MORE NEWS IN ENGLISH INTERNATIONAL SATAKUNTA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES NEWS 2016 HILL learning wherever you are Students, companies and everybody gain knowledge about solar energy TRAINING PACKAGES WATER CHINA CURRICULA Perspectives to Exchanges
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Satakunnan ammattikorkeakoulun osaamisuutiset - Satakunta University of Applied Sciences News
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MORE NEWS IN ENGLISH
INTERNATIONAL
SATAKUNTA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES NEWS 2016
HILL
learning
wherever
you are
Students, companies and everybody gain knowledge about solar energy
TRAINING PACKAGES
WATER
CHINA
CURRICULA
Perspectives to Exchanges
2 | AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016
Ari-Pekka KainuHead of International Relations
and Language Center
INTE
RN
ATIO
NA
LITY
NEW YEAR – NEW SAMK –
NEW CHALLENGES
Year 2016 will bring new opportunities to
SAMK. Changes in the organization will
intensify instruction, services and RDI
activities in the faculties.
A new unit, the International Relations and
Language Center, started its functions in
January 2016. This new center concentrates
o n i n te r n a t i o n a l r e l a t i o n s a n d a l s o
provides language courses and services.
Internationalism and language training
have already been a natural part of the
degree programmes. However, this change
highlights the international aspect of our
strategy.
Our international partners have a significant
role in the internationalization of SAMK and
Satakunta Region. They open up channels
to new cultures, operational models and
cooperation with foreign enterprises. SAMK
and Satakunta have cooperated with the
city of Changzhou and the University of
Changzhou as a strategic partner since
2008. We also have strategic partners in
Namibia, the Netherlands and Ireland.
Last year over 300 staf f members and
s tude n ts f rom SA MK pa r t i c ipa te d i n
international exchange. The same amount of
foreign students, teachers and researchers
work here yearly – more than 60 different
nationalities. Over 40 applications were
submitted to international research and
development projects. A comprehensive
study funded by the EU shows that people
with international experience have better
prospects in the employment market, earn
more and work in tasks requiring more
responsibility.
The International Relations and Language
Center helps the staff and students in all
international issues. We provide events
and theme days for fore ign students.
International Café is an event where foreign
students present their own culture and it
provides an easy way for Finnish students
and staff to get to know the international
students and their culture.
We hope that our international students want
to stay and work in Satakunta.
SATAKUNTA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES NEWS
PUBLISHERSatakunnan ammattikorkeakouluSatakunta University of Applied Sciences PL 520, 28600 Pori, Finlandwww.samk.fi
ISSN-L 1456-114XISSN 1456-114X (printed)ISSN 2242-2528 (PDF on the net)
SAMK – Satakunta University of Applied Sciences
SatakunnanAMK
Satakunta University of Applied Sciences
13
AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016 | 3
12
CONTENTS
4
6
14
11
8
4 HILL Show what you can do
6 MOOC Education for everybody
7 STEREOTYPES The silent Finn
8 AUTOMATION Innovations enabled by technology transfer
9 WATER From wells to the oceans
10 CHINA Great chance for cooperation in China
11 CURRICULA More and easier for students
12 ENERGY Solar energy in SAMK
13 ACCESSIBILITY It’s all about attitude
14 EXCHANGE Early experiences in the work setting are important
Timo Mattila, Dean, Faculty of Service Business & Jari Suvila, Systems Specialist | PHOTOS: Jatta Lehtonen, Lassi Puhtimäki
4 | AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016
A challenge for change
Show what you can do
HIL
L
Writers Timo Mattila and Jari Suvila are members of the adult education team, who have developed teaching independent of time and space.
HILL was developed out of necessity. The learning platform has changed the functions dramatically.
Educational institutions around the world have built their functions around their facilities and campuses. SAMK has also developed its functions from this starting point throughout its existence. Adult education in Business and Administration faced a new cha l lenge, when a l l the
functions were moved to one campus in Huittinen. Teaching in class was no longer an option. Something had to done, when the instruction was: show what you can do or the functions will be closed down! The solution was HILL, an online learning platform.
AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016 | 5
SAMK’s main task is to develop pedagogic solutions to produce competences which meet the needs of the employment market. However, the pedagog y was based on classroom teaching as a primary means of learning. Digital learning provides a completely different approach to learning. It involves a new type of identity both for the school and for the teachers.
Today everybody is keen on digitalization. It is considered a leap into a better future. Fortunately, the Faculty of Service Business has always been involved in digitalization. The f irst solutions were already created on Kuninkainen campus in the 90’s and SA MK was one of the f irst education institutions to take on a virtual learning platform.
At the beginning of 2010 digitalization was accepted as the start ing point for the development of adult education in Huittinen. The aim was to make learning possible for students regardless of the place
where they are and what else they are doing in their life.
Changes and teacher’s multiple roles
SAMK developed a learning platform, H I L L , t o g e t h e r w i t h i nt e r n a t i o n a l partners. In HILL distant technology is used to give the client an opportunity for learning and guidance everywhere. As technology changes also other functions have to be changed. Accordingly, the teacher’s role developed from a person sharing knowledge into multiple roles: being mentor, learning partner, creator of networks and instructor.
Pedagogy was developed into exploratory learning with only some contact classes. Recordings are available for students of classes, and tasks are solved in groups. Groups are formed through social media and on HILL . Also administrative and library services had to be changed to give
help to the clients online. All these changes were encapsulated into HILL.
Competition for intake
Learning on HILL takes place interactively without separate investments and costs for the student regardless of the place, where he or she lives. After five years of development, we have graduates on all continents. The classroom borders have been broken down and experts and mentors participate in the student’s learning even outside Finland.
H I L L h a s b e e n a s u c c e s s . T h i s i s shown in the competit ion for intake. The attraction of the education is still increasing. This is shown, e .g. in the number of cred its completed through open SAMK and in completed degrees which have mu lt ipl ied during the last few years. In conclusion, the change has proved to be a possibility and a success and it has been achieved by a common goal and working together.
HILL, GREAT DESIGN FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING › HILL has changed the functions
dramatically › learning is made possible everywhere in
the world › results show that there was a need for
virtual learning › attraction of education has grown
remarkably › completed degrees have increased
and open university studies multiplied › use of HILL has quadruplicated in a
year
Kalle Lepola graduated as a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2013. He was an adult student and studied mainly through HILL. Now he works as a CFO for enterprises in a bank in Forssa. The picture is from the time of his studies, when he was interviewed for Agora.
Harri Ketamo | PHOTO: Harri Ketamo
6 | AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016
MOOC education for everybody M
OO
C
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) provide education for all.
The idea of self-directed learning may leave
the student alone with his or her learning
activities. Therefore, it is also important to
understand the student’s motivation and the
level of knowledge he or she has.
Studies at SAMK have developed ideas and
technologies on how to improve motivation
in learning. In general, our ideas are based
on the following principles of gamification
and flow: 1) optimal challenge, 2) clear goals,
3) instant feedback and 4) autonomy in
progress.
Our first globally published MOOC, Clinical
Calculations, is a co-production with
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.
This course consists of 24 clinical calculation
cases which include documentary-styled
video clips, interactive tutoring per calculation
case and self-assessment per calculation
case. The MOOC covers the mathematics
of clinical calculations necessary for a nurse
and it is intended for new nursing students
or nurses who want to revise their skills. The
course focuses on minimising the fears and
uncertainty related to calculations and it
highlights systematic self-assessment.
The key parts of gamification, optimal
challenge, clear goals and instant feedback
are highlighted by providing real-time
information of the students’ progress and
current status. After an activity the student
performs self-assessment which results in
the reorganization of the status profile and
recommendations. This instant feedback
supports the achievement of the subgoals.
Many learners have reported that they could
not stop working before completing some area
of the profile.
There is no fixed way to work with the Clinical
Calculations MOOC. Students can use all
the material in whatever order they prefer.
In the feedback students have, in particular,
highlighted the motivational factor of the
clinical calculation case videos. However, it
Making of Clinical Calculations MOOC.
