In this study we examine how the academic-vocational divide is manifested today in Finland, Iceland and Sweden in the division between vocationally (VET) and academicallyoriented programmes at the upper-secondary school level. The paper is based on a critical re-analysis of results from previous studies; in it we investigate the implications of this divide for class and gender inequalities. The theoretical lens used for the synthesis is based on Bernstein´s theory of pedagogic codes. In the re-analysis we draw on previous studies of policy, curriculum and educational praxis as well as official statistics. The main conclusions are that contemporary policy and curriculum trends in all three countries are dominated by a neo-liberal discourse stressing principles such as "market relevance" and employability. This trend strengthens the academic-vocational divide, mainly through an organisation of knowledge in VET that separates it from more general and theoretical elements. This trend also seems to affect VET students' transitions in terms of reduced access to higher education, particularly in male-dominated programmes. We also identify low expectations for VET students, manifested through choice of textbooks and tasks, organisation of teacher teams and the advice of career counsellors.

If the goal is good initial performance, then instructions should highly resemble the task at hand (e.g., in the form of detailed procedural instructions and examples), but if the goal is good learning and transfer, then instructions should be more abstract, inducing learners to expend the necessary cognitive effort for learning.

Active video games (AVG) have become widespread as more physical interfaces are introduced in video games. Lab based studies have indicated that AVGs can increase the amount and intensity of physical activity compared to non-active games and TV, however, the long-term effectiveness of AVGs has yet been established. In fact, most of the existing studies show a reduction of interest and participation over time. This paper presents our findings from a long-term, multi-site deployment of a pervasive health game, the American Horsepower Challenge (AHPC). Similar to previous studies, our findings also show reduced effectiveness of the game, but on a much larger scale. Moreover, we analyze reasons for this and report what kind of game related online and offline activities happened during the deployment. We argue that a shift of evaluation metrics and design goals is required to make real-world sustainable behavior changes. Based on empirical data, we propose three goals for AVGssustainability, adaptability and sociability. Behavior-changing games can learn how to achieve these goals from existing game genres, such as alternate reality games, location-based games, family games, and multiplayer online games etc.

This paper discusses an experiment carried out in an AR test bed called "the pit". Inspired by the well-known VR acrophobia study of Meehan et al. [18], the experimental goals were to explore whether VR presence instruments were useful in AR (and to modify them where appropriate), to compare additional measures to these well-researched techniques, and to determine if findings from VR evaluations can be transferred to AR. An experimental protocol appropriate for AR was developed. The initial experimental findings concern varying immersion factors (frame rate) and their effect on feelings of presence, user performance and behavior. Unlike the VR study, which found differing frame rates to affect presence measures, there were few differences in the five frame rate modes in our study as measured by the qualitative and quantitative instruments, which included physiological responses, a custom presence questionnaire, task performance, and user behavior. The AR presence questionnaire indicated users experienced a high feeling of presence in all frame rate modes. Behavior, performance, and interview results indicated the participants felt anxiety in the pit environment. However, the physiological data did not reflect this anxiety due to factors of user experience and experiment design. Efforts to develop a useful AR test bed and to identify results from a large data set has produced a body of knowledge related to AR evaluation that can inform others seeking to create AR experiments. INTRODUCTIONFor many years the technological challenges of AR were all consuming. Often the biggest hurdle was creating a working application using complicated tools and bulky homemade hardware. Over time these obstacles were overcome and researchers began to look more at applications and interfaces.Researchers began to bring techniques from HCI into the field and started performing formal evaluations and experiments on AR systems to learn more about effective interfaces, compelling presentation strategies, collaboration, and how to craft engaging user experiences [7] [19]. However, AR is a relatively young field;there is still extensive work needed in both the development of evaluation techniques that are appropriate for AR and in building an understanding of how various factors of an AR experience from display techniques to interfaces impact a user's effectiveness, immersion, productivity, and enjoyment. With these goals in mind we have spent the last four years building and experimenting in an AR test bed we call "the pit". This test bed has provided a platform for exploring approaches to the rendering and presentation of augmentations as well as a controlled setting for performing experiments. By creating an augmented experience that was designed to cause physical reactions in the user, we hoped to utilize physiological and behavioral measurements in the experiment to learn how anxiety can modify a users performance and feelings of presence. The motivations of this project revolve around our desire to build an understanding of AR evaluati...

The age at which young people leave education for the labour market has increased in recent decades, and entering upper secondary education has become the norm. As a result, the diversity of the student population has increased, for instance in terms of students' academic merits and achievements at school. Increased diversity seems to affect vocational education and training more than tracks preparing students for higher education, since entry into VET programmes is rarely selective. In this article we analyse a series of interviews with VET teachers regarding VET practices in upper secondary schools in Sweden and Iceland. We examine how policy plays out in practice in VET by looking at how VET teachers navigate the sometimes conflicting educational goals of employability and civic engagement, while simultaneously teaching a highly diverse group of students. In both countries, pedagogic practices are dominated by individualisation with a focus on task-related skills. Those practices are important in VET, but can exclude broader understandings of civil and workplace life, since general knowledge about areas such as ethics, democracy, equality, and environmental issues is difficult to obtain if education gives students few opportunities to interact with others, such as through group work or classroom discussions.