Working Papers from the Centre for Academic Development

Working Paper 9

On running a Professional Learning Community for ‘International Educators’: Lessons from diverse perspectives (2025)

Editors: Ida Andersson-Norrie and Helen Stockhult

This paper explores the implementation and impact of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) for international educators, with a particular focus on experiences at Örebro University (ORU) and its collaboration with Ostrava University (OU) and The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) in their “Triplet PLC”, situated in the context of a larger project on PLC’s. The study is situated within the broader context of internationalization in higher education, highlighting the unique challenges faced by educators working in increasingly diverse and multilingual environments.

In conclusion, the paper demonstrates that PLCs are a powerful mechanism for professional development, fostering innovation, collaboration, and inclusivity in internationalized higher education settings. The diverse contributions and spin-off projects described reflect the transformative potential of PLCs, encouraging further experimentation and cross-disciplinary engagement.

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Working Paper 8

Att utveckla elevers förmåga att resonera historiskt: Slutsatser från ett undervisningsutvecklande forskningsprojekt i historia (2025)

Författare: Henric Bagerius

Den här arbetsrapporten presenterar slutsatserna från Att resonera historiskt, ett undervisningsutvecklande forskningsprojekt inom ramen för den nationella verksamheten ULF (Utbildning, Lärande, Forskning). I projektet har en historiker och fyra ämneslärare i historia tillsammans under tre läsår undersökt olika aspekter av historiskt resonerande i gymnasieskolan och hur undervisningen där kan utformas för att utveckla elevernas förmåga att resonera historiskt. Projektgruppen har också utforskat hur undervisningsutvecklande forskning kan lyftas in i lärarutbildningen som ett sätt att verksamhetsanknyta den högskoleförlagda utbildningen och fördjupa studenternas förståelse av vad ett undersökande arbetssätt i deras framtida profession kan innebära.

Projektets kunskapsprodukt är fyra progressionsmodeller som är tänkta att vara en hjälp för ämneslärare när de planerar sin historieundervisning och följer upp sina elevers lärande i historia. Ambitionen har också varit att modellerna ska kunna användas i ämneslärarutbildningen i historia och ge studenterna en idé om hur de framöver kan arbeta för att möjliggöra en mer nyanserad och fördjupad historisk förståelse hos sina elever.

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Working Paper 7

Socialisering i upplevelsebaserad undervisning. En genomgång av Bolagsspelet 2003–2019 (2025)

Författare: Rigmor Argren

I professionsutbildningar behöver studenterna i tillägg till faktakunskaper lära sig ett professionellt förhållningssätt. I detta avseende kan upplevelsebaserat lärande vara ett bra sätt att skapa förutsättningar som bidrar till att förbereda studenterna för deras professionsutövande och yrkesliv.

Under åren 2003–2019 ingick en simulerad bolagsstämma, ett rollspel, i den juridiska grundutbildningen vid Örebro universitet. Materialet som har gåtts igenom i denna fallstudie består av inspelningar från de flesta av dessa bolagsspel genom åren. Bolagsspelet filmades i syfte att ha ett underlag för den återkoppling som gavs till studenterna. Analysen av materialet har gjorts utefter Bales’ klassiska kodningsschema, vilket han ansåg kan tillämpas på observationer av interaktion mellan personer (interaktiva handlingar) hos vilken grupp som helst. 

Genomgången av det bevarade återkopplingsmaterialet har bidragit till ett kritiskt perspektiv på vad som lärs ut, explicit och implicit, om beteenden och underliggande värderingar i ett framtida yrke som jurist. Då bolagsspelet ses som en del i studenternas pågående socialisering in i en framtida praktikgemenskap, blir det av vikt att granska vilka beteenden, värderingar och förhållningssätt som studenterna dels möter, dels skapar eller bidrar till själva under rollspelet. 

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Working Paper 6 

Promoting students' collaborative competence. Experiences from interprofessional initiatives in higher education (2024)

Författare: Charlotta Pettersson och Katarina Hjortgren

[Please note! This is a translation of the original swedish version presented in DiVA. For the original version, please use this link].

The work report presents pedagogical development aimed at promoting
students' collaborative competencies, including the development and testing of a didactic process model. The starting point is Örebro
University's vision (2023), which highlights the importance of collaboration, and UNESCO's (2017) key competences for a sustainable society.

