WIL24

WIL24 UPDATED PROGRAMMEs

You can find the General Programme here >>

You can find the Detailed Session Programme here >>

To access the book of abstracts for the conference, please click here >>

Senior professor Roger Säljö

Title:
“The eternal apprentice: hybrid minds and learning in the context of restless technologies”

Abstract:
The human capacity for cumulating knowledge and skills over generations makes us unique. Through such inter-generational learning, we build increasingly complex societies with resourceful institutions and powerful socio-technical systems, which in themselves continuously evolve. And in this sociocultural evolution, we also transform ourselves and our intellectual resources; our minds become hybrids developing in response to our abilities to collaborate with external cognitive amplifiers (and other people) in situated practices.

In such social circumstances, which are quite recent in historical terms, learning is no longer an issue that can be understood as restricted to what happens in formal educational settings. Rather, we have created a world in which we are doomed to learn, and learning has to be integrated in our daily practices, including work, leisure and daily life.   

Biography:
Roger Säljö, Ph. D., Dr. h. c. mult., senior professor of educational psychology, specializes in research on learning, interaction and human development in a sociocultural perspective, especially in issues of how sociotechnical developments transform human cognitive, communcative and physical capacities. He has been engaged in interdisciplinary work with colleagues from a range of different disciplines including medicine and health, mathematics, various natural sciences, linguistics, informatics, religion and several others.

Between 2006 and 2018 he was Director of the Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated Communication in Contemporary Society (LinCS), a national centre of excellence funded by the Swedish Research Council. He has been a visiting professor at numerous universities including Göttingen (D), UCSD (USA), Turku (SF), Oslo (N), Agder (N), Stavanger (N), Utrecht (NL), Konstanz (D), Dalarna (S) Halmstad (S) and University West (S). He has supervised 52 students to their Ph. D. degrees at seven different disciplinary faculties.

Professor Fiona Anciano

Title:
“Learning beyond the classroom: Building reflective, adaptable and resilient 21st Century Students”

Abstract:
Coming soon...

Biography:
Fiona Anciano is a Professor in the Department of Political Studies, founder of the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group, former Deputy Dean of Teaching and Learning at the University of the Western Cape and a Visiting Researcher at University West, Sweden. She is a qualitative researcher with an interest in democratisation and civil society, focusing on urban governance in informal settlements.

Working with student teams she has managed 13 grant projects in Cape Town over the last nine years. She has produced numerous local and international publications, in the field of political studies as well as education, including the co-authored book Democracy Disconnected: Participation and Governance in a City of the South published in the United Kingdom by Routledge. 

1. Industrial Work Integrated Learning – Bridging WIL with Industrial Transformation

Contemporary structural developments, such as globalization, digitalization, climate change and shifting demographical compositions, influence organizational change and shifting business conditions in the industrial sector. Consequently, to develop strategies allowing for actors within the sector to adapt and evolve with change are of imperative importance. Hence, there is a need to establish functional systems, methods, and strategies addressing shifting demands on competence and skills. This track particularly welcome submissions addressing issues such as competence sourcing & development and lifelong learning, and work integrated learning in relation to the ongoing industrial transformation taking place on the global arena.

Chairs: Prof Lars Walter & Prof Annika Engström

2. Sustainable Co-Creative Innovations for Entrepreneurial & Community Development

Contemporary societies face multifaceted complex challenges of ecologic-, economic-, and not least social character. Hence, to continuously develop and strengthen an inclusive society requires innovative and entrepreneurial cross-sectoral collaboration to co-create and strengthen knowledge and learning between actors, business and institutions at all levels, from local to international.

This track focus on research that, through a WIL approach, discuss and analyse various forms of co-creative innovative and entrepreneurial collaborations to overcome challenges and provide opportunities for a sustainable inclusive society. The track welcome research contributions that in various forms and perspectives addresses issues for sustainable societal development.

Chairs: Prof Per Assmo & Prof Fiona Anciano

3. Skills Transfer and Emerging Technologies in a Globalized Working Life

 The world of work is undergoing rapid and substantive changes brought about, amongst others, by emerging technologies and globalisation.  These developments influence the composition of employment, the nature of the tasks that need to be carried out in and for the workplace as well as the skills required in the labour market.  It thus influences the quantity and quality of jobs that are available and how and by whom it will be carried out. This track examines the role of WIL in the acquisition of relevant skills as well as related skills transfer and transitions to a sustainable and globalized working life. Research contributions are sought that focus on WIL as a means and/or pedagogy to chart the way.

Chairs: Dr Henri Jacobs & Mr Leolyn Jackson

4. Work Integrated Learning as Field of Study

WIL is a commonly perceived as a pedagogical model and method, but also a field of research, and even an epistemological standpoint. But what constitutes and characterizes WIL? What do, and should, we study in WIL? Should it be understood narrowly as research on pedagogical methods and models, or more widely as studying knowledge and learning processes, or focus on the principle that we study theory-practice relations? In which educational context(s) should WIL be located? In formal education or working life in general, or throughout life in all institutional contexts? The track invites critical discussions of what frames WIL as a research field, and suggestions on how to continue structurally to establish the field. Research contributions of conceptual, theoretical, and methodological kind as well as historical and empirical examples are welcome.

Chairs: Prof Fredrik Sunnemark & Prof Laurence Piper

Doctoral Student´s Session (Wednesday 3rd April)

The session aims to support doctoral students in discussing new phenomena within their studies. It cultivates an interactive and supportive culture where experienced scholars meet to assist doctoral students in an informal and constructive thematic group format. All research themes, methodologies, and practices related to the WIL'24 conference are welcome. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches, emphasizing a holistic context for WIL research, are encouraged.

Doctoral students should submit a draft full paper following the general guidelines provided in the Submission Guidelines.  Please include the contact information of the main supervisor. 

Chairs: Professor Ulrika Lundh Snis, University West & PhD Student Linnea Carlsson