Newsmail #78, 2023-12-15

Dear all,

This week we have seen a lot of HK presentations in the MMK building. It’s a positive sign to see that so many people show up to watch the demonstrations, try out the various projects and prototypes, and to listen to the student presentations. I note that company representatives are eager to take part in the results, family and friends get a chance to see what our students accomplish. I also note that our students celebrate properly, and get celebrated, for wrapping up this phase of their studies, but being responsible, there are no signs of any activity in our building the next day. That is a very good sign.

On Wednesday we celebrated Claes Tisell and Martin Törngren who both turned 60 this year. Having been their colleague for almost 30 years, I can only say that MMK is what it is due to colleagues such as Claes and Martin (please connect to above text, we educate really good engineers due to colleagues such as them).

On Wednesday as wel, Prof Arnold Pears, head of the learning department at KTH, visited the MMK Faculty to talk about AI in education. I hope this gave us a wider perspective on the topic. There are no easy answers on how to use AI in education (ask ChatGPT to see for yourself), but we got a lot of ideas for future consideration. Basically, if we have a good teaching process, focus on the learning process rather than the examination aspect, then the question of AI or no AI becomes irrelevant. At least that’s my take.

Yesterday we had a JML seminar in Gladan, about everyday racism among other topics. It caused a lot of thoughts on how we can develop further as an organization. I will come back to this topic, either in the form of a workshop for entire MMK, or unit-based workshops.

Next week we gear up towards the holidays. First our joint dinner on Monday, then I hope colleagues will be able to leave for some well-deserved holiday by the later part of the week.

Best,

Martin