Mid Sweden University

In this paper we prove a general homogenization result for monotone parabolic problems with an arbitrary number of microscopic scales in space as well as in time, where the scale functions are not necessarily powers of epsilon. The main tools for the homogenization procedure are multiscale convergence and very weak multiscale convergence, both adapted to evolution problems. At the end of the paper an example is given to concretize the use of the main result.

Organizational learning, and how to become a learning organization, has been in focus for a long time in higher education (e.g. Senge, 2000; Bak, 2012; Ali, 2012). According to Garvin (1993) a learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. Organizational learning is often associated with the organization as a learning unit, where individual learning is stored outside individuals, as an organizational memory, that is continuously updated and functions as a basis for conducting work tasks and further learning (Örtenblad, 2018). 

However, there are different interests related to organizational learning between different stakeholder groups in higher education. While University managers are likely to view organizational learning as a method to improve institutional effectiveness and efficiency, academics might associate organizational learning with opportunities to pursue new ideas and experiment with innovative practices (Dee and Leisyte, 2017).

Several studies have pointed out that knowledge exchange is limited between boundaries when it comes to higher education (e.g. Dill, 1999; Trelevean et al., 2012). According to Dee and Leisyte (2017) barriers in the flow of organizational knowledge, that hinder individuals or groups to learn for the organization in its entirety, is one of the largest challenges of organizational learning in higher education institutions. 

Hence, to bridge barriers it is of importance to support knowledge exchange so that organizational learning can occur. In higher education a cross-disciplinary organizational learning can be supported by creating the best possible prerequisites for continuous educational exchange. To include the different perspectives of organizational learning when it comes to teaching and course development in higher education both skills related to educational exchange and skills related to effectiveness, such as an effective teacher-centered support for course administration, are required. 

This paper presents and discusses a tool that has been developed to support cross-sectional organizational learning related to course development in higher education. The tool is a result of a project carried out at Mid Sweden University between 2019 and 2021. The project team included university teachers from different fields, sharing a vision to improve current conditions for course development. The tool was aimed to provide information and inspiration about course development from the teacher's perspective, in a more systemized and simple manner.

The project started out with a benchmarking study of Swedish universities to find out how course development in higher education can be supported. A survey was sent out to all teachers within Mid Sweden University to collect information about teachers' needs of support for course development. Presentations and workshops were conducted to get interactive feedback from teachers and study directors. Moreover was an implementation plan for the tool created.

The tool, named “the Course Wheel”, was developed in EPI-server and presented on the staff’s webpage at Mid Sweden University. With focus both on educational exchange and course administration the tool may be used to support organizational learning related to inspiration (what is possible to do?) and course administration (what is to be done?).

A pilot test was performed. The tool was open to try out for all teachers within the university for a period of three months. During the pilot test feedback and suggestions for improvements was collected. 

Results indicate that the tool could be used as a hands-on support for the teacher looking for inspiration in teaching or guidance in course administration. It may also simplify the introduction to new teachers in higher education, providing a system view of teaching and course development. 

Suggestions for improvement for future work is to include more interactivity and course-dependent information.

Utmaningarna för lärare i högre utbildning att fullgöra sitt pedagogiska uppdrag har uppmärksammats och debatterats i olika sammanhang den senaste tiden (e.g. SvD, 2018-01-21; DN, 2017-09-27). Enligt Högskoleverket (2009) har skillnaderna i förkunskaper bland studenter ökat och studentgrupperna blivit större. Brommesson et al. (2016) menar att den förändrade studentpopulationen innebär en utmaning för den enskilde läraren i konkreta undervisningssituationer. Därtill förändras samhällets kompetensbehov över tid och teknisk utveckling ger möjligheter att bedriva undervisning under andra former än tidigare. Kurser och utbildningar behöver därför utvecklas över tid, för att fortsätta vara aktuella och anpassade efter de behov och förutsättningar som finns. Vid utveckling av kurser och utbildningar krävs både pedagogiska idéer och en fungerande struktur som gör denna utveckling möjlig, där idéerna tas tillvara för att senare omsättas i praktiken. Det har vid ett pedagogiskt utvecklingsprojekt vid mittuniversitetet uppmärksammats några problem med nuvarande stöd:  Resurser och information finns inte på ett ställe  Kunskapsutbyte är begränsat  Det finns inget systematiskt stöd Syfte med detta bidrag är att presentera, diskutera, och få feedback på, en modell för systematisk kursutveckling över tid, för att bemöta ovanstående problem. En modell för ständiga förbättringar presenteras, där pedagogisk utveckling och kursadministration samverkar för att på ett systematiskt sätt tillvarata idéer och lärdomar, och underlätta kunskapsutbyte. Visuellt består modellen av ett administrativt och ett pedagogiskt kurshjul som tillsammans ska täcka upp allt som behövs för att planera, genomföra och utveckla en kurs - från deadlines för administrativa moment till idéer om undervisningsformer och utvärdering. Idén är att man enkelt ska kunna klicka sig fram på en webbsida, till allt som är aktuellt/intressant i det stadie kursen befinner sig - planering, genomförande eller utvärdering och utveckling. Vi kommer att argumentera för att en fungerande kursutveckling underlättas av visuellt stöd och en tydlig arbetsgång. Målgrupp för den här presentationen är i huvudsak undervisande lärare som vill hitta vägar för att mer systematiskt arbeta med kursutveckling.

