Exam practices
What are the exam practices at Aalto University? This article offers information for teachers regarding examination and course practices.
Support for Teaching - Learning Services at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture
This site has two purposes:
1. Compile important information from the perspective of ARTS on the same page
2. To serve as a tool for orientation of the new teachers in ARTS
Log in to the Aalto.fi website from the right upper corner to see all the content.
1. Compile important information from the perspective of ARTS on the same page
2. To serve as a tool for orientation of the new teachers in ARTS
Log in to the Aalto.fi website from the right upper corner to see all the content.
ARTS curriculum design basics, schedules and systems
- Curricula (course names, scopes, course descriptions) are approved for two years at a time in Aalto
- Students and teachers see the approved curricula in the Student Guide
- Students' personal study plans (PSP, HOPS) are mostly based on the curriculum of the student's starting year. PSPs are made in
- Courses are scheduled according to the "recommended study timetables" which are published for students in the Student Guide
- The course brochure (syllabus) in is the finishing touch of curriculum design
- "Each course is assigned a teacher-in-charge who is responsible for grading the course and organising it in accordance with the curriculum and academic timetable. The teacher-in-charge participates in preparing the curriculum and bears primary responsibility for ensuring both that the course implementation promotes the intended learning outcomes and that the credits awarded correspond to the workload. In addition to the teacher-in-charge, several people may be involved teaching and grading a course"
- ARTS Learning Services supports the curriculum process and programme directors in implementing and developing teaching
See the link Curriculum design at Aalto university below for schedules and guidelines related to curriculum work.
The programme director’s handbook provides additional information specifically for program directors and persons in charge of the majors but is also useful for other readers who wish to understand management processes and policies.
Curriculum design at Aalto University
Aalto University’s curriculum design guidelines and schedule aims at supporting sustainable, future led degree programmes.
Programme director's handbook
The programme director's handbook is a collection of guidelines, templates, and good practices. The handbook gathers together information about processes, schedules and tools and the aim is to support degree programme directors, heads of majors and others involved to succeed in implementing, evaluating and developing the degree programmes.
Organizing courses and course assessment
Familiarize yourself with the instructions related to teaching courses on the Laws, regulations and guidelines governing teaching page.
Then take a look at the more detailed ARTS guidelines below concerning A. management of course registrations and B. assessment.
Laws, regulations and guidelines governing teaching
This page contains practical instructions on curriculum design and the implementation of teaching. The guidelines are based on the current legislation and the Aalto University rules and regulations concerning teaching and studying. The purpose of these guidelines is to support teachers in curriculum design and in the practical arrangements for course implementations.
You can find the laws and regulations referred to and as well as the rules and regulations issued by Aalto University at the end of this document.
A. Management of course registrations
The course implementations are updated to Sisu annually for the entire study year based on information gathered from teachers through the curriculum planner every spring. Learning Services reserves spaces for the courses based on the information and in the beginning of June, the times, spaces, responsible teachers and registration information of the course implementations of the coming school year is published for students.
As a rule, students register for courses every period. After the registration time ends, the teacher in charge is responsible for managing the registrations, either by processing the registrations themselves or by authorising e.g. course teachers to confirm registered students who will be able to attend the course. You can find detailed information on processing registered students in the Sisu instructions. Log in to Wiki to see all information for teachers.
Information about confirmed students is automatically transferred to MyCourses.
Who do I accept to the course? Who can I reject?
The order of priority helps to approve or reject course registrations with the right principles.
Registering to courses and the order of priority at Aalto ARTS
Information on registering to courses at Aalto ARTS and the order of priority.
B. Management of course assessment
Courses are assessed mainly in Sisu (sisu.aalto.fi) through the course implementation assessment tab. The teacher in charge is responsible for registering the course credits. Please note that you can do the evaluation first in MyCourses, and upload the grades to Sisu via a csv file.
A separate Excel file for reporting credits can only be used in exceptional cases (e.g. special assignments) when evaluation in Sisu is not possible. Separate credits are registered in ARTS learning services.
The partial credits for thesis work are also registered in ARTS's learning services.
Take note when evaluating the study attainments
- The grading scale expressed in the course descriptions is utilized in the assessment: 28 § Grading scale for study attainments
- The teacher in charge is responsible for the assessment but may involve others in the assessment: 27 § Teacher in charge of study attainment evaluation
- “Students' study attainments are assessed equally on the basis of pre-published, clearly and openly defined competence objectives and assessment criteriaâ€: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Aalto
- Publicity and data protection: ; Data Protection, personal data
- The teacher must give grades within four weeks of the end of the course: 30 § Notification of evaluation of study attainments
- Student's opportunity to make a complaint about the assessment: 44 § Lodging a rectification request in a matter concerning a student
Support for planning and implementing teaching
Teacher’s Handbook
A landing page for teachers to help them find information, services, and support related to teaching and learning.
