Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA): Open Access Journals
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Cutting a box hedge with a sickle: An intangible cultural heritage
No full textUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has identified craft as an intangible cultural heritage in the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The nature of this cultural heritage is that it must be practiced by living craftspeople to endure, and when it is performed by very few, it can be seen as endangered. This research, funded by the Carl-Göran Adelswärds Foundation, is a documentation of such a craft: cutting a box hedge with a sickle. At the same time, in this study, a master–apprentice situation was staged in order to safeguard this traditional craft and pass it on to new craftspeople. The core elements of this learning procedure are imitation and feedback. This specific craft is an ancient tradition with very few living practitioners. The garden in which this endangered craft is still practiced is Castello Ruspoli, created in 1611, when sickles where still used for cutting box hedge hedges. Thanks to the restoration and preservation by the current owners, it is one of the most well-preserved gardens from that time. One of the reasons this garden is so special is the way it is cared for by the gardener, Santino Garbuglia, using traditional craft methods that this film article will investigate and show. The author argues that some traditional gardening methods should be considered intangible cultural heritages and safeguarded as such
Pedagogising Virtual Reality Technology: A New Perspective on the TPACK-framework
No full textDigital technology has increasingly influenced all areas of education, including higher education, with subject-specific technologies developed for professional contexts alongside general communication and collaboration tools. This article draws on a case study conducted in a bachelor programme within building construction design in Denmark, tracking how teachers converted technical knowledge about virtual reality into teaching practice. This transformation process has crystallised different pedagogies, even within the same course. One pedagogical aim was for students to learn to use virtual reality (VR) as a professional competence, while another was to use VR as a tool for learning subject content (building design). This case study raises general issues regarding teachers\u27 use of technology for teaching, addressed in the research tradition of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). However, to delve deeper into the educational transformation processes, this article adds an educational sociological perspective, including concepts from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). With this background, this article raises new questions about the TPACK concept and discusses how the technological knowledge domains in the TPACK model can be differentiated to reflect various digital technologies and their functions, particularly in professional education
"Det er veldig forskjellig fra hjemlandet mitt": Migrantforeldres erfaringer med kommunikasjon og samhandling med barnehagepersonalet
No full textThis article presents an interview study with seven parents with migration backgrounds who have children in Early Childhood Education and Care institutions (ECEC). It highlights the parents’ experiences related to their interaction with ECECs during their first year as ECEC parents. The aim of the study is to explore how parents with migration backgrounds experience communication and interaction with ECEC staff.
The authors have executed a qualitative analysis of the research data. The analysis indicates that the parents’ experiences from their country of origin do not align well with expectations in the new home country. On the other hand, the analysis indicates that the interaction between ECEC parents and staff will improve when the understanding of the new society increases. The article highlights the difference between parents with some knowledge about Norwegian ECEC institutions before enrollment and those with limited insight. However, all of the parents enter the cooperation with ECEC institutions with little or no expectations to influence the current Norwegian system, but with a will to adapt to it. The willingness to adapt might make the parents less likely to engage with the ECEC staff. This attitude is based upon insufficient trust in the ECEC institutions and in Norwegian society in general. The lack of trust creates worries about the consequences of not successfully adapting to the Norwegian ECEC system and more specifically about Norwegian authorities’ decisions regarding deportations and family reunifications. The article points out that support from ECEC staff and other ECEC parents might reduce this anxiety and further develop the interaction.
