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Digital technologies have increased worldwide in the last years. In addition, the pandemic has strengthened digital technologies' roles in education, requiring twenty-first-century skills, such as digital competence, and indicating a new normal. Digitalisation in education creates opportunities that could lead to positive effects if digital technologies are applied correctly. However, applying digital technologies can incorrectly trigger a negative development – for example, increasing workload due to nonfriendly user interfaces in software and reducing the motivation to apply digital technologies in education due to a lack of digital competence. Teachers require access to digital technologies and digital competence related to educational issues that influence equality within and among K–12 schools, thus making school leaders' roles crucial in digitalising education. Three group interviews and a survey were used to collect the data in a network of three municipalities in Sweden. The data have been categorised and analysed with thematic analysis. The results show that school leaders describe the digitalisation process in the form of digital competence for teachers, access to hardware and software, and a shared culture. School leaders explain that clear guidelines, collaboration between teachers, and enough time enable digitalisation in education. However, the lack of support and the lack of resources constrain digitalisation in education. At the same time, school leaders do not often discuss their own digital competence. The school leaders' roles in the digitalisation of K–12 schools are important, requiring digital competence for leading the digitalisation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, a global pandemic changed the educational landscape overnight and caused an abrupt transition to virtual classrooms. This study aims to gain increased knowledge of teachers' experiences of facing such radical digitalization through ideal types. The data include a teacher survey with 1109 respondents from 15 high schools in Sweden, containing both fixed and open-ended response types. Educational affordances and digital competence are used as analytical lenses. The results show distinct differences regarding teachers' perception of how teaching in a virtual classroom has worked and whether they and their students have developed their digital competence during this period. We present four ideal types: a) the enthusiast, b) the skeptic, c) the pessimist, and d) the affirmative, which capture the essence of teachers' multifaceted experiences, actions, and affordances perceived in the transition to virtual classrooms. Contributions include theorizing about teachers' encounters with radical cases of digitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines teachers’ accounts of what is happening in practices of the School-age Educare centre (SAEC) when faced with pressure from policy reforms to adopt digital technology and promote digital competence as both a requirement and a right for all children. The aim is to explain anticipated tensions that may produce the (im)possible digital practices of SAECs. The study is conducted with teachers from three SAECs in Sweden. Reflection conversations and interviews were used to produce data that was analysed using a constructivist grounded theory approach. The study contributes to understandings of teachers’ main concerns when SAECs are requested to adopt technology and align with reforms. It explains how tensions emerge, impact SAEC teachers’ actions towards revised curricula and affect the distribution of digital learning activities. Attention is asked to ensure that the rights of also young pupils are upheld in the digital world of today and tomorrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In contemporary society internet and digital competencies are used to perform activities. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate opportunities and risks of internet use as perceived by the parents of adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) in comparison with a national reference group of parents of adolescents. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with group comparisons using a national survey. Analyses were carried out using Fisher's exact test and logistic regression to control for confounding factors. Results: A significantly higher proportion of parents of adolescents with ID perceive opportunities associated with internet use and playing games, and a lower proportion perceive risks with negative consequences, compared with the reference group. Significantly more parents of adolescents with ID perceive their adolescent never use smartphones and social media compared with the reference group. Fewer parents of adolescents with ID have concerns about online risks for their adolescents compared with the reference group. Conclusion and Significance: The results provide new knowledge for occupational therapists to support positive risk-taking in internet-use for adolescents with ID, in collaboration with their parents, to enable the development of digital competencies and digital participation in everyday life in a digitalised society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the evolution of contemporary occupations mediated by digital technologies (DTs), there is a need for occupational therapists to develop and structure knowledge on how to support older adults' engagement in occupations and social participation in a digitalised society. Objective: The objective of this study is to explore how tailoring to support older adults' engagement in DT-mediated occupations could be schematised. Material and methods: The study employed a multiple case study methodology. There were nine cases, with each case involving an older adult undergoing a collaborative process to support engagement in DT-mediated occupations. The collaborative process was initiated through questionnaires, observations, and dialogues. Meetings and tailoring strategies were documented in fieldnotes and memos on tailoring, respectively. Semi-structured interviews concluded data collection. Cross-case synthesis was used in data analysis. Results: The result is a proposed scheme for tailoring to support older adults' engagement in digital technology-mediated occupations, wherein strategies undertaken in the collaborative processes were synthesised and described. Conclusion and significance: The proposed scheme for tailoring could contribute to occupational therapists' knowledge on how to support older adults' engagement in contemporary occupations. Testing the model in various practice settings is recommended in order to enhance occupational therapy practice.