KIRSTI LONKA

Kirsti Lonka is Professor of Educational Psychology at University of Helsinki, Finland (2005-).  On wiredminds.fi you may see all her projects and also people working with her.

Kirsti is also Extraordinary Professor, Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, Vanderbiljpark, South Africa (2016-2019) and Advisory Board Member of Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (2015-).

Kirsti is a founding member of Teachers’ Academy of University of Helsinki since 2013 and also their first President (2013-2014). She is the Director of Research Group of Educational Psychology and also the Principal Investigator of the Project “Mind the Gap – between digital natives and educational practices” (Funded by the Mind Program of Academy of Finland (2013-2106),  blogs.helsinki.fi/mindthegap

The latest projects are 3Spaces (2015-2017) as well as Sustainable Education Design (TEKES, BEAM Project, 2015-2017) and Engaging Working Culture (TEKES TUTL Project 2015-2017).

Previous major project was  PI of WP4 Task 1.1. (Learning Environments) in RYM Indoor Environment project (2011-2015) See outcomes: rym.fi.

Previously Kirsti Lonka was the Vice Dean of Faculty of Behavioural Sciences (2011-2013). Before that, Kirsti Lonka was Foreign Adjunct Professor at the Department of LIME, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden 2007-2011. She was also J.H. Bijtel Visiting Professor, University of Groningen, The Netherlands (2007-2008). She was working as professor of medical education at the Department of LIME (Learning, Informatics. Management and Ethics), Karolinska Institutet in 2001-2005. In 1996-2001 she worked as the Director of Development and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland. During that time the medical program became problem-based.

Kirsti Lonka is a popular keynote speaker around the world. She has published numerous refereed articles, conference papers and book chapters. She has also published plenty of text books and popular writings. The languages of her publications are Finnish, English, and Swedish (also translated in Estonian and Spanish). Her specialties are higher education, medical education, teacher education, and postgraduate education (PhD students). In the area of academic writing, her work has focused around conceptions of writing, note taking, process writing, portfolios and writing across curriculum (writing as a learning tool). At the moment, she is working on innovations in higher education and engaging learning environments (ELE).

Kirsti Lonka finished her Master of Arts Degree in psychology and started her research career as a Junior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki in 1986. She did her PhD course work at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE, University of Toronto, Canada) in 1988-1989. Her two daughters were born 1991 and 1995. Kirsti Lonka finished her PhD at the Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, in 1997.

Session Title: Reform in Teacher Education

Kirsti Lonka gives a fresh look at the new study plans and the reform in teacher education in Finland. She will explore that the reason for the reform in Finland is the rapid and global development of society and the new challenges that are posed for learning. Questions asked are: How can we take advantage of our students being intensively connected to technologies and social networks outside schools? How can we update our schools so that they foster learning in meaningful ways, supporting deep learning and motivation? How can we build bridges across school and society?  Finland implemented new study plans for all comprehensive schools in 2016, where phenomenon-based projects and important 21st Century skills were introduced. All these new innovations called for reform in teacher education. 

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