Talk about Learning in STEM, SoTL and other arenas for educational development at KTH

[Johan] Yes! It is 15:00 Wednesday, 1 March 2023, and it's time for Fikasnack about Future Education at KTH, podcast episode two. This is historic. My name is Johan Flid Fridell, and I work in the IT department. I have my colleague Per with me. Can you say something short, Per? [Per] Yes, I can say that my name is Per Fagrell, and I am a programme coordinator in Future Education at KTH; that will do.

[Johan] That will do. We also have our first guest on the podcast. Don't feel any pressure Anna-Karin. Hello and welcome! [Anna-Karin] Many thanks for letting me join! [Johan] Can you say a few short words about who you are and what you work with at KTH? [Anna-Karin] Yes, my name is Anna-Karin Högfeldt, and I have worked with higher education pedagogical development here at KTH since 2006 in slightly different forms, organised in slightly different ways. Now I am in the Department of Learning, which is at the ITM school, and there I am now the head of one of the divisions within the department called Learning in STEM.

[Johan] For listeners who may not work at KTH, STEM is just short because it is an accepted term, but what falls under STEM? [Anna-Karin] Yes, exactly. That is an international term for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, so the focus is on didactics and pedagogy and university pedagogy that concerns engineering education but also technology education for children and young people and also for adults in lifelong learning.

[Johan] Yes, and you are a newly appointed head of the division; congratulations, I must say, both to you and to the department. I had the privilege of working with you once upon a time. How does it feel, new to the job in that role? [Anna-Karin] It's super fun! We have an employee interview period now at KTH, so I get the chance to get in-depth with all employees in a completely different way than I had before as a colleague. And, of course, also get an insight into what a fantastic business we still have and many ideas on how we can take it further forward, with an emphasis on the education of the future, of course.

[Johan] Yes, and it is the Future Education at KTH that is the reason why we have this podcast. It is a development programme at KTH which has been decided to run from 2023 to 2027, and I and Per work in slightly different capacities on the programme. I'm still very new and still learning what it's all about, so Per will have to correct me and explain and clarify from time to time. [Per] I've been working on it for a few weeks now...[Laughter]

[Johan] You are also immensely more capable! We work together in this and with this podcast; for those who are new, we don't have a very clear script, but we have said that we are some colleagues who hook up, have a cup of coffee, and then we talk about something that relates to the future of education in some capacity. And our goal is to make this a co-creative process where KTH together does things that are connected to the programme in some different ways, but above all, around education today and in the future in general.

[Johan] We have a number of these here, and you have been working on this since 2006, Anna-Karin, but we have several arenas or forums where pedagogical development takes place at KTH, and one of these will take place soon. But I thought before we start it, we have the big meeting, or "Storträffen", that takes place twice a year, and then we have PriU groups connected to it. Could you tell us a bit about what it is and what it means for a teacher at KTH if you are perhaps new here?

[Anna-Karin] Yes, but absolutely! Storträffen has its background in previous meeting places where there was a need to gather around - the Swedish Higher Education Agency is evaluating. Now all school heads and primary education managers, perhaps programme managers and the like, get together and analyse what feedback we have received and try to take things further based on that.

And then, based on that, a frustration arose about how we move on, who does what? When will we meet again? The fact that it came like this felt ill-thought-out and planned, and many desired to be seen more continuously around these issues. So it was actually during what should we say, former President Peter Gudmundson's flag and Per Berglund, as Dean, said that it is becoming more established that we can arrange - we can help from Learning, as it is called now, but it wasn't called that then: Learning Lab and Higher Education Pedagogy. We would be happy to help arrange this continuously.

And it got the name Storträffen a bit spontaneously as the Storträffen has, in a way, developed quite agile and spontaneously. And we said that maybe we should have it once a year, but then many in the management said that no, once a semester would be reasonable for us to gather like this. You should still be able to expect that we do and have a common plan going forward but gradually over the years - and we have done follow-up research and evaluated this, so we have understood that we need to invite more different kinds of roles and actors. It can't just be managers or programme managers because we need to have a dialogue directly with operational support, study advisors, with students. So for each semester, it has opened up gradually, and from 2018, it was decided that everyone with a KTH ID is welcome at the Storträffen

[Per] What does that mean, then? How many will then come? [Anna-Karin] Yes, when it comes to students, it's the case that most people don't really see their role in that and how they should make time for it. So then it has usually become that it is student representatives. [Per] I mean overall with teachers and all. [Anna- Karin] How many are coming? [Per] Yes. How big will it be? How big is a blockbuster?

[Anna-Karin] Yes, during the pandemic, it was mega big because then we were also in Zoom, so there were no restrictions with premises, and it was very easy to click in, and it solved a lot of the loneliness and all the questions that people had then. Then we were talking about three or four hundred people sometimes when it was a re-examination period. But now it has grown physically also from 60 then when we were the leaders to now about 270–300 last Storträff. So now it is the premises that are the limitation now.

