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Corona – Update: Online Examinations Directive

Online Examinations Directive: An overview of the most important changes.

[Translate to English:] Im Hintergrund das TU Wien Hauptgebäude. Im Vordergrund: Covid-19 Update für Studierende, 15.02.21

As already announced, the summer semester 2021 will be held entirely in Distance Learning. There will only be a few exceptions for face-to-face teaching in individual courses, which will be individually evaluated and approved by the Vice Rectorate Academic Affairs.

Of course, this measure for the protection of all brings with it numerous challenges. In order to prevent any confusion that may arise, a new directive for online examinations, opens an external URL in a new window has been developed in cooperation with the Admission Office and the Distance Learning Team, and the orientation guide for students, opens an external URL in a new window has been updated.

This directive does not create any new regulations but reflects the current legal situation and serves as an instruction on how to implement the legal requirements and the existing study law provisions of the statutes of the TU Wien in the study and examination system in a legally compliant manner for the examinations to be carried out online due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

In order to provide you with an easier overview of the most important changes, we would like to highlight the most serious changes to the previous procedure below. These are excerpts from the Directive:

Technical equipment

Information on the technical equipment required for participation in the examination must already be provided in the course announcement (§ 76 UG). The requirements for technical equipment must be kept proportionate. In any case, the requirement of two end devices with camera, e.g. laptop and smartphone, is permissible.

Students who, for example, do not have the necessary technical or spatial requirements for taking the examination can take the examination in person in the premises and with the infrastructure of the TU Wien under personal supervision, subject to the available resources. The students have to inform the examiners of this need when registering for the examination.

Recording of examinations

In general, examinations are not to be recorded. A recording may be made by the lecturers if it is necessary as a measure within the framework of examination supervision in order to ensure that the examination performance is properly determined. If the examination is recorded, this must be announced to the students at the latest at the beginning of the registration period and the relevant data protection information must be brought to the attention of the students. In this case, the students' express consent to the recording is not required.

Waiting list

Students who are on the waiting list for an examination date must appear on the day of the examination or withdraw from the examination in due time (§ 16 para. 5 Study Law Provisions of the Statutes). The students must therefore log in to the online examination according to the respective instructions of the examiner and are in the assigned waiting room or breakout room in ZOOM until it is determined whether examination places are available.

Students who could not be assigned an examination place according to Paragraph 1 are to be examined according to the requirements in § 16 Paragraph 5 Study Regulations.

By referring to the waiting list regulation, we hope to get a grip on the problem of the many examination places remaining free despite long waiting lists and to give students more security that they will receive an examination place in a timely manner.

Security Briefing

Another novelty is the approval of the security briefing, opens an external URL in a new window for students when logging in via the TU Wien authentication portal. From 15.02.2021 you will be asked to confirm this security briefing for students when logging in. This can be postponed for up to two weeks, after which consent must be given. The security briefing, opens an external URL in a new window contains the most important protective measures to be observed at TU Wien.

Distance Learning Survey 

As we would like to know how you have experienced the change to an online format over the past year, we would like to ask you to take part in the Distance Learning Survey, opens an external URL in a new window. The survey will run until 15.02.2021 and will then close automatically. The results will be used, among other things, to further develop Distance Learning.

Our mailbox on the topic of studyability and distance learning will continue to offer all students the opportunity to give us (anonymous) feedback. Please continue to write us praise, suggestions, wishes, criticism or complaints so that we can get an impression of what is going well in teaching at TU Wien and where we can still make improvements.

All the best for the coming summer semester and, above all, a healthy 2021!