During the last decade, anticipated and realized benefits of mobile and wireless information and communication technology (ICT) for different business purposes have been widely explored and evaluated. Also, the significance of ‘user acceptance’ mechanisms through ‘perceived usefulness’ of ICT applications has gained broad recognition among business organizations in developing and adopting new ICT capabilities. However, even though technology usefulness is regularly highlighted as an important factor in ICT projects, there is often a lack of understanding of what the concept involves in the practical work context of the actual users, and how to deal with the issues of usefulness in organizational ICT development processes. This doctoral thesis covers a 1,5 year case study of a mobile computing development project at a Swedish international construction enterprise. The company’s mobile ICT venture addressed the deficient ICT use situation of management practitioners in construction site operations. The study portrays the overall socially shaped development process of the chosen technology and its evolving issues of usefulness for existing construction site management practice. The perceived usefulness of mobile computing tools among the ‘user-practitioners’ is described as emergence of ‘meaningful use’ based on initial expectations and actual experiences of the technology in their situated fieldwork context. The studied case depicts the ongoing and open-ended conversational nature of understanding adequate ICT requirements in work practice, and the negotiation of mobile computing technology design properties between users and developers over time towards the alignment of diverse personal, professional and organizational needs and purposes of ICT use. The studied introduction of mobile computing technology in construction site management fieldwork practice serves as an illustrative actual example of how to interpret, understand and approach issues of usefulness and user acceptance of ICT resources in operative work contexts when managing ICT development processes in organizations. / QC 20100825

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into how efficient the computer is in support of the pupils literacy learning. Will there be a difference in literacy learning if i compare the pupils who use computers as an aid in relation to those pupils who are educated by synthetic method? Have the puplis felt affected in some way when having the computer as an aid in literacy learning? I have chosen to do a qualitative study with quantitative data. I have observed and interviewed pupils using the Trageton strategy. The interviews were based on a number of key issues. The quantitative data is based on my study that includes a reading development schedule, LUS. The results obtained show that pupils who have worked with Trageton strategy are more motivated to read and write than those pupils who have learned to read and write by the traditional method. Most pupils who were interviewed said that it was easier to write on the computer than with pen because they were tired of holding the pen and form letters. They also experienced that it became neat and was easier to read than handwritten text, which strengthen their self-confidence.

Syftet med vår studie var att undersöka några pedagogers tankar och erfarenheter kring IKT (informations- och kommunikationsteknik) i klassrumsundervisningen. Vi ville ta reda på pedagogernas syfte med IKT-arbetet i undervisningen, hur pedagogerna arbetar med IKT för att främja elevernas lärande samt vilka påverkansfaktorer på IKT-användningen pedagogerna beskriver. Enligt våra tidigare erfarenheter används inte datorn i så stor utsträckning i tidigare åren, därför var det av stort intresse för oss att få en förståelse för tidigarelärares pedagogiska synsätt kring IKT i undervisningen. Metoden som användes bestod av kvalitativa halvstrukturerade intervjuer för att samla in data. Respondenterna bestod av tre klasslärare i år 1-3, en speciallärare tillika IT-resurs samt två rektorer. Studien genomfördes i två närliggande kommuner i Mellansverige. Intervjusvaren analyserades och redovisades i form av porträtt av respondenterna och utifrån de fyra teman som framträdde; fördelar med IKT, svårigheter/hinder, utbildning/fortbildning samt IKT och barn i behov av särskilt stöd.   Studiens resultat visar att den stora fördelen som respondenterna upplever är att de lättare kan individualisera undervisningen. De respondenter som arbetar med metoden ”Skriva sig till läsning” ser de största fördelarna och minst hinder för IKT-användningen i undervisningen. De anser att problem med tekniken är det största hindret för IKT-användningen. Majoriteten av respondenterna menar att bristen på utbildning/fortbildning inom IKT är ett problem och påverkar IKT-användningen i undervisningen. Alla respondenter är överens om att IKT är ett bra verktyg för barn i behov av särskilt stöd.

