Umeå University currently uses two Course Management System, Moodle and Sakai (Cambro). Both Moodle and Sakai are based on open source code and are today the two more popular choices among Swedish Universities. They both have different strengths and weaknesses both from a technical perspective and a user perspective. This can create problems for a course responsible/teacher when it comes to planning the course structure at a distance course but also when planning the course structure on a campus course that uses a Course Management System. With this as my starting point my formulations of questions become:How do the Course Management Systems that Umeå University uses differs, both from a technical perspective and user perspective?What possibilities is there in the Course Management Systems to use a different Course Structure?Is there a noticeable difference on the view of Course Management System of teachers and students at different departments?The purpose with my essay is to create a basis that course responsible/teacher can use to plan the course structure.

When it comes to investigating the motives behind activism, the members of political study have a lot to say. I aimed to critiqually rewiev this in my thesis. I asked the question ?What do the actor themselves claim lay behin their decision to become motivated?? To highlight this complex dilemma, I sought to discuss new social movement theory by comparing it to reality. This includes a literate examination on contemporary political science approaches, and a study of two organisations in the south of Sweden, choosen not to despise any excisting theory, but to give it a sense of reality.

Arbetets syfte är att undersöka vad ett förebyggande arbete för att undanröja hinder och svårigheter för elevers läs- och skrivutveckling kan innebära. Fokus ligger på speciallärarens roll i detta arbete. De frågor som undersökningen besvarar är hur klasslärare och speciallärare kan beskriva ett förebyggande arbete, hur samarbetet kan se ut, hur man kan tillvarata speciallärarens kompetens samt vilka faktorer som kan ses påverka. För att besvara frågeställningarna har kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra klasslärare och tre speciallärare i grundskolan genomförts.För att analysera och tolka de data som insamlats har ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande använts, tillsammans med tidigare forskning och litteratur kopplad till ämnet.Ur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv framträder kunskapen om elevers proximala utvecklingszon, samt användandet av medierande redskap och scaffolding som betydelsefullt för ett förebyggande arbete. Resultatet för undersökningen visar att förebyggande arbete kan ske på flera olika sätt, exempelvis genom tidiga insatser, genom att organisera undervisningen, genom att skapa delaktighet och genom att ge eleverna en positiv självbild.

AbstractThe purpose of this work is to contribute knowledge about the transition of children from preschool to preschool classes. The experiences of pedagogical staff, parents and children are described, based on four deepening questions. The questions are about what the actors experience as positive and what the difficulties were in the transition process, and they also cover the differences of children and collaboration between actors. The method consists of qualitative interviews with parents, children, and pedagogical staff. The interviews concern the experiences of transition from the different actors.

AimThe aim of this study has been to examine how health enhancement teachers in Montana, USA, view the value of physical activity from a lifelong perspective.In what way does the health enhancement teacher think the importance of physical activity from a lifelong perspective could be presented?What resources are available for teachers to present the value of physical activity from a lifelong perspective?MethodThe issue has been answered through qualitative interviews consisting of six health enhancement teachers, four women and two men, in Montana, USA. One of the teachers worked at an elementary school (for 30 years), three teachers worked at middle schools (20, 10 and 8 years of work experience) and two of the teachers interviewed worked at a high school (30 and 3 years).  ResultsThe majority of teachers feel that a wide variety of activities, adapted to an individual level, and the understanding of a healthy lifestyle are important in order for the teacher to present the value of physical activity from a lifelong perspective.The teachers felt they had sufficient material in order to present the value of physical activity, where the school budget provided the teachers with materials every year. In addition to the budget, all the teachers had 12 hours of professional development every year where they could attend conferences or their own choice of professional development.ConclusionWith the help in forms of professional development offered by the school, conferences, meeting with other teachers, and their own choice of development, the teachers instruction techniques could increase which could help the teachers to find the pupils? interest for different kinds of physical activities.KeywordsPhysical education and health, physical activity, SOC, sense of coherence..

This thesis analyses the 2005 UK presidency of the Council, and more particularly the negotiations on the future financing of the European Union. The purpose of the study is to discuss whether the holding of the presidency implies political influence for the member state. To analyse the power of the country holding the chair the thesis focuses on the presidency functions of brokering and leadership. The theory suggests that the influence of the presidency is derived from informational and procedural power resources, as well as some leadership resources, such as coercion and reward. A case study was used to analyse whether these power resources were used by the British presidency.

