On the impact of quantum computing technology on future developments in high-performance scientific computing

Quantum computing technologies have become a hot topic in academia and industry receiving much attention and financial support from all sides. Building a quantum computer that can be used practically is in itself an outstanding challenge that has become the ‘new race to the moon’. Next to researchers and vendors of future computing technologies, national authorities are showing strong interest in maturing this technology due to its known potential to break many of today’s encryption techniques, which would have significant and potentially disruptive impact on our society. It is, however, quite likely that quantum computing has beneficial impact on many computational disciplines. In this article we describe our vision of future developments in scientific computing that would be enabled by the advent of software-programmable quantum computers. We thereby assume that quantum computers will form part of a hybrid accelerated computing platform like GPUs and co-processor cards do today. In particular, we address the potential of quantum algorithms to bring major breakthroughs in applied mathematics and its applications. Finally, we give several examples that demonstrate the possible impact of quantum-accelerated scientific computing on society.     

Apprentice or Student? The Structures of Construction Industry Vocational Education and Training in Denmark and Sweden and their Possible Consequences for Safety Learning

There is a notable difference in occupational injury rates in the two Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Denmark, with the latter having a 40% higher rate of fatal occupational injuries in the construction industry. This study explored differences in the vocational education and training (VET) systems between Sweden and Denmark that may be important for students’ safety learning and practice during VET. In both countries, students participate in full-time education, and the curriculum includes school-based as well as company- based training. However, during company- based training Swedish students retain their student status, whereas Danish students are employed as apprentices. From a perspective of viewing safety as a social practice developed through interactions of different social and institutional bodies, the analysis points to this difference in employment status as important for their safety practices and also for the teachers’ position to influence safety learning and practices during company-based training. An analysis of interview and survey data focusing on how VET students enact safety ‘knowings’ across learning sites, suggest how different forms of connectivity models in VET promote various forms of safety learning among students.     

Violent Extremism,National Security and Prevention. Institutional Discourses and their Implications for Schooling

Currently, threats to societal security from extremist groups are high on the political agenda in many countries. Politicians, policymakers at various levels and communities are searching for methods to counteract recruitment to violent organizations. These efforts are often referred to as Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE-programmes). One of the earliest PVE programmes in Europe was the British PREVENT programme, and it has to some extent served as a model for other countries, including Sweden. In this article, we scrutinize a particular method, inspired by the PREVENT, and developed by the Swedish National Coordinator against violent extremism, called The Conversation Compass (CC) intended for so-called front-line workers. This article reports an analysis of this method in order to provide a broader understanding of how the discourse on preventing violent extremism meanders from political and policy discourses into claims about how to organize educational practices and social work and the regulations under which these institutions operate. The results show that the CC contributes to a securitization of the educational system in ways that are not in line with educational traditions of schools in Sweden, or with the laws and policies that regulate the educational system.     

Newly qualified teachers’ professional digital competence: implications for teacher education

The professional digital competence (PDC) of teachers is of growing importance in classrooms, now that digital resources and digital media are becoming important parts of teachers’ everyday practice. This study explores how newly qualified teachers are prepared to use information and communication technology (ICT) in their initial teacher education (ITE). We present findings of a nationwide survey in Norway on 356 newly qualified teachers. It explores how these teachers’ ICT self-efficacy is related to how they perceive the quality of, and contributions from, their ITE related to ICT and the development of their PDC. In general, newly qualified teachers report fairly poor quality and contribution of ICT training during their teacher education. We claim that continuous effort is needed to review the quality of ITE and contribute specifically to the development of PDC and developing student teachers’ ICT self-efficacy in ITE.     

Students’ Ability to Apply Their Knowledge in a Gaming Exercise: An Exploratory Study

This paper reports on a study exploring master students’ ability to apply their knowledge when solving an internal pricing problem in a supply chain. Analyses of 33 negotiation progress reports and 8 recordings of discussions demonstrate that most of the students were not able to apply relevant concepts and models to guide their handling of the task. The main reason for the variability in performance was the significant differences in the students’ general problem-solving abilities. Most students did not perform a thorough task analysis or develop a solution strategy before they met for negotiations, and they did not keep track of their task performance. The implications for teaching are highlighted, and directions for further research are proposed.     

Reciprocal peer assessment as a learning tool for secondary school students in modeling-based learning

The aim of this study was to investigate how reciprocal peer assessment in modeling-based learning can serve as a learning tool for secondary school learners in a physics course. The participants were 22 upper secondary school students from a gymnasium in Switzerland. They were asked to model additive and subtractive color mixing in groups of two, after having completed hands-on experiments in the laboratory. Then, they submitted their models and anonymously assessed the model of another peer group. The students were given a four-point rating scale with pre-specified assessment criteria, while enacting the peer-assessor role. After implementation of the peer assessment, students, as peer assessees, were allowed to revise their models. They were also asked to complete a short questionnaire, reflecting on their revisions. Data were collected by (i) peer-feedback reports, (ii) students’ initial and revised models, (iii) post-instructional interviews with students, and (iv) students’ responses to open-ended questions. The data were analyzed qualitatively and then quantitatively. The results revealed that, after enactment of the peer assessment, students’ revisions of their models reflected a higher level of attainment toward their model-construction practices and a better conceptual understanding of additive and subtractive color mixing. The findings of this study suggest that reciprocal peer assessment, in which students experience both the role of assessor and assessee, facilitates students’ learning in science. Based on our findings, further research directions are suggested with respect to novel approaches to peer assessment for developing students’ modeling competence in science learning.     

Should first-year doctoral students be supervised collectively or individually? Effects on thesis completion and time to completion

Whether supervision of doctoral students is best pursued individually or collectively is a recurring but unresolved question in debates on higher education. The rarity of longitudinal data and the common usage of qualitative methods to analyse a limited number of cases have left the effectiveness of either model largely untested. To assist with overcoming these problems, this paper reports on a study of 145 individuals admitted to a specific doctoral programme between 1991 and 2014. It analyses the effects of either individual or collective supervision during the first year of the programme on the probability of thesis completion and the time to thesis completion. Group means, Cox regressions, Kaplan–Meir curves and Ordinary Least Square regressions are calculated on the basis of the number of months spent by each doctoral student in the programme without defending a thesis. Studied in these ways, it appears that collective supervision in the first year significantly increases the probability of thesis completion and decreases the time to thesis completion. Collective supervision may have this effect as it enhances peer learning, creates a wider academic learning context, allows doctoral students to gradually acquire the values and behaviours of a research practice community and reduces the risk of premature selection of permanent supervisors.