In the last two years, CS as a school subject has gained a lot of attention worldwide, although different countries have differing approaches to and experiences of introducing CS in schools. This paper reports on a study comparing current trends in CS at school, with a major focus on two countries, Germany and UK. A survey was carried out of a number of teaching professionals and experts from the UK and Germany with regard to the content and delivery of CS in school. An analysis of the quantitative data reveals a difference in foci in the two countries; putting this into the context of curricular developments we are able to offer interpretations of these trends and suggest ways in which curricula in CS at school should be moving forward.

The aim of the present study is to describe the experiences of high school students as regards the effects of their activities, in and out of lessons, being published on the web. In addition, a further purpose is to acquire knowledge about whether a website could be used as means of increasing the students level of attention, and focus, to their activities in school; and, furthermore, how such a website should be designed to correspond with the students requests. The implemented methods are interviews with students, school administrators and teachers. A survey was conducted covering the student’s personal experiences and opinions. Furthermore, an interface test of the website was performed. Grades and absences from earlier students were also included in the study. According to the interviews the students experienced that they were affected by the increased level of attention but also that their fellow-students were more affected than they were themselves; and, furthermore, higher grades and fewer absences were registered. The study was conducted at a high school in Stockholm where courses in art and design, with concentrations in industrial design, architecture and urban planning are offered in the Technical Program. Altogether 62 students were included while doing their first year of a total of three years.

The purpose of this thesis was to find out what experiences teachers have from using a class blog in teaching. What are the advantages and disadvantages by the use of blogs in education? I have used qualitative interviews with four teachers in grades 1 to 6 who have worked with a class blog in teaching between one and three years. The study has shown that teachers' experience is that the blog serves as motivation and promotes learning for many different pupils and that, together with other digital tools is more equal. The main benefits that teacher mention is the expanded concept of text that offers multiple forms of expression and the authentic reader, which makes it more real, important and meaningful. Other benefits that come up are that it helps students to see their learning and learn from and with each other. The teachers think that the blog makes the students work, learning and differences visible in a positive way while difficulties become less visible. According to the teachers it creates a sense of belonging. They also feel that it increases the digital literacy, the computer becomes a tool and the blog has together with other ICT-tools for some of the teachers contributed to a different teacher role. One of them says that one advantage is that everything is archived, you can see what you have done earlier and it keeps things in order. The study indicates that the blog promotes pupils with both strong and weak writing skills, as the writing is not dependent on fine motor skills, digital tools make the text easier to write and the ability to adapt to the pupils’ abilities and interests. That’s a big advantage, according to the teachers in the study. Some of the teachers experiences that girls have a strong interest and confidence in the blog, especially when it comes to writing. The teachers find it hard to see disadvantages, but mention the dependence of effective IT support as technology causes trouble and the need for routines in the beginning as it may take some time to learn the tools, yet a teacher says that the blog saves time after a while. They also believe that you need to think in advance about what you publish. The teachers emphasize that the blog is only a tool in the teacher’s hands, which has to be based on a pedagogical idea. / Syftet med denna studie har varit att ta reda på vilka erfarenheter lärare kan ha av klassbloggen i undervisningen. Vilka fördelar och nackdelar ser de med blogg i undervisningen? Jag har använt mig av kvalitativa intervjuer av fyra lärare i skolår 1-6 som har arbetat med klassblogg i undervisningen mellan ett och tre år. Studien har visat att lärarnas erfarenheter är att bloggen fungerar som en motor för eleverna och gynnar lärandet för många olika elever och att den tillsammans med andra digitala hjälpmedel är mer jämställt. De största fördelarna som lärarna nämner är det vidgade textbegreppet som erbjuder flera uttrycksformer och den autentiska mottagaren, som gör att det blir på riktigt, viktigt och meningsfullt. Andra fördelar som kommer fram är att den hjälper eleven att se sitt lärande och lära av och med varandra. Lärarna menar att den synliggör elevernas arbeten, lärande och olikheter på ett positivt sätt, samtidigt som svårigheter blir mindre synliga. Enligt lärarna skapas en känsla av att alla hör till. De menar också att den ger en ökad digital kompetens, att datorn blir ett arbetsredskap och den har hos vissa lärare bidragit till en förändrad lärarroll. En av lärarna menar att en fördel är att allting arkiveras, man ser vad man gjort tidigare och den håller ordning. Studien pekar på att bloggen gynnar både skrivstarka och skrivsvaga elever, då skrivandet inte är lika beroende av finmotorik och digitala hjälpmedel gör texten mer tillgänglig tillsammans med möjligheten att utgå från sina förutsättningar, intressen och behov. Det är en stor fördel, enligt lärare i studien. Det kommer fram att flickor tar plats i arbetet med bloggen, i synnerhet då det gäller skrivandet. Lärarna har svårt att hitta nackdelar, men nämner beroendet av en fungerande IT-support när tekniken strular och att det i början är bra med rutiner eftersom det kan ta lite tid innan redskapen sätter sig. Samtidigt menar en lärare att bloggen spar tid efter ett tag. De menar även att man behöver tänka i förväg på vad man publicerar. Lärarna betonar att bloggen bara är ett verktyg i pedagogens hand och att den behöver bäras av en pedagogisk idé.

