There are many new things to learn when teaching in a new country for the first time. Therefore, the CED offers the online course ‘Teaching@AU’ that provides international staff with background knowledge of the Danish education system enabling them to understand what is required to teach in a Danish context and at Aarhus University.

Course manager and associate professor at the CED Sarah Robinson comments on some of the challenges that international staff may face:

“International employees come to AU with experience from other countries and other cultures. For some, it can be difficult to gain an understanding of the Danish education system, rules, regulations, and requirements without spending a lot of time searching for answers.”

A platform for fundamental knowledge about the Danish education system

‘Teaching@AU’ provides knowledge of the Danish educational culture, system, and framework as well as the rules concerning the curricular content, forms of examination, the grading system, and external examers.

The course was created from a concern about how to better prepare international staff for teaching at AU. However, the course may also be useful for junior teaching staff from Denmark, Sarah Robinson says:

“The target audience is mainly teaching staff with a different background than Danish. However, it may also be relevant for Danish teaching staff who have never taught before or are teaching for the first time at university level.”

‘Teaching@AU’ is intended as an introduction to the Danish education system – not as a course on how to teach. The course aims to create a platform where people can find information about the Danish education system when questions arise:

“You are not supposed to remember everything you learn. Instead, you can use the course as a resource afterwards to find the answers you need, for example, through useful links if you are unsure about the framework and rules concerning teaching in a Danish context,” Sarah Robinson says.

Flexible format for different needs

The themes of the ‘Teaching@AU’ course have been selected to include the most important topics relevant to international teaching staff. The course is based on five themes:

1. The background and structure of the Danish education system
2. Rules and regulations
3. Final assessments and ECTS
4. The grading structure
5. Meeting your students

The course was created in a collaboration with degree programme directors from different disciplines and faculties at AU. The degree programme directors have contributed to identifying what course content and structure was relevant and useful for future course participants, including making it easily accessible by being online and self-paced:

"This allows for flexibility. By making the course an online self-paced offer, we hope to meet the different needs and time availability of the international staff,” Sarah Robinson says. 

Want to know more about ‘Teaching@AU’?

The course ‘Teaching@AU’ is accessible to everyone online in Brightspace and is self-paced. It takes around 3-5 hours to complete. A certificate is issued on successful completion of the course.

You can find more information about ‘Teaching@AU’ and access the course here.

If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Robinson at srobin@au.dk or + 45 24 85 08 18.

An introductory course on how to teach

While ' Teaching@AU ' is intended as a general introduction to the Danish education system, the CED also offers courses on how to teach. One of these are our ‘Introduction to Teaching and Learning’ (InTel), which is an introductory module on university education.

InTel gives a broad introduction to key concepts and methods such as alignment, educational IT, learning outcomes, exams, and assessment. Read more about InTeL and sign up here.