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 Sisu
- Courses are scheduled according to the "recommended study timetables" which are published for students in the Student Guide
- The course brochure (syllabus) in MyCourses 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.
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.
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.
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 criteria”: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Aalto
- Publicity and data protection: Act on the Publicity of the Activities of Authorities (Finlex); 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
Organizing exams and study attainments
Exam room (wiki.aalto.fi) (external link)
Students can independently take exams or other tasks in the Exam rooms.
ARTS learning and space services supporting organizing courses
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
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 13-16 Orientation for new teachers
Tuesday 5.5.2025 at 13-16 Orientation for new teachers
Trainings and support for academic staff organized by Aalto
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.