy, in line with the explorative nature of the purpose. A conceptual framework was created giving structure to the entire research. The empirical data was gathered through observations, one in-depth interview and ten semi-structured interviews. The method used for data analysis had the same qualitative and deductive nature following the areas highlighted by the conceptual framework; the data was summarized condensing meanings around the relationships between actors and the evolution of the sense-making process of ICT adoption, in order to provide answers to the two research questions. Conclusion    The research has shown that the customer and the strategic suppliers as human actors have an important influence on the sense-making process of ICT adoption as well as the non-human actor - the ICT artifact. The actors are influencing the ICT adoption process through series of adaptive processes generated by an inter-organizational sense-making process shaped by the design of the ICT artifact. The study contributes to the body of knowledge through a new construct that enriches the conceptual framework with the findings of the research.

Abstract Bachelor’s thesis, Enterprising and Business Development, Linnaeus University School of Business and Economics, 2EB00E, VT 2015 Authors: Jesper Gunnarsson and Mathias Holst Tutor: Maria Persdotter Isaksson Title: ”They get breakfast and transportation. What else could they need?”. An exploratory study of how to improve ethical labour standards in Sri Lankan companies. Background: The globalization has led to an increase in movement of goods and capital across national borders. This has contributed to an increase in overseas manufacturing in low-wage countries, meaning a decrease in costs and improved profits for western companies. Since the ethical standards generally are lower in developing countries numerous NGOs have launched awareness campaigns for CSR. In Sri Lanka there are issues regarding ethical labour. There is a concern that the government are not committing enough towards the improvement of these standards. The improvement of ethical standards has the potential to improve the quality of life and the entire economy which makes it interesting to see how the government in cooperation with other stakeholders can improve the situation. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explore how ethical labour standards can be improved in Sri Lankan companies. Method: The study uses a general inductive approach where two main themes are extracted from seven interviews with representatives from the Sri Lankan government, Labour Department, ILO and employers. The study is of a qualitative character and its hermeneutic approach allows the subjective opinions of the respondents to affect the direction of the study. Conclusions: Through this study it has been explored that ethical labour standards in Sri Lankan companies can be improved through two categories: 1) The role of the government and through 2) communication and cooperation. The most prominent conclusions are that the Sri Lankan government have to increase their commitment in the ethical labour discussion and the social dialogue, that promotes the interests of all the stakeholders within the debate, is required. Through a stronger ethical labour legislation further social initiatives can have better conditions through out the Sri Lankan society and through ICT-implementations the monitoring of ethical labour can increase in efficiency, hence increase the ethical labour standards in Sri Lankan companies.

The purpose of this study was to explore gaps of ICT integration in Indonesian education in primary and secondary schools in Indonesia. The gaps of ICT integration in education were identified through documents such as government official publication, non-governmental reports and other documents to describe the context of ICT education in Indonesia. The finding of this study can inform researchers, practitioners, and policy makers about how to integrate ICT in primary and secondary education in Indonesia. The study found that ICT integration in primary and secondary education in Indonesia still face significant challenges in ICT integration in learning due to the absence of ICT national standards, ICT financial policies, the lack of professional development and ICT leadership. Therefore, this study recommends that nationwide ICT implementation process requires actionable ICT plans, more investment on ICT facilities in schools, continuous professional development, curriculum aligned with ICT, local ICT opportunities such as using mobile phones for ICT integration in schools. / text

Purpose - The purpose of the thesis is “To explore the Thai ICT market and identify differences with the leading market” Where the research questions are: 1. How are the main actors influencing the ICT market in Thailand? 2. How can the ICT market in Thailand be improved by identifying the gaps to the leading market? Method – For reaching the purpose a qualitative case study has been carried out, methods that are used are interviews, observations, document studies and literature study. Secondary data has been collected from document studies and was compiled in excel documents. Primary data has been collected from interviews, employees at Ericsson in Thailand has contributed when gather data about organizational culture. Interview with representatives from institutions in Thailand were made to achieve current data. Interviews were made to receive a primary source of information with high focus on the thesis subject and strengthen by secondary data. Findings – The most urgent problem to improve the ICT market in Thailand is to develop the infrastructure. The infrastructure needs to be developed in rural areas and urban areas. Institutions in ICT need to do active work on the market in order to expand and develop the market. Service operator’s needs to standardise and offer less price plans in order to minimize confusion among the consumers. The consumers need to increase their usage of ICT services in order to decrease the gap to the leading ICT market. One solution could be that the government push the development with all actors on the ICT market. Changing the foreign business act can lead to investments needed to expand the infrastructure. Further, creating a demand of higher technology from the consumer’s perspective will pressure the actors to develop robust network of high technology and benefit future development of technology. Implications – This study has been carried out on location in Thailand but communication has not been made in the national language in Thailand, which can contribute to misunderstandings of data. The study´s result is strengthened by being on location in Thailand, gathering primary data by interviews and do observations on place in the target environment. Delimitations – The delimitations have been made to look at the ICT market from Thailand’s perspective with learning’s from Sweden. Further, delimitations to explore the main actors that are influencing the market has been done. A market has many environmental forces and they needed to be restricted in this study.