We study the homogenization of a hyperbolic-parabolic PDE with oscillations in one fast spatial scale. Moreover, the first order time derivative has a degenerate coefficient passing to infinity when ϵ→0. We obtain a local problem which is of elliptic type, while the homogenized problem is also in some sense an elliptic problem but with the limit for ϵ-1∂tuϵ as an undetermined extra source term in the right-hand side. The results are somewhat surprising and work remains to obtain a fully rigorous treatment. Hence the last section is devoted to a discussion of the reasonability of our conjecture including numerical experiments.

We study the homogenization of a certain linear hyperbolic-parabolic problem exhibiting two rapid spatial scales {ε; ε²}. The homogenization is performed by means of evolution multiscale convergence, a generalization of the concept of two-scale convergence to include any number of scales in both space and time. In particular we apply a compactness result for gradients. The outcome of the homogenization procedure is that we obtain a homogenized problem of hyperbolic-parabolic type together with two elliptic local problems, one for each rapid scale, for the correctors.

The main contribution of this paper is the homogenization of the linearparabolic equationtu (x, t) − ·axq1, ...,xqn,tr1, ...,trmu (x, t)= f(x, t)exhibiting an arbitrary finite number of both spatial and temporal scales.We briefly recall some fundamentals of multiscale convergence and providea characterization of multiscale limits for gradients in an evolution settingadapted to a quite general class of well-separated scales, which we nameby jointly well-separated scales (see Appendix for the proof). We proceedwith a weaker version of this concept called very weak multiscale convergence.We prove a compactness result with respect to this latter typefor jointly well-separated scales. This is a key result for performing thehomogenization of parabolic problems combining rapid spatial and temporaloscillations such as the problem above. Applying this compactnessresult together with a characterization of multiscale limits of sequences ofgradients we carry out the homogenization procedure, where we togetherwith the homogenized problem obtain n local problems, i.e. one for eachspatial microscale. To illustrate the use of the obtained result we apply itto a case with three spatial and three temporal scales with q1 = 1, q2 = 2and 0 < r1 < r2.MSC: 35B27; 35K10

We consider the homogenization of the linear parabolic problem rho(x/epsilon(2))partial derivative(t)u(epsilon)(x,t) - del . (a(x/epsilon(1), t/epsilon(2)(1))del u(epsilon) (x,t)) = f(x,t) which exhibits a mismatch between the spatial scales in the sense that the coefficient a(x/epsilon(1), t/epsilon(2)(1)) of the elliptic part has one frequency of fast spatial oscillations, whereas the coefficient rho(x/epsilon(2)) of the time derivative contains a faster spatial scale. It is shown that the faster spatialmicroscale does not give rise to any corrector termand that there is only one local problemneeded to characterize the homogenized problem. Hence, the problem is not of a reiterated type even though two rapid scales of spatial oscillation appear.

We first study the fundamental ideas behind two-scale conver-

gence to enhance an intuitive understanding of this notion. The classical

definitions and ideas are motivated with geometrical arguments illustrated

by illuminating figures. Then a version of this concept, very weak two-scale

convergence, is discussed both independently and brie°y in the context of

homogenization. The main features of this variant are that it works also

for certain sequences of functions which are not bounded in

L2  and at

the same time is suited to detect rapid oscillations in some sequences which

are strongly convergent in

L2 . In particular, we show how very weak

two-scale convergence explains in a more transparent way how the oscilla-

tions of the governing coe±cient of the PDE to be homogenized causes the

deviation of the

G-limit from the weak L2 NxN-limit for the sequence of

coe±cients. Finally, we investigate very weak multiscale convergence and

prove a compactness result for separated scales which extends a previous

result which required well-separated scales.

We study the homogenization of a parabolic equation with oscillations in both space and time in the coefficient a((x/()),(t/²)) in the elliptic part and spatial oscillations in the coefficient ((x/())) that is multiplied with the time derivative ∂_{t}u^{}. We obtain a strange term in the local problem. This phenomenon appears as a consequence of the combination of the spatial oscillation in ((x/())) and the temporal oscillation in a((x/()),(t/²)) and disappears if either of these oscillations is removed.

We apply a new version of multiscale convergence named very weak multiscale convergence to find possible frequencies of oscillation in an unknown coefficient of a diffeential equation from its solution. We also use thís notion to study homogenization of a certain linear parabolic problem with multiple spatial and temporal scales