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More studies from home

Mer hemmaplugg

Så ser de kommande veckorna ut för KTH:s studenter, efter FHM:s senaste rekommendationer. Men hur blir det med vårens undervisning och examinationer? 

Nu har vi genomfört en stor del av höstterminen och examinationen i period ett är precis avslutad, vilket haft sina utmaningar på grund av den pågående pandemin. Själv har jag för första gången testat dels att föreläsa både i klassrum och på zoom på samma gång, samt att genomföra kontrollskrivningar med hjälp av obevakade quizzar i canvas (essäfrågor). Det har varit otroligt lärorikt, stimulerande, frustrerande och roligt. 🙂

Inför kommande undervisningen finns det två väldigt aktuella frågor, dels hur undervisningen påverkas av de nya riktlinjerna som FHM kom med den 29/10 och dels hur vi tror att vårterminens undervisning kan genomföras. När det gäller den första frågan så specificerades på dagens grundutbildningsutskottsmöte att den största skillnaden i och med  de förändrade riktlinjerna är att de studenter som inte har schemalagd undervisning på campus uppmanas att sitta hemma och plugga i stället för att åka in till campus.

Vad gäller vårterminens undervisning genomförs kurserna i alla programmens årskurser digitalt kombinerat med schemalagda träffar på campus. I så stor utsträckning som möjligt ska följaktligen alla studenter få möjlighet att fysiskt möta lärare och andra studenter i kurserna. Den del av undervisningen som är campusförlagd ska främst bestå av praktiska moment såsom laborationer, handledd undervisning eller undervisning med tydligt behov av interaktion mellan student och lärare eller mellan studenter.

Aktuell information på KTH:s hemsida om covid-19.

Det sker också mycket spännande och intressant strategisk utbildningsutveckling på KTH och för alla oss anställda finns det ju många möjligheter att delta i nätverkande kring olika frågor som berör utbildning på grund-, avancerad- och forskarnivå. Under läsperioderna sedan covid-19-pandemin nådde Sverige har KTH:s nätverks- och storträffar genomförts via zoom, vilket möjliggjort ökat deltagande, och till stora delar fokuserats på erfarenhetsutbyten om digitalisering av utbildningen. Om du är intresserad av en beskrivning av de olika arenorna kan du läsa mer om det här:

Arenor för pedagogisk utveckling och nätverkande

Emellertid vill jag särskilt marknadsföra möjligheten för alla oss anställda att delta i kommande Storträff. Någon gång per termin bjuder vicerektor för utbildning in utbildningsledare, övrig personal och studeranderepresentanter till storträffar som tar upp aktuella och prioriterade frågor för KTH:s utbildningar. Upplägget är främst i rundabordsformat där man kan välja på flera olika teman att nätverka och diskutera kring. Datum för höstens storträff är preliminärt satt till eftermiddagen den 3 december 2020. Delta gärna i den! Vårens digitala storträff blev en succé vad gäller antalet deltagare och totalt genomfördes 39 diskussionsrundor med olika ämnen som rör utbildning och utbildningsutveckling.

Virtuell storträff storsuccé

En annan rolig möjlighet att nätverka är genom att komma till PriU-gruppernas möten. PriU är kollegiala grupper öppna för alla anställda med fokuserad diskussion kring olika teman. I förra veckan deltog jag i det första uppstartsmötet för en ny PriU-grupp som ska fokusera på vilka olika examinationsformer vi ser i och med den utbildningsutveckling som digitalisering medför.

I och med det vill jag också påminna om att perioden för inlämning av bidrag till KTH:s fjärde Scholarship of Teaching and Learning-konferens snart stänger. Konferensen äger rum den 10 mars, 2021 och perioden för submission är mellan 21 september och 20 november, 2020. (Obs! Fullständigt paper krävs inte för denna konferens). Huvudtemat för konferensen är Learning Spaces: de fysiska, virtuella och sociala rum för lärande som du eller andra har skapat och deltagit i. Konferensen bjuder på gästföreläsare, rundabordsdiskussioner, workshops, postersession och presentationer.

