The concept of reflection expressed as different types of thinking is explicitly given an essential role in specific strands of international discourses on lifelong learning and education. Meanwhile, some researchers consider reflection problematic and point to the lack of consensus on its meaning in theory and practice. Assuming that there are varied conceptualizations and that arguments for learning of reflective skills are deemed sound, it follows that it would be especially meaningful to find out how professionals responsible for educational practices understand the concept. As this kind of research appears scarce in adult education, an exploration may contribute to knowledge underlying what teachers do ‘in the name of reflection’. The pedagogy in Swedish popular education is of special interest as it ideally centers adults' participation and reflection with others to facilitate learning. Furthermore, the curriculum is not regulated in law which may indicate a wide variety of interpretations of the teaching mission including its key concepts. Therefore, the aim of this phenomenography inspired study is to identify the variation in folk high school teachers’ (n=7) conceptions of reflection in Swedish popular education. Based on analysis of semi-structured interviews, it is argued that the results in some sense broaden the understanding of reflection in revealing three different categories of descriptions. These categories are; reflection as a process fostering understanding of experiences, reflection as a tool facilitating learning and development, and reflection as a pedagogy enacting ideals of popular education and emancipation. On basis of the theoretical idea that teachers’ thought is important to and influence their professional action, the potential influences of these varying conceptualizations on folk high school teachers’ professional practice are elucidated.

Denna rapport går igenom processen av att skapa ett säljande koncept och förklarar hur man genom att ta ett steg ut ur en organisations trygghetszon kan locka nya besökare och intressenter. I det här examensarbetet har vi skapat ett marknadsförandekoncept för Studiefrämjandets ledarutbildningar. Uppdraget var att väcka ett större intresse kring utbildningarna och verktygen vi har använt oss av är digitala medier. Tillsammans med en kortfilm har vi skapat en prototyp till ett modulverktyg som i kombination med filmen fungerar som en inspirationsplats för ledarutbildningarna. Modulen som helhet har tre uppgifter; att inspirera, att motivera och att uppmana till handling. Filmen är inspirationen som skapar ett intresse hos besökaren. Motivationen till att ta steget till att agera är modulens deltagarberättelser och genom att ha ett tydligt bokningsverktyg ska användaren enkelt kunna agera och söka utbildningen. / This paper focuses on the process of creating a selling concept and examines how toattract new participants after taking a step out of an organisations comfort zone. In this thesis work we have created a marketing concept for Studiefrämjandet’s leadership courses. The mission was to increase the interest for the course and the tool we have used to achive that is digital media. Along with a short film, we have also created a prototype for a website implement that is to work as an inspirational place for the course. This website implement has three objectives; To inspire, to motivate, and to exhort to action. The short film is the inspiration that creates interest among the visitors. The motivation is created thanks to short storys from former participants, and a calender creates an easy-to-use booking tool where users can apply for the course.

Med bakgrund i att samhället blir allt mer digitaliserat är studiens syfte att undersöka bibliotekariers upplevelser av kommunikation med biblioteksbesökare och sin folkbildande roll. Fokus för studien är bibliotekariernas egen upplevelse vilket resulterat i att en kvalitativ metod med intervjuer har använts. Studiens resultat visar att bibliotekarier upplever att kommunikation och ett gott bemötande är av stor vikt, både i det fysiska och det digitala rummet. Bibliotekarier upplever även att de har relevant kompetens för yrket, men att grundutbildningen saknar ämnesområden som pedagogiskt bemötande och IT. Studiens resultat visar även att bibliotekarier upplever att de kontinuerligt måste hålla sig ajour inom IT och de upplever att en alltmer digitaliserad biblioteksverksamhet bidrar till att den digitala delaktigheten bland medborgarna ökar i samhället. Studiens bidrag till forskningen resulterar i en förståelse för hur folkbiblioteken, som en mötesplats samt en plats för informations- och kunskapsinhämtning, samspelar med medborgarna i samhället. / Given that society is becoming increasingly digital, this studies’ purpose is to examine librarian’s experiences of communication with library visitors and their educational role. The focus of the study is on the librarian’s own experience therefore a qualitative method with interviews has been used. The results of the study show that librarian’s feel that communication and a welcoming approach are of great importance, both in the physical and the digital space. Librarian’s also feel that they have relevant skills for the profession, but that undergraduate education lacks subject areas such as pedagogical approach and IT. The results of the study also show that librarian’s feel that they continually must keep up to date with IT and they feel that an increasingly digital library activity contributes to the digital participation among citizens increasing in society. This studies’ contribution to research results in an understanding of how public libraries, as meeting place and a place for information and knowledge gathering, interact with the citizens in society.

