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Emmanuel Acquah, is an Associate Professor (Tenure-Track) in Minority Research at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Åbo Akademi University. His primary research interests are in advancing equity in the training and practice of educators of multicultural and multilingual learners. He has related interests in diversity, equity and inclusion. Acquah brings a strong knowledge of quantitative and qualitative approaches to educational research and has a multidisciplinary research background. In addition to multicultural and multilingual education, he has researched and published articles in the areas of adolescents’ socio-emotional well-being and children’s social interactions in the classroom in leading international journals. Acquah is the Director of the International Master’s Degree Programme in Education called Teaching and Learning at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at the Åbo Akademi University and recently developed a professional development course for ÅAU staff training called Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.
Maria Hokkinen is the Business Champion of the project, with 50 % employment at Åbo Akademi University. She is responsible for preparing the commercialization of Sprok. With a PhD in Business Administration and running her own communications consultancy company Sillai, Maria possesses strong research and business practice skills. Through her doctoral research, which focused on integrating refugees from a consumer behavior and language learning perspective, Maria has built a strong network of integration experts and is qualified as a subject teacher.
Anette Bengs, has a background in developmental psychology and current research interests pertain to inclusion across the lifespan, with a particular focus on digital tools as facilitators of inclusion. In her position as a project researcher at the Experience Lab at Åbo Akademi University she has previously been involved in several projects targeting inclusive facilitator technology and multicultural user experience design and evaluation. She is currently coordinating and working as a researcher in several international projects targeting digitalization and inclusion in education.
Tobias Björkskog, Project Manager at Novia University of Applied Sciences, is an experienced CTO and Project Manager with a background in the game industry. His expertise includes organizing education in game development, developing games/simulations as both a programmer and project manager, as well as helping game companies with their businesses.
Blaine Taylor, is an American who has worked as a ECEC teacher for nearly 15 years in America, Russia, Kuwait, and Finland. He focused his Master’s thesis on the integration of technology into early learning classrooms and has been an avid gamer most of his life. He is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at Åbo Akademi University and hopes to one day become a professor.
Emmanuel Acquah, is an Associate Professor (Tenure-Track) in Minority Research at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Åbo Akademi University. His primary research interests are in advancing equity in the training and practice of educators of multicultural and multilingual learners. He has related interests in diversity, equity and inclusion. Acquah brings a strong knowledge of quantitative and qualitative approaches to educational research and has a multidisciplinary research background. In addition to multicultural and multilingual education, he has researched and published articles in the areas of adolescents’ socio-emotional well-being and children’s social interactions in the classroom in leading international journals. Acquah is the Director of the International Master’s Degree Programme in Education called Teaching and Learning at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at the Åbo Akademi University and recently developed a professional development course for ÅAU staff training called Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.
Anette Bengs, has a background in developmental psychology and current research interests pertain to inclusion across the lifespan, with a particular focus on digital tools as facilitators of inclusion. In her position as a project researcher at the Experience Lab at Åbo Akademi University she has previously been involved in several projects targeting inclusive facilitator technology and multicultural user experience design and evaluation. She is currently coordinating and working as a researcher in several international projects targeting digitalization and inclusion in education.
Joachim Majors, Certified Usability Analyst (CUA) (2012, Human factors International). Joachim is a usability and user experience practitioner and specialist at Experience Lab at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Åbo Akademi University. At Experience Lab he consults companies and organizations about user-centered design development processes and he also plans and conducts usability and user experience studies for companies and organizations.
Tobias Björkskog, Project Manager at Novia University of Applied Sciences, is an experienced CTO and Project Manager with a background in the game industry. His expertise includes organizing education in game development, developing games/simulations as both a programmer and project manager, as well as helping game companies with their businesses.
Heidi Katz, Master of Education and doctoral student in education, has expertise in the fields of pedagogical competences, multiculturalism, method development, mixed-methods research and analysis. She is a doctoral student in Minority Research at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at Åbo Akademi University.
Blaine Taylor, is an American who has worked as a ECEC teacher for nearly 15 years in America, Russia, Kuwait, and Finland. He focused his Master’s thesis on the integration of technology into early learning classrooms and has been an avid gamer most of his life. He is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at Åbo Akademi University and hopes to one day become a professor.
Åbo Akademi University
Strandgatan 2
FI-65100 Vasa
We wish to thank the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and Högskolestiftelsen i Österbotten for funding the project.
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