Educate is the centre for academic teaching and learning at Jönköping University.

In the autumn of 2021, a decision was made to establish a centre academic teaching and learning at JU. The centre was in a build-up phase during 2022 and 2023. As of 2024, the centre is established with continous operations. Presidents decision § 1119: Uppdrag för Educates fortsatta verksamhet External link, opens in new window. (in Swedish, requires login) regulates, in addition to the objectives and services described below, the conditions, organisation and funding for Educate.

Objectives

Educate's mission is to support JU's work by contributing to the development of higher education pedagogy for individual teachers, groups and the entire organisation. The goal is that:

  • JU teachers have good opportunities for continuous professional development in higher education pedagogy.
  • JU's staff are continuously informed about national and international developments in higher education pedagogy.
  • JU is an institution that uses appropriate and modern pedagogy and technology for higher education.
  • JU is a natural partner for other higher education institutions in terms of higher education pedagogical work, nationally and internationally.

Educate's activities shall be in line with the recommendations that The Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF) has jointly arrived at External link, opens in new window.:

  • General learning outcomes for the teaching qualifications required for employment as academic teacher and on mutual recognition (2016:1)
  • Rekommendation för högskolepedagogisk utveckling (2023:3, in Swedish)

Services

To achieve its objectives, Educate will

  • offer higher education pedagogical courses, seminars, workshops and coaching
  • offer counselling on higher education pedagogical issues,
  • enable peer exchange for pedagogical competence development,
  • offer opportunities to try out new pedagogical methods and technologies,
  • disseminate information on higher education pedagogy within JU, and
  • contribute to the national and international dialogue on higher education pedagogy.

We do this by, among other things, offering the following.

Courses

To contribute to a good foundation for working as a teacher in higher education, Educate offers basic higher education pedagogy courses. We call these courses ATL, Academic Teaching and Learning. There are five such courses, each comprising 1.5 credits. In addition, we offer more specialised courses that help you to deepen your knowledge and get to know new perspectives and practices. We also offer two courses that qualify you to apply for a PhD.

Each course has a syllabus in Ladok, is available in Canvas, has examination components and the same overall management as all courses at JU. Common to all our courses are our horizontal goals:

The horizontal aims are to empower and enable teachers to solve problems in pedagogical environments, promote and participate in peer learning and co-creation, and expand their pedagogical repertoire to facilitate lifelong learning.

Find out more about the courses and how to enrol on each course page!

Seminars

Educate offers seminars, events that involve between half and a full working day of work for you as a participant, including reading and other preparation. The conversation at an Educate seminar is largely driven by the participants themselves, based on a text or other material that everyone has read.

A seminar can be offered as a stand-alone event or as part of a seminar series on a specific theme.

Find out more about the seminars and how to register on each seminar page!

Workshops

Educate offers workshops that allow you to work on a specific theme in practice. This way, you have material to take with you into your everyday activities. A workshop involves between half and a full working day of work for the participant. Each Educate workshop is based on the AAC cycle (Anticipation - Action - Reflection).

Find out more about the workshops and how to register on each workshop page!

Pedagogical guides

On the Educate website, you will find a variety of materials highlighting key themes, such as pedagogical guides, links and inspirational films.

Welcome to familiarise yourself with our themes!

Coaching

Educate offers you the opportunity to learn in practice how to

  • work with student active learning in a hybrid context
  • use a do-it-yourself studio for recording videos

You are welcome to book an appointment via the Educate website!

Counselling

A counselling session is designed to help you solve pedagogical challenges. You are welcome to book a session for yourself or for a group of colleagues (team/department or other group) for counselling.

Please contact educate@ju.se to book a counselling session!

EducateXAcademicTeachership

Once a term, Educate organises a lunch meeting focusing on pedagogical development. You register via the invitation that goes out on the email.

Educate's name and symbol have been developed to reflect our mission and objectives in a broader context.

 

The name EDUCATE is an acronym formed from the centre's name, Educator Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning at JU. Upper case indicates the acronym: EDUcator Center for Academic Teaching and learning. Educator is a good term to describe the wide range of skills and backgrounds that the people in Educate bring with them.

 

The symbol is reminiscent of a growing seed, or a dandelion seed, that spreads to other places to grow, like ideas that spread and propagate from the centre. The concentric circles may symbolize a center, and the organic shape they take is also linked to ripples in water. The smaller and thinner circle on the inside and the larger but also thicker circle on the outside are in contrast to how ripples propagate through water, but symbolic of the idea that the small group at the center spreads ideas that resonate and grow more and more.

 

Educates symbol