No description available.

This master thesis constitutes a study into the history of reading. The object is to illustrate how reading practices of a few girls and young women were molded during the early decades of the twentieth century. By studying how reading was expressed in a specific historical situation, the prerequisites and changes of reading can be understood as part of a wider historical perspective. The primary material consists of 33 retrospective interviews that were recorded during the 1970s and 80s, wherein female respondents articulate their recollections of books and reading in their childhood and adolescent. The theoretical framework draws inspiration from the field of the history of reading, with influence from scholars such as Roger Chartier and Robert Darnton. The comprehension is that reading practices are shaped and limited by social and cultural factors, but the practices are also shaped by the liberties readers take within the prevailing limitations. The analysis shows that the home environment played a decisive role when it comes to the prerequisites for reading, and is closely intertwined with factors such as the parents' level of education, occupations and financial assets. As many homes suffered from a lack of reading material, the libraries connected to schools, religious communities or popular movements became valuable sources. Public education efforts, such as the emergence of public libraries and the spread of new, cheaper reading materials, had great significance for many of the girls, and made reading more varied and free. The overall picture shows that reading practices varied between different individuals. Different modalities of reading are closely intertwined with distinct individual prerequisites and the various opportunities which allowed the respondents to be active readers and tailor their reading practices to meet their own specific needs.

This paper strives to answer a question most anyone remotely involved with education has encountered: what is the relationship between the content taught and its purpose? In this case, the question is in the context of the Workers’ Education Association in Sweden (ABF) and other educational efforts made by the Swedish labour movement. In order to answer such a question one must first outline in some detail what the content to be taught was, and what purpose the association itself saw as the important one. But the matter is also further explored: the Swedish labour movement appears to view education and culture in a rather non-Marxist manner, which poses a question to be untangled in order to fully understand the connection between content and purpose, namely that of what view they did in fact hold. Here, it will be argued that the Swedish labour movement held a proto-Bourdieuan view of culture as a form of societal and cultural capital which must be distributed in order for the emancipatory and egalitarian efforts to succeed.

<p>In this study the overarching question is in what way the Swedishauthor Alf Henrikson has acted as a popular educator and if he as such hasbeen a part of a popular educational context. The different popular educationalactivities he associated with could be considered as verification thathe did act as a popular educator. Two works of his popular historical authorshipare examined and they are characterized by the intention or ambitionto disseminate historical knowledge. By his historical authorship healso was a part of a popular historical tradition in Sweden.Henrikson appeared at several times as a popular lecturer and hereby hereproduces a tradition from the worker’s institutes and the associations forpopular lectures. He also performed on several occasions in radio programsand TV programs and disseminated knowledge and education. Radio broadcastsas well as television are regarded as popular educational activities. Inconsideration to the subject areas of his knowledge he can be affiliated withan educational ideal in the Swedish worker’s movement and Swedish populareducation. His educational ideal is the personality creating neohumanisticprinciple. Henrikson also supported the thought of taking over the middles-classes idea of cultural heritage.</p>

