FIT briefing papers

A series of briefing papers for course leaders and departmental managers at Oxford

The following papers provided guidance and support to course leaders and departmental managers at Oxford during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. Single Sign-On required to view each.

This guidance on in-person teaching with face coverings was updated for Hilary term 2022.

It primarily addresses teaching for seminars, workshops and classes, although much of the guidance is also applicable to tutorial teaching. Managers are encouraged to share this guidance with their colleagues who teach.

Please also view the University's face covering guidance.

With the expectation of in-person teaching for a greater number of students at Oxford resuming, it is feasible that, in the context of the continuing pandemic, some students may not be able to travel back to Oxford to resume their studies or may need to shield for health reasons.

This document provides guidance to faculties and departments on the possible courses of action available where some students within a cohort may not be able to return to resume their studies in Oxford and where priority in-person teaching has been scheduled. It outlines some potential scenarios and what we would be expected to provide to students who are not able to attend priority in-person sessions alongside the remainder of their cohort.

This guidance on in-person teaching with face coverings primarily addresses teaching for seminars, workshops and classes, although much of the guidance is also applicable to tutorial teaching. Managers are encouraged to share this guidance with their colleagues who teach.

This paper on contingency planning for remote learning is intended as a guide for academic and professional services departments as they develop their contingency plans in the event of a move to remote teaching. It has been developed by the Teaching and Learning Planning Group with input from Education Steering Group.

The guidance draws on the planning group’s experiences of remote teaching in Trinity term 2020 and the surveys of staff and student experiences.

The purpose of this readiness questionnaire is to:

  • Learn from our early experiences of Michaelmas term 2020 in order to prepare for Hilary term 2021.
  • Monitor the extent to which our plans for teaching and learning in Michaelmas term 2020 are able to be realised in practice.
  • Identify any barriers to achieving our desired state and suggest further actions or support needed.
  • Identify any areas where ‘catch up’ provision for teaching may be necessary later in the 2020/21 academic year.
  • Promote the local sharing of lessons learned early in the term and capture any lessons learned that were worth sharing more widely.

The aim of this briefing paper is to ensure that plans for teaching and learning in 2020/21 retain the most valued aspects of the Oxford experience, while acknowledging the challenging circumstances. It has four themes:

  1. Best of Oxford
  2. What have you learned from the experience of TT20?
  3. Belonging and progressing
  4. Communicating clear expectations.

The purpose of this briefing paper is to inform the planning and design of courses which moved to a flexible and inclusive mode of teaching and learning in 2020/21. It is informed by the responses provided by divisions to the consultation of the planning parameters.

It is not intended to be prescriptive, but rather to share ideas so that course directors and programme leaders can choose approaches that will work best for their subject and their students.

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