Author
Now the first period of this academic year has passed and I hope you all consider the courses and examinations within your responsibility as successful.
When it comes to educational issues – at both ITM-school level as well as KTH level – several important things are ongoing:
The first very important, and gratifying, thing is that the President (together with the Vice Dean) of KTH decided to transform the track Industrial technology and sustainability (within CMAST) into a separate master of science in engineering program. This is something that the ITM-school has worked for during a long time and therefore this is very welcome news.
I also hope that all teachers with courses that ends in P1 has seen the information from the canvas project that they this week released a new feature that facilitates performance reporting from Canvas to Ladok. The function is accessed from the left menu in all canvas webpages under the name “Exportera Resultat (BETA)”. If you have any questions about this please contact the Canvas project manager Michael Welin-Berger.
Finally, KTH has decided to implement målrelaterade betygskriterier (target-related grading criterias) on all courses with a graduated grading scale. These målrelaterade betygskriterier are to be introduced to all KTH courses in a step by step model from now on. This means that from HT18 all new courses needs to have målrelaterade betygskriterier, from HT19 all courses that are included in special eligibility needs to have it and from HT20 every course at KTH will have målrelaterade betygskriterier. It is the examiner’s responsibility that the grading criteria is published in the course PM prior to course start, and also that they are available after the course has been completed. If you want to read more about this view document v-2017-0740 at kth.se.
/ Anna Jerbrant, GA
Author
This week KTH will carry out an internal review of the environmental work that is done at ITM, as part of their annually evaluations at all schools. During this review they will discuss many topics as well as meet many people. First, they will discuss how the management of ITM supports the activities with our working environment, including specific groups where we discuss the progress regarding our systematic work focusing on the different part of the environment. They will also review how we work systematically on how to handle waste and to decrease the waste at the departments, handle chemicals, fire hazardous materials, etc. Moreover, how we change our habits to replace travels with web meetings etc. to decrease the impact on the environment. Based on this internal review ITM will make a plan to make improvements to become even better. Remember that all of us as individuals can help to improve the environment by, for example, sort materials instead of throwing them away in the regular trash.
Finally, I wish to say some words about wellness activities to promote your health. You have a description of the wellness activities organized by ITM at the ITM intranet.
In addition, as you all know we are approaching darker days. As the days become shorter and the rain and snow appears we all feel that it becomes more difficult to find the motivation to carry out outdoor activities. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend you to fight that resistance and take a walk to get some fresh air and to catch the few glimpses of sun. When I do it I feel that I get so much energy, which I also hope you do. When it comes to other wellness activities I have given up floorball due to a problem with my knee. Instead, I started weight lifting with my son as the personal trainer. This is not maybe the best choice of trainer, since he enjoys pushing his father to lift heavier and heavier weights!
/Pär Jönsson, Vice Dean of School
Author
So, now the semester has started and all the P1 courses is up and running. When it comes to our teaching and programs several important things are ongoing at KTH. We have all begun to use Canvas as our new LMS system, and even though the implementation of Canvas has been smooth using it extensively in our teaching has unfolded both its benefits and drawbacks. Overall I have talked to a lot of teachers that are satisfied with the functions in Canvas, but of course several of us has discovered a lot of “childhood deceases”. Hopefully these will be corrected as soon as possible.
Also, I hope everyone knows that new rules for written exams will be introduced with exam period 1, H17. Information to the students about the new rules is posted on the web:
https://www.kth.se/student
https://www.kth.se/en/student
And yesterday, on the 21st of September an e-mail has been sent to all students at KTH (about 12 000) regarding the new rules. But, since all teachers probably will receive a lot of questions regarding this it’s important that you all have good knowledge of the new rules.
Finally, I just want to give you a brief summary of the interesting discussions that I took part in this Wednesday. KTHs new vice president Anna Wahl and Nationella sekreteriatet för genusforskning arranged a conference day where the focus was to discuss the importance of equlity integration in higher education. Representatives from more than 20 different universities participated in the conference and shared knowledge and experience on f.i. how to enhance gender and equality issues in both teaching, communication, recruitment activities as well as the management systems. Very interesting!
/ Anna Jerbrant, GA
Author
This is my first blog after the vacation, which by the way was great! I had a 3 weeks road trip in the north western part of the US, to see the red woods, Lake Tahoe, national parks and deserts. However, since the return from vacation I have already been involved in interviews to hire new faculty, been at an international conference in Qingdao in China, and started to teach two courses. Thus, working lite has returned to a normal state!
This fall, ITM is preparing a number of new faculty positions. The department of energy is seeking an assistant professor in integrated system analyses focusing on sustainable energy, the materials science and engineering department is hiring an assistant professor in materials science with a focus on mechanical properties of metals, and the department of industrial production is seeking a professor in cybernetic production systems. Meanwhile, recruitments of the positions advertised before the summer is ongoing. Me and Anton will keep you updated.
I also wish to mention some things about the environment and safety work. Our systematic work focusing on the working environment for the personnel and the students is ongoing. As we have explained in earlier blogs ITM has appointed the following experts to lead the work in their respective area of expertise:
They have their meetings with their groups, where each department has a representant. Currently, they are planning for an internal environmental revision and to discuss how environmental issues at ITM can be improved.
On October 17, we will have an internal environmental revision at the ITM school. Allpeople involved are currently being informed.
Finally, I hope that you have a stimulating and exciting start of the fall at work. However, do not forget to enjoy the coming of the fall with its beautiful colors as well as abundance of mushrooms and berries in the forests!
Pär Jönsson, Vice Dean
Author
The work on this year’s salary reviews is in full swing. In the course of the process, we will consistently send information to all of the managers at the school to ensure that everyone gets the same information.
The timetable for this work is presented below. If you have questions, contact ITM’s HR Manager, Anna Thöresson Berg, atb@kth.se.
Regler och riktlinjer för lönesättning vid KTH
Regulations and guidelines for salary level setting at KTH
If everything proceeds according to plan, disbursements should be made on 23 December 2017!
Timetable
| When What |
| By 31 May 2017 |
Joint/separate information |
| 1-30 June 2017 |
Identify what is included in the review |
| 13 June 2017 |
Training session for managers setting salaries |
| 7-14 Aug 2017 |
Entry of salary data in the salary review module |
| 15 Aug-15 Sept 2017 |
Info meeting on salary process at workplace/dept. meeting |
| 1-30 Sept 2017 |
Salary discussions under way |
| 1-31 Oct 2017 |
Salary setting talks Saco-S |
| 1-31 Oct 2017 |
Negotiations with OFR/S (ST) and SEKO |
| 1-30 Nov 2017 |
Negotiations Saco-S, non-agreed salary talks |
| 1 Nov-15 Dec 2017 |
Feedback new salary |
| 23 Dec 2017 |
Disbursements of new salary |
/Christina Carlsson, Head of administration