KTH SoTL 2021 – Learning Spaces

Avslutningsvis hoppas jag att ni läser rektors och vicerektorernas bloggar, eftersom dessa ger en bra överblick över vad som händer på KTH. Den blogg som skrivs av vicerektor för utbildning fokuserar på både möjligheter och utmaningar, i alla KTH:s utbildningar, från behörighetsgivande, grund-, avancerad och forskarnivå till det livslånga lärandet.

Blogg av Vicerektor för utbildning

/ Anna Jerbrant, Vice skolchef och grundutbildningsansvarig

More studies from home

That is the main consequence for KTH students, following the latest recommendations from the The Public Health Agency. What about the spring semester and its teaching and examinations?

We have now completed a large part of the autumn semester and the examination in period one is just over, which had its challenges due to the ongoing pandemic. Personally, I have for the first time tried to lecture both in the room and on zoom at the same time, as well as to carry out partial exam (KS) with the help of unattended quizzes in canvas (essay questions). It has been incredibly educational, stimulating, frustrating and fun. 🙂

Looking ahead, there are two very current issues. One is about how the new guidelines from The Public Health Agency (FHM) on October 29 affect our teaching, and the second is about how we believe that teaching can be conducted this spring. With regard to the first question, the largest difference is that students who do not have scheduled teaching on campus are encouraged to study at home instead of going to campus. This was specified at the meeting in the Education Committee for first and second cycle, earlier this week.

As for the teaching in spring, the courses in all study year’s will be carried out digitally combined with scheduled gatherings on campus. Consequently, all students should, as far as possible, have the opportunity to physically meet teachers and other students in the courses. Teaching located on campus shall mainly consist of practical elements such as lab sessions, supervised teaching or teaching with an obvious need for interaction between student and teacher or between students.

Up-to date information on the KTH website about covid-19

There is also very exciting and interesting strategic educational development at KTH. For all of us there are many opportunities to participate in networking on various issues that affect education at undergraduate, advanced and postgraduate level. During the study periods since the pandemic reached Sweden, KTH networks and “Storträffar” were conducted via zoom, which enabled increased participation, and were largely focused on exchanges of experience on digitization of education. If you are interested in a description of the different arenas, you can read more here:

Arenas for Educational Development and Networking

I would like to market one opportunity specifically: The upcoming “Storträff”. Once per semester, the Vice President for Education invites education leaders, other employees and student representatives to large meetings that address current and prioritized issues for KTH’s educations. The set-up is mainly in round table format where you can choose from several different themes to network and discuss. The date for this autumn’s “Storträff” is tentatively set for the afternoon of December 3, 2020. Feel free to participate in it! This spring’s digital “Storträff” was a success in terms of the number of participants and a total of 39 discussion rounds were conducted with various topics related to education and training development.

Storträff = Stor/Big success

Another fun opportunity to network is by joining the PriU groups’ meetings. PriU are collegial groups open to all employees with a focused discussion on various themes. Last week, I participated in the first start-up meeting for a new PriU group that will focus on the different forms of examination that we see as a result of the educational development that digitalization entails.

With that, I would also like to remind you that the period for submitting to KTH’s fourth Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference will soon close. The conference will take place on March 10, 2021, and the submission period is between September 21 and November 20, 2020. (Note: Full paper is not required for this conference). The main theme of the conference is Learning Spaces: the physical, virtual and social spaces for learning that you or others have created and participated in. The conference offers guest speakers, roundtable discussions, workshops, poster sessions and presentations.

KTH SoTL 2021 – Learning Spaces

Finally, I hope you read the President’s and Vice Presidents’ blogs, as these give a good overview of what is happening at KTH. The blog written by the Vice President for Education focuses on both opportunities and challenges, in all KTH’s educations, from preparatory level, first and second cycle and postgraduate level to lifelong learning.

