An innovative, nationwide, government-supported, explorative project was launched in Sweden for the period 2017-2022. The project aims to develop and test different models for cooperation between researchers and actors regarding joint practice-based research in the education system. The initiative is called ULF (an acronym for Utveckling, Lärande, Forskning; in English Development, Learning, Research) and is inspired by the healthcare sector’s ALF agreements giving ‘practitioners’ like doctors access to infrastructure and funding for research (Uppsala University, 2020). The idea behind the ULF project is to develop infrastructure, culture and cooperation amongst researchers and ‘practitioners’, so that funding can be channelled towards joint practice-based research. The goals of this kind of research are a positive impact on school development and the strengthening of teachers’ and preschool teachers’ knowledge bases.
One example of innovative practice-based explorative research carried out in the spirit of the ULF project comes from the University of Gävle. A Digital Learning Lab has been set up at the university to bring people together for training, collaboration, explorative work and research on cutting-edge digital technologies. An explorative project was also launched in which two researchers and six upper secondary school teachers of history explored applications for immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experiences for history education in upper secondary schools (Fransson, Holmberg, Westelius, 2020). The teachers visited the Digital Learning Lab to explore wired and mobile head-mounted displayed virtual reality (HMD VR) and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of VR apps in the teaching and learning of history. Also in focus were the contextual, organisational, institutional and practical prerequisites, challenges and opportunities for enacting HMD VR in history education. During the project the teachers borrowed some head-mounted VR devices from the university so that they could test the apps. The researchers were also present when the students tried out the VR apps in the teaching situation. The teachers and students were then interviewed so that they could share their experiences of and ideas about the challenges and possibilities of using VR apps for the teaching and learning of history.
Some of the conclusions drawn in the project are that if VR technologies and apps are to add value to the teaching and learning in history, they need to be more affordable and easier to find, use and integrate into the regular teaching. Further, there is a need for VR apps that are suitable for teaching and that add value to historical situations, events and the content taught. The development of the technology is also quite rapid. Teachers need to deal with the technical aspects of using VR (or at least have access to technical support) and have professional digital competence in order to use VR effectively in the teaching context.
This collaborative practice-based research project in the ULF spirit has helped teachers to inform and influence the development of VR technologies in school. As teachers become more involved in identifying and evaluating their needs, views and perspectives, they develop the ability to specify their educational needs and evaluate suggested technologies and applications. This, in turn, makes it more difficult for the EdTech industry to push new technologies into the educational sector without showing how they might (or might not) bring added value to teachers’ work and students’ learning. In this way teachers would be able to add value to the EdTech industry, empower themselves and further develop their professionalism.
Munster: Waxmann Verlag, 2020. p. 208-209