Bakgrund: Brister i kommunikation och informationsöverföring mellan vårdnivåer är vanligt i samband med utskrivningar och kan leda till onödiga återinskrivningar. Det finns en stor potential av att använda IKT i hälso- och sjukvården då det möjliggör en snabbare informationsöverföring mellan vårdnivåer och kan göra informationen mer konsekvent och tillgänglig för uppföljande vård. Det saknas emellertid fortfarande kunskap om hur mycket sjuksköterskor i primärvården använder IKT. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva faktorer som påverkar sjuksköterskors användning av IKT-systemet Prator i primärvården och om användningen kan relateras till uppfattningen om att IKT bidrar till en förbättrad samordning vid utskrivningar från sjukhus. Metod: En kvantitativ enkätstudie med trettiosju sjuksköterskor från elva vårdcentraler i Södra Sverige som beskriver sitt användande av IKT-systemet Prator. Data analyserades statistiskt med deskriptiv och jämförande statistik. Resultat: Resultatet visar att det fanns en betydelsefull attitydskillnad i användningen av Prator mellan de sjuksköterskor som använder Prator och de som inte gör det. Vidare visar resultatet att endast hälften av sjuksköterskorna fått utbildning om Prator och dess betydelse vid implementeringen. Det påvisades också en statistisk säkerställd skillnad i uppfattningen av att använda systemet. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskor som använder Prator är mer positiva till systemets användbarhet och dess potential för att förbättra samordningen vid utskrivningar än de som inte använder Prator. Det kan därmed innebära att sjuksköterskor aktivt behöver arbeta med systemet för att bli positiva till det och se vinsterna med det. / Background: Deficits in communication and information transfer between carelevels at hospital discharge are common and can lead to unnecessary readmissions. There is a great potential of using ICT in health care since it could facilitate faster information transfer between care levels and make the information more consistent and available for follow-up care. However there is still a lacking of knowledge in how much nurses use ICT and the factors that influence its use. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe factors influencing nurses' use of ICT system Prator in primary care and if the use can be related to the perception that ICT contributes to improved coordination in discharges from hospital. Method: A quantitative survey with thirty-seven nurses from eleven medical centers in Southern Sweden who describes their use of the ICT system Prator. Data were statistically analyzed with a descriptive and comparative approach. Results: The results show a significant difference in attitudes between nurses who use Prator and those who did not. Furthermore it shows that only half of the nurses in this study received education about Prator during the implementation. A statistically proven significant were also found in perceptions of using the system. Conclusion: Nurses who use Prator are more positive to the usability of the system and its potential to improve coordination at discharges than those nurses who did not use it. It can therefore be assumed that nurses need to work with the system to be positive about it and see the benefits of it.

The aim of the study is to learn more about the way preschool teachers work with Information and Communication Technology(ICT). More specifically, this study aims to explore how preschool teachers describe their experience of ICT, the conditions and opportunities to work with ICT, and their own knowledge and competence in the use of digital tools with preschool children. The research method consists of interviews with preschool teachers and observations at five municipal preschools in Stockholm as well as an analysis of the relevant passages in the Curriculum for the Preschool and the Curriculum of Stockholm city. This study shows that there seems to be great variation in the amount of ICT tools present in preschools. Preschool teachers expect a lot from ICT, and the improvements that it can make on their work. They express that the preschool has to meet the demands of an ever-developing society with respect to information and technology. They also recognize the importance of letting children use ICT tools, which are already familiar in the home environment. In the preschool, ICT is used as a part of the teacher-led activities and in theme work with the child group. Experience-based activities are also created with ICT tools. The rules and norms regulating ICT at the preschools include how the new devices, especially the tablets, should be used in preschool activities and what the mutual approaches at the preschools should be. These discussions are still active in this study and the preschool teachers seem to be looking for a quick fix, a simple manual that can lead them forward in their work with ICT.

