Andreas Lund

An epilog usually refers to a concluding part of a book. But it is different from a conclusion. The purpose of an epilog is to provide additional information and possibly insights, sometimes giving readers or viewers a glimpse into the future. The following pages have been written with this in mind.

In this chapter we investigate how student voices in a student-generated and sustained podcast series emerged and evolved to play a part in shaping the principles and practices of a teacher education program (TEP). From a sociocultural perspective on social practice and a dialogical conception of “voice,” the podcast and interviews with one student host and two teacher educators reflecting on the podcast role in the educational program are analyzed. The results demonstrate how student voices traverse contexts and boundaries, and how the teacher educators appropriated these voices to reshape their practices and the institutional aspects of the TEP. The chapter demonstrates how the enactment of agency and responses to such agency can be conceptualized as co-construction. The analysis of student voices revealed how the co-construction of this educational program was enabled. Students and teacher educators are positioned as actors; evoking sociocultural and sociotechnical affordances in the environment and identifying opportunities for creating progress and change.

The digitalisation of education has been emphasised over the last two decades, affecting and developing both the theories and practices of teaching and learning. Considering these developments, the need for addressing teachers’ and students’ digital competence has gained ground. In the last few years, the concept of digital agency has been noted in empirical and theoretical research – broadly focusing on the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. Nonetheless, how digital agency is understood and how it relates to the more established concept of digital competence remains unclear. To address this gap, we conducted a conceptual systematic review and examined the current state of the knowledge on digital agency. Specifically, we review the conceptualisations of digital agency, its underlying theoretical frameworks, and how it relates to digital competence and similar concepts. Database searches resulted in 32 publications, with the majority published in education and design journals and stemming from Scandinavian countries. Our findings show that out of 32 studies, only one aimed at defining digital agency explicitly. Nevertheless, for the last three years, digital agency has been more frequently used in the body of literature, emphasising the design and transformation of teaching and learning with technology towards a ‘new normal’ considering the post-pandemic era and lessons learned. Reviewing the extant body of knowledge on digital agency, we review the strengths and weaknesses of the concept and compare it to the more established notion of digital competence. Finally, we discuss implications for policy, research, and practice in education.

Some of the main goals that education strives to achieve are certification and socialization. To achieve these goals in the best interest of the individual and society is a demanding challenge for all involved. In what context is the certification going to be used? Into what society are those educated expected to socialize? Teacher education is at the heart of the discussion as it is responsible for educating teachers whose task it will be to certify and socialize a new generation into a society, the nature of which is, to a large extent, still unknown. The aim of the NAFOL Year Book 2012 is to contribute to research-based knowledge in teacher education. The anthology consists of contributions from lecturers, invited guest professors, key note speakers, and PhD students in some way connected to the national graduate school for teacher education NAFOL during 2012. The anthology is thought of as an innovation combining the characteristics of a yearbook of a journal and the characteristics of a conference anthology. Some of the main goals that education strives to achieve are certification and socialization. To achieve these goals in the best interest of the individual and society is a demanding challenge for all involved. In what context is the certification going to be used? Into what society are those educated expected to socialize? Teacher education is at the heart of the discussion as it is responsible for educating teachers whose task it will be to certify and socialize a new generation into a society, the nature of which is, to a large extent, still unknown. The aim of the NAFOL Year Book 2012 is to contribute to research-based knowledge in teacher education. The anthology consists of contributions from lecturers, invited guest professors, key note speakers, and PhD students in some way connected to the national graduate school for teacher education NAFOL during 2012. The anthology is thought of as an innovation combining the characteristics of a yearbook of a journal and the characteristics of a conference anthology.

Flipped learning in higher education is becoming increasingly widespread. Although the number of flipped learning articles has increased since 2011, systematic reviews of flipped learning have been criticized for lacking a theoretical framework. The aim in this article is to explore the link between flipped learning and active learning: specifically, which theoretical frameworks are described. A scoping review was adopted as the research methodology. The selected studies indicate that this link between flipped learning and active learning is rarely explicitly addressed or operationalized. Approximately 65% of the 435 full-text articles retrieved do not explicitly connect their research to theory or a conceptual framework. The remaining 155 studies included for analysis refer to a mix of pedagogical terms or approaches. The theoretical and conceptual underpinnings are generally only vaguely described, with a few exceptions. The results indicate an eclecticism and a reluctance to connect flipped learning with a specific conceptual framework.