Accommodation

The accommodation was arranged through the International coordinator for teacher exchange  at KI. I was accommodated at University Accommodation Centre AB (UAC)  at Jagargatan 20.  

 I arrived in Stockholm on Monday 15th April 2013  at 23: 30. I began with the workshop for Doctoral students and supervisors organised by KI at Lidingo. I stayed for one night. I arrived at my arranged accommodation  on 17th April 2013. Directions for my room and door codes were all clear. I really thank the house keeper for being organized. Jagargatan is a very good accommodation with easy access to a Pendaltarg. So its easy to commute to KI Huddinge. Its proximity to Sodersjukhuset also allows easy access to transport by bus to KI Solna. The accommodation has easy access to supermarkets like ICA and Lidl at Stockholm Sodra station. Lidl supermarket is the cheapest supermarket that frequently I use while in Stockholm. 

Language

All my teaching sessions were conducted in English language because I do not know Swedish. Most students and teachers in Sweden I think feel more comfortable expressing themselves in Swedish language. I think there are some words which are difficult to translate in English and Swedes find it easy to say  those words in Swedish. The manuals for most equipment/items bought in Sweden are written in many others European languages and rarely in English although the few labels on the box outside are in English. 

Leisure Time

 Swedish people are hospitable because many of my friends invited me for dinner at some point.

Although I was busy most of the time including weekends, I managed to move around Stockholm city. No matter how many times I have been in Stockholm, I always enjoy most places around the city. I also attended a get together party that was organized by KI division of Occupational therapy Huddinge where I interacted with the researchers and teaching staff at the Division Occupational Therapy. 

The exchange programme gave me the opportunity to share a lot  of experiences that included culture, knowledge and skills and I believe that those skills will not only benefit me but the entire Occupational therapy profession in Uganda. The exchange programme gives the teaching staff and students confidence in the profession. Since the Linnaeus Palme teachers and students exchange programme in Occupational therapy began in 1996 Uganda many high school students want to join the occupational therapy profession. The exchange programme gives teachers and students important cultural exposure and prepare them to serve better in a dynamic cultural environment.

Other activities

I Attended 2 courses at Ki namely; "Philosophy of science and research ethics" at the new lime building in Solna and "Grounded theory" at Sodersjukhuset. The courses involved attending to lectures, group assignments, individual written assignments and seminars. I also participated in PHD seminars commonly referred to as Kreativas.  Some of them, I was a reader and others I was a presenter. I presented my research plan as well in one of the seminars in the research group.

I attended supervision sessions with my supervisors and also did various assignment by my supervisors.

Attended a workshop for Doctoral Students and Supervisors at Lidingo.  The workshop was mainly composed of role plays of supervisors/students sessions and it was very good.   

 

I visited Helsinki for a day and traveled with Viking line. It was a nice experience to spend   two nights on the boat. 

 

I have been to Stockholm a couple of times before, I therefore did not require any new information about Sweden such as travel, culture or language.  I had two roles to play that guided my reparations; The first role was 'teaching' and the second one was 'learning'.

As a teacher, I prepared almost half of my lessons here in Uganda where it required examples and materials from Uganda. And those that did not require materials from Uganda were prepared in Stockholm.

As a student, I read a lot of literature around my research area and also made sure that the laptop was in good condition to work.  Generally,  I prepared early enough by booking the flight early in time and making sure that I get in touch with the International coordinator at KI. In Uganda we have to submit Visa application not less than two weeks before the scheduled travel.

Reflections

Participating as an exchange teacher gave me a good reflection of my style of teaching and I learned that students learn better through group discussions. I got positive feedback from the teaching and the presentations that I made during the exchange gave me feedback on my performance as a trainer and academician. From then, I have developed a habit to think of a group discussion each time I prepare to teach any group of students. The group discussion assists students to reflect on the lesson but also think around the subject hence  get a wider view of what has been taught. 

 

Participating in the PhD students seminars equipped me with confidence in analyzing professional knowledge which I thought I could not do before. The positive feedback helped me to discover my potential in presentations and teaching. 

 

The PhD courses I attended while in Stockholm gave me a wider knowledge in research.

Teaching

As a teacher, teaching was fun because there were nothing new in the lessons that I conducted. Unlike the previous teaching where I observed that students did not like being taught in English, this time around the students were enthusiastic and were active in class. They were inquisitive to learn and they participated in the class activities that I was doing with them. I participated in teaching of Community and Home Based Rehabilitation (CHBR) course which runs every year in May. The students number was ten and they were coming from the following countries; Sweden, Italy, Uganda, Germany, Switzerland and USA. 

 

I made sure that in my teaching, I encouraged students participation by giving students activity in the middle and and at the end of teaching. In the CHBR course, we encourage giving students home assignments that encourage individual students looking for information. Teaching in Uganda is more teacher centered since the teacher can have more access to information than students. However, that situation is gradually changing with more students gaining access to computers and connection to the internet. 

Teaching hours

I was given 4 teaching sessions each week and the sessions were properly scheduled so that I could as well attend to my studies.  The students number was not so big so it was agood manageable number. I attended one seminar where students presented the status of Community/Home Based rehabilitation in their own countries. I also organised students' field placement for one afternoon at Dandryds Hospital.