I guess that most of us have an intense focus on two major educational issues right now; concluding period three and designing all the exams that have been ongoing this week and also updating course plans for the next academic year. These updates are significant since from HT19 all courses that are included in special eligibility need to be included.
Changing and updating ITM’s course plans according to KTH’s new regulations regarding intended learning outcomes and grading criteria is considerable work and I’m very grateful for the effort that all colleagues have put into this. But since all of us have not finished the changes yet I also want to send a reminder to those of you that have not been able to submit anything yet. If you want to read more about this, and get some useful ideas, please check out this website here.
I would also like to promote (again) that KTH is arranging the third SoTL Conference at Campus Valhallavägen in Stockholm, 28-29 of March. Read more about the Conference SoTL here.
/ Anna Jerbrant, Director of First and Second Cycle Education
This week I have some new and exciting educational events to tell you about. At first I would like to emphasize that all ITMs teachers will have access to a digital coach for the first six months of 2019.
Jonas Thorén is a media pedagogue, coach and producer that will devote one day a week to help ITMs faculty to design and produce digital teaching material. Jonas can for instance help us with:
Tutorials when recoding video lectures
Tutorials when editing recorded material
Powerpointdesign for e-learning
”Storytelling” and different media formats for e-learning
Access to handbooks, guides and templates for e-learning
And many more things
So, if you’re interested in getting some good ideas on how to digitalize your teaching please contact Jonas at jt3@kth.se
One of the things that Jonas already has helped ITM faculty with is producing three videos focused on gender and equality. The videos were recorded by Charlotte Holgersson, Anna Wahl and Alice Marshall together with Jonas. I’m one of the seminar leaders within the Prosam course and therefore I got to view these excellent videos and then had the pleasure to discuss them with the students (attending their first year in the I-program). Their insights, reflections and suggestions for strategies to create a more inclusive environment was amazing. So, if you want to both get some insights on a useful JML educational element, as well as a good example of what our digital coach can help us create, take a look at the videos by using the following links (but they are in Swedish):
Finally I would like to promote that KTH is arranging the third SoTL conference in March 2019. The conference will take place at KTH, Campus Valhallavägen in Stockholm, 28-29 of March. If you want to know more about the conference please check out this website:
We are in the middle of the semester and our days are filled with teaching and research activities at the same time as the daylight is becoming shorter and shorter. But luckily the advent season is coming up, which means that we are allowed to start hanging up advent candelabra and some Christmas decorations. This is something at least I enjoy very much:).
One of the most important news coming from me as dean of Education is that we are changing the guidelines for how we at the ITM-school should manage the written exams. There will be a school management decision that describes ITMs guidelines for managing written exams as a complement to the KTH exam rules. One of the most important aspects in the decision is that all teachers shall send a digital version of their exams to the studentexpeditions at least three working days before the exam date. This since it’s the studentsexpeditions responsibility to print the exams, make sure all the exam guards get their copies as well as delivering it to the FUNKA unit. This means that the possibility for teachers to print the exam themselves and then deliver it directly to the exam rooms disappear.
In addition we have also reinstate that the studentexpedition sends out an email to all the examinators approximately one week before the exam with the information on how many student that are notified, a room placement list (which shows the rooms that are booked for that specific exam) and a reminder to submit the exam to them no later than three days before the examination date.
Based on this I hope that the preparations and executions of all of our written exams will be improved and more efficient.
Another important educational issue is that ITM has specified the procedure for reporting a disciplinary matter (if we suspect that a student have been cheating). This process has been described in a presentation that I hope have reached all of you! If not please let me know.
One of the most important news coming from me as Dean of Education is that we are changing the guidelines for how we at the ITM-school should manage the written exams. Right now we are preparing a school management decision where Jan Wikander will determine ITMs guidelines for managing written exams as a complement to the KTH exam rules. The decision will be taken later on this autumn and it has been discussed (I hope) in several different groupings (so that you’ve had the possibility to influence it). One of the most important aspects in the decision is that all teachers shall send a digital version of their exams to the studentexpeditions at least three working days before the exam date. This since it’s the studentsexpeditions responsibility to print the exams, make sure all the exam guards get their copies as well as delivering it to the FUNKA unit. This means that the possibility for teachers to print the exam themselves and then deliver it directly to the exam rooms disappear.
And although the decision isn’t formally made yet, it is desirable that we implement this routine right away, for exam period 1.
In addition we are also reinstating the routine that the studentexpedition will send out an email to all the exminators approximately one week before the exam with the information on how many student that are notified, a room placement list (which shows the rooms that are booked for that specific exam) and a reminder to submit the exam to them no later then three days before the examination date.
Besides this other interesting educationally focused things are happening at KTH. The Vice Dean of Education, Per Berglund, welcomes KTH’s staff to four seminars focusing on education and quality:
The second one is on November 12th and is focused on discussing experiences from the work done with the program analysis performed during 2018.
And the third one is on November 27th and are focused on a Higher education excellence program. This since KTH needs to introduce a clear incentive structure to highlight the importance of pedagogy and encourage an excellent educational environment (according to the development plan 2018-2023).
Finally I would like to take the opportunity to market two of ITMs new educational programs. From the fall semester of 2019 we will include both a Masters Programme in Sustainable Production Development (given by the Department Sustainable Production Development located at Campus Södertälje) and our ämneslärarutbildning med inriktning mot teknik, årskurs 7-9. This program gives students an opportunity to work within two professions, as both högstadielärare and högskoleingenjör.
Have a nice week!
/ Anna Jerbrant, Director of First and Second Cycle Education
The autum term of 2018 has started and our P1 courses is up and running, as well as new Ladok. Another administrative news is that KTH this week released a new version of the rules for written examinations (KTHs anvisningar för tentamensregler), that mainly includes these changes (compared to the rules announces a year ago):
Lärare ska rondera i tentasal för att svara på frågor
En giltig ID-handling är ett krav enl det beslut KTH tidigare fattat.
De som inte anmält sig ska överlämna utkrivet kursregistreringsintyg (inte bara visa i t ex mobil).
Insläpp ska ske senast 10 min innan tentan börjar, men att det kan ske tidigare
Good for us all to know 🙂
Another area for discussion right now is pedagogical development by the help of digitalization. So, therefore I also want to inform you that there is resources availabe at Media Production where we all can receive coachning when it comes to developing Flipped Classroom in our courses. If you’re interested in develop your course, or learn more about this, please contact Jonas Thorén (Media Designer & Media Coach)
Finally, I also want to emphasize that KTH arranges the third SoTL (scholarship of Teaching and Learning) conference for the faculty. The conference will take place at KTH, Campus Valhallavägen in Stockholm, and will start in the afternoon March 28 and end in the afternoon on March 29, 2019. Call for abstracts begins on September 10th.