[Per] Good development! [Johan] It's a cool development to see and must also feel fun because you are some who have toiled who have been zealots for a long time, and make sure that you make a difference. [Johan] It must feel fun. [Anna-Karin] It has mainly been a committed GA group, I would say. There were ten of us before, and now there have been five at KTH when we restructured.

[Anna-Karin] I would say that a lot has been in their drive also to create these PriU groups that you mentioned, where you take on different discussions between these larger meetings so that you don't repeat the same things over and over again. You may never be able to get rid of that feeling completely. Still, we try to make it become progression and action even between the Storträffar in specific themes if it is about sustainable development or gender equality or the like.

[Johan] Because they are the PriU groups, they live between the meetings, so that is where the continuity is. Then you take - there are several such groups. Approximately how many PriU groups work thematically between these meetings? [Anna-Karin] As most active? Maybe a handful, a little more than half a dozen something, that is active with booked meetings and groups that come more continuously and contribute and lift things, but still, they will then come to the Board of Education as well. That is the kind of connection we have made so far, then in our current organisation.

After all, such things are constantly under development. What should a major event look like connected to that organisation? As I said, we have been to ten schools, now five. We will see a future with a new type of governance and management, and then we will re-direct it so that it suits that management as long as it wants this type of activity.

[Johan] Yes, we are trying in this podcast to map all the possible activities that take place at KTH and how it connects in different ways to the development programme, but also how it is available to KTH employees or teachers. Where do I turn if I'm sitting in limbo while working on my course? Then they can turn to you. I think we have a rather large event going on right now, and then I am talking about SoTL, which relates to this. But it is a conference shared between three universities these days. Can you tell us a bit about it? Have you been involved in that too? Because it's the fifth time now that it's been running, right?

[Anna-Karin] Yes, it should be the fifth time, and SoTL stands for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and it can be a strange term. But we still wanted to emphasize that there is an international concept where teachers and other university actors develop and evaluate their teaching or their education, present various results, and share them with others to build a more research-related educational development - a scientificity in it. And that's what SoTL stands for.

And then there was Peter Gudmundson, President at the time, and Deputy President Eva Malmström, who wanted KTH to have this type of conference as well. So it was a way to also mark to the outside world that we are also on the track and doing this kind of work. [Pause in the sound] And we were then tasked, in the form that is now Lärande*, to participate and arrange this, which is like a conference that is internal to KTH and will invite teachers to evaluate various development work in their courses or programmes. But it is also open to students and staff to do different studies or join different projects.

[Johan] If you haven't heard of any conferences and only heard about them today, can you register? Because it starts on 7 March. That's in six days. [Anna-Karin] Absolutely, There will be no end to it. Maybe you can't come in with a contribution yourself, then. But you can prepare for the next time. This conference is supposed to be a little bigger and has some time in between so that there can be a good weight in the projects, so it takes place every other year in March around then.

[Per] Do you know how many are registered this year? [Anna-Karin] I think it's around 140,150, so it's a record, too, so it's great to see it's growing. But there will be more now after this. [Johan] Yes, yes! It will grow exponentially. [Anna-Karin] I think - excuse me, maybe I interrupted you.[Johan] Yes, that's good; go on!

[Anna-Karin] I think it's something that you shouldn't miss, and that's what we always hear at these meets, the Storträffar and also at SoTL when you've been there "Well, is this what's happening? Did you do this? Why didn't I know?" and this is where you want to be involved. Here are those who care and who think it's fun to talk about teaching and education, and who make it an important thing. Here...you show how you can work professionally as a teacher at a technical university that is internationally highly ranked. Because this is what applies much more and more in the outside world as well, and yes, it can be a perfect way to include this in your CV and make a promising career ahead."  

*Departmen of Learning in Engineering Sciences (LES)

[Johan] I have been talking to you, Anna-Karin and others in your department. What role can ITM/Learning and the teachers specifically play in the programme Future Education at KTH? What do you see in front of you?

[Anna-Karin] On the one hand, I think it's stimulating that there will be and - or already are - announced project funds because I believe it's a way to get the machinery spinning, even if we are the people we are. We may not be able to release that much, but still. I believe in that idea, at least to begin with. And there, I think the arenas can be an important meeting place for different projects, finding collaboration partners across borders as much as possible because that is the strength of our networks. The PA network and the SR (Directors of Studies) network includes everyone in it and is a meeting with everyone, and you might use the fall meeting to brainstorm ideas. You then apply, maybe get one granted early next year, and at the next big event, report what you have done so far. I hope we are in the swing of it. 

Then I also hope that we can join forces and be involved in making research connections to make bigger ones, such as reviews and the like. After all, we have research expertise, PhD students, CL students who can do ex-jobs in this field, and established lecturers and the like who can also take on different assignments. We want to become even more linked to KTH's development and contribute to it. 

