LOM#32: Technology at Work – Profession-Oriented Use of Technology in Educational Contexts

2024-10-02

Editor: Lillian Buus, libu@via.dk, VIA University
Editor: Andreas L. Tamborg, andreas_tamborg@ind.ku.dk, Copenhagen University

Technology plays a significant role in society and modern working life, and it is also crucial in many of the professions for which we educate in Denmark. For instance, the report on Denmark's digital growth[1] from the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs mentions artificial intelligence, robots, the Internet of Things, and big data as some of the most important advanced technologies making their way into working life these years. The spread of technologies has notably changed working life in a wide range of areas in the public sector, including healthcare, education, and administration. These developments place new demands on how (profession-oriented) education educates and reskills future graduates and the existing workforce to engage with and contribute to this reality. In the use of artificial intelligence, big data, as well as robots, Denmark is around or above the median in the EU, making it relevant to examine how profession-oriented study programs work to meet this new reality. What role should the use of technology play in profession-oriented teaching, competence development, and learning processes? How can technologies be didactically designed to reflect a profession-oriented reality? Are technologies used to support learning, i.e. something to learn with, or are they learning objects and rather the subject of learning, or perhaps both?

In this special issue of the Journal of Learning and Media, we wish to focus on how the diversity of professions works with different forms and perceptions of technology, and how we frame the work with technology in profession-oriented educational contexts. The special issue is concerned with how various educational contexts focus on supporting graduates to be prepared for the technology they will encounter in working life and the profession they are educated for. Thus, the special issue invites authors to contribute articles that address the profession-oriented use of technology from an educational, learning, and/or competence development perspective.

The special issue subscribes to a broad understanding of technologies, encompassing both digital and analogue technologies, and welcomes both empirical and theoretical contributions. Contributions may address (but are not limited to):

  • Which new technologies are changing the competency requirements among professions, and what does this mean for study programs and professions?

  • How are new as well as familiar technologies didactically designed with profession-oriented purposes?

  • How is competence development designed and organised to ensure professions that are up-to-date?

  • How is the framing and use of digital technologies adapted to profession-oriented contexts?

  • Use of specific technologies in profession-oriented educational contexts

  • Professional informatics and/or profession-oriented technology comprehension

Important Dates

  • Expression of interest in the form of an abstract of 100-200 words to be submitted by 1 November 2024 to the special issue editors via email

  • The editorial team will provide preliminary acceptance/rejection by 21 November 2024

  • Manuscript (or media production) to be submitted by 15 January 2025

  • Review to be sent to the author by 15 March 2025

  • Final manuscript to be submitted by 15 April 2025

  • The special issue will be published in May 2025

About the Journal of Learning and Media (LOM)
Read about the Journal of Learning and Media (LOM): https://tidsskrift.dk/lom/about

See submission guidelines and author instructions: https://tidsskrift.dk/lom/about/submissions