Mittuniversitetet – Mid Sweden University (MIUN)

Brief description

Mid Sweden University (MIUN) is a public university located in the middle of Sweden, right in the heart of Northern Europe, and has two campuses, one in Sundsvall and the other in Östersund. One of MIUN’s characteristics is its focus on e-learning and distance education, making higher education a possibility for more people especially in the rural part of northern Sweden. The largest institution at the university is the teacher training college. MIUN can offer a wide range of research experience in: school development and inclusive education, assessment of both cognitive and affective competencies, digital learning, quantitative methods, second-language learning, teaching multilingual students, didactic research in science, mathematics and reading development, and classroom research.

Partner’s role in the project

MIUN will be responsible for conducting the HAND in HAND policy experiment in Sweden. As a delegated body, it will be responsible for translating the HAND in HAND findings to the policy level. Due to its extensive experience with large-scale assessment, MIUN will take responsibility for overall quality assurance by taking the lead in Quality Assurance. It will also collaborate closely with other partners in their work packages and activities related to the HAND in HAND assessment and HAND in HAND programme development (for students and school staff).

Staff members involved in the project

Maria Rasmusson

She holds a PhD in Education, is a senior lecturer and has competence in reading comprehension, digital reading, digital competence, education, and large-scale data analysis. Maria has a Master of Social Science with psychology as the main subject and a Master of Education for the Upper Secondary School (psychology & religion). She is experienced in teaching psychology courses at both secondary school and university level. She has been working with the PISA survey in Sweden for 10 years and was recently involved in a Nordic research project performing secondary analysis of PIAAC data. Her research interests involve equity in education systems, assessments, reading comprehension, students’ well-being, and the long-term effects of upper secondary education.

Magnus Oskarsson

He holds a PhD in Science Education and conducts research on affective components in students’ learning. His graduate thesis was about students’ attitudes and interest in science; he has expertise in large-scale assessment, quantitative methods, and statistics; he is working on ongoing evaluation of the School Development project; is an international coordinator for the ROSE (Relevance of Science Education) project; is a TIMSS Science expert in Sweden; and was responsible for national project management of PISA in Sweden between 2010 and 2015.

Nina Eliasson

She holds a PhD in Science Education and has a special focus on gender issues in science education. She also has a Master of Education in Maths and Science Education for lower secondary education and a Bachelor of Social Science with a major in Education. She was a PISA Science expert in Sweden in the period 2011–2016 and a PISA Problem solving expert between 2011 and 2013. She is a TIMSS Science expert in Sweden.

Helene Dahlström

She is a PhD student in Education and has a special interest in writing in different sign systems, digitally and with pen and paper. She is currently involved in a study that is going to be based on pupils with Swedish as their first language as well as pupils with Swedish as their second language. Helene is a special needs teacher and has worked in that capacity for 10 years. She has also been teaching children with Swedish as their second language in the subject Swedish at compulsory school. Currently, she is writing her thesis and teaching as part of teacher training education at the Mid Sweden University.