My degree project has been about converting an existing old industrial building into a youth centre. The buildings core focus is culture together with activity and learning. I wanted to use as much material as possible from the old building. Exterior walls and flooring are left almost untouched while a big part of the buildings construction with roof is changed. I made a new roof that could be used as a park.The building is situated close to the city centre of Eskilstuna, aswell as close to the southern suburbs where problems with segregation is an issue. My vision with Strömbrytaren was to make it a social hub, where youth from different backgrounds would meet and socialize. / Mitt examensprojekt har handlat om att omvandla en existerande gammal industribyggnad till ett ungdomshus. Byggnadens främsta fokus ligger på kultur tillsammans med aktivitet och lärande. Jag ville i mitt projekt använda så mycket av byggnadens befintliga material som möjligt. Exteriöra väggar och golv är i princip lämnade orörda medan en stor dela av byggnadens konstruktion och stomme tillsammans med tak är omgjort. Jag skapade ett nytt tak som kunde användas som en park.Byggnaden är situerad nära Eskilstuna centrum, samt de förorter som ligger söder om stadskärnan där segregation har blivit ett stort problem. Min vision med Strömbrytaren har varit att göra det till en social knytpunkt, där ungdomar från olika bakgrunder kan mötas och umgås.

[pt] Este trabalho busca desenvolver articulações entre práticas feministas e atividades do design, e propõe problematizar o campo do design, buscando se afastar de abordagens essencialistas, que situam o designer como um gênio criador ou que definem o design a partir de abstrações idealizantes. Para isso, os consciousness raising groups, práticas feministas da década de 1960, e diversas dinâmicas dos movimentos feministas contemporâneos, a partir do ano de 2015, são utilizados como inspiração de atividades críticas para pensar e constituir outras formas de relações consigo e com os outros através de processos criativos. Assembleias, performances, ações estético-políticas, construção de greves e manifestações, são algumas das ações abordadas, por evidenciar entrelaçamentos entre arte, protesto, design, corpo e vivências pessoais, enquanto militante e designer. A análise, reflexão e vivência de tais práticas originaram o trabalho de campo da pesquisadora, que mediou oficinas online com mulheres. A metodologia das oficinas foi pensada a fim de potencializar o processo criativo e a experiência de estar juntas. Baseando-se na pesquisa-ação e pesquisa criativa, propõe-se queerizar o design e ampliar as abordagens possíveis ao campo. As práticas coletivas propostas nas oficinas criaram vínculos, amizades e relações de mentoria através das oficinas de sensibilização, organizando mulheres em torno de um debate em comum, fortalecendo os movimentos feministas, dando a ver que os problemas vividos pelas mulheres são, em sua maioria, estruturais e coletivos, não individuais e privados. Todo o desenvolvimento do campo se deu remotamente, durante a pandemia da COVID-19, adicionando uma outra camada de complexidade inesperada à pesquisa. / [en] We present an attempt to develop feminist-oriented design practices, through an approach to the field of design that tries to distance itself from the essentialist approaches that historically place the designer as a creative genius or that define design drawing from idealized abstractions. Inspired by the praxis of feminist consciousness raising groups from the 1960s, and from other dynamics of the feminisms from 2015 onwards, we study collective feminist activities of a critical nature to think about the processes of construction of social relations that are not directly mediated by capital, with a special emphasis in creative processes. Meetings, performances, aesthetic-political actions, construction of strikes and demonstrations, are some of the actions here addressed to help us highlight the overlaying between art, protest, design, bodies, and personal experiences, especially in their intertwining with the categories of militancy and design. The analysis, reflection and experience of such practices originated the fieldwork that took place in this project, which was based on online workshops for women, mediated by this researcher. The methodology of the workshops was designed to highlight the role of the creative processes in the collective female experience. Based on action-research and creative research, we propose to queerize design, transgress practices, and expand the possibilities of field of action. The collective practices proposed in our workshops created bonds of friendship and mentoring based on sensitization, on the organization of women around common agendas, on the strengthening of feminist consciences, all of which indicated that several of the problems experienced by women in general are structural and collective, and not individual and private. Lastly all of our field development took place remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which also added another (unexpected) layer of complexity to our research.

