The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the perceptions and experiences that instructors in higher education have toward providing collaborative learning activities and opportunities in their online classroom. Through semi-structured interviews, the experiences of four higher education instructors from two universities were collected concerning their provision of collaborative learning opportunities in their online classrooms. A multi-phase coding process was used to analyze the information, including the constant comparative coding method for theme and category development. Three themes emerged from the study: online communication approaches matter, there are challenges and supports for online collaborative learning, and care is at the core of online learner support. The findings are discussed and recommendations are provided for the development and design of meaningful online collaborative learning.

Coworking is a shared office environment for independent workers, they offer extra service in contrast to what ordinary office-hotels normally do. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe what the essence of the phenomenon of coworking is, i.e. what characteristics make coworking perceived as coworking. This has been conducted through a phenomenological method called the EPP-method. Which makes it possible to find the essence of a phenomenon. This was done through analysis of transcribed interviews. The participants were asked to tell about their experiences of being members of a coworking place and about the interaction with other members. This provided an opportunity to answer questions about what and how individuals perceive about coworking and what meaning they attribute to their experiences. The result of the study was several essences of coworking: Coworkers, Coworking Manager, Professional Diversity, Small Business, Social Rooms and Flexible Workspace. The essences are meaning content that has been found in all seven transcriptions in the study material, ie. that the participants agreed that these points are crucial for one to perceive coworking. / Coworking är delade kontorsmiljöer för fristående arbetare, de erbjuder extra service utöver vad vanliga kontorshotell, där man bara hyr ett arbetsrum, gör. Studiens syfte var att undersöka och beskriva vad essensen av fenomenet coworking är, alltså vilka kännetecken som gör att coworking uppfattas som just coworking. Detta har undersökts med en fenomenologisk metod som heter EPP-metoden, vilken gör det möjligt att hitta just essensen av ett fenomen. Detta skedde genom analys av transkriberade intervjuer där deltagarna ombads berätta om sina upplevelser av att vara medlemmar på ett coworking-ställe och om interaktionen med andra medlemmar. Detta gav möjlighet att besvara frågor om vad och hur individerna uppfattar coworking samt vilken mening de tillskriver sina upplevelser. Resultatet blev sex essenser av coworking: Coworkers, Coworkingmanager, Yrkesmångfald, Småföretag, Sociala rum och Flexibel arbetsyta. Essenserna är meningsinnehåll som funnits i alla transkriptioner i studiens material, det vill säga att deltagarna varit överens om att dessa punkter är avgörande för att man ska uppfatta coworking. Essensen Coworkers visar på behovet av en kollegial samvaro inom kontexten coworking. Essensen Sociala rum handlar istället om den fysiska avgränsningen mellan områden som innefattar arbete och områden för sociala interaktioner. Coworkingmanager är en essens därför att den rollen påverkar huruvida deltagarna upplever coworking positivt eller negativt. Småföretag visade oss vikten av att det finns flera mindre företag på coworking-ställen och att detta leder till Yrkesmångfald som också är en essens av coworking. Avslutningsvis var Flexibel arbetsyta en framträdande essens därför att det är avgörande att medlemmarnas olika förväntningar på en fysisk arbetsmiljö tillmötesgås. / <p>2022-06-08</p>

The bilateral relations between Sweden and China have been characterized by strong trade relations over the years. Nonetheless, several events between 2015 and 2020 have led the diplomatic relations between Sweden and China to take a different turn. Among them, the arrest of the Chinese-born Swedish writer and book publisher Gui Minhai and the alleged abuse of human rights by the Chinese government towards its population. These issues raise questions on how the Swedish government approaches the opportunities and challenges of China’s growing role internationally. This thesis has the purpose to analyse the Swedish government’s reports, statements and other documents regarding China in the period 2015 to 2020, with the intention of unveiling the Swedish foreign policy ideational foundation. Moreover, this thesis has the aim to examine whether it is possible to see a variation of the ideational foundation during these years. The analysis included the use of social constructivism as a theory and the VDP-triad methodology. From the analysis, it resulted that in the observed time period, Sweden’s foreign policy ideational foundation was characterized by the value of cooperation, especially regarding trade. Moreover, during the period observed Sweden characterized for being more active on criticizing China in regard to human rights, democracy and the rule of law. With China, Sweden is thus forced to balance two competing agendas: to pursue its interests and to promote its values.