Sedan nätets begynnelse har regleringen och styrningen av Internet präglats av en västcentrisk och teknomeritokratisk diskurs som i mångt och mycket har exkluderat en stor del av världen från att aktivt delta i informationssamhällets utformning. I denna ordning har den amerikanska staten haft en priviligierad ställning genom dess indirekta kontroll över de s.k. strategiska resurserna, dvs. IP-adresser och ‖roten‖ i domännamnsystemet, via kontraktet mellan "Department of Commerce" och organisationen "Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers" (ICANN). Därtill fanns det en latent konflikt mellan USA och Internetsamfundet, å ena sidan, och Förenta nationerna och dess medlemsstater, å andra sidan, såtillvida att den institutionella utformningen vilade på amerikansk civilrättslig grund och inte mellanstatliga traktat, en av grundvalarna för det geopolitiska systemet. FN anordnade således konferenserna om det globala informationssamhället, "World Summit on the Information Society" (WSIS), i Genève 2003 respektive Tunis 2005 för att lyfta frågorna om en internationellt legitim regim för Internets styrning och den ojämna fördelningen av information- och kommunikationsteknologi (IKT) mellan rika industriländer och fattiga utvecklingsländer. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om toppmötena om det globala informationssamhället lyckades i uppsåtet att ge marginaliserade aktörer, i första hand FN-systemet och utvecklingsländerna, strukturellt inflytande gällande styrningen av Internet samt tillfört dimensioner av digital solidaritet och internationalisering till den diskurs som historiskt har dominerats av västerlandet, i synnerhet USA. Med utgångspunkt från Michel Foucaults maktbegrepp söks slutdokumenten från WSIS-processen på diskursiva brott som skulle kunna tyda på skiften i maktstrukturerna till de marginaliserade aktörernas fördel. De diskursiva brott som kan tydas i WSIS-dokumenten gäller i första hand begreppet "den digitala klyftan" och medvetandegörandet av bistånds- och utvecklingspolitikens relevans inom "nätets diskurs" (digitalt bistånd). Däremot verkar utestängningsprocedurerna i diskursproduktionen ha lett till att viktiga aspekter om regleringen och styrningen av Internet utlämnats. Följaktligen kan det uttydas att de starka aktörerna har verkat för att den institutionella ordningen gällande Internets styrning inte ska rubbas. I de fall ämnet nämns explicit framgår det tydligt att status quo ska upprätthållas. WSIS-processen lyckades därför inte med ambitionen att öka marginaliserade aktörers inflytande i detta avseende. / Since the Net's humble beginning, Internet regulation and governance has been characterized by a West-centric and techno-meritocratic discourse which, in many ways, has led to the exclusion of major parts of the world from active participation in building the Information Society. In the prevailing order the United States has a privileged position through its indirect control over the Internet‘s strategic resources, i.e. IP-addresses and "root" in the Domain Name System, via a contractual arrangement between the "Department of Commerce" and the organization "Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers" (ICANN). There was furthermore a latent conflict between the United States and Internet community, on the one hand, and the United Nations and its member states, on the other hand, in so far as that the institutional order rested on principles of U.S. civil law instead of international treaties, one of the foundations of the geopolitical system. Hence two conferences in Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005, as two phases of the "World Summit on the Information Society" (WSIS), were organised by the U.N. to raise topics concerning an internationally legitimate regime for Internet governance and the unequal distribution of information- and communications technology (ICT) between rich industrialized nations and poor developing ones. The aim of this study is to investigate whether WSIS managed in its objective of providing marginalized players, primarily the U.N. system and developing nations, structural influence in Internet governance and adding dimensions of digital solidarity and internationalization to a discourse that historically has been dominated by the West, in particular the U.S. Through the prism of Michel Foucault's concepts of power, the final documents from the WSIS process are scrutinized for discursive shifts that could be indicative of actual changes in power structures to the advantage of marginalized players. Discursive shifts, as those detected in the documents, are primarily related to the notion of the "digital divide" and raising awareness for the need of development and foreign aid policies within the context of the "Discourse of the Net" (ICT for development). On the other hand, it would seem that the procedures of exclusion in the formation of discourse have eliminated important aspects of Internet regulation and governance. Subsequently, it can be inferred that powerful players have worked behind the scenes to maintain the current structures of Internet governance. In those passages, where the subject is explicitly mentioned, there are clear references to maintaining the existing status quo. The WSIS process failed consequently in its ambition to increase the influence of marginalized players in this regard.

