TeC@ses – Strengthening vocational educators for the digital era (2023–2026)
The international project “Teaching case studies online: How to design and teach case studies in vocational schools” (TeC@ses) recognises the potential of case studies as a problem-based and action-oriented teaching method and aims to bridge the gap between digital teaching methods and complex, work-based learning scenarios. The project is a response to criticism that traditional case studies are often text-heavy and unengaging. With TeC@ses, teachers can develop their digital competences to use multimedia and digital tools to present and engage with case studies in an engaging and authentic way.
The project focuses on the development of an innovative e-learning tool, the TeC@ses tool, which is specially designed for case study teaching.
Collaborators: University of Antwerp, University of Cologne, and University of Economics in Prague
The project is co-funded by the European Union (Erasmus).
THEwellbeing – “After teaching, I just sat on the floor and gasped” – Enhancing higher education teachers’ teaching processes and well-being (2022–2026)
THEwellbeing-project examines the relationship between higher education (HE) teachers’ pedagogical competence and well-being. We focus on learning-focused teaching (LFT), where teachers pay attention to the quality of teacher-student and student-student interactions to activate students’ prior knowledge and their own thinking. From a well-being perspective, we focus on stress and the risk of burnout, teaching satisfaction and emotions. We will examine teaching processes and well-being both on a general level (how teachers typically teach) but also in specific teaching situations. We collect different type of data from the participating HE teachers, including survey data, psychophysiological data via Moodmetric smart rings, experience sampling data and video-recorded data from teaching sessions.
During the project, an intervention will be developed to help teachers develop their LFT processes and wellbeing. More specifically, the intervention will provide tools to use LFT methods and help teachers to reflect on their own teaching using Guided Reflection (GR) and Mindfulness-Based practices (MBP). The intervention is expected to influence teacher well-being positively. THEwellbeing intervention will be developed and implemented in collaboration between educational researchers and experts as well as with the support and guidance of national and international collaborators.
The project is coordinated by Häme University of Applied Sciences (Liisa Postareff) and partnered by Tampere University (Petri Nokelainen) and University of Helsinki (Anna Parpala).
The project is funded by the Academy of Finland.
LEAD – Leading multilocational work: Challenges and solutions (2024–2025)
This intervention study explores the practical day-to-day challenges and seeks solutions faced by managers in three large organisations in managing multilocational work. In addition, a larger survey data on the general level of well-being of managers will be collected. The data consists of survey data, diary entries of challenges and solutions, researchers’ field diaries, and videoed focus group interviews.
With the digitalization sped up by the pandemic, work has become disconnected from time and place, especially in expert work. Plenty of research has already been done in recent years on what multilocational working means for employees, but more research is needed from the management perspective. This study offers new insights into the management of multilocational in Finland. The research will help to identify challenges and find solutions for managing multilocational work and thus also contribute to well-being.
The project is funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund.
HYBRIDI – Hybrid work of experts (2022–2023)
Different remote working technologies (e.g., Zoom, Teams) have developed substantially and become commonplace in the working life after the pandemic. Attitudes towards remote and hybrid work have also changed to more positive. Pre-pandemic research on remote work no longer describes the current or future working life. HYBRIDI research project provides new information about physiological arousal and emotions experts experience in group work situations conducted in face-to-face, online or hybrid conditions. This research also addresses how different working conditions are connected to the fulfilment of work goals, as well as well-being and learning at work.
The research data is collected via survey, smart rings (physiological arousal), smart device applications (e.g., emotions), and interviews.
The project is funded by Finnish Work Environment Fund.
Final report of the project is available here. A guide for summarizing and applying the results is available here.
Equal Career Paths for Women – NOW! (2020–2022)
Finnish labor market is among the most gender segregated in the EU. Women head for professions in education and care, whereas men are directed to technology and logistics. Within different fields, the segregation continues and manifests itself as differences in jobs, wages, and career paths. Gender segregation is present especially in the fields of technology, business, and security. Striving for more equality and less segregation is necessary.
However, this aim is impossible without a constructive discussion culture. This calls for recognizing and acknowledging the key problems regarding equality and willingness to amend them. Equal Career Paths for Women – NOW! project supports and promotes equal employment and career development for women. It aims to develop vertical equality in male-dominated fields, especially in the field of technology.
The project produces new and topical knowledge about the causes and consequences of gender segregation in Finnish working life and creates, pilots, and consolidates new forms of study and career counseling, career services and entrepreneurial support for female students and professionals. Various activities help the formation of peer networks and the development of practices which promote equality and diversity of professions.
The project is coordinated by Tampere University of Applied Sciences TAMK, and it is implemented by three Universities (Aalto, LUT and Tampere), five Universities of Applied Sciences (TAMK, JAMK, Haaga-Helia, Laurea and Oamk) and trade union Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK.
The project is funded by The European Social Fund (ESF).