Harri Ketamo | PHOTO: Harri Ketamo
AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016 | 7
According to the prevailing stereotype of Finnish people they
are silent. One of the functions of stereotyping is to use them to
explain social events. Of course there are also talkative people
in Finland, but in this case the unique cultural behavior and
Finnish cultural communication have been conceptualized into
this stereotype.
A few years ago I was in a conference in Britain and they had
arranged a pub crawl after the conference day. I was sitting at
a table with five other people, two Italian, one American and
one Spanish lady and a Hungarian man. As you can imagine
the conversation was lively and moving on really fast with
everybody talking about the conference and other things.
I tried to enter the conversation a few times but in Finnish
culture it is impolite to interrupt other people, so I actually
didn’t have an opportunity to join the conversation.
People often follow the cultural rules typical of their own
culture and communication even in foreign contexts and
when speaking a foreign language. Therefore, I didn’t want to
interrupt anybody. Finally, the Hungarian man asked me, where
I come from. When I told him that I’m from Finland he said:
“Of course, the silent Finn”. This really annoyed me, because
I’m not silent at all. It made me realize that I was acting in a very
Finnish way, although I’m an English teacher.
In many cultures people actually
have to force themselves into the
conversation and interruption
is considered a sign of interest
in the topic. Finnish culture is
basically a listening culture and
people wait until the other one
has said everything he or she
wants to say. Also, the speaker
signals the others that you can
speak now by pausing. The stereotype of the silent Finns is
partly based on these Finnish rules of conversation, but there is
also a lot of silence in Finland. Silence is considered a positive
thing and people don’t have a need to fill in silent moments. For
example when people know each other very well, they can just
enjoy togetherness without a need to say anything.
Studies on Finnish silence show that Finnish people have a very
strong need for silence. It is important for their well-being and very
talkative people both Finnish and foreigners can annoy people a
lot. In Finland silence is considered a natural way of being and it
is also an important form of politeness and a valued form of social
activity. The values of a culture are often expressed succinctly in
their sayings and proverbs. Accordingly, when the American say
Speech is cheap, the Finnish equivalent is Silence is golden.
THE SILENT FINN
was difficult for some students to point out the
core mathematics in the videos.
At the moment, approximately 5,000 learners
from 100 countries all around the world have
enrolled for the course.
The next step is to find international partners
who would like to apply the material and
pedagogical model in their own activities.
Possible partners are not limited to educational
institutions but also hospitals or private health
care companies can become our partners.
The key parts of gamification, optimal challenge, clear goals
and instant feedback are highlighted by providing
real-time information of the students’ progress.
The stereotype of the silent Finns is partly
based on the Finnish rules of conversation
Tuija Huokkola, Senior Lecturer in English and Intercultural Communication
Harri Ketamo, PhD, Senior Researcher
Mirka Leino & Kari Laine | PHOTOS: Pauli Valo
8 | AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016
Innovations enabled by
technology transfer
Enterprises need to adopt the latest knowledge in technology in order to develop and create new innovations. Therefore, collaboration between universities and enterprises is based on the needs of enterprises.
Traditional, linear technology transfer between
enterprises and higher education institutes
(HEIs) has come to an end. Today, collaboration
between universities and enterprises is more
diversified and needs-related involving open
innovation targeting.
Technology transfer has been one of the
focus areas in SAMK’s technology research
for nearly ten years. One goal of the research
work is to develop technology transfer models
especially suitable for collaboration between
universities of applied sciences (UASs) and
small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The research and modelling work has included
several piloting and evaluating steps since
2008. More than 30 SMEs have participated
in this work and over 50 cases have been
conducted with them.
Modelling is based on case studies and on the
testing of knowledge transfer methods. The
subjects for technology knowledge transfer
have all the time been based on the needs of
the enterprises.
The SMEs have been the main target group
because of their known lack of resources
in technology knowledge acquisition. In
this work the absorptive capacity of the
enterprises and the disseminative capacity
of the UASs have had a significant role.