Teacher's checklist for a course
Teacher's checklist for administrative and pedagogical considerations for every course
For hourly-based teachers at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture
HR's and LES' instructions for hourly-based teachers.
Sisu
Basic information about Aalto's core information system for teaching and studying.
Student Services psychologist group
The Student Services psychologist group comprises Aalto’s study psychologists and the career counselling psychologist.
Support for faculty and students making theses by discipline and in general related to information retrieval, publication and information resources.
Zoom Quick Guide
Quick Guide to using Zoom for online meetings and video conferencing.
Establishing a remote connection (VPN) to an Aalto network
Read instructions on how to establish a remote connection to an Aalto network
Organizing exams and study attainments
Students can independently take exams or other tasks in the Exam rooms.
ARTS learning and space services supporting organizing courses
School of Arts, Design and Architecture Learning Services
School of Arts, Design and Architecture Learning Services staff by remits and teams.
Arts infra Workshops
At the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, hands-on learning is essential. Our students have access to one of the finest workshop environment in the world, with a very high workshop to student ratio.
Contact information for individual study arrangements
Here you can find contact details for each school.
Printlab/ Fine Art Printing
Printlab’s Fine-Art Printing Workshop is a research and learning environment for ARTS students and researchers. The workshop offers facilities, equipment and technical staff to fulfill their course work and the physical part of the artistic research.
Course feedback
Student feedback is automatically collected from each course at Aalto University using the electronic course feedback system. The system retrieves the course information from Sisu and creates a feedback form in Webropol. Teachers receive a link to the survey before it is sentt and can add their own course-specific questions to help develop the course. At Aalto University, special attention is paid to the use of course feedback as part of the development of teaching and education, and you can also get support from learning services.
Course feedback support in ARTS: course-feedback-arts@aalto.fi
Course feedback in Aalto University
Course feedback is a unique part of the feedback portfolio in Aalto University and it reaches students in all phases of their studies and is collected systematically throughout Aalto. Hearing the voice of students is vital for the development of teaching and education as well as for quality assurance and for improving study-related services. The course feedback tool can be found in MyCourses. Feedback is used on multiple levels in many ways and its utilisation is a special focus area at Aalto.
Main page for instructions of course feedback tool
At Aalto University, course feedback is collected from almost all courses. On these pages you will find teacher's instructions for using the course feedback tool on MyCourses.
Additional information
The principles of feedback in education and student feedback
In Aalto, feedback is collected from students during different phases of their studies. Hearing the voice of students is vital for the development of teaching and training as well as for quality assurance and for improving study-related services. Feedback is used on multiple levels in many ways and its utilisation is a special area of focus in Aalto. Student guilds and organisations are also interested in and benefit from feedback and surveys.
Aalto University Course Diaries mobile application
This application promotes individual learning processes as shared experiences, enable adapting teaching and learning during the course.
Data literacy for Aalto community
Start your journey towards data-driven way of working already today!
Trainings and support for academic staff organized by ARTS
Teachers’ lunch is an academic forum for meeting colleagues at ARTS, listening to the introduction, and talks on a chosen themedealing development of teaching. Syllabus workshops, orientations for new teachers and cornerstones of academic advising are sets of trainings organized annually for teachers and academic advisors. In addition we organize curriculum clinics during the curriculum process. Please send requests for training to: arts-les@aalto.fi
Orientation for new teachers: Teaching Services team
New teachers are invited to the orientation meetings with a calendar invitation. If you have not received a calendar invitation, you can send information to arts-les@aalto.fi of your participation. You will receive information about the meeting space via the invitation.
Academic advising: Ilona Virtanen.
Other trainings: Aalto pedagogical specialists
ARTS LES trainings:
Thursday 25.9.2025 at 13-16 Orientation for new teachers
Tuesday 25.11.2025 at 13-16 Orientation for new teachers
Thursday 26.2.2025 at 9.30-12.30 Orientation for new teachers
Tuesday 5.5.2025 at 9.30-12.30 Orientation for new teachers
Trainings and support for academic staff organized by Aalto
Aalto University pedagogical training for faculty
Are you looking to develop your skills as a teacher? Participate in Aalto's pedagogical training!
Training to support digital teaching
The Teacher services team organises training events, webinars and workshops for users of shared learning platforms and tools. MyCourses, Panopto, Turnitin, EXAM, Presemo
Develop your competences and search trainings with Workday Learning tool
Teaching services
Teaching services is responsible for the curriculum design process, pedagogical support, support for masters thesis process, teaching demonstration assessments (Educational board), Tongji - commissioned education, teacher orientation and course feedback.
You can reach us all by sending email to arts-les@aalto.fi.