Mid Sweden University

Vad skulle hända om du som lärare slutade att mata studenterna med information om vad och hur de ska lära sig? Den frågan ligger till grund för det kollegiala utvecklingsprojekt som vi, en grupp meriterade och excellenta lärare vid Mittuniversitetet, har genomfört i form av antologin Mata inte studenterna. Med antologiprojektet som utgångspunkt är vårt syfte att dels reflektera över vår kollegiala skrivprocess, dels bidra till den nationella diskussionen om meriterade lärares roll. Vi vill därför lyfta frågor om hur vi gått tillväga, vilka resurser som behövs för att få till stånd ett kollegialt skrivprojekt och eventuella vinster på individuell, kollegial och organisatorisk nivå - alltså de nivåer som är centrala för det akademiska lärarskapet och som meriterade lärare förväntas bidra till att utveckla. Med samtalet riktar vi oss därmed till en bred målgrupp - såväl meriterade lärare som alla med intresse för kollegiala samverkansformer. Rundabordssamtalet inleds med en presentation av vår kollektiva skrivprocess. Boken är resultatet av en idé från ett skrivinternat arrangerat av Nätverket för meriterade lärare på vårt lärosäte. Startpunkten var en diskussion om “spoon-fed students" och hur vi som lärare kan arbeta för ett mer aktivt lärande. Vi beslöt att dela med oss av våra tidigare erfarenheter i ett antologiprojekt. I rundabordssamtalet belyser vi drivkrafter och utmaningar från vår skrivprocess (jmf Fjellström & Wester, 2019) genom att lyfta våra lärdomar. I vidare mening vill vi reflektera över det akademiska lärarskapet och vad som krävs för att det ska fungera. Därefter följer gruppsamtal med erfarenhetsutbyte och diskussion om vilka resurser och strukturer som behövs för pedagogisk utveckling på olika nivåer. Ett sista steg är en kritisk metadiskussion om meriterade lärares roll och den typ av utvecklingsarbete vi bedrivit. Sessionen avslutas med en gemensam summering och dokumenteras i en padlet. Genom samtalet vill vi synliggöra behovet av att gå bortom den egna undervisningspraktiken och möjliggöra ett aktivt kollegialt kunskapsutbyte. Därigenom förstärks i slutändan det akademiska lärarskapet där lärare “kontinuerligt och systematiskt reflekterar över, utforskar och utvecklar den egna pedagogiska praktiken och dess inverkan på studenters lärande” (Bolander Laksov & Scheja, 2020,s.29).

Referenser:

Bolander Laksov, K., & Scheja, M. (2020). Akademiskt lärarskap. Stockholm: SULF.

Fjellström, M. & Wester, M. (2019). Universitetslärares skrivande om och för sin undervisning.Högreutbildning, 9(1), s. 20-33.

Learning is fundamental to the practice and effectiveness of environmental assessment. This paper provides new empirical insights into how researchers engage in collaboration with practitioners and the learning outcomes that this provides. Furthermore, a typology of researcher roles is provided to aid researchers in having a dialogue and navigating tensions and potentials by adopting different roles. This paper builds on researchers' engagement in three cases related to Swedish environmental assessment (EA) and planning practice. The analytical framework is brought in from the sustainability transition literature on process-oriented researcher roles.

The results show that the researchers adopted several roles to provide knowledge and solutions but also to be a critical voice and support practitioner reflection. Furthermore, the work required reflexivity. It was significant that the researchers actively intervened and moved between roles to adapt to shifting needs. The processes contributed to learning in forms of reprioritisations, new routines and solutions implemented in practice. Furthermore, the process contributed to new understandings, empowerment and increased capacity among participants, e.g. through enhanced collaboration and stronger relations across disciplinary boundaries as well as enhanced knowledge and practical experience of EA key features.

This paper explores the current teaching of Environmental assessment (EA) in Sweden. EA processes aim at identifying the potential advantages and disadvantages of a proposed action mainly applied in physical landuse planning and for the approval of projects. EA not achieving best practice has been an issue within research for a long period of time. At the same time, the competence requirements on EA practitioners are very high. Recent court verdicts have raised a concern about the competence status among Swedish practitioners in the field of EA.

The aim of this paper is to explore and analyse the current teaching in EA in Sweden in order to develop this field through influence from other disciplines, in this case Network Learning (NL). The paper builds on two different analyses. The first being an analysis of Swedish EA courses. The second being a comparison of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) Best Practice Principles for Teaching, and the Design dimensions for NL.

The analysis shows that most of the courses are leaning more towards practical training than integration of research contribution and research training. This means that there is a risk that the students will leave the university with a low absorptive capacity. The analysis has also identified that vital competences are lacking in current teaching. These are the awareness of EA being an interdisciplinary process and integrative and systems thinking. This despite, the ability to synthesize information from different sources to develop a holistic understanding is central to EA practise.

The comparison with the design dimensions for NL experiences shows a clear correlation with the category pedagogy of the IAIA Principles an indirect correlation with content and skills. The social dimension in NL is not visible in the analysed course syllabuses, and notions of conflict management and reflective practice are weak.

The backbone of EA teaching is the same in all countries and there are good opportunities, with technology, to build international teaching networks. This would enable more knowledge sharing in larger teaching communities in the field of EA teaching. Therefore, network learning offers a potential for EA teaching, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Ecosystem services is Nature’s contribution to human well-beingby providing provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. A direct driver affecting availability of ecosystem services is climate change. This is a challenge that needs to be addressed. A possible strategy to cope with these challenges is the use of Ecosystem-based adaptation, defined by Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversityas “the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as a part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change”.

In this paper a literature review was conducted to highlight the current use of ecosystem services in relation to coping with climate adaptation. Investigated parameters was I) geographical area and sector; II) aim of article; III) methodological approach; and IV) lessons learned by the authors of the reviewed articles regarding method used and lessons learned by the authors of the reviewed articles regarding implementing EbA. The diversity among methods of ecosystem service assessment used in the reviewed articles indicate that there are many possibilities of assessing ecosystem services and communicating impacts from climate change. A combination of methods was also seen as beneficial to assist decision-makers and planners in climate adaptation decisions. This paper put forward useful knowledge for future ecosystem service assessments, both in preparation and performance of assessments.

Ecosystems provide humans with ecosystem services - benefits fundamental to human well-being. The Swedish government has set a milestone target to be reached by 2018, that the importance of biodiversity and values of ecosystem services should be commonly known and adopted in political and economic decisions. The use of ecosystem service assessments can be beneficial in local and regional planning and increase understanding of ecosystem services among decision-makers. Being of such importance it is of interest if, and how ecosystem services are integrated in planning and decision-making in the Norrbotten County. This study aims togive an overview of how far municipalities in Sweden has reached with the integration of ecosystem services. This was done by investigating explicit implementation, contribution to the milestone target and, if/how ecosystem services are used in local governance and especially regarding climate adaptation.

The results show that only four of the 14 municipalities have integrated ecosystem services, further that there is an absence of explicit use of ecosystem services in climate adaptation. Thisindicates that the level of knowledge about the ES concept is low and that implementation has not been successful in the county. Positively though, the county has a forerunner in the Arjeplog municipality, which can serve as role model for the rest of the county to achieve an implementation of ES in local governance.