Sweden, Day 4: Söderhamn - Trönö - Löftjården

It's been another busy & interesting day. We started off with an explanation of a new type of trades program in Söderhamn. The Kvalificerad Yrkesutbildning (KY) is a pan-Europe program with a strong workplace component. This, it seems, is something quite new & revolutionary in European trades training. Besides the workplace component (which usually comprises one-third of the educational experience), participation in KY offers the student extreme educational mobility, credential recognition throughout the EU, & a variety of financial aid options. The KY program is offered for many vocations (not just trades) but the one in Söderhamn is focussed on welding. It's a 60 week program with 20 weeks in the workplace. They have 25 - 30 students but 80 applicants.

In the afternoon we heard about how CFL is thinking about e-portfolios. They looked at the software product called ELGG (as we did in BC) but gave up the idea when they saw how complicated it was (as we also did in BC). They decided to use First Class -- their e-learning standby -- & just add a module to extend its capabilities to e-portfolio use. It seems that that solution, too, is less than ideal. I am going to show them Moodle on Friday & maybe we can talk about Moodle' integrated portfolio at that time.

After work, we took a drive out to Trönö where we looked at an old church. I mean a REALLY old church. The church we saw was built around 1200 & was, without a doubt, the oldest structure I have ever seen. However (& this is the really cool part), we did more than just look at it: we went inside, rubbed our hands along the woodwork, examined the alter, had a close-up look at how the very old paint still shows in places from underneath the old paint; and we could have climbed up the ancient stave bell tower if we had wanted. There was no-one else there: no restrictive fences, no roped-off areas, no curator, & not even a sign telling us not to. And it's not that this is one of hundreds of very old churches in Sweden: this is the oldest.

In the evening we drove south for half an hour to a very rural area along the protected Baltic coast, to have a barbeque supper at the summer cottage of one of the teachers from CFL. The area doesn't seem to have a name & in fact requires quite complicated driving directions to locate. The part of the bay seems to be called Löftjården so that's what I'm going with. I was amazed that the Baltic Sea has no visible tide & no exuberant sealife so it feels much more like a lake. It was cold so we ate inside the cottage which, although it was tiny & had no electricity & no real plumbing, was fitted out better than Martha Stewart could ever hope for. Really! I would have taken pictures to prove it but my camera batteries died in the middle of the visit to the church.

Fresh batteries tomorrow.