The authors of this article have collaborated as part of a steering group for Norwegian state-funded research and development project designed to enhance the professional digital competence (PDC) of both teacher educators, practising, and student teachers. In this article, we give voice to students’ experiences of their PDC development during teacher education (TE). We investigate their ideas on how TE might be developed to prepare them better for professional careers in a digital context. The participants are studying at a Norwegian university where, from 2018 to 2021, PDC has become a major area of focus as part of the aforementioned project. The data consist of four group interviews with 17 students from different campuses. We find that student teachers employ a broad range of digital technologies during TE. They experience a diversity of digital didactical practices and engage in thematic discussions concerning digitalization. They also utilise many technologies and apply the digital knowledge they have acquired in their personal lives. While some of them request more technical support during TE, most want to see TE engaging them in more critical discussions about the educational opportunities and challenges that digitalization offers. We discuss some of the dilemmas that TE must address to respond to these findings. In particular, we elaborate on how students’ digital experiences can be used as a resource when preparing for their professional roles as teachers.

In November of 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tool that produces text about almost any topic in multiple languages. The advent of GenAIs build on Large Language Models and machine learning raised questions about the future of writing, including how these tools are used in schools. The application of GenAIs for school writing purposes depends in part on the beliefs that various stakeholders hold about GenAIs and writing. The current study examined the beliefs of one group of stakeholders: students. Specifically, 413 (206 girls; 207 boys) and 984 (546 girls; 438 boys) Norwegian high school students in 2023 and 2024, respectively, were surveyed about their use of GenAIs and beliefs about GenAIs and writing. In 2023, 43.7% of students reported using GenAIs for school purposes, increasing to 71.4% in 2024. Despite this reported increase in GenAI use, a majority of students in 2023 and 2024 indicated they were not particularly knowledgeable about GenAIs, questioned if teachers should use GenAIs for educational purposes, evidenced multiple reservations about the benefits of GenAIs for writing, revealed reservations about some aspects of GenAI produced text, and were reticent about using GenAIs for writing. Students in the 2024 cohort, as well as students with more positive attitudes toward writing (both from the 2023 and 2024 cohorts), were less positive about the benefits of GenAIs for writing, characteristics of GenAI produced text, and using GenAIs for writing than students in 2023 or those with a more negative writing attitude. Girls were less positive than boys about the characteristics of GenAI produced text and what GenAIs mean for learning writing and subject knowledge in school. In contrast, students’ reported knowledge of GenAIS increased from 2023 to 2024, and students who were more knowledgeable had more positive attitudes about the benefits of GenAIs for writing, characteristics of GenAI produced text, and openness to using such tools for writing. Implications for research and practice are presented.

Evnen til å kunne revidere tekst er en viktig del av skrivekompetansen, og det er en etablert oppfatning at erfarne skrivere har en bredere forståelse av hva tekstrevisjon innebærer enn uerfarne skrivere. I denne artikkelen presenterer jeg en studie der formålet er å utvikle praksis for å støtte revisjonsfasen bedre, og deretter se hvordan dette kan spores i elevenes tekstrevisjoner. Elever i to klasser blir introdusert for fire revisjonsstrategier (erstatte, tilføye, slette og omorganisere). Analyser av elevenes reviderte tekster viser at elevene gjør varierte revisjoner, og de mest brukte strategiene er tilføying og erstatning. Selv om de fleste elevene reviderer på både globale og lokale tekstnivå, er det tendenser til at noen fokuserer mest på de lokale, andre mest på de globale. I hovedsak gjør revisjonene tekstene bedre, men det finnes forekomster av revisjoner som ikke endrer teksten eller som gjør et tekstsegment dårligere. English abstract Enhanced revision competence through teaching revision strategies explicitly? Revision competence is an important part of writing skills, and it is an established belief that experienced writers have a broader understanding of what text revision means than inexperienced writers. The aim of the study presented in this article is to develop a practice to better support the revision phase, and then to see if this can be traced in the pupils’ text revisions. Pupils from two classes in Norwegian lower secondary school are introduced to four revision strategies (replace, add, delete and reorder). Analyzes of the pupils’ revised texts show that students make varied revisions, and the most widely used strategies are adding and replacing. Even though the pupils revise their texts both globally and locally, there is a tendency for some pupils to be more locally oriented, while others are more globally oriented. The revisions mainly make the texts better, but there are occurrences of revisions that do not change the text or that make a text segment worse.

In Norway, as in many other countries worldwide, student teachers often report a lack of coherence between their practice experiences and the teacher training provided on campus. For example, student teachers request more practice-relevant campus training on themes like parent–teacher conferences. Employers worldwide expect universities to prepare graduates to innovate practices. This empirical article addresses these challenges by engaging student teachers in simulation-based practice designs (SPDs), which include a class brief, group sessions with simulated parent–teacher conferences, and a debrief. The students are encouraged to act with agency and approach the simulated situations critically. Overall, this study shows that students are highly engaged and task-oriented across SPDs. The survey data (n = 39) show that students perceive the simulation experiences as relevant preparation for their future practice. Audio recordings (215 min) and field notes indicate that they are triggered to critically reflect on and generate ideas for addressing challenges in the simulated situations. There are instances of linking theory with practice, and even some “thinking outside the box”. SPDs provide valuable opportunities to professionalize the teacher role but could benefit from more support and time to bridge the gap between theory and practice and encourage more innovative thinking.

