Handbook for elective master's courses

General

• The teaching and assessment should reflect the stated learning outcomes that are set for the particual course, which in turn should reflect the learning outcome set for the master's programme.
• See the template for the course pages (in Norwegian, but example pages are also in English)
• Deadlines for changes and submission of course pages, exams, teaching, curriculum etc, you can find the annual cycle for master course coordinators (in Norwegian)

Syllabus

• Should be approximately 800-1000 pages.
  • If the syllabus is especially difficult, the scope may be reduced some.
  • If the scope deviates a lot from the norm, it must be approved by the programme council.
• The University of Oslo Library has access to many digital resources. Such articles, journals, e-books shall not be printed in an article compilation. 

Teaching

• The semester consists of three teaching periods of six weeks each.
• The norm for teaching is two double session each week for five weeks. and the exam is in the sixth week.
  • It is possible to have more intensive classes, but then you might have to rely on more unfavourable teaching hours and places.
• The scope of teaching is 100 hours in total. How these hours are allocated (seminars, lectures, simulations, student presentations etc), is up to the course coordinatior. See the work duty account  (in Norwegian) for more information.

Guest lecturers

• If you use an external lecturer for one dobbel session, you must explain the need for this to the Head of Department, but you do not have to apply for it.
• If you use an external lecturer for more than one dobbel session, you must apply the head of department for this.
• Normally travel costs are not covered. If there is a need for this, it must be preapproved by the Head of Department or the Adminstrative Head of Department.
• Do you have interesting guest lecturers? Broadcast it so that students on other courses can come as well.

Assessment

• The form of assessment and how different parts of the examinations are weighted must be written on the course page.
• See the formal requirements for submission of the course paper
• If the amount of students in a course makes it necessary with more than one examination commission, a censoring guide should be made.

Form of assessment

• The assessment in a course must reflect the learning outcomes and the teaching in a course.
• The course coordinator is free to choose the form of assessment, but the total work load should be reasonable for a 10 credits course. Excamples of forms of assessments are
  • A term paper of 5000-7500 words, in combination with an oral examination or compulsory activities.
  • A 3 hours written exam and a home examination of 3500-5000 words.
  • A portfolio examination: 4-6 written works. Scope, format and the possibility of revising can vary, but the total should be approximately 5000-7500 words.  
    • An oral presentation/examination can be part of the portfolio, but the students will then loose the right to appeal. It is therefore recommended to have an oral examination that adjusts the original grade, if the oral examination is a presentation or questioning of the portfolio. If the student then appeals the final grade, there will be arranged a new oral examination if the original grade is changed. If the oral examination is a test of the students knowledge of the curriculum, it is recommended with a separate grade.
  •  
• Examples of different paper formats
  • An academic paper with chosen or given research questions 
  • Feature articles
  • Literature survey or summary
  • A crictical discussion of specific articles on the syllabus
  • Policy recommendations

Evaluation

• All courses must be evaluated midway in the teaching period.
• As of the autumn 2017 all master's courses shall be evaluated every time the course is given. The administration will help with the surveys.
• Periodical evaluation shall be carried out the first and second time a course is given, and thereafter every sixth year. This evaluation is reported to the faculty.
  • Instructions are given at the faculty's page for course evaluation (in Norwegian).
• The tool box for evaluation of studies (in Norwegian) has examples of content and methods for evaluations. .