Information for professors and lecturers regarding courses and examinations in the current winter semester 2020/21

2021-01-24

Dear professors and lecturers,
Dear colleagues,

With regard to the current circumstances, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued extraordinary commitment and your continued confidence, with which you are so actively shaping the current winter semester under special conditions. We would like to take this opportunity to inform you about the conduct of examinations in the winter semester 2020/21.

As you know, despite the current slight decline in the number of cases, the concern and uncertainty about increasing Corona infections remains high, especially due to more contagious mutated variants of the virus. This uncertainty and concern has been raised with us by all status groups in view of the upcoming testing period, also in light of this week´s decisions by the federal and state governments to further tighten Corona measures.

After extensive consultation with the deans, deans of studies, department heads and representatives of the staff council and students, the Presidential Board is urging all professors and lecturers at this time to switch the examinations currently scheduled for February and March 2021 to an online format. The respective deans of studies have already been in contact with you or may still be approaching you in order to be able to make the necessary changes in myStudy in good time before the examination phase. Against this background, the Presidential Board will also introduce a corresponding resolution in the Senate, which will meet on January 27, 2021. We will communicate detailed information about the Senate's resolution directly afterwards.

We are all very aware that this request means a great deal of additional work due to the short-term developments. However, after extensive consideration, we have come to the conclusion that due to the pandemic situation, the infection numbers that remain significantly too high, the current federal and state resolution situation, and everyone's general personal efforts, it is not justifiable to bring larger crowds together on campus at this time.

1) Specifically, we ask all professors and lecturers who have planned face-to-face exams for the winter semester so far to inform the staff of their respective dean's office in which of the following three formats the exam should be conducted:
a) Written exam with immediate online processing time according to the time specification in the subject-specific appendices via examination software PLUS specification of the software used (EvaExam or Moodle online exam),
b) Examination with extended processing time (6-24 hours) with provision of the examination tasks in a Word/pdf file via myStudy or Moodle,
c) Examination with immediate processing time according to the time specification in the subject-specific appendices with provision of the examination tasks in a Word/pdf file via myStudy or Moodle.

2) If you absolutely do not see any possibility to do your exam online, please contact the staff of your respective dean of studies' office.

3) Please note that it is absolutely necessary to give students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the online execution before the start of the examination period, e.g. by taking a mock examination. This applies in particular to the variant a) examination with immediate processing time via examination software. If you do not have the time for a mock exam, we strongly advise against this option. If you decide to use this variant, we recommend Moodle only for people who have already worked with Moodle in their teaching. For all others we recommend EvaExam.

4) For further planning, the team of the Teaching Service is at your disposal in the usual way for the planning of your online exam with hints, materials and support offers: https://www.leuphana.de/en/university/history/teaching/support-tools/digital-platforms-and-tools/online-exams.html

5) For questions regarding examination law, please contact your responsible colleague at the Student Service: https://www.leuphana.de/en/services/student-service.html

We know that this situation once again demands a great deal from all colleagues and students. We would like to thank you - also on behalf of all the deans and deans of studies - for your great commitment to teaching and examinations and thus to the students and their lives.

With kind regards

Sascha Spoun
President

Christian Brei
Executive Vice President

Erich Hoerl
Vice President College

Simone Abels
Vice President Graduate School

Jörg Terhechte
Vice President Professional School

Susanne Leeb
Vice President Research