Guidelines for teaching during Covid-19 (spring 2021)

Aarhus University is shut down due to Covid-19. Al teaching activities take place online until further notice. Keep yourself updated at...

On this page, you can find information for teachers at Natural Sciences and Technical Sciences about teaching in the spring semester of 2021. This includes principles, instructions, guidelines, and overviews, as well as inspiration for online teaching.

Inspiration for your online teaching

Inspiration for online teaching

’Teaching Online’ is an online course in Blackboard that provides concrete examples and guides on how online teaching and examinations can be organized at NAT TECH– including independent online study, dialogue, feedback, lectures, small-class teaching, supervision, and more. You follow the course as an independent study, and go through the materials and activities as needed.

Get started now:

Log on to Blackboard as usual
Access the course page via this link
"Enrol" in the lower-left corner

On AU Educate, you can get inspiration for your online teaching (only in Danish at the moment). Read about motivating students online, find suggestions for activities in your teaching, and get technical guides for digitals tools.

Workshops on online teaching

Centre for Educational Development offers workshops on online small class teaching, online lecturing, and teaching online students and on-campus students simultaneously.

Registration for workshops.

Get individual counselling on online teaching by contacting an employee at Centre for Educational Development or by writing to ced@au.dk.

Four models for teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic

On the page, you will find suggestions and guidance on how to successfully manage the conversion from traditional classroom teaching to other forms of teaching and learning formats that comply with the Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s guidelines. You will also find inspiration for Nat and Tech teachers.

Online start of studies

Many factors contribute to a good start at the university for new students. The sense of belonging, both socially and academically, is important for student well-being and retention. Facilitating a good start can be an additional challenge in an online environment.

On AU Educate, you can find inspiration for helping your students to a good start.

Information about teaching in the spring semester 2021

E-mails to teachers about teaching in the spring of 2021

You can also see e-mails sent from AU to employees on AU's site with the latest announcements to employees about the corona situation at AU.

Principles for teaching at Nat and Tech in the spring of 2021

This document describes the principles for how Natural Sciences and Technical Sciences will implement the teaching in the spring semester 2021. The principles are based on the Health Authorities' recommendations and the guidelines for responsible reopening of higher education institutions, which were published by the Ministry of Education and Research on July 2, 2020 (in Danish only). The document should be seen as a continuation of the guidelines from the autumn semester 2020: "Guidelines for planning teaching at NAT and TEK in the autumn semester 2020", of which the three main principles for teaching are as follows (brief outline - the full version can be read here):

The teaching must be completed within the time frame that appears in the course catalogue and the room allocation that is in the schedule planning.
The learning objectives that apply to the course must be met, unless there are unusual circumstances preventing this.
The precise planning of the educational activities in the individual courses can be done freely by the individual course coordinator in consultation with the Head of degree programme/Degree programme director, within the above framework and in accordance with AU's general guidelines.

The Vice-deans for teaching at Nat and Tech have published guidelines for teaching in the spring semester on January 21, based on the senior management team's guidelines from January 15, 2021.

Teaching:
As a general rule, all teaching is converted into online teaching until the end of March. Teachers can carry out online teaching from their offices on campus if they are unable to conduct online teaching from home, for example because of childcare, poor internet connection etc. However, this must be handled restrictively, i.e. it can only occur in exceptional cases and must be agreed with the Head of department.

Laboratory teaching:
Laboratory teaching can be carried out on campus on the condition that protective equipment is necessary (mask and protective glasses) and with a heightened awareness of compliance with safety and hygiene. Under these circumstances, the two-metre standing requirement can be set aside. However, laboratory teaching is an exception, which must be handled restrictively. Which specific courses that can carry out laboratory teaching must be agreed with the Head of degree programme and the Head of department. This could, for example, be first year courses, which also have aspects of security teaching, and courses where it is not possible to convert the laboratory teaching to online or theoretical assignments.

Master's thesis students:
Master's thesis students can access campus if they need access to a laboratory, but with a heightened awareness of compliance with hygiene, distance, etc. Attendance on campus must be agreed with the supervisor and the Head of department.

Bachelor's project students on the Bachelor of Engineering Programmes (final project):
Covered by the same rules as Master's thesis students.

Bachelor's project students in general:
Bachelor's project students may not access campus to work on their Bachelor's project as long as the teaching is converted to online teaching.

Registration:
Everyone who has access to campus (teaching staff and students) must be regularly registered by the departments for the sake of any infection detection.

Submission deadlines:
All applicable deadlines for Master's theses and Bachelor's projects are maintained. Exemptions due to lack of access to laboratories are appllied for in the relevant board of studies. Furthermore, refer to AU's information site about corona at AU.

Infection:
Students and staff are strongly encouraged to use the Danish national infection control app: Smittestop.

It is the responsibility of the departments to ensure that the principles for teaching are followed.

In case of suspicion or detection of infection, please refer to the AU's guidelines for this:

Nat and Tech classrooms with capacity estimation

Nat and Tech classrooms with capacity estimation (Excel - in Danish)

Instructions and guidelines

Information sent to the students

Latest e-mails to students (winter 20-21)

From Nat-Tech

E-mail to students about teaching in the spring semester (January 22, 2021)
E-mail to students about AU e-mail at written exams - In English at the bottom (December 18)
E-mail to students about conversion om exams - In English at the bottom (December 16)
E-mail to students - In English at the bottom (December 10)

From AU

Contact

Regarding online teaching

Get individual counselling on online teaching by contacting an employee at Centre for Educational Development (link only in Danish) or by writing to the centre at ced@au.dk.