Blog by Vice President for Education

/ Anna Jerbrant, Deputy Head of School & Director of First and Second Cycle Education

Teachers, time to collaborate

In English further down

Lärare, dags att samverka

Nu är höstterminen igång och vi har klarat av första periodens inledande vecka. Vad gäller grundutbildningen sker det både mycket på grund av den pågående pandemin (se kth.se/aktuellt/covid-19) men det sker också mycket spännande och intressant strategisk utveckling, både för skolans utbildningar och program.

En helt ny utbildning

Så jag vill inleda med att berätta att ITM idag har lanserat vår helt nya förberedande utbildning Tekniskt basår på distans med campusträffar, där studenterna till stora delar ska undervisas på distans och kurserna i programmet ges av Institutionen för hållbar produktionsutveckling på KTH Södertälje. Denna utbildning har initierats och utvecklats till följd av regeringens och KTH:s satsning att utöka mängden platser på våra behörighetsgrundande utbildningar. KTH inrättade därmed två nya program under vårterminen 2020 som tillsammans tar emot fler än 600 nya studenter från och med höstterminen. 320 av dessa platser tillhör ITM:s nya program.

Läs mer i artikeln Rusning till Södertäljes basårsplatser

Träffar och workshops i höst

För er som mer vill diskutera och ventilera allt som händer i KTH:s verksamhet och undervisning just nu så arrangeras också flera öppna nätverksträffar under läsperiod 1. Här finns information om datum och tiden för dessa samt hur ni kan anmäla er till dem:

Dag

Tid

Anmälan

Zoom-länk

4 sept 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/36sf8pmfqbhgqt6i https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/67731204121
9 sept 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/7azan3nwmdkp8x3m https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/64618228207
14 sept 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/chuw59smswtxkdy4 https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/62423812953
9 okt 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/kw9au2btw99ighpv https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/63509864873

Dessutom är det grundutbildningsrelevant att det har det blivit dags att diskutera hur KTH:s nya hållbarhetsmål ska se ut för perioden som följer (år 2021 till 2025). Detta eftersom de nuvarande hållbarhetsmålen snart löper ut. Därmed bjuds anställda, studenter och andra intressenter in till en workshop den 3 september kl.10 – 12, fokuserad på arbetet med att utforma de nya hållbarhetsmålen.

Läs mer och anmäl dig till workshop om hållbarhetsmål

Dessutom ordnar KTH Sustainability Office en workshop den 16/9 klockan 14:30-16:30, där du som lärare möjlighet att träffa externa aktörer som vill bidra till KTH:s utbildningar genom exempelvis gästföreläsningar, projektuppdrag och exjobb. Temat är Samverkan för hållbar utveckling i kurser och exjobb. I år kommer det vara ett extra fokus på klimat och digitalisering, men andra ämnen inom hållbar utveckling kommer också diskuteras. Anmälan senast den 9 september:

Läs mer och anmäl dig till workshop om samverkan i kurser och exjobb

Avslutningsvis kan vi alla börja se fram emot KTH:s fjärde Scholarship oTeaching and Learning-konferens, som hålls 10 mars år 2021. Huvudtemat för konferensen är Learning Spaces: de fysiska, virtuella och sociala rum för lärande som du eller andra har skapat och deltagit i. Konferensen bjuder på gästföreläsare, runda-bordsdiskussioner, workshops, postersession och presentationer på plats och digitalt.

Läs mer och anmäl dig till KTH SoTL 2021 – Learning Spaces

/ Anna Jerbrant, Vice skolchef och Grundutbildningsansvarig

Teachers, make your voice heard

Now, the autumn semester has started and we have managed the first week of the first period. When it comes to First cycle education, a lot is happening due to the ongoing pandemic (see kth.se/aktuellt/covid-19 for updated information), but there are also very exciting and interesting strategic developments in the school’s educations and program.