The main conclusion of this article is that an extra effort is necessary to include parents with migration backgrounds to make sure they have enough knowledge about the Norwegian ECEC institutions to be confident about their child’s well-being and aware of their own role as an important, participating part. To ensure that this effort becomes part of the routines in ECECs this knowledge base’s implications on both the ECEC teacher education and the professional field is of importance
Experiences of technostressors during the Covid-19 pandemic among Finnish comprehensive school teachers
No full textThe Covid-19 pandemic caused significant changes to teachers’ work, including a rapid switch to remote teaching. This increased the role of ICT in teachers’ work and made teachers susceptible to technostress. In this study, we aimed to identify ICT-related stressors (i.e., technostressors) in comprehensive school teachers’ work in Finland during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data, consisting of answers to two open-ended questions, were gathered as part of a questionnaire (n=361), and qualitative content analysis was applied. Based on the analysis, technostressors were divided into five categories: rapid ICT adoption, technological inadequacies, ICT-related pedagogical challenges, limitations in social interaction, and multichannel communication and availability pressure. The findings indicate that schools were not prepared for the pandemic-induced online teaching, which showed in inadequate resources and support for teachers. Moving forward, schools could reduce technostressors by, for example, organizing technical and pedagogical support, developing shared practices to decrease the digital communication load and availability pressure, and fostering interaction and collaboration in online environments
Drama as a hopeful practice when navigating liminal times
No full textThis article presents results from a study where applied drama interventions were deployed in four different groups to build capacities to re-imagine economics. Participants were interviewed or entered dialogue with each other after completing the drama work. Through a close reading of one of the conversations that stands out as glowing in the research material and with inspiration from rhizomatic analysis, we identify four nodes that point to drama as a hopeful practice during insecure times. The dramatic arts have historically facilitated the navigation of localized political and economic tensions, but research and practice has not seemingly addressed the transitions to more holistic forms of development embedded within the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Inclusive Economic Growth. Conceptualizing this transition as liminal, we argue for the use of drama(tic) arts to navigate this state. The node Space for emotions articulates drama as a possibility to embrace and integrate difficult emotions. The node Openings and invitations – a new learning experience describes drama as an unconventional form of teaching that opens for creativity and new understandings. The third node Pretending towards new realities points to how the imaginative aspects of drama can give experiences of new pretended states beyond the liminal. Finally, the node Discomfort and its reinterpretations shows how challenging aspects of drama can be understood as in itself creating a liminal state where the unexpected can emerge. Findings echo the transformatory potential of drama(tic) arts in prior environmental and sustainability education research but extend it in the specific context of navigating and re-imagining economic growth (SDG8), and point to specific qualities of drama when trying to move towards sustainability in difficult times
Climate action and creative climate justice
No full textThe answer to SDG 13 Climate action in this special issue takes the form of a contribution that breaks with the academic genre and bypasses the established academic or artistic formats of the journal. Instead, this contribution opens the door to the climate activist movement, shining a light on the urgency of the hour and the issues that are paramount in the hearts of climate-engaged artists, educators and cultural workers. Klimakultur, a non-profit organization supporting and strengthening the climate and environmental ambitions of the arts and culture sector in Norway, has together with Rosendal Teater in Trondheim released what they call a Creative Climate Justice Guide. This publication serves as inspirational tool for climate action.
Cover image: Photo by Rosendal Teater and Klimakultur S
Introduction: Co-creating a catalyst for sustainable development
No full textThe United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for action by all countries to ensure that no one is left behind. It requires partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil societies across countries, continents, and sectors. This issue of Nordic Journal for Art & Research is an expression of SDG 17 - a collaboration towards achieving the goals. In this way, we wish to renew global partnerships for sustainable development by sharing new knowledge with peers and global readers alike. 23 different contributions about sustainability in arts education can bring new, interesting and hopeful discussions to our field. A wide range of different perspectives, understandings, theories and methods hopefully show the reader that arts educators can make a difference by inspiring sustainable thinking and action. We as editors believe that arts education can be a catalyst for a change in society towards more sustainable futures. Through this special issue we welcome each and every reader to take part in this aesthetic collaboration of knowledge production formed and assembled by arts educators, with a rising hope for the future of our planet
Regeringens styrning av Försäkringskassan