Absorptive capacity means the ability of
an enterprise to recognise the value of
new, external information, assimilate it
and apply it to commercial ends, whereas
the d isseminat ive capaci ty means the
capacity of an organisation to transform its
knowledge into value for other actors in its
network.
One of the main themes in technology
transfer has been innovation. Instead of “just”
searching and finding technology knowledge
and transferring it to the enterprises as
interpreted and enriched knowledge, the
goal is to achieve a higher level of technology
transfer in order to create targeted open
innovations according to the new technology
knowledge. It requires closer collaboration,
mutual trust and shared research interests
between SMEs and UASs. As a result, SAMK
created model for technology demonstrations
and pilots.
Demonstrations of certain technologies
are made to illustrate the basic features,
requ i rements and potent ia l i t y o f the
technologies, but they also highlight challenges
of using the technology excluding unsuitable
solutions. Different kinds of pilot cases are
conducted on the basis of demonstrations and
first phase knowledge search. The subjects for
the pilot cases always rise from the SMEs and
they are implemented with SAMK equipment
as test applications. As a result, first-hand
AU
TOM
ATIO
N
Piloting 3D imaging for the needs of a health care organisation.
AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016 | 9
WANDER Nordic Water and Materials Institute is an expert on water issues and technologies.
The work on drinking water quality started in Finland in 2005.
The main interest has been on materials in contact with water,
such as pipes, and their effects to human health. The work has
included European level standardization as well as research.
The research has been done in practice at a full scale drinking
water distribution system located at Sytytin Technology
Center in Rauma, Finland. This system is unique in the world.
Energy efficiency of water systems in buildings was studied
and developed in a national strategic research project using
Sytytin building. Currently the work is continued at Nordic level
(Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway) to develop common
approval procedures. Safety is a key issue in our activities. This
includes, e.g. making Water Safety Plans for waterworks and
microbial safety indoors.
WANDER is an official testing organization institution in national
water hygiene certification intended for those who work with
drinking water. Education activities include face-to-face activities
and e-learning in Finnish (Water School and Water Academy).
The newest areas in international activities include saving the
Baltic Sea through pilot watersheds in Finland, Åland, Sweden,
Estonia and Latvia (waterchain.samk.fi) and research work
on urban development using Namibia as a pilot country in
Africa (samk.fi/namurban). Namibian University of Science
and Technology is one of the strategic partners of SAMK. We
develop water solutions for Namibia together.
FACTS › Six employees (4 PhDs, 2 MScs), located in Rauma campus › Established in 2005 › Many past and on-going national projects as well as international projects with water research and innovation work as well as education
› More info at www.wander.fi
FROM WELLS TO THE OCEANSMinna Keinänen-Toivola, PhD, Project Manager
information is received from the pilots and they
prove the potentiality or unsuitabil ity of the
technology in real environment.
The SME representatives have given positive
feedback on technology transfer and new methods
are tested all the time. In this way, the model is
developed with fresh case studies to meet the
future challenges.
EXAMPLES OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER SUBJECTS › 3D imaging › illumination › smart cameras › control systems › embedded systems
3D model of a human head. A result of the recent 3D technology transfer process.
Mirka Leino, Head of Automation Research Team, M.Sc (Tech) and Kari Laine, Principal Lecturer, D.Sc (Tech)
10 | AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016
Anne Sankari, SAMK Communications
Great chance for
Cooperation in China Eva Chujun Xiao is SAMK’s China Office Manager.
SAMK has established an office in China. Higher education institutions and enterprises are welcome to join us there.
” W e p r o v i d e h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n institutions and enterprises a unique a nd except iona l way to enter t he markets in China. We have a l ready established relations in the target area and we know key persons who can help in internationalization”, Vice President Cimmo Nurmi explains.
A t t h e m o m e nt s e ve r a l a c t o r s a re involved in the network of cooperation, i .e . ten enter pr ises , t he Un iversit y Consort ium of Pori , Universit y of Lappeenranta and Turku University of Applied Sciences. The authorities of the city must approve of al l the functions in China. Therefore, it is important to have personal relat ions with the Chinese and these relations have already b e e n e s t a b l i s h e d i n C h a n g z h o u . A comprehensive umbrel la agreement exists between Satakunta and the city of Changzhou. This agreement focuses on economic life and education. “I’m very pleased that SAMK has worked with this issue”, director of the county Pertti Rajala states.