BeComE – Be Competent in Entrepreneurship: knowledge alliances for developing entrepreneurship competencies for the benefit of higher education and business (2020-2022)
BeComE’s goal is to excel entrepreneurship education in higher education by creating effective knowledge alliances (KA) between higher education institutions (HEI) and businesses. It is focused on developing students’ entrepreneurship competencies (ECs) to meet the labour market expectations towards professional competencies of employees and entrepreneurs. The Project includes new and innovative tools and teaching and learning opportunities, which are different from the existing experiences in HEI and businesses today. The project is focused on providing innovative solutions for both, universities and businesses and is supporting the development of innovative and reflective European societies with an innovative HEIs and businesses in a context of growing global interdependencies.
Funding: Erasmus+
WORKEE – Emotions and development of expertise in the workplace (2019-2020)
WORKEE -research project examines the development of expertise and related emotions in the context of learning at work. The research provides new information on companies in the field of technology as learning environments, as well as the connection between emotions, the development of expertise and career success. The research data consists of a questionnaire, the level of arousal measured by the smart ring (electrodermal activity), self-reported emotion data collected by the smart device application, and in-depth interviews.
The research will increase the understanding of emotions in the context of workplace learning, and thus help organizations to develop their learning environments from the point of view of supporting professional growth and promoting well-being at work.
The project is funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund.
Final report of the project is available here.
REALMEE – Regulation of learning and active learning methods in the context of engineering education (2017-2021)
REALMEE studies the effect of various pedagogical interventions on learning in the context of higher engineering education in mathematics, physics, information management, and pervasive computing. Pedagogical interventions are conducted in the framework of socio-constructivist learning theory to investigate how regulation of learning and various active learning methods are related to engineering education students’ holistic development of competencies throughout their university studies.
Interventions are implemented through pedagogical scripting of various online, face-to-face and blended courses. Examples of such interventions include automatization of learning task assessment, gamification of certain parts of course content and increased collaborative activities. The research aims to produce scientifically robust evidence on factors related to different approaches to teaching and learning in the higher engineering education context.
TaidotTyöhön – Skills, Education and the Future of Work (2016-2019)
Advances in technology and increasing globalization are causing major changes in the nature of work. As firms adapt and adjust to these changes, they require new skills from their employees. In addition to skills related to formal qualifications, communication technology skills, and languages, various non-cognitive, interpersonal, and career management skills are also now required.
At the same time, the workforce is aging and diversifying. Key issues here concern how aging employees can cope with the changes in skills requirements and how the skills of increasingly diverse populations can be recognized, updated, and complemented and then applied in a productive working life.
This research project has two key objectives related to balancing workforce supply and demand:
- To identify the key cognitive and non-cognitive skills demanded by firms coping with the changes caused by globalization and related phenomena,
- To evaluate how different policies and interventions can induce individuals of different ages and in various social groups to acquire and improve those skills.
Tampere University of Technology participates in two sub-projects, SP6 and SP9. SP6 focuses on future skills and on-the-job learning. The main objective of SP6 is to analyze workplaces and apprenticeships as learning environments using two separate case studies covering apprenticeship training and skills competitions. SP9 investigates the digitalization of working life and relations between professional growth and the use of social network sites in public organizations and companies.
The research project is funded by the Academy of Finland.
NeMo and MAE – Next Move 1 and 2, Mentoring in Apprenticeship Education (2014-2019)
The Next Move (NeMo) research project (2014–17) investigates the dynamics of professional growth and the role of intrinsic characteristics (e.g., regulation of learning) and extrinsic conditions (e.g., educational institutions, working environments, and global working life) in vocational competence development. Professional growth refers to the learning process throughout one’s entire career, in which an individual embraces the skills needed to respond to changing skills requirements. The aim of this research is to explore and enhance the professional development, work-based learning environment, and global networking in the context of apprenticeship education of vocational students, teachers, and working-life stakeholders.
The Next Move 2 (NeMo2) research project (2017–19) continues this research, focusing on vocational expertise, working life skills, and workplaces as learning environments in the context of apprenticeship education. It seeks to gain insights into vocational teachers’ working life skills, the pedagogy of workplace learning, and apprentices’ development of vocational expertise. The Mentoring in Apprenticeship Education (MAE) research project (2015–17) has a special focus on guidance in the workplace. The aim of this study is to form a holistic view on guidance at the workplace and to investigate factors that support and hinder guidance at the workplace.
These research projects are carried out at the Faculty of Education, University of Tampere, and at the Laboratory of Industrial and Information Management, Tampere University of Technology.
The research projects are funded by the Apprenticeship Fund, City of Tampere.
PaVE – Pathways to Vocational Excellence (2012-2015)
AVE – Actualizing Vocational Excellence (2009-2011)
This study investigates the role of World Skills Competition (WSC) participants natural abilities, intrinsic characteristics and extrinsic conditions to their talent development with qualitative and quantitative samples.
The research project is funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education.
MoVE -Modeling Vocational Excellence (2007-2008)
This study investigates the predictors of vocational excellence in the context of international World Skills Competitions (WSC) with empirical samples of Finnish VET students. The study resulted to a theoretical model of Vocational Excellence (VE) and an operationalization of the model, the Vocational Excellence Indicators Questionnaire (VEIQ).
The research project is funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education.