The goal is for students to be able to put their knowledge and experience into practice independently and in relation to other professional educational programmes by working together with authentic cases, where they practice perspective-taking, reflection, and communicative skills as well as relating to ethical dimensions. In our example, students in social work, special needs education, and subject teaching meet. Experience shows that participation has contributed to a curiosity among the students and an increased understanding of each other's professional roles, as well as an awareness of obstacles and opportunities through collaboration. They see their own profession's areas of expertise and identify what they need to learn more about.

The process model is general and can be used in higher education to promote students' interprofessional learning and action competence
through collaboration. 

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Working Paper 5

Historia på längden och tvären. Om problemdriven och färdighetsorienterad utbildning i historia (2021)

Författare: Henric Bagerius

This report presents a pedagogical project that focuses on developing a problem-driven and skill-oriented introductory course in history in the teachers’ training program at Örebro University. Resting upon the educational philosophy of the university—not least the principle that both teachers and students should take an active role in the development of teaching and learning—the project group, consisting of a senior lecturer and four teaching assistants, has made several suggestions on how to teach students to do history while offering them an education that is engaging, inclusive and sustainable.

Course evaluations and group interviews show that many history students enrolled in the teachers’ training program appreciate a problem-driven and skill-oriented introductory course. Thus, there are good reasons to first and foremost strengthen the practical elements in the course. For the future, the project group suggests a focus on (1) ensuring a better alignment between learning activities and assessments, (2) offering more variety in learning activities and assessments, and (3) presenting students with more clear directives in learning activities and assessments.

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Working Paper 4

Kollegialt lärande i en rättsvetenskaplig praktikgemenskap – ett pilotprojekt (2021)

Författare: Rigmor Argren 

This report presents results from a pedagogical project focusing peer-review on teaching within the legal sciences at Örebro University. The model which was explored is based on teachers working in groups of three: This allowed each teacher to receive feedback on their teaching, give feedback to a colleague and to observe the process.

The report notes that lack of knowledge about concepts and disagreement about criteria for and indicators of successful teaching in legal science made it harder to provide substantial feedback on the teaching. The report suggests that increased knowledge about a conceptual framework would lead to better quality feedback in similar future projects. At the same time such framework could become a foundational element in a community of practice within the legal sciences.

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Working Paper 3 

Casebaserat lärande inom humanistiska studier. Erfarenheter från Kandidatprogram i språk, retorik och kommunikativt ledarskap (2021)

Författare: Marie Gelang, Mattias Jacobsson, Assimakis Tseronis och Gustav Westberg. 

In the development of a new program at the School of Humanities at Örebro University, the subjects involved (English language, Rhetoric and Swedish), proposed the implementation of a pedagogical model that hitherto has been underused in the humanities, namely case-based learning. Although well established in other fields, case pedagogy has not been tested in the humanities to any large extent. In this report, we first describe the three subjects’ take on case pedagogy along with our experiences from its implementation in the program. Next, we discuss the criteria we deem essential for success in this pedagogical model; these four criteria that comprise the Harvard model are authenticity, open-endedness, applicability of theory, and implementation that supports learning objectives. 

In summary, we emphasize that these criteria should not be considered as a fixed template; instead, we propose that they be regarded as a source of inspiration and let applicable fields of practice and the discipline itself dictate which criteria are relevant.

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Working Paper 2 

Integrating a sustainability perspective into psychology education. A review of the literature and some suggestions (2019)

Författare: Maria Ojala 

During recent years, the importance of education for dealing with global sustainability problems such as climate change has been emphasized. This report focuses on education for sustainable development (ESD) in higher education. The aim is to discuss, based on research about ESD and a national evaluation of how sustainability issues are included in higher education, how a sustainability perspective can be incorporated in psychology education at the university level. Three questions are in focus: What is sustainable development and how can we best define this complex concept? What is ESD and which are the most important perspectives in the research field of higher education for sustainable development? How can sustainability issues be integrated into courses in psychology and the psychology program?

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Working Paper 1 

Skrivutveckling i stora studentgrupper. Erfarenheter från ett pedagogiskt utvecklingsprojekt (2019)

Författare: Karin Gustafsson, Erik Löfmarck, Lisa Salmonsson och Ylva Uggla. 

This report presents the results from a pedagogical project focusing students’ writing in higher education. Literature in this field conclude that student writing should be integrated in teaching of the subject with a plan for progression. Teachers’ and students’ experience indicate that students write a lot during their education, but only occasionally get concrete feedback on the writing as such. Focus groups with students showed that students found it difficult to write distinct and to differentiate between text genres. The teachers reported lack of ”tools” to help the students to improve their writing. The report suggest a model for the work with students writing based on goal setting; inventory; identifying problem areas; prioritizing; implementation; and follow-up and revision.