Currently I teach the seminar series in educational leadership, which is one of the courses of the Centre for the Advancement of university teaching. I am also involved in an international course in educational leadesrhip, lead from Aarhus University in Denmark. Also, I regularly do workshops for university teachers on topics like: leading change in higher education; educational leadership; teaching and learning in higher education; team based learning; and research supervision.

An area that I have engaged in a lot is the scholarship of teaching and learning. The basic idea here is for university teachers to take on a systematic approach to their teaching, to explore what works better or worse for student learning, and share this with colleagues in different fora to continuously develop teaching and learning.

I am currently involved in several research projects. One project explores the clinical learning environment as a learning organisation, looking into physicians' experiences of clinical environments for learning. 

Another project explores issues of collegiality from a leadership perspective in a literature study.

A third project explores different systems of awarding teaching, such as 'Teacher of the Year' and the use of expert reviewers of teaching portfolios to better understand conditions around the status of teaching and how this is mediated and communicated in university organisations.

For a list of my publications see DiVa

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Beyond theoretical courses - A study of Swedish psychiatric residents' collegial learning through conversations in the workplace

  2024. Klara Bolander Laksov (et al.). Nordic Journal of Psychiatry

  Article

  BackgroundCollegial conversations are important for sustainable learning to last beyond a course. Research on collegial conversations and peer learning in the workplace during psychiatric residency courses remains sparse, however. In this study, the aim was to explore residents' opportunities for collegial conversations during and after national courses in psychiatry.MethodsResidents in psychiatry completed an online survey including questions on opportunities for collegial conversations in their workplaces. Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis and thematic content analysis was used for the open-ended answers where a theoretical framework of communities of practice was employed for the interpretation of the findings.ResultsThe survey was completed by 112 residents out of 725 (15,4%). The participants reported few structured forums for collegial discussion. The results of multivariate analysis suggest that more women than men feel it is advantageous to attend courses with others from the same workplace or from the same group of residents, described here as a team. The analysis of qualitative data identified how opportunities for collegial conversations differ across contexts and the type of values that are attached to team participation in residency courses.ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of collegial conversations as a way to sustain the learning from residency courses into the workplace. By learning about residents' perceptions of collegial conversations during and after courses, teachers and directors may be more able to support residents' lifelong learning and professional development.

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• Tensions affecting law teachers’ collaborative practice around teaching: a study of beliefs and practices

  2024. Klara Bolander Laksov, Khayala Ismayilova, Katrin Lainpelto. The Law Teacher 58 (1), 92-110

  Article

  Collaborative practice among teachers, where teachers collaborate around their teaching practice, is known to optimise student learning in primary and secondary schools, where they are encouraged to create shared conceptions of vision, purpose and means. In higher education, however, studies on teachers working as teams and abandoning traditional norms of isolation and individualism around teaching are scarce. This study examines law teachers’ perceptions about teaching collaboration and the value of the collaborative process, as well as how and to what extent their beliefs are reflected in workplace practices. The study adopts a mixed method approach with a survey questionnaire and follow-up interviews with course directors at a large research university in Sweden. The findings show a mismatch between the espoused values and tacit assumptions regarding collaborative practice in relation to teaching, and they are discussed in relation to systems theory and literature on teaching teams and collaborative practice in higher education. The study provides important guidance for future leaders of higher education who are interested in the development of teaching and learning.

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• In partnership with heads of department for sustainable educational development

  2023. Klara Bolander Laksov. International journal for academic development 28 (4), 398-410

  Article

  University teachers funded to engage in educational development projects have been found to become increasingly engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning. However, research also points to obstacles such as departmental culture, lack of support from management, and unhelpful administrative processes. In this study, I interview university teachers and their heads of departments in an educational development grants scheme, to explore dimensions of sustainable educational development. The results show how the sustainability of projects is influenced by the way heads of departments work in partnership with university teachers in relation to local educational cultures, engagement of peers, and legitimacy.

