After designing the learning objectives, assessment and learning activities, you can move on to development: what else needs to be developed and arranged before the course actually starts? Here are some important things to arrange prior to the course.

Aligning content with other subjects and teachers

Coordinate the content of the subject with teachers of other subjects in advance. What place does your subject have in the overall curriculum? What knowledge and skills, related to your course, have students already acquired? And what learning objectives have already been achieved in a previous course that you might be able to build on? See also step 1 “Analyze” from the educational design cycle.

And don’t forget to make agreements with your fellow teachers and student assistants as to who has what role and what tasks everyone takes on.

Examination

Exam scheduling

The organization and scheduling of examinations depends on the type of examination. Examinations can be conducted on paper or digitally in appropriate rooms. In addition, exam watchers can be hired. The course coordinator is responsible for passing on all necessary information for scheduling exams and resits. The program’s Onderwijs- en and Examenreglementen (OER) specify when the date and time of the exam must be set by the latest. Please note that digital tests must be requested on time and the possibilities for digital tests depend on scheduling.

Visit this page on the UvA employee website for more information about exams.

Digital testing

Digital testing has several advantages, such as the use of functionalities not possible in a written exam (such as multimedia), automated review of closed questions and no unclear handwriting. Digital testing applications allow for different question formats, such as multiple choice, sorting, matching, hot spot, fill-in-the-blanks, short answer and open essay questions . In addition, you can use mathematical formulas, code and graphs. Tips on constructing good test questions and the number of questions in a test for reliable results can be found in Step 2 “Constructing” of the test cycle. Don’t forget to also create a test matrix and assessment form for the digital test. See step 2 ‘Design’ for more information.

Contact & information

If you are interested in the possibilities of digital testing, please contact your faculty’s Digital Testing team: assessment-feb@uva.nl. They can provide advice on digital test applications and test formats and support in setting up and requesting a digital test.

But please note that a digital test must be requested on time and the possibilities for digital testing depend on scheduling.

Visit this page on the UvA employee website for more information about digital testing.

AI-proof
Increasingly, students and teachers are using Artificial Intelligence applications in education. These applications offer many possibilities, but can also be a threat to your current testing. It is important to make your testing resistant to unwanted use of AI. More information on this topic can be found on the TLC website.

Setting up digital tools (if necessary)

It is useful to determine in advance which digital tools you will use during the course to achieve the learning objectives. An overview of available tools can be found in the toolbox on the TLC website. Tools for which the UvA does not have a license may not be used in education, because then the privacy and personal data of students cannot be guaranteed (AVG). On this page on the UvA employee website you will find more information about processing personal data.

For questions and advice on the use of digital tools, you can always contact the Teaching & Learning Centre (TLC) and/or the ICTO employee(s) of your faculty:

TLC FNWI: TLC-EB@UvA.nl
ICTO FNWI (Datanose): icto-feb@uva.nl

Setting up Canvas

Set up your course’s Canvas environment in advance. There are two points to watch out for:

Make arrangements within the course about the Canvas setup. Keep approximately the same structure for all courses so that it is clear to students where they can find certain information.
There are two logical ways to set up Canvas: one is chronological (content per week), the other is by topic (one module per topic).

Manuals on Canvas:

Manuals in Canvas for UvA lecturers.

Online training EB Canvas for Instructors

Canvas tips & tricks for teachers

For questions and advice about Canvas, please contact the faculty Canvas helpdesk (For EB: ICTO): icto-eb@uva.nl

Arranging guest lecturers

If you would like to use guest lecturers or guest speakers, it is helpful to ask them far in advance about their availability so you can still adjust the weekly schedule accordingly.

Making a study guide

At the start of the course, your students will have access to the study guide through Canvas. This is their manual containing all information about the course, such as learning objectives, schedule and assessment procedure. Visit this page on the Teacher Site for more information on the required content of the study manual, a sample, and information on managing and publishing the study manual.

In the study guide, also pay attention to UvA’s fraud and plagiarism regulations. Make it clear when fraud or plagiarism occurs in your course and what the consequences are. Visit this page on the Teachers’ Site for more information about fraud and plagiarism at UvA.

Developing teaching materials

In advance of your course, you will develop all teaching materials you will need during the course, such as: PowerPoints, handouts, instructions for students and any student assistants, planning, formative tests and summative tests.

Here, it is important to pay attention to the accessibility and inclusiveness of all educational materials so that all information is accessible to everyone. This page on the UvA employee website provides more information about digital accessibility at UvA, including a guide with guidelines for accessible Word documents, PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations, videos and more.

Arrange needed resources

Make sure all necessary resources are available to you and your students, such as:

Textbooks: Students order their textbooks based on the information in the study guide. Check that the correct textbooks are listed for your course. If not, please notify the education coordinator.
Scientific articles and videos: Be mindful of copyright rules when using journal articles, book chapters or images in your teaching. See also the Library’s Copyright Checker for more information on what is and is not allowed at UvA and the information from the UvA Copyright Information Point.
Facilities in teaching halls: Should you need special facilities in the teaching hall for your education (e.g. for lab or lab teaching), you can indicate this on the schedule edge conditions page of DataNose. Teaching rooms will be determined on that basis. For more information, see the Teaching Room page. For specific information about lab rooms and lab supplies, see this page on the Teacher Site.
Requesting Software: Standard software packages are installed at your workstation and in the teaching rooms. If you wish to use other software, you must request it in time. For more information, see this page on the UvA employee site or the Teacher site.

Students with disabilities

Students with a disability (such as dyslexia or autism) or a chronic illness are entitled to extra support. On this page you can find more information about the support offered by the UvA.

More information about extra exam time and other facilities can be found on this page.

Making a student evaluation

At the end of a course, a standard UvA Q student evaluation is taken. These student evaluations help course coordinators and teaching teams to evaluate their teaching and ensure quality. You may add additional questions to assess how certain parts of your course were perceived.

3. Developing

Go directly to…