In English further down.

Hur känns det att ligga i innerfilen på den digitala motorvägen?

Kära kollegor!

Just nu ser vi på nära håll hur saker i vår närhet förändras – både hur vårt universitet fungerar och hur det dagliga livet gestaltar sig. Detta drivs naturligtvis på av den rådande pandemin. Vi är vana vid att prata om digitaliseringen och dess betydelse i framtidens akademiska miljö. Men vårens plötsliga förändring av våra liv har prejat oss alla ut i höghastighetsfilen på den digitala undervisningsvägen. För många av oss har detta inneburit en stor förändring av hur vi utför våra uppgifter.

Jag älskar att föreläsa i ett klassrum och kunna interagera med studenterna. I undervisningen av kandidatstudenter ligger fokus på undervisningsprinciper – och naturligtvis att försöka inspirera dem till vidare studier. Att undervisa masterstudenter är ännu roligare, eftersom jag stegvis fått lära mig att gå från envägskommunikation till undervisning som bygger på att vara diskussionsledare. Här har jag och mina kollegor också kunnat slussa in studenterna till olika branscher och fått dem att tillämpa sina nya, teoretiska kunskaper för att lösa utmaningar som kan stödja en hållbar produktion.

Min egen omställning till nya digitala sätt att undervisa har hittills varit mindre framgångsrik, enligt mig själv. Jag försöker hitta det bästa sättet att anpassa mig till de nya situationerna. Bland annat har jag deltagit i några seminarier vid Institutionen för lärande och lyssnat på presentationer av pedagogiska experter som Arnold Pears. Men jag behöver fortfarande arbeta med att förbättra dessa färdigheter så att jag kan nå upp till den standard – eller bättre – som jag kan erbjuda i ett klassrum. Du som är  lärare kan säkert känna igen dig i min beskrivning.

Denna nya situationen har också förändrat andra delar av vårt arbete utöver undervisningen. Som vi alla vet, sker de flesta möten idag i zoom. Ett år tillbaka i tiden hade de flesta av oss knappt hört talas om zoom, plötsligt är det en integrerad del av våra liv. Vi har sett många fördelar med det nya sättet att arbeta: vi reser exempelvis mindre och deltagande vid informationsmöten, doktorsavhandlingar etc är större.

Men att inte kunna träffas personligen för att diskutera och lösa konflikter har också skapat vissa arbetsmiljöproblem. Vi är medvetna om detta och vår HR-grupp arbetar aktivt med institutionerna, ibland tillsammans med experthjälp utifrån. Naturligtvis diskuterar vi också hur man löser arbetsmiljöfrågor i vår samverkansgrupp, där fackföreningen och skyddsombuden är med. Här vill jag nämna att vi även fokuserar på framtida förbättringar. Vi arbetar nu tillsammans för att utveckla förslag på vad som ska omfattas vid de obligatoriska arbetsplatsmöten som varje enhetsledare ska ha med personalen. Förslagen baseras på KTH:s årscykel, och det övergripande fokuset är att systematiskt förbättra arbetsmiljön på ITM. I november har vi en workshop för att göra ett första utkast. Vi kommer givetvis att informera mer om det.

Slutligen vill jag fråga hur det känns för dig, i ditt dagliga arbete, där i det snabba körfältet på den digitala motorvägen? Det här är kanske något du kan diskutera vid enhetsmötena? Oavsett vad vi som individer tycker är det bara en sak vi kan vara säkra på om framtiden: att det inte kommer att vara som idag – en anledning god nog att anpassa oss till de förändringar som behövs för att utföra vårt arbete så bra det går.

// Pär Jönsson, ITM:s skolchef

How does it feel to be in the fast lane on the digital highway?

Dear colleagues,

We are experiencing a transformation in our way our university works and how our daily life is. This has, of course, been fueled by the corona situation. We used to talk about digitization and its importance in a future academic environment. However, this abrupt change in our lives that took place this spring has thrown all of us in the high speed lane in the digital teaching highway. This has meant a transformation of how we carry out our tasks for most of us.

