- Before the defence you should familiarise yourself with Zoom, which will be used for all communication purposes during the defence.
- You do not need to have your own Zoom licence to join a Zoom meeting. You can use the link to the Zoom meeting provided by the host of the defence.
- Keep in mind that using Zoom on a Remote Desktop does not work. You must have the Zoom desktop client installed on the laptop or computer you are using. Read more about Zoom.
- We strongly recommend that you use a headset during the defence, rather than rely on the built-in microphone on your computer/laptop.
- For the actual defence you must join the webinar using your personal link sent to you by the technician, no later than 30 minutes before the defence will start.
- Make sure your microphone and camera work, and that you have a stable Internet connection.
- The defence will be conducted as a webinar, which is somewhat different from a regular Zoom meeting. Read more about the differences here.
- You will be a panelist in the defence. This means that you can mute and unmute your own microphone, and share your screen if needed.
- During the defence your microphone should be muted when you are not speaking, to reduce background noise. Whenever you need to speak, your must unmute your microphone.
- There will be a technician present during the defence. However, this person will be a silent and nearly invisible participant. The technician is there to ensure that the technical side of the defence works well, but they will not be responsible for controlling your microphone or screen sharing for you.
- Two days before the defence there will be a practice session in Zoom for the candidate, the chair of the defence and a technician. You should also take part in this practice session. You should use the same equipment (camera, microphone) and location (office) for this test meeting as you will do during the defence.
- If the candidate chooses to conduct the trial lecture as a video conference in Zoom, you must also be present for this, to evaluate the lecture. If the candidate records their trial lecture, you will be given a link to the recording, in order to watch and evaluate the trial lecture.
- During your part of the examination you may choose to share your screen in order to show material, such as slides containing questions or excerpts from the digital version of the thesis. To make this as simple as possible, we recommend that you limit yourself to as few different sources as possible, and make screenshots of the pages in the thesis that your questions pertain to, rather than jump between slides and thesis.
- When the defence is finished, you will need to leave the webinar in order for the committee to discuss and evaluate the candidate. The technician will invite you to a separate Zoom meeting where this will take place. Once you have reached a conclusion you must all return to the webinar, by leaving the separate Zoom meeting, and click you original (personal) link to the defence webinar that you received with the original defence invitation. (This does not apply if your faculty normally does not hold such a meeting before finishing the defence. Ask the chair of the defence or of the committee if you have questions about the procedure).
- After you have returned to the main session and the chair of the defence has announced your decision regarding the candidate, you may disconnect from Zoom.
- If technical issues occur that simply cannot be resolved right away, the chair of the defence will pause the defence until the issues can be solved. If it still cannot be solved, the defence may need to be called off and rescheduled.
- If you have any questions please contact the appropriate faculty administration.
The responsibilities of the opponents during a completely digital defence
In addition to your regular responsibilities in relation to a public defence, some additional preparation is needed for a digital defence.
Published Sep. 7, 2020 5:19 PM
- Last modified June 27, 2024 2:30 PM