Universitetet i Agder: UiA Journal System
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Work environment development using cognitive work analysis’ decision ladders.
No full textThe study aimed to create decision-making content for workplace work environment development, followed by a limited evaluation to determine the perception of the importance of the identified content in different sectors. Enforcement/administrative orders in workplace inspection reports were used as empirical infor-mation on workplaces. This information was used to design decision ladders, which form the second phase of cognitive work analysis, the activity analysis. The decision ladders, which support decision-making, cov-ered work functions identified in an earlier work domain analysis study, i.e., exposure prevention, organisa-tional management, competence realisation, workers’ empowerment, psychosocial work environment man-agement, and administration. Specified content of decision ladders for each function was used to prepare a questionnaire for evaluating the content validity for work environment development.
Altogether, 29 items were identified as the content for work environment development. Statistical analysis of the limited evaluation showed no significant difference between the different sectors in their perceptions of the importance of the content in developing work environments. Similar sectoral perceptions' trends support the content utility and validity in work environment development.
The procedure formulation step of the decision ladders, with the phrase “What steps are needed to...” applied preceding the identified content constructs, provides practical activities regarded as essential for work environment development.
Using enforcement inspection reports as the basis for work environment development is a novel approach to addressing workplace safety and health management challenges. Further, the universal utility of the content allows for its implementation across sectors, allowing for workplace-specific decision-making on management measures
The approach to and challenges in measuring innovation in China
No full textIn China and elsewhere, innovation features strongly in government policy as a key driver of economic development. Being able to measure innovation performance is therefore important. This paper analyses China’s approach to measuring the country’s innovation performance. In doing so and using documentary analysis, it evaluates the conceptualisation and data collection that underpin and support that measurement. The findings show that China focuses on a science and technology approach to measuring innovation. The weaknesses of this approach are identified: first, the conceptual scope is too narrow due to its exclusion of non-technological innovation; second, relatedly, data gathering is limited quantitatively and qualitatively in its coverage of types of innovation; and, third, the sample population is biased, acting to excluding a significant number of firms and employees. These weaknesses undermine understanding of innovation performance in China. With this analysis, this paper provides the first evaluation of China’s innovation conceptualization and measurement and, based on the findings, provides suggestions to address these weaknesses and improve the measurement of innovation performance and which have applicability beyond China. For China and other countries such as those which are members of the OECD and EU, the evidence provided in this paper suggest that there is a pressing need to adopt this broader policy approach and support it through the development of appropriate measures and data collection
An Obituary for Morten Levin: Morten Levin, July 11, 1946 - April 9, 2023
No full textIn this text we pay our respects, both professionally and personally, to Morten Levin who passed away this last April 9th, at 76 years of age. We who write this knew Morten from different periods, professional, and geographical distances. Our common ground is our mutual interest in action research and work life research and change, concerns that occupied Morten for decades.
We who write this are: Roger Klev, Davydd Greenwood, Ann Martin, Johan Ravn, and Olav Eikeland, all engaged, as Morten was, in practices related to work life, action research, and relevant educational and extension programs at Masters and PhD-levels. These are the threads that brought us into Morten´s orbit.
We each have stories to tell that illuminate Morten’s life and contributions, and this shapes the narrative of our tribute. Following a summary of his career, we offer our separate accounts of Morten’s gifts to us and his extraordinary professional accomplishments. 
Learning from Differences: Workplace Innovation, Digitalisation and Working Lives in South Korea
No full text"More than meets the eye”: Unveiling the full potential of creative workspaces in modern organisations
No full textProviding adequate workspaces for employees is now considered crucial for organisational innovativeness in light of evidence that the work environment influences creative behaviour. It is unsurprising, then, that companies increasingly seek to implement modern workspace designs based on what is often referred to as New Work to support employee creativity. However, designing, planning, and implementing a modern and creative workspace is a highly complex undertaking. Existing studies report a multiplicity of interconnected organisational variables affected by such changes at the levels of the individual employee (e.g. creativity), the team (e.g. communication) and the organisation (e.g. culture). To explore whether and how organisational changemakers consider these variables when designing creative workspaces, we interviewed 20 experts from companies that have recently implemented creative workspace designs, asking them about the objectives and consequences of their new workspace designs. Upon comparing the interviewees’ answers to the findings reported in the existing literature, we found that their organisations were not fully aware of the organisational impact of such changes and failed to consider creativity enhancement as an explicit goal. Concluding that much of the potential of modern workspace design remains untapped, we propose avenues for further research
“Meer Deutsch”: Et hav af muligheder med CLIL
No full textTysk var engang første andetsprog i Danmark. Som både nærliggende og nært beslægtet sprog deler tysk mange ord med dansk – ja faktisk kommer en stor del af det danske vokabularium fra netop tysk – eller måske rettere nedertysk. Det tyske sprog regnes derfor blandt fagfolk for særdeles transparent, men det har ret mange menige danskere (endnu) ikke gennemskuet, idet gennemsigtigheden her til lands fortsat vidt omkring er fejet ind under et tungt tæppe af falske forforståelser. Det tyske sprog åbner mange døre, men desværre skal mange store sten først ryddes af vejen. Til det er der nok brug for en effektiv strategi for at hæve de aktive tyskfærdigheder blandt danskerne. Et vigtigt værktøj i den værktøjskasse, der skal til, er CLIL eller Content and Language Integrated Learning.