A new education is born

Therefore, I want to start by telling you that ITM has launched our brand new preparatory education Technical Preparatory Year at a distance with campus meetings, where students will mainly study at a distance and the courses in the programme are given by the Department of Sustainable Production Development at KTH Södertälje. This education has been initiated and developed as a result of the Government’s and KTH’s efforts to increase the number of places in our preporatory educations. KTH thus established two new programmes during the spring semester 2020, which together will receive more than 600 new students from the autumn semester. 320 of these places belong to ITM’s new programme.

Read more in the article Race for Södertälje’s base year sites

Meetings and workshops this autumn

For those of you who want to discuss everything that is happening in KTH’s operation and teaching right now, several open network meetings are also arranged during study period 1.

Here you can find the date and time for these and how you can register for them:

Date

Time

Registration

Zoom link

4 Sept 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/36sf8pmfqbhgqt6i https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/67731204121
9 Sept 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/7azan3nwmdkp8x3m https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/64618228207
14 Sept 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/chuw59smswtxkdy4 https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/62423812953
9 Oct 14.00-16.00 https://doodle.com/poll/kw9au2btw99ighpv https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/63509864873

In addition, it is time to discuss KTH’s new sustainability objectives for 2021 – 2025, which is relevant to first cycle education. The current sustainability objectives expire in December. Thus, employees, students and other stakeholders are invited to a workshop on September 3, 10:00 – 12:00, focused on the work of designing the new sustainability goals.

Read more and register to workshop about sustainability objectives

In addition, the KTH Sustainability Office arranges a matchmaking event on 16/9 at 14: 30-16: 30 where you as a teacher have the opportunity to meet external actors who want to contribute to KTH’s educations through, for example, guest lectures, project assignments and dissertations. The theme is Collaboration for sustainable development in courses and dissertations. This year there will be an extra focus on climate and digitalisation, but other topics in sustainable development will also be discussed. Registration no later than September 9.

Read more and register to the matchmaking event collaboration in courses and dissertations

Finally, we can all start looking forward to KTH’s fourth Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference, which will be on March 10, 2021. The main theme of the conference is Learning Spaces: the physical, virtual and social spaces for learning that you or others have created and participated in. The conference offers guest lecturers, round-table discussions, workshops, poster sessions and presentations on site and digitally.

Read more and register to KTH SoTL 2021 – Learning Spaces

/ Anna Jerbrant, Deputy Head of School and Director of First and Seconf Cycle Education

Ongoing digital working life and current educational events

What happened during the Storträff? What can be said about future learning spaces? And how do we increase quality in education? Anna Jerbrant, Deputy Head of School, focus on future oriented activities and shares some of those with us.

For eight weeks now, we have all executed our work-tasks from home and mainly interacted with each other through Zoom. Even though this in many ways has worked out great, at least I look forward to meet all of my colleagues IRL ☺ But in the meantime I can focus on future oriented activities and share some of those with you.

For instance, last week I attended the yearly dialogue meeting focusing on educational quality. The dean and vice dean of faculty (Anders Forsgren and Sofia Ritzén) managed the meeting and as usual I got the possibility to describe and discuss the strengths and opportunities, as well as weaknesses and threats (quality wise), for all of the ITM school’s educations on 1st and 2nd cycle level. The goal is that these dialogues will lead to increased quality and long-term improvements for all our educations.

Another very interesting and future oriented activity was this week’s Storträff, which I hope a majority of you could participate in. Storträffen is something that occurs once every semester, were the vice-president for education invites teachers, educational leaders, other staff and student representatives to a meeting that raises current and prioritized issues for KTH’s education. Yesterday we both got to listen to the thoughts and reflections from the president as well as the vice-presidents. We also had three discussion sessions in breakout-rooms focused on different important subjects, for instance examination on a distance (both supervised and unsupervised), how to help students avoid plagiarism, connections to professional practice and engagement with external actors in education, sustainable development and education, a follow-up of the implementation of goal-oriented grading criteria’s and so on.

