Professional and administrative staff should use the channels listed below to communicate with students. It is important for students to know where they can find official information from NTNU, regardless of the study program they take.

Norsk versjon: Offisielle kommunikasjonskanaler mellom NTNU og studentene

The Pro-Rector for Education has provided the following recommendations effective 1.4.2020.

Teaching - Blackboard

We mainly use Blackboard for all communication that is directly related to teaching and instruction in a specific subject. Exceptions can be made for instructors to use an alternative channel if this is an already well-established practice.

Managing studies – Innsida

Innsida is where students should expect to find all messages, guidance and links to the tools and services they need to manage their studies.

Messages:

• Information that applies to all students should be posted in the message channel "All students".
• Information for students at NTNU’s different cities should be posted in the message channels "Student in Gjøvik", "Student in Ålesund" or "Student in Trondheim".
• Each study programme should have its own message channel on Innsida.
• Information for staff will be published on the channel for the appropriate organizational group, such as faculty or department.

We recommend using the messaging system on Innsida, because the information is stored in one place, and which makes it easy for the students to comment and ask questions in the comment field.

You can also edit a message after you publish it if you need to correct it, which is something you can’t do with an email.

Make sure to clearly inform your students where they can find information from NTNU, and use these channels consistently. Remind them of their obligation to keep themselves up to date as well.

Note: Some units have started using Blackboard Organizations for communication on matters not directly related to the specific course the students are taking. Blackboard Organizations allows employees to send messages to all students at one department or a faculty. This practice is acceptable since the students are well acquainted with this channel.

When should you choose Innsida as your communication channel?

Use the decision tree pictured here to decide:

• Q: Is the information for all students at NTNU?
  • A: The information should be published on the “All students” channel if it is news. If the information isn’t news, but static information, it should be published on an information page on Innsida (information in Norwegian).
• Q: Is the information to all students at one geographic location?
  • A: Use “City channel”.
• Q: Is the information for students in one study programme?
  • A: Information should be published on the study programme channel on Innsida.
• Q: Is the information for students taking a specific subject?
  • A: The information should be published on the Blackboard subject page.

Tip: When you have published information where it belongs, it’s OK to share the link or source on other channels (information in Norwegian), such as on social media or via email. You should always consider information security and privacy issues before you do this, however.

Guidance and services

Innsida is the place where students will find official guidelines and links to services that they will use in their studies, such as information about studying abroad, library services, and accommodation for students with special needs for studies and examinations.

Innsida also contains links to different services, such as Studentweb, the Software portal, Office package and Program Farm.

Innsida also contains information on guidelines from faculties and departments. All of Innsida’s guidance and services are openly available and therefore easily searchable via Google.

Support

In the spring of 2020, NTNU Help will be phased in as the support centre for students (and staff). Many of NTNU's employees have already begun to use this tool to solve problems.

Students can submit questions via NTNU Help about anything related to IT, library, accommodations for special needs, exams, etc. This system allows us to protect individual privacy and security, and also means that students don’t have to look for the right contact point to get help.

The service is being built up now. More information will be provided as it is available.

Email

The following are instructions from NTNU regarding use of email for communicating with students.

One to one and one to a few

Email can be great for communicating with students when it comes to one to one communications, or one to few. It is important here to consider issues related to privacy and information security before using email as a communication channel.

 Also, keep in mind that information sent via email cannot be changed, so consider making reference in the email to information that is online (such as Innsida) as much as possible, rather than copying the content into the email. 

Do not send mass mailings

Do not send mass mailings to students, whether via FS or to mailing lists because:

• Email addresses for students in FS have not necessarily been checked and may not be correct.
• Larger mailing are queued, leading to cutting, delays and increased load on NTNU's critical infrastructure.
• Email can be a major source of misinformation, especially during times when information is changing rapidly.
• Overuse of email can create an expectation on the part of students that they will be sent emails every time they need to know about something important.

Exceptions: 

• When there is a need to send particularly important messages in a crisis situation, the central emergency management team at the NTNU level can use mass mailings. The faculties can, in collaboration with NTNU IT, be given the opportunity to send a mass mailing to ensure secure messaging of the best possible nature.  
• Mass mailings can be used for controlled mailings from the rectorate to both staff and students when necessary.

Social media

We do not recommend that social media be used to communicate formal information about NTNU, for security reasons and because we cannot count on or require everyone to use these services.

NTNU has official SoMe channels that are mainly used for sharing information on research, profiling and recruitment. See editorial guidelines for NTNU's social media channels. In an emergency situation, these channels can also be used to reach internal audiences. In these cases, the information must be cleared with the emergency management team before it is posted. 

The following channels (and only these) can be used in an emergency situation: 

• Facebook: NTNU - Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet | Facebook: NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Twitter: @NTNU
• Twitter: @NTNUnorway
• Instagram: NTNU

 All information that is shared on social media must be shared in advance on NTNU's formal channels and should be found there. Social media information should only be used to reinforce messages that have already been made available on more formal communication channels. 

See also

Editorial guidelines for message channels

Channels for information and news

Content and target groups for NTNU's social media channels (information in Norwegian)

Contact  

Blackboard: Contact the Orakel Support Services

Innsida: Contact your unit’s online contact (information in Norwegian)