This research study is an analysis of the intertwining concepts of collaboration, prosumption, and communication in the contemporary digital educational space. The major objective of this thesis is to understand the operationalisation of the collaborative production of free and open artefacts. For this purpose, a framework is established for investigating communication and interaction activities of the people involved and their usage of ICT supported communications. Three exemplary projects are then examined using this framework: Schulbuch-O-Mat, a pilot project in which an electronic OER schoolbook is created; Memrise, an online platform which offers a wide range of user-created learning courses in a variety of topics; and VroniPlag Wiki, a wiki in which dissertations are collaboratively examined in terms of plagiarism. Data for this study were collected in the form of a comparative multiple-case study using a mix of methods such as interviews, questionnaires, participant observation, and the analysis of documents. Using situational analysis, a comparative analysis was conducted in terms of the three main aspects of this study: prosumption, collaboration, and communications. The results show that a balanced mix of communication enabling tools and services facilitates high collaboration. It was also concluded that collaborative working procedures benefit from diverse ways to address participants. The obtained data support the view that less hierarchical structures simplify collaborations and prosumption. Further research should address the issue of digital labour and exploitation as well as the management of conflicts in prosumer orientated collaborations. As a further outcome, a system of categories was derived in the analysis part of this thesis. This categorisation system serves as a foundation towards an approach of analysing collaborative communication.

The purpose of this bachelor paper is to analyze the different technologies used for supporting inter-organizational project work and how these technologies influence the project’s overall success. The results of this research have proved that the main impact ePM tools (e-Project Management tools) have upon inter-organizational projects are in terms of time-savings and easiness of communication when in need for communicating abroad with different business partners. Various types of collaboration tools can help the communication process between organizations and provide the project participants with the means of creating and supporting a collaborative environment. Other perceived benefits of ePM tools have been resulted including: reduce project costs due to time-savings and quality of information which lowers the risks for deficiency occurrences; improve the decision-making process; improve internal and external communication; facilitate knowledge sharing and expertise exchange; and create an agile business environment characterized by innovation, flexibility, faster market reaction and ability to work efficiently. Global time zones and communication skills are challenges to creating an efficient collaborative inter-organizational environment.

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