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• Teaching Creatively in Higher Education: The Roles of Personal Attributes and Environment

  2023. Khayala Ismayilova, Klara Bolander Laksov. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 67 (4), 536-548

  Article

  The aim of this study was to explore university teachers’ perceptions of creative teaching and other factors that may influence academics’ efforts to teach creatively in higher education in Sweden. A qualitative case study was employed, interviewing 14 university teachers in three focus group interviews. The results show that the university teachers’ perceptions of creative teaching differed slightly, yet were interconnected. They perceived creative teaching as an ability to engage students in learning, to solve problems in challenging teaching situations and introduce innovation or novelty into their teaching. The results also show that apart from personal attributes (e.g., imagination), environmental factors (e.g., departmental structure and culture) play an important role in enabling creative teaching practices.

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• Vad är och kan högskolepedagogisk forskning vara? Respons på Sverre Wides diskussionsinlägg

  2023. Max Scheja, Klara Bolander Laksov. Högre Utbildning 13 (1), 35-39

  Article

  Artikeln tar sin utgångspunkt i Wides beskrivning; att se utvecklingen av högskolepedagogisk forskning som nära förbunden med den verksamhet som bedrivs inom pedagogiska utvecklingsenheter vid landets lärosäten, d.v.s. i hur stöd för högskolepedagogisk utveckling vuxit fram. Den avgränsning av högskolepedagogisk forskning författarna föreslår tecknar dock framväxten av ett potentiellt betydligt större fält. De menar: ”att den högskolepedagogiska forskningen har som primärt syfte att genom den systematik som befintliga och nya forskningsmetoder erbjuder skapa grund för förståelse, reflektion och utveckling av den högskolepedagogiska praktiken och dess processer”. De menar vidare att högskolepedagogisk forskning är ett ”tvärvetenskapligt forskningsfält vars syfte är att bidra till förståelsen och utvecklingen av den högre utbildningens villkor, innehåll, form och funktion”. Det särskilda med detta tvärvetenskapliga forskningsfält utgörs då av den nära kopplingen mellan pedagogisk utveckling, forskning och teoretiska bidrag. Scheja och Bolander Laksov lyfter fram att forskningen ska bidra såväl med underlag för högskolepedagogisk utveckling som med en vetenskaplig teoriutveckling, vilken även ska kunna skapa en grund för sammanhang inom och en integration av forskningsresultaten inom det växande fältet.

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• Managing Change in Higher Education in Times of Pressure: a Case Study of Stanford and Stockholm University

  2021. Klara Bolander Laksov, Joakim Edsjö, Carl Wieman. Renewing Higher Education, 235-266

  Chapter

  The aim with this study was to explore how, when and why change happens and what opportunities for managing change can be found in higher education institutions. As the coronavirus pandemic hit the world an opportunity for a case study comparing how our two universities, Stockholm university in Sweden and Stanford university in the US, dealt with the change from traditional campus-based education to online education during spring 2020. Based on a literature review regarding change in higher education, we explored how the educational systems and culture interact with change strategies. Our analysis provide understanding of how university management can contribute to sustainable change through several points for practice.

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• Shifting to team-based faculty development: a programme designed to facilitate change in medical education

  2022. Klara Bolander Laksov (et al.). Higher Education Research and Development 41 (2), 269-283

  Article

  The value of traditional faculty development programmes has been questioned regarding its effectiveness in transforming clinical education. Rather than training faculty separately from their colleagues, the faculty development programme described in this paper presented an opportunity for teams of faculty to improve clinical education by developing tools grounded in medical education research. The five participating teams were interviewed in focus groups at the end of the programme and followed up with emails and phone calls three years after the end of the programme. The interview data were analysed according to conventional content analysis. Immediately after completion of the programme, all teams had managed to implement their tools, and three years later, four were still in use. The study demonstrates that critical success factors for faculty development to transform change in practice included a design focused on a stepwise, longitudinal programme; coaching of teams; management and peer engagement, and programme days that created space for reflection, development, and discussion.

