Course planning

Get an overview

• Read through the course description. The description should be the basis for planning your teaching.
• Read through the previous course description. Follow up on any changes you have been asked to make.
• How to conduct student evaluations of courses.
• Check the previous course documentation on Blackboard. No access? Please contact Orakel Support Services
• Your role in the quality assurance of the course
• Grade statistics from recent years
• Need to make accomodations for the transition from an old course description to a new? Check the study plan where you will find information about transitions.

Planning resources

• How to create a compendium
• Planning syllabus / literature (Norwegian only)
• Make a plan for teaching, practice/compulsory reports and submissions, and publish it on Blackboard.
• Prepare your teaching material and publish it on the course's page on Blackboard.
• Copyright issues for the use of film, text, pictures and sound in teaching.
• Make your lectures accessible for students with disabilities

Get resources

• Announce course schedules and rooms on the Online Course Planner (Emner på nett). Please talk to your study adviser to find out who does this (different departments have different protocols). The schedule and room for the upcoming semester will then be listed on the course's webpage.
• Check to see if you have reserved rooms and computer labs as needed. Your study adviser is your contact point for this.
• Make sure to tell the administration at your department if you need student assistants.
• Plan your academic and administrative work with the course's other teaching staff, if applicable.
• Check your course budget.
• Check to see if audiovisual material is accessible. Please contact the AV services (Norwegian) if you need AV equipment.
• Do you need software?
• What software do students need? Determine if you need to have specific software available to students in  computer labs.
• Do you need to record your courses? (Norwegian) Deadlines: 1 October for spring semester and 1 August for autumn semester.

Inform your students

• Publish your plan for teaching, your syllabus and a message about the first lecture on Blackboard.

First lecture 

• about their responsibilities in the quality assurance of the course
• how to report problems and discrepancies
• about the kinds of questions they can expect you to answer and your preferred method of  communication (email, Blackboard, the course's channel on Innsida). Set up office hours, so your students have a specific time for when you will be in your office and available to answer questions.
• Tip: If you know which questions students are likely to ask, you can write and post an FAQ.

Follow up with student assistants

• Train your assistants and tell them what is expected of them. Set up coordination meetings.
• Give assistants access to the course on Blackboard.
• You can create a message channel on Innsida where you can communicate with your student assistants.
• Your administration will take care of contracts and certificates.

Changes

• If there are unexpected changes in the time/place for your lecture: Inform students via Blackboard, the course channel on Innsida and/or email.
• If there are permanent changes in the time for your class, your room or the number of students, please contact your study adviser.

Student evaluations

• Conduct a student evaluation of the course  – well before the course is completed.
• Exception: Evaluations at the Faculty of Medicine

Safety and skills assessments

• HSE courses: Some courses require students to pass an HSE test before they can use laboratories. The HSE consultant at your division is responsible for this.
• Fire alarm: The course coordinator is responsible for evacuating the lecture room.
• HSE responsibilities during fieldwork.
• Handling threatening student behaviour
• Suitability assessment: Course coordinators/lecturers for the following programmes must evaluate their students' skills: medicine, psychology, practical-pedagogical, vocational education, sign language and interpretation, and 5-year master's in secondary school education.

Applies for all with exception for examinations at the Medical Doctor Programme (Norwegian)

Write and deliver exam questions

• Cover page templates for examination papers. This is how you create the question set in Inspera Assessment.
• Write the examination and a guide for external examiners (in Norwegian) for both regular scheduled and make-up/re-sit examinations. Look at previous examinations to ensure that your examination is not the same as a previous one. Tip: If the course has a "kont" (re-sit examination) you could write this examination at the same time to avoid having to do so later in the year.
• Language for examination question papers.
• Examination question papers must be checked.
• Deadline for delivering/sharing the examination and guide for the external examiner is 7 workdays before the examination.
• For examinations using Inspera Assessment: Remember to clarify with the administrative staff about the test's settings.

Prepare the examination

• Find time, room and date for examinations on the course site.
• If students are required to complete assignments to take the examination - make a list of students who have completed the required coursework. Give this list to the administration at your department at least 9 workdays before the scheduled examination for the course.  
• External examiners: Please check how your department normally handles this - whether you have to suggest external examiners or if this is taken care of by the department.
• Remember to inform the students well about the exam. General information about the exam for students. See also information about home exams in Inspera spring/re-sit examinations 2020.
• Tip: The time, date and room assignment for examinations might be changed. Don't put information about examinations on Itslearning, but post information on the official course webpage.

During the exam 

• Room assigments for written school exams are ready three days prior to the examination date at the latest. For examination room assignments, check the course site under the tab "Examination". The number of candidates are in brackets.
• Availability of teaching staff during examinations.
• Cheating on examinations.
• Errors in the question set – If the course coordinator/teacher discovers an error in the question set after the exam has started, he/she must contact the Examinations Office. The time of the discovery will decide how to handle the error. The Examinations Office and the course coordinator/teacher will consider what message the candidates should get, and ensure that the same information is conveyed to all candidates in every exam room. If the course has a digital exam the Examinations Office/IT Support can send a message to the candidates via Inspera if necessary. The Examinations Office decides, after consulting with the course coordinator/teacher, whether to extend the examination time.

After the exam

• The deadline for submitting grades is 3 weeks after the examination date, unless more time is needed for special reasons. For master's theses, the deadline is 3 months after the thesis has been handed in.
• Grading in Inspera Assessment. 
• Grading scale.
• Make the guide for external examiners available to students. Normally this should be published on Blackboard.
• Tool for plagiarism control.
• Explanation of grades and appeals in Inspera Assessment.
• Tip: While grading examinations, make notes on each one. It will save you some time if you have to explain your grades or respond to an appeal.

Re-sit exams (a.k.a. "kont")

In the case of a changed assessment form in spring semester 2020, the rules for the new assessment form apply.

• Applies to: Courses in siv.ing. and studies that have the codes FY, MA og ST.
• Examinations offered: Week 32–34. The exact date and time will be published on the course site about 15 July.
• Student deadlines: register by 9 July, withdraw by 20 July.
• Information for students about "kont"/re-sitting examinations, including regulations.
• For all other examination-related matters: Follow the checklist for normal examinations above.

Deliver report and finish up

• Writing course reports | About quality assurance of education.
• Deliver your course report digitally to your department's administration.
• Offer students from your reference groups a written verification. Your department will give you printed verifications in Norwegian or English.

Provide feedback

Contact your department administration if you have:

• Any suggestions about things that could be changed the next time the course is offered.
• Have ideas for a new course.

See also: Changing a course.