This scientific essay examines how preschool teachers relate to the subject of popular culture in preschool. The essay is based on two self-experienced stories from my workplace and from the preschool practice. Both situations depict how the educator dismisses a child's interest in Ninja Turtles while she pays attention to Pippi Longstocking that another child is interested in. One story deal with an unacceptable topic of conversation while the other deals with a "game of violence" inspired by Ninja Turtles. In my reflection, I reflect on and demonstrate how situations like these are treated by many preschool teachers with the help of literature. In my literature review, I also demonstrate why popular culture creates divided opinions and why popular culture should or should not be used as a resource in the development of children in preschool. I also address a perspective of power and a social constructivist perspective in conjunction with the rejection of popular culture to examine a possible reason why these situations arose. I also conducted interviews with three preschool teachers in my own workplace, which gave me a greater perspective of others' perceptions of the concept and view of popular culture in children. Finally, I have analyzed the literature along with the results from the interviews. In my analysis, I mean that popular culture is a complicated subject for educators and the literature is divided, but there is still much to suggest that popular culture is necessary for children for their development.   I have chosen to use a scientific essay with my own empirical material in the form of interviews as the reflection of the literature and the answers from the interviews are necessary to involve as many different perspectives as possible to investigate whether there is any right or wrong that is relevant for this situation and what it looks like in the preschools 'activities when it comes to exercising power and the educators' own backpacks of experience. This study is important and relevant as popular culture is a concept that becomes larger over time and is highly relevant in children's everyday lives. / Denna vetenskapliga essä undersöker hur förskollärare förhåller sig till ämnet populärkultur i förskolan. Essän utgår från två egenupplevda berättelser ifrån min arbetsplats och från verksamheten. Båda situationerna gestaltar hur pedagogen avfärdar ett barns intresse för Ninja Turtles samtidigt som hon uppmärksammar Pippi Långstrump som ett annat barn är intresserad av. Den första gestaltningen behandlar ett icke accepterat samtalsämne och den andra behandlar en ”våldslek” inspirerad av Ninja Turtles. I min reflektion reflekterar jag över och påvisar hur situationer som dessa behandlas av många förskollärare med hjälp av litteratur. I min litteraturgenomgång påvisar jag också varför populärkultur skapar delade meningar och varför eller varför inte populärkultur bör användas som en resurs i utvecklingen för barn i förskolan. Jag tar även upp ett maktperspektiv och ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv i samfund med avvisningen av populärkulturen för att undersöka en möjlig anledning till varför dessa situationer uppstod. Jag genomförde även intervjuer med tre förskollärare på min egen arbetsplats vilket gav mig ett större perspektiv av andras uppfattningar om begreppet och synen på populärkultur hos barn. Slutligen har jag analyserat litteraturen tillsammans med resultaten från intervjuerna. I min analys menar jag att populärkultur är ett komplicerat ämne för pedagoger och litteraturen är delad, men mycket tyder ändå på att populärkulturen är nödvändigt för barn för deras utveckling.    Jag har valt att använda mig av en vetenskaplig essä med eget empiriskt material i form av intervjuer då reflekterandet av litteraturen och svaren från intervjuerna är nödvändiga för att involvera så många olika perspektiv som möjligt för att undersöka om det finns något rätt eller fel som är relevant för denna situation och hur det ser ut i förskolornas verksamheter när det kommer till maktutövande och pedagogernas egna erfarenhetsryggsäckar. Denna undersökning är viktig och relevant då populärkultur är ett begrepp som blir större med tiden och är högst relevant i barnens vardag.

UNIVERZITA KARLOVA FAKULTA SOCIÁLNÍCH VĚD INSTITUT POLITOLOGICKÝCH STUDIÍ OBOR MEZINÁRODNÍ VZTAHY EU's Policy on Ukraine, Influencing Factors Alžběta Chmelařová MAGISTERSKÁ DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCE PRAHA 2011 ČESTNÉ PROHLÁŠENÍ Prohlašuji, že jsem práci zpracovala samostatně, uvedla v ní všechny zdroje, s nimiž jsem pracovala a v textu jsem řádně vyznačila jejich použití. Prohlašuji, že text práce nebyl využit pro získání jiného akademického titulu a souhlasím se zveřejněním práce pro studijní a výzkumné účely. Dne 8.5.2011 podpis …………………………… Bc.Alžběta Chmelařová Abstract This thesis discussed factors that influence the process of integration into the European Union and sought to answer a question which of the two most frequently used meta-theories dealing with European integration, rationalism or social constructivism, can better capture the dynamics of EU-Ukrainian relations. According to rationalists (liberal intergovernmentalists), interest in Ukraine is based on pure cost/benefit calculation and on the level of economic interdependence. According to constructivists, the main incentive for deeper integration is the level of democracy in the country, the extend of Europeaness of Ukraine.Without doubt, the process is a cocktail of norms and economic interests but what factors, material or normative, play main role...

