FAQs

Frequently asked questions for teaching staff

The following is a list of frequently asked questions relating to course planning, delivery, assessment and teaching administration at the School of Informatics more generally.  If you have any question that is not covered below, please contact the ITOand we will expand this list by your item as appropriate.

Induction presentation

The induction presentation provides an informative overview of many aspects of Teaching and Course Delivery. 

Teaching responsibilities

What are my duties as a Course Lecturer?

What other duties are expected as a member of teaching staff?

Who allocates teaching duties and how can I change my duties?

Duties are allocated by the Director of Teaching and the Head of School.  Any requests to change or reduce your teaching load should be directed to them. 

Allocation of Duties web pages.

How do I create or update my course web page?

Please request permission from Computing Support using the online support form.  Web pages are created and updated using CVS, we have a guide to this process, and further help is available.For specific queries please contact Computing Support.

What materials do staff typically publish on the Course Page?

How do I ensure the correct software is available for my course?

Why should I publish materials such as lecture notes online?

It is strongly recommended that course materials are published online ahead of the lecture.  This is a requirement for certain students with Learning Profiles (a list of adjustments specific to a student, issued by the Student Disability Service) and is highly beneficial to students with English as a second language, and therefore is considered best practice for all.

More information on mainstreaming common learning adjustments can be found online:

Mainstreaming Learning Adjustments

 

When should I set the deadline for my practical assignments?

What are the University's semester dates, teaching weeks and exam periods?

Where can I find the teaching timetables?

Where can I find University policies relating to teaching?

Where can I find University regulations relating to assessment?

What are my responsibilities regarding Teaching Quality Assurance?

What data protection guidelines should I be aware of?

 

What is the role of the ITO?

The Informatics Teaching Organisation (ITO) is part of Informatics Student Services, responsible for the operation of all the School's undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes and is the first point of contact for all taught students within the School.

Who can I ask if I need advice about teaching?

The Year Organiser should be your first point of contact, followed by the Director of Teaching.  The Institute for Academic Development also provide further resources and advice related to teaching.

Exam preparation

Where can I find information about exam dates, preparation and marking?

Where can I find information about Programming Exams?

What is the Board of Examiners?  Do I have to attend? Exam Boards meet after each exam diet to approve the course marks and programme awards.  A list of meeting dates and membership is available.  All members should attend their boards, which cannot meet without a quorum present. If you have a good reason for being unable to attend a board, you should contact the convener well in advance. This is particularly important for small boards such as year 1/2 boards.

Projects

What duties do I have as an UG4 project supervisor?

What duties do I have as an MSc project supervisor?

Where can I find information about UG4 projects?

Where can I find information about MSc projects?

How do I propose student projects? The MSc and UG4 project co-ordinator will email teaching staff for project proposals.  Previous submissions can be found here:

UG4: 2014/2015, 2013/2014, 2012/2013, 2011/2012 MSc: 2013/2014, 2012/2013, 2011/2012

What is the marking and moderation process for UG4 projects? Please also follow the link to the staff only pages

What is the marking and moderation process for MSc projects?

Student monitoring and support

What are the university regulations regarding undergraduate attendance? - Regulation 24 and 25

What are the university regulations regarding postgraduate attendance? - Regulation 25 and 26

What specific attendance rules relate to students on a tier-4-visa?

What is the workload of Informatics Students? The workload varies from year to year.  Further information can be found on slides 23 and 24 of the Teaching Induction slides:

What do I have to know about students with learning profiles? Learning profiles are sent by the ITO to relevant members of staff and will contain all the necessary information relating to the adjustments required to meet the needs of that student.  The University Accessible and Inclusion Policy.

Where can I find information about dealing with Special Circumstances? The Student Guide to College Special Circumstances Policy provides a useful overview for staff and students.  The Official University Policy and Overview of SCC procedures provides further information.  The SCC form can be downloaded from College wiki.

What are the school's rules regarding late submissions and extensions?

