Teaching development aims for open dialog

The new educational development concept kicked off in January, introducing teacher teams to KTH with the long term goal of creating a practice community for KTH teachers.

“This concept aims to promote an open dialog around learning at KTH,” says Dan Borglund, who was the driver of a pilot project in collaboration with teachers in the department of Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering at the School of Engineering Sciences.

The idea takes a different approach than the usual activities that are designed to inspire and enhance teachers’ engagement.

“In the new model, the development takes its starting point from where teachers find themselves,” Borglund says. “One should be seen in their actual teaching situation, and be able to work from there in interaction with their closest colleagues.”

An important tool in the concept is a new KTH common course evaluation that gives teachers feedback on how students perceive the learning environment in their courses. With the evaluation results as a basis, the teachers participate in a workshop in which they can discuss how the courses can be developed.

But these discussions do not focus on a predetermined teaching method. The basic idea is to start from the needs identified by the teachers in their course analysis.

“The schools’ educational developers will support the teachers in their own motivation to change,” Borglund says. “It is important that teachers find their own way. We should not be cast in the same mold.

“We all have different teaching styles and preferences.”