[Per] But what you have also I find interesting, Anna-Karin; there is, after all, a university education course called Leading the Development of Education. [Anna-Karin] Yes! [Per] It almost sounds deceptively good to be connected to Future Education at KTH. [Anna-Karin] We are very happy that we are launching a new revised version that will run in the fall under the leadership of Marie Magnell and Anders Rosén. Its development also takes place in collaboration with the programme management of Future Education at KTH. [Per] How big is that course, do you know? [Anna-Karin] It is three credits; you can count it into your 15 credits or, of course, more credits if you want to take it. It is called LH217V. Just google it together with KTH and LH217V, and you'll find it - you can then sign up for it now or very soon. I think the entry form may not have been published for that particular one, but I will do so this week.

[Per] But that course has been held before; I know that because it is the only course I have attended and lectured on. [Anna-Karin] Exactly! Is that the only one you've lectured on? Then I know we'll take you in on more. [Laughter] [Johan] Ouch! [Mixed small talk, not intelligible] [Anna-Karin] But we try to make sure that our courses are project-oriented and in tune with where we are going together anyway and that it is a way to problematise it, dive deep into it and take the opportunity to develop something when you take the courses. We have several participants who go to LH217V repeatedly because it has developed over the years, which is also a positive sign. If you are a former PA and have already taken the course but can see this as a time for you to still get things done and have a team around you, you are welcome to sign up again. 

[Johan] For those who listen afterwards: unfortunately, I'm having bad luck with the internet here in the IT department, so I froze there for a little while. That probably froze the recording as well. What you were talking about - how SoTL and Future Education at KTH are connected. That's what you talked about when my client was a little disconnected. There may be a small gap, but I'll add a small explanatory comment. That's how it is when we run with Zoom, things like that can happen. 

But it's great fun to hear all that is going on at KTH, has been going on for many years under your and others' leadership, Anna-Karin, and how it sort of converges somewhere towards these principles and how we take care of this, how we cause this to sort of become cooperating forces. Something that strikes me a thought - we could come back to SoTL after it's done and see a little bit of what came out there. What were the hot spots and such? We will all be there, of course, and we can try to summarise. But it would be great fun to not only find out that it will now take place but also what came up there and what the atmosphere was like and so on. We might have a reason to lure you back to our Zoom fika here. 

[Anna-Karin] Very exciting! And it's great that you bring up the issue of having an interactive, almost "white sheet" like this that invites idea-building and dialogue going forward. [Per] I think that is very important! We have these 13 principles as a guide, but there is a minimal definition of what they actually mean. Now it's a step to take together - but what is this about? We hope that it excites the entire educational field, but it must be filled with content, and only we teachers and administrators can do that - we are the ones who must fill it and make something out of it.

[Johan] And our podcast is also a way to talk about things we find and with people who have things to say. But also a place where you can put forward suggestions, opinions, points of view and such as we become a little more upbeat and established. So we hope it will be a living pulse that can somehow, as we said in the first episode, become a living document or a way to document where we stand, a progression as well.

[Johan] Time goes by very quickly if you're having fun, and now is our time - we usually say 15 minutes would be desirable, and it never happens. Then is our second - like this, after 30 minutes, we'll try to take a break. Thank you so much, Anna-Karin, for taking the time to talk with us and for everything you and your colleagues do in this area.

And see you in a week, live! In the following podcast, now there will be cliffhangers like this, so people can't do anything but note March 15, then we will be guested by Tomas Ekholm, who has been awarded KTH's pedagogical prize in 2022, and we will talk to him a little about his thoughts and ideas in the field.

We record these podcasts, which can be found on Spotify, Youtube and others, and links to them can be found on Future Education on KTH's pages. How do you get there? Well, then you go to intra.kth.se/framtidensutbildning , and you find things there. Podcasts but, of course, also the live documentation of the programme.

[Per] And when is the next podcast? [Johan] It is March 15. It's in two weeks. We will run every other Wednesday, 15 to 15:30 and do so continuously. Do you have suggestions or thoughts? The same for you, Anna-Karin. You can let us know if you have someone who should join in and say something or something we should address. And how do you tell us? You write to the framtiden@kth.se, and that message reaches not only me but several people who can do something with those thoughts. It doesn't have to be podcast suggestions, but it can be things that relate to the programme in general as well, of course. Tips, views, ideas. Don't hesitate to share! It is now about us all being co-creators and making things into something that is even better.

 [Anna-Karin and Per talking at the same time] [Anna-Karin] I just want to tell everyone to get involved and contribute to SoTL or storträffar. [Per] I hope to meet as many people as possible at SoTL next week. I think Anna-Karin thinks the same. [Anna-Karin] Yes! [Per] And Johan too. [Johan] Yes! That we look forward to. Next time I will have a better internet connection. But that's it! We learn something every time. Many thanks, Per and Anna-Karin, for joining us! See you in the future! [Anna-Karin] We will! Thanks so much! [Per] Thank you, bye-bye!