User:Gme

Giulia Messina Dahlberg
I am a PhD candidate at Örebro University and I start my post in September 2010. I recently became a member of the research group called KKOM-DS (Kommunikation, Kultur och Mångfald – Deaf Studies). Örebro University and Högskolan Dalarna are now collaborating to start a research school “Research Technology-mediated knowledge processes in the university and in professional life” with focus on learning and IT. My doctoral post covers 80% of my position: when I am not studying, I am teaching Italian at Högskolan Dalarna.

I have been working at Högskolan Dalarna as a lecturer in Italian since 2004. The Italian department was the first to offer Internet-based courses in 2001. I have a great deal of experience teaching language by distance, starting with our first meetings in chat-rooms, to different virtual environments using avatars and now Connect. I have always found the synchronous didactic meetings on the Internet challenging: they mean new communication strategies must be used to compensate for the lack of physical presence.

During the last three terms I have also supervised a number of student groups that are taking their first online course in the educational training program at Högskolan Dalarna. I also used to work as a high school teacher in Italian in an upper-secondary school in Falun. Thanks to my job, I have developed a strong interest in didactical issues dealing with online education.

I have been living in Falun, Sweden since 2001, when I first came as an Erasmus student. I did not know a word of Swedish (I had only taken some Danish before leaving Italy, but this did not turn out to be of much use), and my choice of placement came after a talk with a professor at the University of Torino who had visited Dalarna and found it beautiful and suitable for a stay of a term or two: I could practise my English and learn some Swedish at the same time. Therefore, I arrived in Sweden on August 13th, 2001 with a lot of expectations and all of them were met: it really was beautiful in Dalarna and I could improve my English, which made it harder for me to feel motivated to learn any Swedish. But I did learn Swedish eventually, even if it took longer than a term or two. Then I also found a job, my husband, some friends and a life here (not necessarily in that order), and I still live in Falun, Dalarna, Sweden.

Educational background
I took a degree of Master of Arts with a major in English in 2004 and a Master of Education in 2006 at Högskolan Dalarna. I started a language training program Corso di laurea in lingue e letterature straniere at Torino University in 1998, which I followed for three years before leaving to come to Sweden.

Research interest
My research interest is in the area of collaborative learning, computer-based language learning, multimodality, the didactic encounter and dialogue in the virtual classroom.

KOIIA I
I am currently participating in the course Communication and identity issues in institutional arenas I (KOIIA I) at Örebro University. One part of the course will be supported here inside Wikiversity where I will publish my documents, papers and reading logs.

January 25 2011 Theme: course introduction and intersectionality
Reflections on the European Journal of Women’s Studies (2006) Volume 13 (3) s. 187-290, 103 s. Sage Journals]

Reflections on De los Reyes, Paulina & Mulinari, Diana (2005) Intersektionalitet: kritiska reflektioner over (o)jämlikhetens landskap. Malmö: Liber

February 14 2011 Theme: Identities and their enactments in human life
Reflections on Davies, Jonsson and Fishman & Garcia

March 18 2011 Theme: Identities & communities of practice
Reflections on Hornberger and Wenger

April 14 2011 Theme: Theorizing communication, identities & learning
Reflections on Rethinking language, mind and world dialogically - Per Linell, 2009

May 16-17 2011 Theme: Analysis of Linguistic-Landscapes & Discussions about our resources on Wikiversity
Final paper: an introduction

My fellow students at KOIIA I
Annaliina Gynne

Ingela Holmström

Sören Högberg

Contact
Giulia Messina Dahlberg

Högskolan Dalarna

791 88 Falun, Sweden

gme@du.se

+46 (0) 23 77 84 02 +46 (0) 73 639 67 35