Οι νέες συνθήκες της «Κοινωνίας της Γνώσης» επιβάλλουν την ανάγκη αναμόρφωσης του Εκπαιδευτικού Συστήματος σε όλες τις ανεπτυγμένες χώρες ώστε να ανταποκρίνεται στις νέες, αλλά και τις διαχρονικές ανάγκες του ανθρώπου και τις προκλήσεις της σύγχρονης κοινωνίας. Στο σχεδιασμό αυτό θα πρέπει να ληφθούν υπόψη και οι παιδαγωγικές δυνατότητες των Τεχνολογιών της Πληροφορίας και της Επικοινωνίας (ΤΠΕ) ώστε να αξιοποιηθούν οι δυνατότητες που αυτές προσφέρουν στον άνθρωπο, την κοινωνία, τον πολιτισμό και τη μάθηση. Οι εφαρμογές πολυμέσων στην εκπαίδευση έχουν αλλάξει σημαντικά τον τρόπο διδασκαλίας σε κάθε βαθμίδα της. Η εξάπλωση των εφαρμογών πολυμέσων εκπαιδευτικού περιεχομένου, οφείλεται στη δυνατότητα παροχής υλικού από κείμενα, εικόνες, ήχους και διάφορες άλλες μορφές δεδομένων. Η εργασία πραγματεύεται τη χρήση πολυμεσικών εφαρμογών ως εκπαιδευτικό υλικό για την ενίσχυση της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας στη Δευτεροβάθμια Εκπαίδευση. Αναλύει τη χρήση των εφαρμογών ΤΠΕ στη διδακτική πράξη. Καταγράφει τα πλεονεκτήματα και τα μειονεκτήματα χρήσης πολυμεσικών εφαρμογών στη μαθησιακή διαδικασία. Περιγράφει τις φάσεις και αναλύει τα συστατικά ανάπτυξης ενός πολυμεσικού εκπαιδευτικού λογισμικού. Αποτυπώνει τη σημερινή κατάσταση στη Δευτεροβάθμια Εκπαίδευση και προτείνει μεθόδους διαχείρισης και προγραμματισμού του εκπαιδευτικού λογισμικού. Τέλος, περιγράφεται η ανάπτυξη πολυμεσικού διαδικτυακού εκπαιδευτικού λογισμικού που αναπτύχθηκε για τη διδασκαλία του μαθήματος της Ιστορίας. / The new conditions of the "Society of Knowledge" are imposing the need to change the Educational System in all developed societies in order to meet both the new and the time-old human needs and the challenges of modern society. In this new planning, consideration needs to be given to the pedagogical possibilities offered by the Information and Communication Technologies in order to take advantage of the chances and possibilities they put to the service of men, society, civilisation and learning. The flexibility in the materials used of multimedia educational content - image, sound, texts and other forms of data haw greatly contributed to its spreading. The Thesis examines the use of multimedia applications as educational material to foster the educational process in Secondary Education. It analyses the use of Information and Communication Technologies in the classroom. It notes the pros and cons of their use in the learning process. It describes the stages and analyses the components for the development of multimedia educational software. It depicts the current situation in Secondary Education and proposes ways to manage and programme the educational software. Finally, it describes the development of a web-based multimedia educational software that was created for the teaching of History.

Syftet var att undersöka hur eleverna på en högstadieskola använder sina datorer, både till social kommunikation och till skolarbete och hur tekniken påverkar dem. I studien har vi tillämpat kvalitativ metod kombinerat med en kvantitativ undersökning. Det empiriska materialet har huvudsakligen samlats in genom personliga intervjuer och observationer. Vi har även använt en webbaserad enkät. Eleverna på den undersökta skolan har i projektets inledande fas anammat den tilldelade datorn på ett effektivt sätt. Nya möjligheter till social interaktion och studiesätt har öppnat upp sig. Eleverna har till stor del implementerat datorn i sitt dagliga liv, datorn fungerar som ett gränsöverskridande multiverktyg både inom skolvärlden och i den privata sfären. I våra intervjuer visade det sig att eleverna brukar ha med sig datorn hem, och de påpekade även att det var lättare att utföra skolarbeten hemifrån. Skolmiljön och fritiden smälter samman och ur detta bildas en ny form av lärande. Det dominerande kommunikationssättet bland eleverna är via IM-klienten Msn. Med den kan de förena både nytta och nöje lättare då kommunikationen sker i realtid. Detta kommunikationsmedel har dock inte ersatt den fysiska sociala interaktionen, utan existerar som ett väl använt komplement.

Den här uppsatsen studerar om och hur tjänsten e-bud, budgivning via Internet, påverkar utbudspriset och överlåtelsepriset på småhus i Sverige. Köpare och säljare måste söka på bostadsmarknaden för att finna information om utbudspris och överlåtelsepris i förhållande till område och kvalitet. Detta är en process som den moderna utvecklingen av informationsteknologin kan påverka förutsättningarna för. Överlåtelsepriset bestäms i regel av en budgivning mellan köpare och säljare medan utbudspriset antas vara säljaren reservationspris. Detta kan informationsteknologin också inverka på. De huvudsakliga slutsatserna i uppsatsen är att e-bud förenklar sökprocessen, vilket resulterar i ett högre överlåtelsepris jämfört med konventionell budgivning samt att utbudspriset har betydelse för överlåtelsepriset men inte för den procentuella vinsten utöver utbudspriset. Utbudspriset på småhus sålda via e-bud visar därmed säljarens reservationspris.