Supervision and facilitation of learning

The content of the course

This course addresses the challenges of the role of the supervisor and of the TA:

• Project (co)supervisor for Bachelor's projects and Master's theses
• Teaching assistant (TA) in courses - we see this role as a form of supervision too

The following topics (and more) will be addressed:

• Rules, learning objectives & responsibilities
• Clarifying roles, expectations and boundaries
• Dealing with students’ use of LLMs (e.g. ChatGPT)
• Facilitating students’ learning, thinking and independence
• Students’ contribution to research projects – pros, cons, and challenges
• Collaboration between the PhD-student and their own supervisor or course responsible
• Communication and awareness of diversity, inclusion, and culture

Who is this course for?

From Jan 1st, 2024, this course is mandatory for all PhD-students at DTU.

Exemptions:

The following PhD-students do not have to complete this course:

• PhD-students who have already completed Teaching Lab before Jan 1st, 2024
• PhD-students who were previously exempt from taking the Teaching Lab course when it first became mandatory for all PhD-students
• PhD-students who by Jan 1st, 2024, are in the last year of their PhD can be exempt from taking the course. It is up to their supervisor, department and/or PhD school to make this decision. By Jan 1st, 2025 – or, when the last of them have finished their PhD - this rule will expire

If these PhD-students still want to take this course, they can.

Workload

The course is 1 ECTS = 28 hours, including preparation.

Preparation

Preparation for the course is necessary.
Registered participants will receive information about what to prepare 2-3 weeks before the course.
We recommend that you block two whole days in your calendar for preparation.

When to take this course

We don't recommend is taking this course as early as possible in you PhD journey just to get it over with. The value of the course for you will be greatly reduced if you are not about to take on any of these roles within a month or so - basically, it will be a waste of time and money.

If you have some prior experience facilitating student-centered and active learning (if in doubt, please contact me at kifr@dtu.dk), we still recommend you wait until around the time you need it for your role - but you can take it earlier.

Be aware of the waiting list: This course usually fills up quickly, but you can register for the waiting list. Please let us know if you need to take the course at a specific time, because you have TA'ing - and in particular supervision - coming up soon. If we can, we will give your special priority.

How to pass the course & attendance

In order to pass this course and receive the 1 ECTS, you must attend the full course and participate in all activities. We take participation very seriously, because it's vital to learning. This is why we insist on full attendance. 

Hence, there is no actual exam. If you participate in everything and upload your "Manifesto" by the end of the course (we will explain what that is), you will pass the course.

We recommend you let block your calendar upon registration, and refer to this page if anybody tries to book you for other things during the course. In other words:

Make sure to cancel all other activities demanding your presence during the time of the course. 

If this is not possible, you must cancel your participation in the course and re-register for a later date. In order to avoid paying the cancellation fee you must cancel no later than 14 days before the course.

Payment

Course fee
The course fee is 2.200 Dkr.
All participant must pay for the course. PhD-students are not exempt from this rule.

Before you register: have relevant information ready
When you register, you must enter project number, task number, approver and student ID. You can obtain those from the relevant administrator, or perhaps your Head of Section. Departments are not all organised in the same way, so we can't tell you who has this knowledge. You may have to ask around.
You can find out how to get your student ID on Inside.

Industrial PhDs
If you're an industrial PhD-student - and your company handles your budget - we can send an invoice. Please send CVR/EAN number as well as name and e-mail of the relevant recipient to our course coordinator Rikke Byrsting Jacobsen, ribyr@dtu.dk.

Cancellation + cancellation fee

If you have to cancel your participation in the course, you must let us know earlier than 14 days in advance - otherwise you must pay the full fee.
If you wish to cancel, please contact course coordinator, Rikke Byrsting Jakobsen, ribyr@dtu.dk

This course is not in the course base

- but it does have a course number: 88550.
Please register for the course via the links at the bottom of this page.

Please read everything on this page thoroughly before contacting me - most of the information you need is here.

Best, Kirsten