Deutsch war einst erste Zweitsprache in Dänemark. Als sowohl naheliegende als auch eng verwandte Sprache teilt Deutsch viele Wörter mit Dänisch. Ja, tatsächlich kommt ein Großteil des dänischen Wortschatzes aus dem Deutschen – oder genauer gesagt aus dem Niederdeutschen. Die deutsche Sprache gilt unter Fachleuten als besonders transparent, aber das haben recht viele Däninnen und Dänen (noch) nicht durchschaut, da diese Durchschaubarkeit hierzulande anhand von hartnäckigen Vorurteilen immer noch in weiten Kreisen unter den Teppich gekehrt wird. Die deutsche Sprache öffnet viele Türen, aber leider müssen zunächst große Steine aus dem Weg geräumt werden. Dafür bedarf es einer effektiven Strategie, um aktive Deutschfertigkeiten unter Däninnen und Dänen zu stärken. Ein wichtiges Werkzeug im dazu benötigten Werkzeugkasten ist CLIL oder Content and Language Integrated Learning.Deutsch war einst erste Zweitsprache in Dänemark. Als sowohl naheliegende als auch eng verwandte Sprache teilt Deutsch viele Wörter mit Dänisch. Ja, tatsächlich kommt ein Großteil des dänischen Wortschatzes aus dem Deutschen – oder genauer gesagt aus dem Niederdeutschen. Die deutsche Sprache gilt unter Fachleuten als besonders transparent, aber das haben recht viele Däninnen und Dänen (noch) nicht durchschaut, da diese Durchschaubarkeit hierzulande anhand von hartnäckigen Vorurteilen immer noch in weiten Kreisen unter den Teppich gekehrt wird. Die deutsche Sprache öffnet viele Türen, aber leider müssen zunächst große Steine aus dem Weg geräumt werden. Dafür bedarf es einer effektiven Strategie, um aktive Deutschfertigkeiten unter Däninnen und Dänen zu stärken. Ein wichtiges Werkzeug im dazu benötigten Werkzeugkasten ist CLIL oder Content and Language Integrated Learning
Noun-phrase complexity in the texts of intermediate-level Norwegian EFL writers: stasis or development?
No full textThis paper examines the longitudinal development in noun-phrase complexity in English texts written by Norwegian learners in school years 8-10. The study is based on material from the TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language) corpus (Dirdal et al., 2017; Dirdal et al., 2022), comprising longitudinal data from nine pupils. The study tests the hypothesis proposed by Biber et al. (2011) that noun-phrase complexity increases gradually as writers develop, and answers the following research question: To what extent can longitudinal development in noun-phrase complexity in accordance with Biber et al.’s (2011) stages be traced in the written production of intermediate-level Norwegian EFL writers in Years 8-10? The results indicate that there is very little evidence to suggest an increase in sophistication as regards phrasal modification over the three years. Instead, the pupils primarily rely on the types of modifiers that are acquired in early developmental stages, such as attributive adjectives and prepositional phrases. Thus, there should be a greater pedagogical focus on developing pupils’ skills in using more sophisticated noun-phrase modifiers, to prepare them for the future demands placed on their academic-writing skills
The development of sentence complexity in the writing of young learners of L3 Spanish in Norway
No full textThis article explores the development of sentence complexity in the writing of young learners of Spanish as the third language (L3) learned in Norwegian schools. Learning to write in a foreign language is a complex process, and a novice learner will start to write simple sentences that develop over time. To track this development, the present study investigates texts written by learners of Spanish from the first and second year of upper secondary school (school years 11-12, ages 16-17) as their ordinary schoolwork. The texts are collected as part of the TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language) corpus and show how learners write in an authentic school context. To address sentence development, the use of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions is analyzed. The findings indicate that most pupils use y (and) and pero (but) to coordinate clauses. In subordinate clauses, que is frequently used to introduce relative clauses and porque to introduce causal clauses. There are only a few examples of a more varied use of conjunctions, indicating individual differences in the process of developing sentence complexity. The studied features are estimated to be acquired at the A1 level in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), while the pupils in this study are expected to be at the A2 level. The findings show that there may be a discrepancy between the pupils’ actual knowledge and the expected knowledge according to the reference levels
Mundtlighed, CLIL og arrangerede sprog- og kulturmøder – to undervisningsforløb set fra motivationsforskningens perspektiv
No full textHvordan kan undervisning i fremmedsprog tilrettelægges, så elever og studerende motiveres til at kommunikere mundtligt på deres fremmedsprog? Artiklen tager udgangspunkt i Coyles model for undersøgelse af motivation (Coyle, 2011) og har som mål at belyse de muligheder, som Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) samt arrangerede sprog- og kulturmøder har for at fremme de lærendes motivation. Med afsæt i to konkrete undervisningsforløb zoomer artiklen ind på hvilket potentiale der ligger i de to didaktiske tilgange, og hvordan dette potentiale kan forklares ud fra motivationsforskningens perspektiv.
Artiklen indledes med en opridsning af tidligere forskning samt resultater fra en kort survey-undersøgelse, der giver et indblik i potentialet og de udfordringer, der forbinder sig med de to tilgange. Derefter beskrives Coyles model og undersøgelsernes metodiske tilgang. Modellen anvendes i rammen af en deduktiv kvalitativ indholdsanalyse (Mayring, 2014, 2015) til at belyse to undervisningsforløb i to forskellige pædagogiske kontekster, nemlig grundskole- og universitetsniveauet, hvor der arbejdes med hhv. CLIL og arrangerede sprog- og kulturmøder.
I analysen anvendes Coyles model dermed i en CLIL-kontekst, dvs. den kontekst, som modellen er udviklet indenfor, og modellens ramme udvides til at omfatte en anden didaktisk tilgang, hvor sprog- og kulturlæring indgår i et samspil i fremmedsprogsundervisningen: arrangerede sprog- og kulturmøder