Verkstadsindustrin är en bransch i ständig utveckling. Utvecklingen har gjort så att många företag blivit tvungna att tillämpa olika filosofier och principer för att kunna hänga med sina konkurrenter. En av dessa filosofier är Lean Production. Scania är ett av de företag som tidigt bestämde sig för att tillämpa Lean. Det slutade upp med att de tolkade den på sitt eget sätt vilket bildade Scania Production System. En avdelning som inte tillämpar Scanias sätt att arbeta med Lean på bästa sätt är avdelning Fo1:3 på chassi. Här finns det brister som inte uppfyller det Lean-tänk som Scania eftersträvar. Layouten på avdelningen tillför många problem. Det finns mängder av slöserier på området. Arbetsbelastning, gångtiden och trivsel är några exempel på vad som brister på avdelningen. På grund av detta ville chassi implementera en ny layout och därför gavs en uppgift att först kartlägga det interna och externa flödet för att se exakt var bristerna fanns för att sedan komma med layoutförslag. Layoutförslagen som gavs var på ett eller annat sätt grundade i Lean. De utgick dock från olika prioriteringar, som exempelvis att minska gångtiden eller att försöka förbättra den sociala aspekten. I slutändan gavs fem olika layoutförslag. Två av dessa layoutförslag föreslog en förflyttning av hela avdelningen närmare line. Detta, eftersom det ansågs vara det bästa alternativet utifrån Lean-perspektivet. Det var också dessa förslag som Scania ansåg vara de bästa. Det blev dock tydligt att dessa förslag också var de mest svårimplementerade eftersom en förflyttning av en hel avdelning är något som kostar mängder av resurser och tid. Layoutförslag 5 ansågs enhälligt vara det optimala förslaget. Det var också den layout som skulle kräva mest arbete då inte bara stationen skulle flyttas utan det skulle också tvinga fram en helt ny standard som montörerna skulle vara tvungna att jobba efter eftersom nya stationer skulle införas. Alla var i slutändan överens om att förslag 5 skulle i den bästa av världar ge det bästa resultatet. Det finns däremot många hinder som måste övervinnas för att det ska bli verklighet. / The manufacturing industri is a trade in constant development. The development has forced many companies to apply different philosophies and principles to make sure that they stay side by side with their competitors. One of these philisophies is Lean Production. Scania is one of the companies early on, decided to implement Lean. They ended up interpreting it in their own way which formed the Scania Production System. A department that unfortunately does not optimaly apply Scania’s way of working with Lean is Fo1:3 in the chassis facotory. There are many deficiencies here that do not meet the Lean principles that Scania strives for. The layout of the department has many problems. There is a lot of waste that goes on in the area. Workload, walking time and well-being are just some of the examples of what is lacking quality in the department. Because of all this there is a will from Scania to implement a new layout and therefore a task was given to firstly map the internal and external flow to identify exactly where the deficiencies existed. The task after the deficiencies were mapped out and identified was to come up with some suggestions for a new layout. The suggestions of layouts that were given were all in some way based on Lean. There were however different priorities in each suggestion of layout such as reducing the walking time or improving the social aspect. Five different suggestions of layouts were given. Two of these suggestions suggested moving the entire department closer to the line. This is because it was considered the best alternative when looking at it from the perspective of Lean. These were also the options that Scania considered the best. However, it became clear that these proposals were also the most difficult to implement because a transfer of an entire department is both resource and time consuming. Proposal 5 was seen unanimously as the optimal option. It was coincidentally the option that would require most work since not only does the station need to to be moved, it would also require the assemblers to learn a whole new standard of work because new stations would be introduced. Ultimately, everyone was in agreement that option 5 would in the best of worlds also give the best result. There are however many obstacles that have to be overcome in order for it to become reality.

Single-use plastic packaging waste is overflowing the Earth’s surface, releasing mi- croplastics that contaminate our food. This poses serious threats and concerns to food safety and security. The project aims to raise public awareness about the issue of microplastic con- tamination in the food system. It will use friendly visual language to help people understand how plastic waste from local recycling stations can end up back on their plates and in their bodies. The outcome of the project is a dining workshop that explores the journey of microplastics into the food system. Visual elements and dishes are used as tools to connect partic- ipants with this complex issue. This enables the audience to learn, think critically and reflect on their daily plastic consumption habits. It inspires them to take responsibility and makea change towards reducing plastic waste. Currently, there is no clear scientific literature on whether there is a potential risk to humans associated with exposure to microplastics in food.

