Thomas Krog is a Teaching Associate Professor and course coordinator at the Department of Management. He is responsible for a wide range of teaching and supervision activities within financial accounting, financial analysis and valuation on the bachelor’s degree programme in Economics and Business Administration (HA) and the diploma degree programme in business administration (HD).

Previously, from 2018 onwards, he served as course coordinator for large teams of up to 13-14 student instructors across several parallel programmes. However, in the spring semester of 2026, his portfolio of responsibilities looks different, and he now collaborates with only two student instructors. His experience with large teams nevertheless continues to shape his approach.

Introduction and alignment of expectations before teaching begins

For Thomas Krog, collaboration with the student instructors begins even before the semester starts, when he brings the group together for an initial meeting. The purpose of the meeting is for the teachers and student instructors to get to know one another. At the meeting, the student instructors also meet the local administrative team, receive an introduction to the practical arrangements, allocate teaching duties, and review the activities for the first teaching session.

“The group is always a mix of new and experienced student instructors. It works very well because the experienced instructors can support the new ones in their day-to-day work,” explains Thomas Krog.

In addition, it is mandatory for all student instructors at Aarhus BSS to complete the CED’s basic pedagogical course for student teachers and student instructors before they begin teaching for the first time. The course prepares the student instructors for their teaching role and provides inspiration for student-centred teaching approaches.

Entering the role of student instructor

One of the student instructors who has recently participated in the CED’s basic pedagogical course is Solveig Morre Pedersen. She has just started her eighth semester in Political Science and talks about her work in the autumn of her seventh semester, when she taught Public Administration for the first time.

“The course at the CED inspired me and made me aware of some pedagogical considerations. At the same time, I also draw a great deal of inspiration from the teaching I have myself taken part in, and that has worked well,” she explains.

Solveig Morre Pedersen is not part of Thomas Krog’s teaching team, but last year she was part of a teaching group which, in addition to two course coordinators, consisted of four student instructors from Political Science, as well as a postdoc and an external lecturer, respectively from Public Health Science and the bachelor’s programme in Public Policy.

Academic discussions and clear priorities

As a course coordinator, Thomas Krog typically organises meetings with the student instructors every other week. The focus of these meetings is on the academic content. Together with the student instructors, he review the assignments and activities, what the student instructors should emphasise, the purpose of each task, and whether there are any particular challenges.

“It is an open forum for academic discussion and feedback. If there is something that is unclear or something the student instructors do not understand, we go through it. But we also talk about how a task can be approached in class, whether the student instructor should go through the solution themselves, invite some students to work at the whiteboard, or adopt a more facilitative role,” he explains.

If situations arise where students come to class unprepared, the student instructor meetings are used to discuss how the teaching can be adapted or reorganised. To give the student instructors a solid starting point for their teaching, prioritised lists of the most important tasks are used to ensure that classes work through what matters most.

The importance of clear priorities was also something Solveig Morre Pedersen experienced in her work last year. In particular, she found time management to be a challenging part of the role at the beginning:

“I found it difficult at first to stay on schedule. But I have become much better at it now. After our weekly student instructor meetings, I made a lesson plan, just as I learned on the course at the CED. Once I had written down the different tasks and allocated time to each task, I had a clearer sense of how much time I actually had,” she explains.

Balancing structure and freedom

In Solveig Morre Pedersen’s student instructor team, they worked according to a so-called ‘master’, in which their course coordinators had outlined learning outcomes, pedagogical considerations, and the core academic themes. The master was reviewed and discussed at weekly meetings held immediately after the lecture, focusing on the topic that the student instructors would later work with during the small-class teaching that week. However, the student instructors still had considerable freedom to adjust their teaching to suit their style:

“I found that the course coordinators were very good at asking the right questions and listening to the student instructors when it came to how we wanted the small-class teaching to go. After all, we know what works best. If I wanted to do a group task, I did a group task. If I wanted to start with a short presentation, then that’s what I did,” says Solveig Morre Pedersen.

Likewise, Thomas Krog places great trust in his student instructors’ judgement when they are teaching on their own:

“They are given a high degree of freedom. Everyone has completed the CED’s basic pedagogical course before the semester starts. Therefore, they are encouraged to use the methods and approaches they learned there. I believe that you become a better teacher when you are given the space to teach in the way you feel most comfortable with and believe works best,” he explains.

