Hereby we invite you to a seminar focusing on how changing texts and educational media affect the educational landscape, including new demands on edactional research.

Changing Texts

Tim Oates at Cambridge University has been leading an international review of research on textbooks and related materials including a specific focus on Sweden. When he in 2010 started the review of the National Curriculum in England, he found that it would not be possible to interpret other nations’ curricula and performance data without reference to textbooks. This drove home the structural importance of textbooks, particularly in periods of national reform of education. He also noticed an anti-textbook ethos emerging in many nations, and neglect of textbook research. Nowadays, with major digital development in train internationally, and strong impetus for educational improvement, the field is subject to dramatic pressures and shifts in sentiment and control.

Changing Texts An international review of research on textbooks and related materials including a specific focus on Sweden

Swedish Edtest

Annas Åkerfeldt, who has an interest is learning, teaching and assessment in digital learning environments – including how digital resources challenge our understanding of learning and knowledge, will give a short overview of the Swedish Edtest, the first national testbed for educational technology, focusing on developing supporting material for teachers and companies. www.edtest.se

The state of affairs in Denmark – the Subject Portal

In Denmark a massive state effort to digitize teaching has succeeded in transforming the learning material landscape. The recent research in Danish L1 has shown, that teachers still use didactical learning materials (analogue and digital) but mix it with resources. A special version of digital learning resources, the Subject Portal, is much used in Danish classrooms.

Moderator: PhD, Senior professor Staffan Selander, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University.

Presentation of the discussants

Tim Oates is Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, focusing on national and international research on assessment and measurement. He was chair of the Expert Panel for Review of the National Curriculum in England. He also chairs various curriculum groups for the Department for Education in England, and has worked with OECD on curriculum matters and with UNICEF on curriculum frameworks for displaced children.

Stig Toke Gissel, Associate professor in Education, head of the National Centre of Excellence for Learning Resources (www.læremiddel.dk) in Odense, Denmark, and EiC for the journal Learning Tech.

Anna Åkerfeldt holds a PhD in didactic science, Stockholm University, is EiC for the journal Designs for Learning and part of the EU-project EmpowerEd. She has a background as preschool teacher, producer and scriptwriter of custom-made e-learning applications.

DFL seminars: Changing texts and educational media affect the educational