AbstractThe overall purpose of this thesis was to investigate to what extent new research findings, in neuroscience and learning, may be useful in a school improvement context. In a qualitative interview study combined with questionnaire, we have investigated the approach to school improvement that exists in a municipality. Informants have been head teachers in preschool and primary school, special education teachers in a student health team and a development manager. The outcome of the study showed that all of the study participants, all of which have a formal mandated to work for school improvement occurs. It also shows that informants, according to their professional position, express different goals when relating to school improvement.

The purpose of thesis was to investigate and compare how two companies within pharmaceutical industry and nuclear power industry are currently working with quality development regarding continuous improvement and Lessons Learned in business processes. In addition, a simple comparison was made with the automotiveindustry.McNeil AB are improving their processes continuously and are according to the findings of this report performing well in their pursuit of world-class pharmaceutical production. They have a well functioning process regarding improvements proposed in weekly improvement meetings engaging all employees. However, during interviews it was made clear that the functionality of the process which administer improvement proposals generated in addition to, or beside the weekly improvement meetings, were inadequate. McNeil AB is proposed to administer this through an IT solution instead of by paper and e-mail, that simplifies the process of adding, implementing and follow up an improvement proposal.The nuclear power plant Ringhals AB recently made major improvements in their business processes as well as the plant itself.

There are different ways of developing a second language. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate whether and possibly how music, focused on singing, can improve the development of Swedish as a second language. Through interviews with three vocal teachers, from three different schools in Sweden, and observations of one of the vocal teachers, information about how they work and think about the subject has been collected. The vocal teachers teach groups of second language learners by singing songs made especially for second language learning. The vocal teachers consider singing beneficial in the development of the pronunciation and improvement of the prosody, which affects the students? capacity to sound like a native Swedish speaker.

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.

AbstractTitelEffektmätning av ett utbildningsprogram ? genom lärande utvärderingEngelsk titelEffect Measurement of a Training Program ? through Learning by EvaluatingHandledareLars HolmstrandExaminatorMagnus SöderströmDatumJuni 2011Antal sidor77Nyckelordutvärdering, lärande, effektmätning, lärande utvärdering, formativ utvärderingKeywordsevaluation, learning, effect measurement, learning by evaluating, formative evaluationThe aim of this study was to investigate which effects a competence development effort has had on individuals and group, as well as in which way formative elements of evaluation possibly could have contributed to learning. The target group of the study was employees (eleven), their managers (seven) as well as co-ordinators (two) of a maintenance department at a nuclear power plant. The training program lasted from December 2009 to May 2010. The study was in progress as of September 2009 when a decision was made at the maintenance department?s training board to carry out the evaluation.

Consultancy as a profession has always been a debated topic and has constantly been surrounded with a kind of secrecy. People have a hard time defining what consultants actually do and how they do it. It seems that they are simply waving their magic wands, performing wonders. We have therefore decided that the purpose of this study is to unveil the secrecy around the profession. By conducting interviews and analysing literature we have examined recruitment processes in three different consulting industries and their wanted personal characteristics.

AbstractIn this essay, policy change and learning is studied in the case of the Social Democratic Party and their policy concerning independent schools. Their policy differs clearly from the right-wing parties. Between 1991 and 1994, the right-wing government made substantial reforms concerning independent schools. The question posed in this essay is whether the policy of the Social Democratic Party has changed as a result of these actions, and if they have approached their right-wing counterparts.Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework, defining a policy as a result of the values the actor holds, the question is studied by applying the theory's assumptions of policy-learning across coalitions. The argumentation of the Social Democratic Party, as it is expressed in official text documents before and after the right-wing government, is analysed.

Executive summary This master thesis was originally based on a specific assignment given to the authors from ABB Full Service, a unit specializing in providing maintenance outsourcing: ?How can ABB Full Service expand its offering of providing fundamental maintenance by seamlessly incorporating the business concept with competencies and solutions from other ABB divisions?? The academic issue was developed throughout the thesis, resulting in the following formulation: ?From an organizational perspective; how can service providers bring continuous added value to intra-organizational outsourcing partnerships?? Many of the key findings of this thesis are reflected in the issue. The term intra-organizational outsourcing is a proposed addition to the terminology in the academic discourse on outsourcing. The definition of the term is: ? Where an organization outsources a business process interlinked with the physical operations, requiring the service provider to take over a preexisting unit and its employees.This is an accurate description of the form of outsourcing that ABB Full Service is engaged in.

