EDUCA-Doc – Education for the Future
Do you want to be part of developing the school of the future and tackling the core issues of learning using the latest technologies and methods?
The EDUCA-Doc doctoral training pilot is a multidisciplinary project open to applicants with different educational backgrounds (Learning Analytics, Computer Science/Information Technology, Mathematics, Statistics, Education, Psychology or other relevant fields).
The mission of the EDUCA – The Education for the Future flagship is to generate new knowledge and understanding of why learning outcomes decline, why the educational dropout rate increases, and how technology is being used in teaching. The consortium consists of the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Helsinki, the University of Turku and Aalto University.
The EDUCA-Doc doctoral education pilot project aims to promote the development of education through research-based knowledge and to support evidence-based leadership. The flagship and the doctoral education pilot project will strengthen the research basis of the educational policy decisions and experiments and the expertise of teachers and principals. The research will increase understanding of the variation in individual and social learning processes, as well as the factors explaining differences between schools. It will help to identify optimal learning situations for students, problems with engagement in education and the reasons for increased school absenteeism. In addition, it aims to create scalable digital solutions for everyday teaching and to utilise timely technology in learning contexts where it has been shown to produce better results.
The main themes of the EDUCA-Doc project are:
- Educational experiments, reforms, and interventions (especially educational policy reforms and the impact of RCT interventions),
- Variation in learning and support for learning (individual, group, kindergarten/school, municipal, and regional perspectives),
- Scalable digital solutions for learning and teaching (especially variations in learning and learning analytics to support learning during early childhood education and compulsory education),
- Strengthening the competence of teachers and principals and,
- Data infrastructure as part of the EDUCA ecosystem.
EDUCA-Doc collaborates with non-university work-life partners who are already committed themselves to offer co-supervision, training events, and secondment positions to the doctoral researchers. EDUCA-Doc non-university partners present private sector, public sector, nonprofit sector, and research institutions.
Examples of organisations committed to EDUCA-Doc:
- Opetushallitus / EduFi
- Kansallinen koulutuksen arviointikeskus KARVI / The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC)
- Eduten Oy
- Niilo Mäki Institute
- KELA
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (acronym TTL in Finnish)
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (acronym THL in Finnish)
- Itsenäisyyden juhlavuoden lastensäätiö (ITLA)
- Hyvinvointialueyhtiö Hyvil Oy
- Kuntien Tiera Oy
- City of Helsinki
- City of Kuopio
- City of Tampere
- VATT Institute for Economic Research
- ETLA Economic Research
- Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE
- Headai
- 3dbear
- Lingsoft Group Oy
- Qridi Oy
- Valamis Group Oy
- Suomen Ilmailuopisto Oy
(Picture: Suvi Harvisalo / University of Turku)