This thesis is focused on an important problem of today, which is cancer. It describes this deceitful sickness from social point of view, suggesting what impact cancer has on living in a society and on the position of the sick people inside the society. Cancer is connected with strong connotations, which are constructed by the media and society's point of view. It is primarily the status of a "fighter", which is a dominant consensus for communication inside a family and for the view of the cancer patient. Patient with cancer, alias "fighter" is a men, who has cancer, but doesn't stop being active, he fights with cancer and doesn't forgot his live. He works and has social life and etc. This behavior is expected from him by his family and close people, but cancer is a sickness, which .causes pain and fears about patient's own life very often, so the cancer patient must struggle not only with the sickness, but also with fulfilling the expectations of the role of the "fighter" for his or her close people. Next will be shown, how the patients work with the cancer and how they learn to be patients and how the cancer shapes their lives and how they include it in their biography as a very important experience in their life and how they connect the birth of the cancer, which is not known very well, with the...

The aim of this study is to examine the way preschool teachers relate to, and apply the concept of teaching in various aspects. Furthermore, this study has the purpose of portraying the constructions of the concept of teaching, that give meaning and a course of action in their goal-directed work. The following questions are the starting point for the study: How do preschool teachers interpret the concept of teaching in the preschools practice? How do preschool teachers construct the concept of teaching in their team of co-workers? In what ways is the concept of teaching expressed in projects on the preschools educational documentation (processvägg)? To conduct our study a qualitative research method is applied. We interviewed eight preschool teachers from six different preschools in Stockholm county with sound recording. Further we accumulated photos and notes of each preschools educational documentation. The theoretical framework includes an social constructivistic perspective along with the concepts of the impact of language as well as discourses power. The aim and questions of the study is answered through the appliance of the theoretical framework which is presented in the study’s result and analysis part. The main results of the study are presented in three main categories that present the conclusion that preschool teachers do not perceive the concept of teaching as unclear. However there are different interpretations and discourses that, in collaboration, can cause a difference in how teaching is constructed, practiced and expressed. The preschool teacher's responsibility and leadership is shown to have an impact on how the concept of teaching is constructed. The impact of construction is shown through the use of language and discourses power in their team of co-workers, from planning to expression in practice and in educational documentation.

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Social construction, social constructionism, and social constructivism are widely-discussed topics in the humanities and social sciences, particularly in fields such as gender studies, psychology, and economics. These terms refer to the idea that some objects and phenomena are created or controlled by social and cultural factors, rather than by natural causes. Examples of this include currency and laws, but even seemingly mundane objects such as the Christmas tree and the chair in our homes are dependent on social and cultural norms.The central motivation behind my research is to demonstrate that the objects around us are regulated by social norms, contrary to the belief that they have intrinsic or “natural” functions and meanings. In this thesis, I will examine product and furniture design from the perspective of social constructivism, and explore the designer’s role beyond physical form-giving.

The goal of this paper is to illustrate the real effects of maintaining an inaccurate and conflated view of the relationship between ‘sex’ and ‘gender,’ and to provide possible solutions to this quandary by analyzing the sources in both philosophy and the social sciences. The terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are often rife with misunderstanding in the scientific and medical community, as well as in common usage. While neither term means the same thing contextually, both are constructed socially and require refinement for their usage in and outside of the scientific community. ‘Sex’ and ‘gender’ ought to be understood as interconnected socially constructed concepts, rather than hierarchically at odds where speculations about sex are valued greater than those on gender. A pluralistic, contextual understanding of both sex and gender as well as a clearer understanding of biological sex as an equally socially informed (and thus fallible) concept should be adopted to prevent possible harms as well as missuses of either term. The conflation of the terms within the medical community has significant consequences on some of the most vulnerable identities, particularly transgender people and especially trans people of color. The eventual delivery of poor health outcomes for trans people first begins with the fundamental definitions for ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ in the medical literature, as well as the medical literature’s basic understanding of non-normative sexuality. As a result, medical school education does not provide physicians in training with the adequate tools to provide care for trans people, or anyone outside the spectrum of accepted normative sexuality (heteronormative sexuality), and in addition primes them to further perpetuate and reinforce stigma. Possible solutions to this systemic medical injustice are to incorporate a pluralistic understanding of sex and gender to revise the medical literature, as well as going beyond simple cultural competency training for physicians and instead completely innovate how sexuality and sexual identity is taught in medical school education. / Urban Bioethics