Susanne S Jämsvi
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Librarianship, Information, Education and IT (including The Swedish School of Library and Information Science)
— Department of Educational Work
I am a Senior Lecturer in Educational Work with a focus on higher education pedagogy. In 2019, I defended my doctorate at the University of Gothenburg with the thesis Unpacking dominant discourses in higher education language policy. A critical study of language policy in Swedish higher education. I have worked at the University of Borås since 2002. I have a Swedish teaching license and have previously worked as a teacher of Swedish, Swedish as a second language, and English.
At the University of Borås, I have been interested in the strategic development of the university. I have been the Diversity Coordinator (2002-2008, 2010-2011) and the Team Leader of the Higher Education Teaching Unit (2011-2014). I have developed and taught courses with a second language perspective, e.g. intensive courses in Swedish as a second language for incoming students and contract education in learning in one's second language for teachers in primary and lower-secondary schools. Throughout my time at the University of Borås, I have worked with development issues in teaching and learning in higher education. I am the Course Coordinator for qualifying courses in higher education pedagogy and I develop and arrange activities related to pedagogical professional development for the university's teaching staff.
My research interests can be divided into two areas:
- The development of higher education pedagogy
I have a relatively broad approach to research in higher education pedagogy. Firstly, I am interested in pedagogical professional development for teaching staff working in colleges and universities, both its conditions and its implementation, including collegial processes. Secondly, I am interested in the teaching practice of university teaching staff. In relation to these two starting points, I use social and critical theories. - Language policy in higher education.
I have a general interest in studying how policy is "done" and how dominant discourses influence policy processes. I see it as important to study language choice and its legitimation in today's higher education, as both national and global currents greatly influence language issues. Together with colleagues from other universities in Sweden and Europe, I study language policy in theory and practice. My studies use critical theories, especially critical discourse analysis.
I am currently working on two projects funded by the Knowledge Foundation that are interlinked. In one of them, Data-driven service development: advanced training for professionals, I participate as an educational developer. In the second, Professionally developed digital learning objects in distance education, I am the Project Leader. The aim of the projects is to contribute knowledge of, and forms for, the production of digital learning objects, in which the first-mentioned project serves as a case study.
Language Matters in Higher Education Contexts: Policy and Practice.
I am co-editor of Language Matters in Higher Education Contexts: Policy and Practice, which is part of Brill's series Critical Issues in the Future of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 22.