Denne artikkelen handler om hvordan elever på ungdomstrinnet forstår og bruker skriftlige lærerkommentarer på heldagsprøvebesvarelser i norsk. Slike kommentarer gis ofte på sluttprodukter. I vurderingsforskning antas tilbakemelding på sluttprodukter å ha begrenset verdi som læring, og med denne studien ønsker jeg å se om en slik generell antakelse gjelder også i en norskfaglig kontekst. Det empiriske materiale består av elevtekster med lærerkommentarer, verbale protokoller og individuelle elevintervju for 18 elever. Verbale protokoller brukes for å studere elevenes forståelse av lærerkommentarene, og intervju brukes for å få dypere innsikt i hvordan elevene bruker kommentarene. Studien viser at elevene har liten bevissthet rundt vurderingskriterier. Men de leser vurderingene og viser i hovedsak adekvat forståelse av kommentarene de får. Når det gjelder oppfølging av kommentarene, gjør elevene det som blir forventet av dem. Noen av elevene må «rette» tekstene sine, mens andre er ikke forventet å gjøre noe med kommentarene. Dette gjør at elevene i liten grad bruker kommentarene videre i skrivearbeidet. Mens enkelte internasjonale studier rapporterer om at studenter i høyere utdanning ikke leser tilbakemeldingene (Hounsell, 1987) eller ikke forstår dem (Lea & Street, 1998), viser mitt materiale at elevene leser og forstår kommentarene, og de gjør det som forventes av dem i oppfølgingen. Ved å legge til rette for at elevene skal bruke kommentarene mer aktivt kan kommentarene få en sterkere formativ funksjon. ' This article presents a study conducted in Norwegian lower secondary school (grades 8-10). The aim of the study is to investigate how pupils understand and use the written feedback they get from their teacher on single draft texts. This feedback is often received after the writing task is completed. Some feedback researchers have pointed that feedback given after the task is completed has limited value for learning, and I want to investigate how pupils experience this. The data comprises of student texts with teacher comments, verbal protocols and individual interviews from 18 pupils at four different schools. The verbal protocols are used to study the pupils understanding of the teacher comments, and the interviews are used to gain a deeper insight into how the pupils use the feedback. The result of the study shows that the pupils have little awareness of assessment criteria, but they do read the feedback and they show an adequate understanding of the feedback. After getting feedback, the pupils only do what is explicitly expected of them, and it is not often expected that they use the feedback to revise of the texts. The feedback therefore works well in a summative function, but it has a weaker formative function because the assessment situations rarely require the pupils to make use of the feedback. Keywords: Writing, assessment, formative, summative, feedback, response.

Denne studien undersøker hvordan muntlighet i norskfaget kan operasjonaliseres i et vurderings­skjema, og hva som skjer med vurderingen når 37 norsklærere på ungdomstrinnet, i et eksperimentelt design, vurderer videopptak av to elevers muntlige eksamen ved hjelp av dette vurderingsskjemaet. Studien analyserer vurderingens konsistens og variasjon, og drøfter hva funnene sier om behovet for et tydeligere konstrukt og utvikling av et tolkningsfellesskap for vurdering av muntlighet. Resultatene viser betydelig variasjon i karaktersetting, både holistisk og analytisk. Variasjonen er på fire karakterer, selv om flertallets vurderinger har en variasjon på to karakterer. Lærerne vektlegger særlig faglig kompetanse, selvstendighet og evne til refleksjon, mens det muntlige uttrykket får mindre oppmerksomhet. Funnene peker på utfordringer knyttet til å operasjonalisere muntlighet og felles forståelse av vurderingskriterier. Dette understreker behovet for klargjøring av konstruktet og hva som kjennetegner kvalitet på ulike karakternivåer. English abstract Consistency or Variation? A Study of Teachers’ Interpretive Communities in Assessing Oral Exams in Lower Secondary School In this study, we investigate how oral competence in the school subject Norwegian can be operationalized in an assessment rubric, and what happens to the assessment process when 37 Norwegian Language Arts teachers in lower secondary schools, in an experimental design, assess video recordings of two students’ oral exams using this rubric. The study examines consistency and variation in assessments. It discusses what the findings reveal about the need for a clearer construct and the development of a community of interpretations for assessing oracy. The results show a considerable variation in grading, both holistically and analytically. The range spans four grade levels, although most teachers’ assessments vary within two grades. Teachers primarily emphasize subject knowledge, independence, and the ability to reflect, while the oral delivery receives less attention. The findings highlight challenges related to operationalizing oral competence and achieving a shared understanding of assessment criteria. This underscores the need to clarify the construct and define what characterizes quality at different grade levels.