C h a n g z h o u w i t h i t s f i v e m i l l i o n inhabitants and Satakunta with its 230,000 inhabitants show that it is possible to cooperate even when one partner is small and the other one very big.
WHY CHINA?
› Everyone is already in Europe
› Different and interesting culture
› Good connections by air
› Safe environment
WHY CHANGZHOU?
› Well-functioning social and regional
relations with the authorities
› 5.5 million inhabitants, i.e. the market
area involves the same number of people
as the population of Finland
› Growth area between Shanghai (180 km)
and Nanjing (130 km)
› A lot of possibilities:
› research and business (automation,
energy, water, work with the elderly,
innovation models)
› export of education, tourism, an English
language school for 7–13-year-old
children
Eva Chujun Xiao is SAMK’s liaison between
the University of Changzhou and Finnish
enterprises.
“I am the bridge to the other side”, Eva
describes her own role.
The first months she has worked in setting
up the office. In addition, she has been
occupied by a project plan involving the
care of the elderly. Cooperation is being
planned with the city of Changzhou and a
private entrepreneur in elderly care.
EVA CHUJUN XIAO
› SAMK’s China Office Manager,
employed until the end of 2017,
liaison of SAMK who acts as a contact
person with the university and Chinese
enterprises
› studied research methods of social
sciences at the University of Durham in
the UK
› wants to see the Northern lights in
Finland
SAMK and Satakunta have cooperated with the city of Changzhou and the University of Changzhou as a strategic partner since 2008. We also have strategic partners in Namibia, the Netherlands and Ireland.
SAMK’s face in China
CH
INA
More and easier for students
AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016 | 11
Eero Hammais
SAMK renews the curricula. This means more studies in English to choose from for international students.
Today’s employment market has most va riable dema nd s for k nowled ge a nd skills. However, these demands also offer chal lenging opportunities for students, when they graduate. In addition, they set an objective for the students to make their degree suit those demands.
When studying it is important for students to be conscious of what they want and what studies are available for them. Each student is an individual with individual interests. Therefore, it is important for universities to offer a wide range of studies for students. They should be able to take studies according to their own interests as well as to suit the needs of the employment market and thereby build an individual degree.
At the moment Satakunta University of Applied Sciences is reshaping the curricula in order to make it easier for students to achieve a competitive content in their degree. In practice, this means that each student can choose studies from al l the curricula of the university, not only from the curriculum of his or her own degree programme. Natural ly, the obligatory studies of the degree programme have to be studied. However, in addition to them, the students are able to choose professional studies according to their interests.
One of the main ideas in this reform is to make the degrees more multidisciplinary which corresponds to the situation in the employment market. An engineer often needs skil ls typical of business degrees and vice versa. Multidisciplinary skil ls are also an advantage in physiotherapy and nursing. It is even more important to make students study together and to make them familiar with different operational
environments and cultures during their studies. Accordingly, general studies will be studied in multidiscipl inary groups in the future. Why should the same basic mathematics or marketing stud ies be offered to students of engineering, business and culture separately? No reason at all.
For international students this means more studies in English to choose from. It will also be easier to find them in our curricula.
Anne Pohjus, PhD,
Vice President of
SAMK
CU
RR
ICU
LA
Meri Olenius | PHOTO: Katri Väkiparta
Solar energy in SAMK – what does it include?
12 | AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016
Students, ordinary people and companies gain knowledge about solar energy from our training packages.
Solar energy research has already been going on in SAMK for quite some time. The results and changes in the field are now starting to show. It is an exciting time for solar energy in Finland.
SAMK’s solar energy research focuses on three main objectives: Solar Energy Technology Training; solar energy system building integration and overall system opt i m izat ion, a nd sma r t measu ri ng and control automation appl icat ion development for home energy management (HEM) and home area network (HAN) integration. Special interest is paid to solar energy system and smart control application development.