Major parts of the meeting were recorded and will probably be published here: www.kth.se/social/group/prioriterade-fragor-/

The next Storträff will be held on December 3rd 2020.

Finally, I would like to promote that KTH is arranging the fourth SoTL conference for its faculty on 10 March 2021. The KTH Scholarship of Learning conference is aimed at all teaching staff, all pedagogical leaders, all levels of management and educational administration staff at KTH. The main theme of the 2021 conference is Learning Spaces: the physical, virtual and social rooms or arenas for learning that you and/or others have created and acted in. The conference will take place at Campus KTH, at Valhallavägen in Stockholm and you can find more information here: https://intra.kth.se/utbildning/utveckling-och-hogskolepedagogik/kth-sotl/conference-kth

So, let us all plan for participating and submit papers where we describe all the knowledge that we have gained during this spring semester!

/ Anna Jerbrant, Deputy Head of School

Overnight transformation to online education

I hope you are all healthy and still feel connected to KTH in these strange times when we’re all forced to work so much remotely from home. Since KTH of course gives priority to ensure that our students can complete their education (at the same time as we all work to reduce the spread of the covid-19 virus) studies and exams will take place remotely for the rest of the semester. This means that we must plan for alternative teaching and examination forms (and also make sure to attest invoices the same day they arrive to help our sub-contractors). You have all struggled extensively to execute all P4 courses by the help of digital tools and I am deeply impressed of the amazing result that ITM’s teachers has accomplished.

Personally my working days are filled with different investigations into the plethora of educational challenges that has arisen, as well as discussions and decisions in the multitude of meetings that the Committee for First and Second Cycle Education executes. The issues we discuss and then decide upon are presented here.

A page I hope both students are employees visit regularly.

Now the first major test of digital examination will come up during the re-exam period 14-17th of April. It will be an exciting and interesting time and I have the same challenges as many of you since I’m conducting a re-exam of my P3 course. So if you, like me, are trying to figure out the best way to design your digital re-exam please check out these useful pages (in Swedish).

And don’t miss out on the useful Lunch-n-learn seminars that are given every day this week through Zoom! Both coming and previous seminars are available here.

Finally I want to take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy Easter with lots of rest and good food.

Anna Jerbrant, Deputy Head of School

Celebrating 200 years of education in Materials Science and Engineering!

Dear all,

This time I wish to tell you about the importance of 2019 for MSE, ITM and KTH. We celebrate that it is now 200 years since the King Karl XIV Johan laid the foundation for higher technical education in Sweden through the decision to establish Bergsskolan in Falun. This was later moved to Stockholm and became part of KTH. The first Professor in 1819 was Gabriel Sefström and he represents the first among many Professors related to the current MSE department.

The Department Head Annika Borgenstam and her co-workers at MSE have organized a conference to celebrate this jubilee, which will take place during June 17 and 18. The first day is devoted to the education in materials science and engineering. Here, both our President Sigbritt Karlsson as well as Annika Borgenstam will give opening speeches. Thereafter, the Director General of Swedish Council for Higher Education Karin Röding will talk about higher education in Sweden. Among the other speakers I wish to especially mention Professor Greg Olsson from Northwestern University, USA. He will present his views on Materials design: research and education – past experiences and future development.

The second day will be devoted to research. The focus will be on future research areas and the presentations are:

  • Modelling of new alloys
  • Process technology for reduced environmental impact
  • Circular economy
  • Additive manufacturing – materials and applications

The second day is also organized in collaboration with and sponsored by the KTH Materials Platform. Please join us at the conference to celebrate Materials Science and Engineering!

Sign up at here

Pär Jönsson, Vice Dean