What are the University's rules regarding plagiarism?

What are the School procedures to deal with plagiarism?

Communication with students

Where can I find information about Undergraduate Induction?

There is an induction page within each years handbook.

Where can I find information about Postgraduate Induction?

Where do students get teaching related information from? The Informatics Teaching Organisation web pages provide useful information for students including Year Handbooks and in the ITO Admin section.

Do I have to offer regular office hours? Regular office hours are encouraged as a useful mechanism to improve student-staff engagement.  If you choose to offer office hours, please ensure these are well advertised.

What is the mechanism for student-staff engagement outside class? Staff should be responsive to email, use class mailing lists for announcements, make sure they provide all relevant information on course web pages. Where this is requested by the Year Organiser, they should attend SSLCs. They should try to contribute to School-wide engagement events where appropriate. They can also think about offering informal ways of interacting with students, both online (e.g. through forums and newsgroups) as in person (e.g. through office hours, an informal chat after the final lecture, a Q&A session before the exam etc).  Please also see the following information regarding Responding to student email

What should I do if a student is asking a question I cannot answer? Direct them to an appropriate member of staff or ask them to contact the ITO.

What do I have to know about feedback and assessment?

What is considered best practice for feedback?

How do I return coursework marks to the ITO?

Where are the coursework marking guidelines?

What is the University Policy for feedback?

What are student reps, SSLC meetings and SSR meetings?

How are student reps chosen?

What is the University complaints procedure?

What is the purpose of course surveys and what do teaching staff have to contribute? - see section on course survey reports

Where can I find the course survey reports?

Where can I find information about the Edinburgh Student Experience Survey?

Where can I find information about National Student Survey?

Where can I find information about Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey?

Where can I find information about summer internships for students?

What are Visiting Undergraduate students? Visiting Undergraduates (VUGs) are non-graduating students earning credit with us.  They are treated similarly to our Undergraduate Students with the exception that Semester 1 VUGs sit their exams in December whilst full year VUGs will sit exams with the main cohort in May.  University of Edinburgh VUG page.

What special rules apply to part time students? Part time MSc students follow a different DPT which allows them to take half the number of courses per year and undertake the dissertation in year 3.  Only very occasionally will there be a part time undergraduate student whose workload will relate to the special circumstances which have allowed them to student part time.

Personal Tutor

What duties do I have as a personal tutor?

Where can I find information relating to my personal tutor role?

What are the start of year briefings for PTs? (secured)

What training opportunities are available for Personal Tutors?

What guidance is available for Personal Tutors?

Teaching facilities

How do I book teaching spaces and check availability? Rooms for lectures and tutorials are booked by the ITO at the start of each Academic Year.  For any subsequent room booking required or to check availability, please contact the ITO.

What AV equipment is available for my lectures?

How do I ensure the correct software is available for my course?

How can I make a request for new software to be added, or existing packages to be updated?

How do I get help from Computing Support?

What is InfBASE?

Courses and degree programmes

Where can I find a list of Informatics Courses?

Where can I find a list of Informatics Degree Programmes?

What is the approval process for new courses and programmes?

What is the typical format of an Informatics course? A standard lecture course normally consists of up to twenty one-hour lectures (two per week for one semester) together with associated coursework and background reading. A few courses may also have tutorials, labs, or a different structure. Most courses have associated assignments, mainly assessed during the course - you will be given assignments to complete by deadlines set by the course lecturer. The relative weightings of the assignments and examination in the final mark for each course are given in the detailed course descriptions. Most of the marks for a course are usually from exams, which may ask questions related to any aspect of that course.

School of Informatics roles and committees

What is the role of the Director of Teaching?

What is the role of the Year Organiser?

What is the role of the Exam Board Convener?

What is the Informatics Teaching Organisation?

Where can I find a description of all teaching-related admin roles?

What is the Board of Studies Committee? (secured)

What is the Recruitment Committee? (secured)

What is the Teaching Committee?