In this study the overarching question is in what way the Swedishauthor Alf Henrikson has acted as a popular educator and if he as such hasbeen a part of a popular educational context. The different popular educationalactivities he associated with could be considered as verification thathe did act as a popular educator. Two works of his popular historical authorshipare examined and they are characterized by the intention or ambitionto disseminate historical knowledge. By his historical authorship healso was a part of a popular historical tradition in Sweden.Henrikson appeared at several times as a popular lecturer and hereby hereproduces a tradition from the worker’s institutes and the associations forpopular lectures. He also performed on several occasions in radio programsand TV programs and disseminated knowledge and education. Radio broadcastsas well as television are regarded as popular educational activities. Inconsideration to the subject areas of his knowledge he can be affiliated withan educational ideal in the Swedish worker’s movement and Swedish populareducation. His educational ideal is the personality creating neohumanisticprinciple. Henrikson also supported the thought of taking over the middles-classes idea of cultural heritage.

The desire to translate constructivist and sociocultural approaches to learning in specific learning activities is evident in most forms of training at current, not least in online education. Teachers worldwide are struggling with questions of how to create conditions in this fairly new realm of education for learners to contribute to the development of a good quality in their own and others' learning. Collaboration in forms of text talk in asynchronous, text based forums (ADF) is often used so students can participate at the location and time that suits them best given the other aspects of their life situation. But previous research show how collaboration in forms of text talk do not always evolve in expected quality, and how participation sometimes can be so low that no discussions at all take place. Perhaps it is time to move on and make use of the variety of user-friendly audio-visible technologies that offers conditions for collaboration similar to those in the physical environment? Is there any point to use ADF for collaboration, beyond the flexible opportunity for participation it allows? If so, why, how and under what conditions are it worthwhile to use ADF for tasks meant to be worked collaboratively on? These questions were the starting point of the studies in this thesis that was researched through two case studies involving different techniques and data samples of various natures, with the aim to understand more about collaborative text talk. The research approach differs from the vast majority of studies in the research field of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) where many studies currently are conducted by analysis of quantifiable data. The first case study was conducted in the context of non-formal learning in Swedish Liberal Adult Education online, and the second in the context of higher education online in Sweden. The studies in the thesis were made on basis of socio-cultural theory and empirical studies. Empirical data was collected from questionnaires, interviews and texts created by students participating in tasks that they jointly resolved through text talk. Some results were brought back to the students for further explanation of the results. Findings from data analysis were triangulated with other results and with sociocultural theory. The results indicate that students can create knowledge relevant to their studies through text talk, but can feel restrained or dismiss the activity as irrelevant if important conditions are lacking.  Collaboration through text talk makes individual resources accessible in a specific place where it can be observed and its validity for the purpose of the task evaluated by others. Students with good insight in what they are supposed to accomplish seem be able to consult relevant guidance for this evaluation, from teachers, textbooks, scientific articles and other valid experiences important to their studies, and thereby contribute to learning of the quality they studies are meant to produce. Text talk also increases teachers’ possibilities to identify what the guidance the study group needs when evaluating the gathered resources and through their own active participation provide support in the students “zone of proximal development”. Contributions offered to the CSCL research field is the identifications of important mechanisms related to learning collaboratively through text talk, and the use of case study methodology as inspiration for others to try also these kinds of strategies to capture online learning.

I uppsatsen undersöks fem "allmänna svenska" folkbildningsmöten hållna, huvudsakligen i Folkbildningsförbundets regi, mellan 1904 och 1920. Trots att de är väldokumenterade och gavs betydelse för folkbildningens utveckling av sin samtid, har de inte tidigare varit föremål för en egen studie. På grund av forskningsläget strävar undersökningen efter att tematisera mötena som en helhet, den iscensatta aktören Folkbildningsmötet. Undersökningens huvudsakliga källmaterial har varit de mötesberättelser som gavs ut i anslutning till mötena. Undersökningen visar att Folkbildningsmötet huvudsakligen ägnade sig åt administrativa frågor och agerade för en allsidig, "liberal" antiklassbildning.