I love to lecture in a classroom and to have active interactions with the students. In teaching bachelor students, the focus is in teaching principles and of course to try to inspire them to further studies. Teaching master students is even more fun, since I have learned little by little to transform my teaching from a one-way communication to being a discussion leader. Here, I and my colleagues have also been able to bring them to industries and to let them apply their newly obtained theoretical knowledge to solve relevant challenges that can support a sustainable production.

My transformation to a teacher that master the new digital way of teaching has so far been less successful, according to myself. I am trying to find the best way for me to adapt to the new situations. I have attended some seminars at the Department of Learning and listened to presentation by pedagogic experts such as Arnold Pears. I still needs to work on improving these skills so that I can reach a standard that is the same or better than that I can offer in a class room. Overall, think many of you teachers can recognize themselves in my description.

This new situation has also changed other parts of our work besides teaching. As all of us know, today most meetings takes place in a zoom room. One year back, most of us had hardly heard about zoom but suddenly, it’s an integrated part of our lives. We have seen many advantages with the new way of operation such as less travel as well as a larger attendance at information meetings, PhD dissertations etc.

However, not being able to meet in person to discuss and to solve conflicts has also created some working environment problems. We are aware of this and our HR group is actively helping departments using both their own and external expert help. Of course we also discuss how to solve working environment issues in our group (samverkansgrupp) with the trade union and Health and Safety representatives. Here, I should point out that we also focus on future improvements. Specifically, we work together to develop a set of suggestions what to cover at the obligatory working place meetings, that each unit leader needs to have with the personnel. Here, we base the suggestions on the yearly cycle of events that takes place here at KTH, and the overall focus is to systematically improve the working environment at ITM. We will meet in a workshop in November to make a first draft and we will inform you more about it.

Finally, I want to ask you how you feel to be in the fast lane on the digital highway in your daily work? This is maybe something you can discuss at your unit meetings? No matter what we as individuals think, there is only one thing that is sure about the future, and that is that the situation will not be the same as today! Thus, we need to adapt ourselves to transformations with respect to how we carry out our work duties.

// Pär Jönsson, Head of the ITM School

Dear colleagues,

We are entering the last weeks before the vacation period. By now, I believe most of you have already planned your vacation together with your closest manager and if not please make sure to do so.

Currently, we are in the exam period of this semester. Despite that alternative examinations have been introduced in some courses, the majority of the exams will be given as written exams, which are overseen by examinators, other faculty and PhD students. The President Sigbritt Karlsson has decided that also the re-exam period in the fall will be given using digital exams as well as alternative examination solutions. Here, I wish to point out that the PhD students as well as the faculty will act as examination supervisors, to make sure that no cheating takes place during the exams.

Talking about the future and especially the fall. How will KTH look like in August?

The president and her team have been planning for different scenarios that might take place in the fall. Our first priority is that period 1 should start as normal. However, as all of you know the outcome of the present situation is hard to predict. Thus, at ITM and KTH we are preparing for alternative scenarios in many ways. For example, under the lead of Anna Jerbrant, teachers at ITM have prepared risk analyses to understand what courses that are most critical to find alternative solutions for. Here, it is clear that it is especially important to identify courses that include practical experiments and to develop strategies on how to run these courses so that the required learning outcomes can be met. Here, one course at the Department of Industrial Production has successfully been held in an alternative manner during period 4, which may serve as a good example for other courses at ITM.

I also wish to mention that the administrators under the lead of Christina Carlsson also are planning for alternative ways of receiving the almost 1600 (!) new students that are expected to begin their studies at ITM in the fall. Overall, I believe that it is very important that we communicate updates regarding how the new semester will start up both to employees at ITM and to all students. Here, we are lucky to have a strong communication team at ITM that will help us with this very important task!

Finally, I hope that many of you have joined the KTH ACTIVE TOGETHER event. As we said earlier, the purpose is both to stimulate to exercise and to communicate with each other. The team that I belong to is led by the PhD student Reinol Josef Companero Del Carmen (called RJ). We share different photos taken during our exercises including pictures of ourselves performing different exercises such as running, walking, hiking, weight lifting, etc., but also pictures on landscapes or animals we have seen during our exercises. For example, myself I have already seen moose, deer, hares and squirrels as well as beautiful sunsets during my exercises. The participation in this event has certainly made me being more active than before and I hope you have had the same experience!

/Pär Jönsson, Head of the ITM School