Students are now required to show proficiency in writing through performance on standardized tests. Educators and researchers are looking for ways to improve persuasive and argumentative writing created by students. The writing content conference setting gives educators and students opportunities to discuss student writing in a one-on-one format in which students receive feedback. Ideally, this helps them to create multiple drafts of writing that improve with each revision. Many practitioner guides have been created that offer suggestions as to how conferences can be conducted and what types of interactions can theoretically occur. Few, however, have examined what actually happens during writing content conferences. Two case studies were conducted in an effort to describe with greater specificity key components of effective writing content conferences in a sixth-grade classroom. Students participated in five content conferences over a period of three months. Each conference was video recorded and later transcribed. The teacher-researcher describes the structured and predictable pattern in which students identified the purpose for the conference, examined a main issue of content with their teacher, and planned for future writing and future conference settings. Important issues of ownership also emerged. Effective conferences were student-directed and taken seriously by the students. The atmosphere of the conferences was safe and conducive to students taking risks. As young writers were encouraged to use their writing as means of expression for telling the stories of their lives, they often chose to write about socially taboo and thematically mature subjects. Future research should examine how workshop formats and writing content conferences affect student achievement in argumentative and informative writing.

This report reviews the topic of mental health, focusing specifically on mental wellbeing addressing stress and anxiety amongst students. With the purpose of helping to improve the mental wellbeing of students, by creating a community where students can unwind from the stress of student life. Research and organised workshops were conducted in order to investigate the question: How to use visual communication as a tool to help relieve stress and anxiety for students at Linnaeus University (LNU)?  Craftfulness is introduced as a concept and method to create a workshop toolkit. This report looks into the importance of craftfulness and creativity and how it helps improve mental wellbeing through the use of hands. The report concludes that visual communication can be used to create creative workshops that lead students to feel calm from the stresses of everyday student life.

Take a Social Break is a design project investigating how to use visual communication as a tool to relieve stress and anxiety for university students at Linnaeus University, through creative workshops by conducting crafting and creative activities.The purpose of this project is to help students improve their mental wellbeing through the practice of crafting. The project aims to form creative workshops through the use of a workshop toolkit. During workshops, LNU students gather in a safe space as a community and have a chance to unwind from all the stress of student life by doing creative activities together. Students are invited to conduct something different from the routine, as a way to distract from daily stress. The change aspect of the project is to introduce to Linnaeus University a new activity for students that has a focus on their mental wellbeing but which is organised by students for students.

The project proposes the production of devices to enhance the value or experience of a place as well as to allow research and education in history, collective memory and contemporary times of the city that we live in. Looking at the city through a specific type of architecture, concept or material, and hopefully giving an honest perspective of the space we inhabit. For this project the topic was contemporary ruins and their structural and visual values. Cataloging the timber barn, exploring it in an industrial hall and then exhibiting them on the concrete dolphins in the river, all buildings or structures created purely for convenience but have since lost all or some of this convenience, therefore becoming contemporary ruins. In the end creating structures with the purpose of learning, exhibiting them for others to learn as well; and in the end finding a place and purpose for the structure. Turning the building from a research project into a folly and then into a device for experience. Producing with the goal of learning, placing with the goal of enhancing, without designing specifically for the end product but rather for the process itself.

The question guiding this qualitative study was: What are the literacy experiences of ninth-grade students in an English language arts workshop classroom? This study is an autoethnography and it chronicles six months in my ninth grade English classroom where I played the role of observant participant. It examines the process of reading and writing and how my perspective as a reader and a writer shapes my curricular decisions and influences my students as readers and writers.

Blended learning, a combination of traditional face to face (F2f) instruction and computer-mediated communication (CMC), is a popular trend in many universities and corporate settings today. Most universities provide faculty members course management systems, such as Blackboard, Angel, and others as a way to organize and transmit course materials to students. In order to assess the pedagogical value of blended learning in a university-level first year composition (FYC) environment, it is necessary to view the environment through a critical lens and adequately train faculty in the need for and use of the features of the learning management software (LMS). The setting for this study is the Humanities and Communication Dept. of Florida Institute of Technology, a private university on Florida's east coast, consisting of around 6000 students. As I investigate the various pedagogical and theoretical issues of incorporating blended learning into the FYC environment, I critically examine the issues involved in implementing the program. I employ a blended research method to join the tracks of implementing a blended learning program and developing a culture of support together in the Humanities and Communication Department of Florida Tech. In examining program implementation, I use a combination of institutional critique, as advanced by Porter et al., together with an 'ecological' methodology, as outlined by Nardi and O'Day. In examining the feasibility of creating a culture of support through the design of a faculty workshop, I mainly use Richard Selfe's methodology, although elements of the previous two methods operate as well. The results of my study provide a means by which faculty members can experience and realize the benefits, while avoiding the pitfalls, of implementing CMC into a f2f classroom and provide an action plan for other researchers to utilize in their own educational settings.