What do these mean in practice?
Students, ordinary people and companies gain knowledge about solar energy from our different training packages. Students from almost all of our engineering degrees are trained to understand how to design and get the most out of solar energy systems. Information of how solar energy can be utilized is provided to ordinary people by providing open data (real time) on production rates of solar energy systems in Satakunta, e.g. from the central swimming complex in Pori. We also train companies in solar energy systems and designing systems and in how solar energy can enhance their business in the field.
Currently, SAMK students are getting ha nd s on experience of desig n i ng a solar energy system and working with a customer in Solarleap Satakunta project. This wi l l be valuable as they graduate a n d e n t e r t h e e m p l o y m e n t m a rk e t . During spring 2016, we will be installing photovoltaic and solar thermal systems to household s t hat w i l l pu rchase t he systems based on student designing. This work is completed in cooperation with the vocational school WinNova. We will monitor the solar energy systems for five years to get more regional information of how solar energy can be utilized and improved to its full potential.
Simulation of a typical Finnish household and its energy consumption is running 24/7 in our hybrid energy laboratory. The gained data can be used to optimize utilization of solar energy and especially hybrid energy systems. The laboratory can also be used to test equipment and to evaluate how the equipment would work in real life.
The future goals of our solar energy research include developing smart measurements and controls for solar energy systems to utilize solar energy to the max. We will also be broadening our perspective from solar energy to ecological living.
I n ad d it ion , we cont i nue to work to make solar energy self-evident in future construction projects instead of something you need to be interested in. Fortunately, there are signs that this might actually happen in the future and we will continue working towards this goal.
SAMK’S SOLAR ENERGY RESEARCH FOCUSES ON1. Solar Energy Technology Training2. Solar energy system building integration &
overall system optimization3. Smart measuring and control automation
application development for home energy management (HEM) and home area network (HAN) integration. Special interest: solar energy system and smart control application development.
EN
ER
GY
Meri Olenius | PHOTO: Katri Väkiparta
Solar energy in SAMK – what does it include?
AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016 | 13
Can you picture yourself on a beach in a warm summer day?
You can feel the light breeze and warm sunrays on your skin.
The waterfront provides great surroundings for leisure activities
but usually the terrain is difficult and even unreachable for
persons with reduced ability to move and function.
This is also a common situation in work, home environment
and social relations. Everyone should have equal opportunities
regardless of age, gender, ability to function or cultural
background. The environment, products and services should
be adjusted to meet the needs of all kinds of people. Barriers
can be crossed with good planning and skilful and enthusiastic
people.
SAMK has conducted long-term research, development and
education work with determination in the field of accessibility
in Satakunta. The work has been carried out in cooperation
with national and international organizations, companies and
universities.
Equality, non-discrimination and tolerance are the guiding
values in this work. Particular attention is paid to circumstances
and the social environment. Service providers, users, students
and experts play the key role in planning, organizing and
developing accessibility.
Examples of our research and development work: › creation of an online accessibility assessment tool, new
sports technology for wheelchair and walker users and a home environment which demonstrates accessible living
› accessibility in sporting facilities, in leisure-time activities (Yyteri for All project: international Design for All award 2012), in small and medium sized enterprises and tourism
› International Outdoor Symposium (2013) › involvement in planning accessibility to the new SAMK
Campus in Pori › various locally and nationally organized activities and events
for all
Information: samk.fi/research/accessibility
ACCESSIBILITY – IT’S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE
Reetta-Kaisa Kuusiluoma, Project WorkerRiikka Tupala, Project Manager, Head of the Accessibility Research Group
Meri Olenius, Project Manager, Head of Renewable Energy Technologies and Ecological Environment Research Group
14 | AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016
Early experiences in the work setting are important Inna Saarinen, SAMK Communications | PHOTO: Sanna Myllymäki
Juan Lobos Patorniti is studying physiotherapy in Valencia, Spain. He is doing his exchange in Finland. Kyle Mulholland is SAMK’s degree student from Australia.
