Charlotte Arkenback-Sundström
Senior Lecturer
Department of Education and Special EducationAbout Charlotte Arkenback-Sundström
Background
Charlotte Arkenback (subject teacher degree for grades 4-9 and upper secondary school, special education degree specialising in mathematics development, PhLic in pedagogical work, and PhD in applied IT with a focus on educational science) is a researcher and university lecturer at the Department of Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg since 2021. Charlotte has a background as a special education teacher and teacher in mathematics and natural sciences and has worked in various educational forms since 1990, including primary school, upper secondary school, adult education, and popular adult education. From 2013-2017, she was a member of the national research school Didactics of vocational subjects at the Department of Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg. Charlotte obtained her licentiate degree in 2017 with a thesis on mathematical activities and competencies in an adult retail apprenticeships program for sales assistants. From 2017-2022, she was a member of the research school CUL - Centre for Educational Science and Teacher Research at the Department of Applied IT, University of Gothenburg, as well as the national research school GRADE - digital technologies in education (2018-2021). In 2022, she defended her thesis on how the digitalisation of the service encounter changes salespeople's work, learning and skills.
Research
Charlotte's overall research interest is in communication, learning, and digital technologies in education, skills development, and professional practices. A specific focus is online instructional video types for service work and YouTube as a site for vocational learning. Based on how digitalisation is transforming the service sector, characterised by face-to-face encounters, this involves an interest in how digital technologies such as digital co-workers, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things are changing roles, work, and learning in the service encounter.
Charlotte is part of the research groups: Centre for Retailing at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Vocational Education at the Department of Education and Special Education, as well as the international research groups PEP - Pedagogy, Education & Praxis and ALM - Adults Learning Mathematics.
From November 2022, Charlotte has a two-year postdoctoral position funded by the Swedish Retail and Wholesale Council. She works on the project: Salespeople's Skills Development for the Connected Service Encounter. One of the challenges facing the retail industry as digitalisation transforms how goods and services are bought and sold is salespeople's skills development. As digital technologies such as digital employees, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things are introduced to integrate digital and physical commerce, roles and activities in service encounters in physical stores are changing. Through action research in collaboration with store personnel, the project aims to explore how digital sales education and skills development addressing roles and competencies in the connected service encounter can be designed.
Teaching
Charlotte has extensive experience in distance education and as a virtual and special education teacher in adult education. She teaches in the special education teacher programs and the vocational teacher program. She is the course leader for the mathematics courses in the special education teacher program, specialising in mathematics development.
Keywords: workplace learning, action research, practice theories, theory of practice architectures, digital technologies in work, education and learning, adult learning mathematics, mathematics difficulties in school and worklife