We are two students at Malmö Högskola, writing our final essay for obtain our teacher diplomas. On our partner schools, we have been facing but little information about how to invite the parents to collaborate with the school. Our thought is that the schoolwork is favorable to the pupils if both school and home are working together side by side. Therefore, we decided to dig deeper into this matter of how one particular school is working with parental collaboration, to be able to see if their method is useful. This particular school is offering studies in a course form so called family class. Here the pupils can get extra help from remedial teachers and their parents are also invited.

This study is based on an interest in trying to understand what is needed to ensure that students actually learn in a learning object, in this study equations. Algebra is an area of mathematics in several studies proved to be a stumbling block for many students. Using letters in mathematis is difficult for most students according to research reports and it is also consistent with my own experince as a teacher. The purpose of this study was to seek answers to what in the lesson content and also during the interview that allowed the students to learn more about the learning object. Based on students' prior knowledge and the difficulties students might have with the learning object and the offer of learning, I try to get an answer to what might have contribut the students to developed knowledge of the learning object.

AbstractThe aim of this study is to investigate the implementation process and the implementation steering of the social development aspects, gender equality and integration, in the program for regional development of the region Kronoberg in the period of 2004-2007.The study asks three questions: 1) How have the social development aspects, gender equality and integration, been implemented in the program for regional development of the region Kronoberg? 2) What has facilitated or hindered the implementation of the two social development aspects? 3) What possibilities to steer the implementation process of the two social development aspects exist at the governmental and at the regional level?In order to answer these questions a qualitative method has been used. To be able to analyse the empirical material, which consists of documents and interviews, the theoretical framework comprehends the policy process and implementation steering. The conclusion is that the incorporation of the social development aspects in the regional development program does not fully correspond with the central intentions, and that is due to circumstances at the regional level..

Breaking through the clutter and getting consumers? attention is a constant battle for marketers. Could consumer magazines be the solution to the problem? It is not a new marketing method but consumer magazines do not look like traditional marketing and they offer consumers value. Since these are qualities that could increase consumers? will to take part of commercial messages, it might be a method that deserves more attention.

Over the period as a student at the Master's Program for Educational Leadership, I have learned thatsometimes the participants School?s management shows concern regarding the purpose of studyingat such a program. The curiosity of what that might devolve upon got me to immerse myself in theapproach to and attitude towards competence development within educational leadership.The essence of what I wanted to examine was how the students from the above mentioned Master'sProgram perceived the treatment they received from supervisors and colleagues and if it waspossible to explain the attitude that the participants in the study reported. I also wanted to examinewhat issues, related to competence development and leadership within the school system, highlightsthe treatment of participants in educational leadership.The results are based on questionnaires and interviews and are divided into four categories; thesupportive, the unaffected, the discouraged and finally a side category to explain how to handle thediscouraged?s lack of support.

The study aims to gain insight into how social workers perceive their psychosocial work environment and examine whether this effects the performance of their duties. The study mainly addresses the shortcomings of the psychosocial work environment of Social Services and the implications it entails for social workers health and wellbeing. The psychosocial work environment includes physical and psychological factors therefore the study's interpretive framework consists of organizational theoretical and social psychological concepts and previous research on the subject. We examined the organizational and social psychological connections to social workers perception of their work environment with a qualitative approach. The empirical data was collected through interviews with four social workers in a municipality in central Sweden using a semi-structured interview guide.

The discussion on whether the aesthetics or the pedagogy of children´s literature is the most important trait of the genre has been going on for quite some time. As children´s literature rose from a will to educate it is argued that pedagogy is forever imbued in the literature that addresses the child as its main reader. Literary scholars voices concern that the discussions about aesthetic expressions are being shunned in favor of that of educational values but does one exclude the other?In this essay I focus on two of Swedens most prominent authors of children´s literature, Lennart Hellsing and Ulf Stark. They are both part of the aesthetics/pedagogy debate, in their fictional works for children as well as with articles and essays on the subject.

The purpose of this Bachelors thesis is to investigate teachers' work and attitude to life in relation to the curriculum. Furthermore, how teachers look at students' emotional/social development in their general development. The thesis also reviews the criticism from The Swedish School of Authority on various programs primarily SET (social and emotional training)Three qualitative interviews and four observations at three different schools with teachers have been conducted. Using theories of social constructivism, deliberative conversation and social and emotional skills, the intention is to interpret the gathered material.The results show that the teachers see knowledge of life in school as important in the foundation of students´ emotional/social development. One teacher follows the SET program and two teachers? took inspiration from various other programs and ideas.

Omvårdnad ? Självständigt arbete I VOM080 VT 2008.