Solveig Morre Pedersen adds that she also experienced a strong level of trust in the student instructors’ teaching. She elaborates that having taken the course themselves gives them a good sense of what works in teaching and what does not.

Trust as the key to effective collaboration

Thomas Krog generally describes his collaboration with the student instructors as stable and characterised by trust. He emphasises that the student instructors are highly engaged and reliable, even during a busy period of study.

“I don’t really experience any challenges in the collaboration. You can really rely on the students,” he notes.

When asked whether he has any advice for other course coordinators, he stresses the importance of being open and available, and of making it clear to the student instructors that they can come to him with any questions or concerns.

“I try to be very clear that our meetings are a safe space. There are no stupid questions. On the contrary, it is important that they ask if something is unclear. Especially when you are a student instructor for the first time, it can feel daunting to teach at a high academic level for the first time. But if uncertainties can be clarified before teaching begins, it leads to better learning outcomes for the student, and you avoid putting the student instructors in situations where they do not feel comfortable,” explains Thomas Krog.

Solveig Morre Pedersen is well aware of the nerves that come with teaching for the first time:

“After my first teaching sessions, I could feel that I had been really tense. Now I am much calmer. But I started out being very nervous.”

Solveig Morre Pedersen points to her own perfectionism as one of the biggest challenges at the beginning, and how her desire to do the very best for the students created a great deal of pressure. Here, working together with the other student instructors made a real difference:

“It really helped that after each teaching session we sat down together, just the four of us as student instructors, and talked things through. It is a really good way to decompress afterwards,” says Solveig Morre Pedersen.

She also emphasises how important the course coordinators were in creating a safe space for collaboration. She felt that they made a real effort to support a sense of community among the student instructors and expressed their appreciation clearly.

“It made a huge difference that they said it out loud and did not just imply it. It really meant a lot. You felt valued as a student instructor,” explains Solveig Morre Pedersen.

This explicit recognition gave her the confidence to make full use of the collaboration. The mutual trust strengthened both her personal confidence and the pedagogical quality of her teaching:

“The more we asked questions, the more competent we became, and the better answers we were able to pass on to the students. I do not think the trust that is built between course coordinators and student instructors should be underestimated. At the beginning, it is easy to feel a bit overwhelmed. You have a great deal of respect for the coordinators, and you want to learn from them. At the same time, you also want to prove that you are good enough to be a student instructor. But our course coordinators gave us space to contribute, and they showed that they valued our opinions. That is important,” she concludes.

Likewise, Thomas Krog emphasises that the relationship between the course coordinator and student instructor is a reciprocal form of collaboration, in which both parties support one another.

“Input from the student instructors is valuable, and I use it very actively in my own teaching. For example, if they tell me that students are struggling with a particular academic topic, I know that I need to include a recap in the lecture. In that way, both parties benefit from the collaboration,” he concludes.

He also points out that in small-class teaching led by student instructors, students are naturally far more willing to ask questions than in lecture settings, which leads to stronger dialogue in small-class teaching settings.

Guide to strengthening collaboration between course coordinators and student instructors

Collaboration between course coordinators and student instructors covers academic, organisational, and relational dimensions. As a course coordinator, you play a central role in creating a collaborative framework that offers sound leadership, professional dialogue, recognition, and a safe space in which student instructors can develop.

There are several resources available for this. The CED has recommendations and tools, ranging from alignment of expectations and meeting culture to leadership skills and support for collaboration within the student instructor team.

Read more in the CED’s guide for course coordinators on how to collaborate with and support student instructors. You are also welcome to contact Anders Hjortskov Larsen (ahlarsen@au.dk| +45 42 31 87 04) for help.

As a course coordinator, you take on an important leadership role. Accordingly, you may also find the CED’s course in Educational Leadership valuable. It is designed for academic staff with special organisational responsibility for coordinating and developing education and teaching, but who carry out this role without formal managerial responsibility. You can also contact Sanna Lassen directly (sanna@au.dk| +45 93 50 82 41) for peer mentoring.