The purpose of my empirical study is to see if and how teachers meet the students needs of physical activities in the daily work in the classroom. I also want to explore how different teachers see the connection between the concepts: physical activity and learning. To fulfill the purpose, I have chosen to ask four questions that I will work on in my study.How much and what type of physical activities do the students do in a typical day at school?What happens with the students when they have had a moment of physical activities in the classroom?Do the teachers see any connection between the physical activity and the pupils' ability to concentrate?How do teachers look upon the relationship between physical activity and learning?To get answers to my questions, I have observed and interviewed five teachers. I have compiled and analyzed the results.

Syftet med studien är att bidra med sådan kunskap att det nybildade e-learningsföretaget kan skapa ett så attraktivt utbildningspaket som möjligt. Vi (författarna) vill lyfta fram vad som bör tänkas på vid marknadsföring av utbildningspaketet mot en potentiell kund. Om kunden anammar produktidén är det även intressant att ta reda på vilka befintliga utbildningar/kurser utbildningspaketet kan bli ett alternativ eller ett komplement till. Dessutom vill vi se om det är troligt att kunden kan anamma utbildningspaketet inom en tidsperiod av ett år..

Vi har i en tidigare kurs genomfört en uppgift innehållande bråk, då vi upptäckte att elever hade svårt att lära sig framförallt sammansatta bråk. Vi blev intresserade av att ta reda på hur man skapar förutsättningar för att eleverna ska lära sig bråk, vilket är denna studies syfte. Studien syftar även till att upptäcka vilka aspekter som är kritiska för att lära sig bråk samt ta reda på hur dessa kan varieras i undervisningen vid elevernas lärande av bråk.I studien används en learning study som kan ses som en typ av aktionsforskning där lärare forskar i sitt eget klassrum. Inom learning study används variationsteorin som är en guidande princip för att förstå och skapa förutsättningar för lärande. Lektionerna som genomfördes av oss, blivande lärare, vid tre olika tillfällen videofilmades.

The aim of this study is to explain the paradox of the memberstates willingness to surrender power of important issues such as asylum and refugee policy and therefore partly abandon its sovereignty. We also discuss the relation between internationalization, regionalization and globalization since these processes form the context in which our research problem is found. A case study is used as a method in this paper.In our quest for answers we use a theory of internationalization that we place in its context by primarily discussing the relation between globalization and regionalization. The theory is used as an explanatory force and to give it a concrete form we operationalised its three processes; internationalization of problems, internationalization of the societies and internationalization of the descisionmaking.The result of the case study shows that the increase in asylumseekers leads to a higher risk of negative competition wich give rise to the memberstates need to coordinate their politics.We found that when societies and problems are being internationalized, the state finds it difficult to resolve problems on their own and this leads to the internationalization of the dedescisionmaking. The internationalization of the decision-making process is therefore natural, which in this case means the decisions are taken by the EU rather than by the member states..

The purpose of this study was to investigate how high school students felt that the computer helped or hindered participation and self-esteem in the learning situation and if the students experienced any differences between when they had been relatively alone in using a computer compared to when everyone had their own computer. The starting point was the national one-to-one projects made to give every student access to a personal computer and how it affected students in special educational needs and previous research. The theoretical approach was based on socioculture/activity theory and theories of self-esteem. Ten high school students in grade one at a senior high school that previously had started up a one-to-one project was interviewed. The results showed that the students primarily used the computer to write and to search the Internet, but even as a alternative or compensatory tool.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine if the school's democracy project is successful. The objective is examined in relation to two specific questions. The first question is whether students, after completing their studies in civics A, understand the relationship between the concepts of human rights and democracy. The second is if the students understood the concepts of practical significance and impact on society and the individual. Variation theory comes from the phenomenographic theories and is central to this work. The approach to learning, in this essay, is a change in how a person experiences, understands or perceives a phenomenon. Variation theory focuses on a learning object and contextualization sees as crucial to how the individual perceives the object.The study is based on a quantitative research method in the form of a survey at a secondary school. A number of students may respond to valuation questions about how they perceive democracy and human rights in practical situations. The results are related to curriculum goals.The results of the study is not positive in relation to curriculum objectives, where many students respond negatively to questions..

The aim was to evaluate and suggest improvements for the prototype TIVOLI (sign-learning via computer-based playful interaction). The game purposed to give children who need signing as augmentative and alternative communication enhanced signing skills. Three children in need of signs played TIVOLI at home during 4-5 weeks. Data contained parental interviews, Talking Mats interviews, assessment of signing competence before and after the evaluation period and game protocols. One game interaction per child was filmed.