AGORA INTERNATIONAL 2016 | 15
“I have been here in Finland nearly three years. It’s my final year. I work a lot with children, e.g. in a sports group with children with special needs, in a swimming group and as a personal assistant”, Kyle Mulholland says.
He likes the teaching style in Finland. “It’s quite relaxed here. For example, if you fail, you can retake the tests. People learn better because they are not so freaked out”, he says.
Juan Lobos Patorniti had heard good things about physiotherapy in Finland. Pori is the only place in Finland that offers Physiotherapy in English.
“My teacher suggested that I should apply for the training. I’m happy to be here. It’s the first time I work with children with special needs”, says fourth-year student Juan Lobos Patorniti.
Differences between Finland and the home country
Both students were surprised, when they had practice before all the theory lessons.
“When you are young, you don’t know what you really want to do. So you pick something that might interest you, but you really don’t know what it is like in work practice. So, it is really beneficial to get these early experiences in the work setting”, says Kyle Mulholland.
“There is one thing I like particularly in working with the kids here. Everyone is with the kids here and you have physical activities for them. I also worked in a sports camp last summer. The kids with special needs were with everyone else there. No one was staring.”
Both students are pract icing with Susa nna Or tiz who works as an independent entrepreneur in the field of physiotherapy. She says that it’s her mission to invoke the idea of working with children. She has succeeded, at least with these students.“I can see that the children’s therapy is already in their hearts”, she says.
And so I did. However, before I left, a
lot of things had to be arranged. “Good
preparations come in time.” I started to
prepare in September 2014 with the aim to go
abroad in April 2015.
Due to different scheduling, the period
I was aiming at wouldn’t fit. Teaching would be
rather impossible, because there would be no
students. SAMK uses five eight-week modules
instead of four modules my own university
uses. During the 5th module students are
mainly in internship or involved in projects.
To get prepared, we agreed on a visit for a
week in February. I took up teaching and
discussed the items to focus on during my
longer period in August. This week was very
useful and I got to know more colleagues and
learn more about SAMK.
During my stay, I took up teaching in different
areas of expertise, e.g. some cul tura l
differences, business, project management,
entrepreneurship subjects and Blue Ocean
Strategy in both undergraduate as well in
Master courses.
Punctuality
I learned that Finnish students differ from
students in other countries. Having class at
eight, students are on time and rather arrive
and are prepared 10 minutes before the class
starts. Coming late is not much appreciated
by teachers. Not only students but Finns in
general are very punctual, coming late is “not
done”.
In my opinion students are a little withdrawn
or shy. I had to push them to get them
involved in a Q&A way of teaching. Therefore,
I used the “marshmallow challenge” a lot
in different metaphors, and I will probably be
remembered as “the Spaghetti-man”.
Dutch treat
Except from chocolate sprinkles, I brought a
lot of “stroopwafels”, liquorice. In October,
my wife, who visited me seven times, brought
Dutch St Nikolas treats (letter shaped
chocolate and “pepernoten”) and I made a lot
of friends bribing them (haha).
Colleagues asked me, upon my leaving,
what they will do without me with no Dutch
sweets.
I love(d) my colleagues inviting me to all kinds
of places and activities. I learned a lot about
Finland and the warm Finnish people. I got
used to Finnish habits, like an early warm
meal for lunch (pea soup on Thursdays) and
having sauna. I even had the opportunity to
meet Santa Claus and witness the Northern
lights.
Both universities intend to do projects and
research together, and although there is
no contract (yet), a handshake in Finland is
binding as well.
Marcel van GeffenLecturer Entrepreneurship & Business at the Hague
University of Applied Sciences, owner of several companies
“Do I have to prepare something”, I asked Ari-Pekka Kainu, just before I left for a 12-week exchange to Pori. “Keep an open mind”, he said, “and everything will be all right”.
◄ Kyle Mulholland, Mariel Leppänen & Juan Lobos Patorniti in the swimming hall in the centre of Pori.
Open mind to exchange is a joy forever
Satakunta University of Applied Sciences
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