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• Akademiskt lärarskap

  2020. Klara Bolander Laksov, Max Scheja.

  Report

  I den här texten introducerar vi idén om akademiskt lärarskap. Akademiskt lärarskap kan bäst beskrivas som ett förhållningssätt där lärare kontinuerligt och systematiskt reflekterar över, utforskar och utvecklar den egna pedagogiska praktiken och dess inverkan på studenters lärande. Vi utforskar de olika dimensioner som bidrar till att forma ramarna för ett fruktbart lärarskap. För det första undersöker vi den individuella dimensionen av akademiskt lärarskap, där den individuella lärarens reflektioner över personliga erfaren-heter av olika undervisningssammanhang är en viktig plattform för utveckling av den egna pedagogiska praktiken och identiteten som professionell lärare i högskolan. För det andra uppmärksammar vi den kollegiala dimensionen av det akademiska lärarskapet, som handlar om hur lärare i högskolan synliggör reflektioner och argument kring den egna pedagogiska praktiken i dialog med kolleger, och för det tredje utforskar vi den institutionella dimensionen av det akademiska lärarskapet. Det handlar då om de institutionella ramar som en avdelning, institution eller lärosäte skapar för att stimulera ett kontinuerligt och systematiskt utforskande av utbildningsverksamheter.

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• The Pedagogical Ambassadorship Programme as an approach to academic development

  2020. Klara Bolander Laksov. Högre Utbildning 10 (2), 16-20

  Article

  In this article, the design of the Pedagogical Ambassadorship Programme at Stockholm University is examined. The aim of the programme is to assist departments in developing their educational culture by appointing a colleague as a pedagogical ambassador for one year. The programme was evaluated in a web survey to all ambassadors between 2015–2018.

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• Lessons learned: towards a framework for integration of theory and practice in academic development

  2019. Klara Bolander Laksov. International journal for academic development 24 (4), 369-380

  Article

  In this paper, I describe an approach to the integration of theory and practice at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational levels. The results of the research projects in which I have been involved over the last ten years are used to illustrate how these three levels have facilitated the identification of three tensions. These tensions together create a framework that can help academic developers better understand how to approach the challenges of advocating for the integration of higher education theory with academic practice in their own institutional environments, and how this integration is linked to existing higher education literature.

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• Academic leadership: management of groups or leadership of teams? A multiple-case study on designing and implementing a team-based development programme for academic leadership

  2018. Teresa Söderhjelm (et al.). Studies in Higher Education 43 (2), 201-216

  Article

  Demands on academic leadership are increasing, which raises the need for leadership training. This article describes development and implementation of a group training intervention in academic leadership at a departmental level. Little systematic research has addressed the question of what forms of leadership training are associated with effectiveness of academic leadership teams. This study examined a comprehensive methodological approach including three different data collection methods. The content analysis of the intervention resulted in identification of vital components that are associated with team effectiveness. Here, the findings are considered in relation to the notion of functional role-taking, and their general implications are explored in relation to the possibility of systematically developing academic leadership.

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• Att bedöma pedagogisk skicklighet – är det verkligen så svårt? – en studie av skillnader i bedömningar mellan vetenskapligt och pedagogiskt sakkunniga

  2018. Klara Bolander Laksov. Högre Utbildning 8 (2), 55-68

  Article

  Pedagogisk skicklighet ska enligt högskoleförordningen ägnas lika stor omsorg som vetenskaplig skicklighet i anställningsförfaranden vid svenska högskolor och universitet. Vilka förutsättningar som finns att visa omsorg om pedagogisk skicklighet och ägna den uppmärksamhet ter sig dock tämligen olika vid lärosätena. I denna fallstudie undersöks skillnader i de sätt på vilket pedagogisk skicklighet kommer till uttryck i utlåtanden från särskilt tillsatta pedagogiskt sakkunniga och vetenskapligt sakkunniga i anställnings- och befordringsärenden vid en fakultet vid ett svenskt lärosäte. Studien visar på flera skillnaderi utlåtandena där de pedagogiskt sakkunniga gör mer omfattande, mer kvalitativa och mer systematiska utlåtanden än de vetenskapligt sakkunniga redovisar. Dessutom diskuteras några återkommande utmaningar som formuleras i sakkunnigutlåtandena, och hur dessa utmaningar hanteras.

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Show all publications by Klara Bolander Laksov at Stockholm University