No full textThis article examines how the Government acts when it comes to steering that the Swedish Social Insurance Agency fulfills its various commitments. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency, like other authorities, is governed by the Parliament and the Government with several tools. Through annual appropriation letters, the Government specifies the requirements that are incumbent on the Social Insurance Agency and that the Government considers to be the most central and noteworthy. The appropriation letter also states whether the Swedish Social Insurance Agency\u27s fulfillment of these requirements, which must be made to the government, is reported back. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency\u27s basic mission, to investigate, decide on and pay various benefits, has remained relatively constant since the agency was formed in 2005. At the same time, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency\u27s activities are constantly exposed to political influence when it comes to how the agency conducts its activities, especially when it comes to health insurance. The empirical study clarifies how law in a certain respect and over a certain period of time has shaped itself from an inside perspective. Although the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, like other authorities, must implement the policies that the Parliament and the Government have decided on, it is central to point out that the Parliament and the Government may not decide how the authority should decide in a matter concerning the exercise of authority against an individual or how the authority should apply a law.Denna artikel undersökar hur regeringen agerar vid styrningen av att Försäkringskassan fullgör sina olika åtaganden. Försäkringskassan styrs liksom andra myndigheter av riksdagen och regeringen med flera verktyg. Regeringen preciserar genom årliga regleringsbrev de krav som åvilar Försäkringskassan och som regeringen finner vara de mest centrala och beaktansvärda. I regleringsbrevet anges också huruvida återrapportering av Försäkringskassans fullföljande av dessa krav måste ske till regeringen. Försäkringskassans grundläggande uppdrag, att utreda, besluta om och betala ut olika förmåner, har varit relativt konstant sedan myndigheten bildades år 2005. Samtidigt utsätts Försäkringskassans verksamhet ständigt för politiskt inflytande när det gäller hur myndigheten bedriver sin verksamhet, särskilt när det gäller sjukförsäkringen. Den empiriska undersökningen klarläggar hur rätten i ett visst avseende och under en viss tidsperiod har gestaltat sig utifrån ett inifrånperspektiv. Även om Försäkringskassan i likhet med andra myndigheter ska verkställa den politik som riksdagen och regeringen har beslutat om, är det centralt att påpeka att riksdagen och regeringen inte får bestämma hur myndigheten ska besluta i ett ärende som rör myndighetsutövning mot en enskild eller hur myndigheten ska tillämpa en lag
Platanlønn, Acer pseudoplatanus, 1948-2023: 59.862785°N 5.562311°Ø
No full textThis essay is part of an artistic research project, in which I have used my experiences from felling trees, wood and metal work, outdoor life, and analogue photography to explore the following problem: How can a deep ecological perspective on one\u27s own creative practice of photographing, felling, and processing a tree help to understand the sense of melancholy that accompanies this work? The creative work has consisted of photographing, felling, and processing a large sycamore, a blacklisted tree In Norway, to which the title refers. I developed one of the photographs on a large board that I cut out of the thickest part of the trunk. This board was exhibited together with a bronze plaque I cast which reads Sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus, 1948-2023, 59.862785°N 5.562311°E, surrounded by photographs of the sycamore\u27s own seeds and trees growing close to it. Five short texts representing different approaches to the problem were presented together with the pictures, and it is these texts that have been expanded into this essay. The project is inspired by artistic expressions in literature and visual arts that thematize environmental destruction and man\u27s relationship with nature. Together with Roland Barthes\u27 thoughts on the photograph as a sign and Arne Næss\u27s relational understanding of the self, these have challenged me as an art teacher to rethink my own practice as a teacher and craftsman.Dette essayet inngår i et kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid der jeg har tatt utgangspunkt i erfaringene mine fra hogst, tre- og metallsløyd, friluftsliv, fotografering og mørkeromsarbeid for å utforske følgende problemstilling: Hvordan kan et dypøkologisk perspektiv på egen skapende praksis med å fotografere, felle og bearbeide et tre bidra til å forstå følelsen av vemod som følger dette arbeidet? Det skapende arbeidet har bestått i fotografering, felling og bearbeiding av den store platanlønna som tittelen viser til. Et av fotografiene fremkalte jeg på en stor planke som jeg skar ut av stammens tykkeste del. Denne planken ble stilt ut sammen med en bronseplakett jeg støpte der det står Platanlønn, Acer pseudoplatanus, 1948-2023, 59.862785°N 5.562311°Ø, omgitt av fotografier av platanlønnas egne frø og trærne som var platanlønnas nærmeste naboer. Fem korte tekster som representerer ulike innganger til problemstillingen ble presentert sammen med bildene, og det er disse tekstene som er utviklet videre i dette essayet. Prosjektet er inspirert av uttrykk innen litteratur og billedkunst som tematiserer miljøødeleggelse og menneskets forhold til naturen. Sammen med Roland Barthes’ tanker om fotografiet som tegn og Arne Næss’ relasjonelle forståelse av selvet, har disse utfordret meg som sløydlærer til å tenke nytt om min egen praksis som skapende med treet som materiale
The Digitalization of Studio Practices and Its Impact on the Development of Design Literacy of First-Year Architecture Students
No full textDigital skills are emphasized in the ongoing process of digital transformation in higher education. In this article, digital literacy is discussed within the broader perspective of design literacy and the acceleration of the digitalization process of first-year design education at the time of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 is highlighted. The article interrogates the role of digital skills in the development of design literacy of first-year architecture students through a multiple case analysis of ARCH 101 design studio practices executed in the Bachelor of Architecture programmes at the Özyeğin University, Department of Architecture and the Middle East Technical University, Department of Architecture. The digitalization processes of ARCH 101 studios increased rapidly when the COVID-19 pandemic started and resulted in the integration of digital tools into basic design education in ways that transformed (1) the communication modalities and the representation and research strategies used by students, and (2) the understanding and methodologies of the design process when used as generative design tools