Communicating with our students
At every stage of their degree programme, we all have a responsibility to make sure the information our students receive is relevant, consistent, targeted and easy to understand.
On this page, you’ll find a lot of useful guidance to help you communicate effectively on our student-oriented platforms.
What is need-to-know information for students?
Much of the information students receive about their degree programmes in the course of their studies is need-to-know. This is information students must have in order to progress in their programme.
In other words, information for students is need-to-know if it concerns mandatory elements of their programme – for example, important deadlines, classroom participation requirements, rules on exam aids, requirements for system use or about critical service interruptions for specific systems.
There are two kinds of need-to-know information for students:
1) Time-sensitive information, which needs to be 'pushed out' to students by email.
2) More static information, which must always be available on students.au.dk, and which students are responsible for looking up themselves.
Precisely what kinds of information are defined as need-to-know and nice-to-know at the individual faculties is determined in dialogue with relevant stakeholders.
Time-sensitive information = email
Time-sensitive information is need-to-know information that students need to respond to by a specific deadline, or which is only relevant for a specific period of time. You can send this type of information to students by email.
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Static information = students.au.dk
Need-to-know information for students that students don’t need to act on here and now, but that they will need at different points during their studies, is what we define as static information. This kind of information should be published on students.au.dk, and students are responsible for looking it up themselves.
Examples include rules, guidelines and procedures that students are expected to familiarise themselves with: the kind of information they’re expected to look up to prepare for taking an exam, apply for a dispensation or decide what courses to take.
| What belongs on students.au.dk: | This kind of information does not belong on students.au.dk: |
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How to: Send need-to-know information by email
Always follow this checklist when sending out need-to-know information for students by email:
- Think about what group of students the information is relevant for before sending the email. When you’re clear about who your target audience is, export a list of recipient emails from STADS. There’s a guide to exporting lists in iSTADS and STADS+.
- Follow this writing guide to help you compose a good mail.
- Remember to include both a Danish and an English version of your message – and remember that you need both languages in the subject line as well. Put the Danish version first, and indicate that the English version follows (for example, ‘English version below >>’). You’ll find tools and guidance about working between Danish and English and translation services on the AU Language Services webpage.
- Remember to clearly identify the unit sending the mail – both by sending it from your unit’s shared mailbox and by including this information in your email signature. Because it helps to identify the sender, it’s important that the name of your shared mailbox email conveys this information in a way students can decode easily. For this reason, shared mailbox addresses should not include the names of individual employees.
Need more guidance?
If you’re not sure whether the information you want to communicate is time-sensitive, need-to-know information for students, you can always ask your local editor.
Here’s a list of local editors with contact information.
Of course, we also use email for one-to-one communication with students. Read more in the section on one-to-one communication.
How to: Publish need-to-know information on students.au.dk
Always follow this checklist when communicating need-to-know information for students on students.au.dk:
- Follow this writing guide to help you compose a good web text.
- Remember the English version. You’ll find tools and guidance about working between Danish and English and translation services on the AU Language Services webpage.
- Remember to make sure that the unit responsible for the information is clearly identifiable when you post need-to-know information on students.au.dk. This makes it easier for students to decode who the sender of the information is. It’s also important to state clearly who students can contact if they have questions or need additional help.
Do you need help?
- The overall development and maintenance of students.au.dk (and the corresponding Danish platform studerende.au.dk) is handled by a cross-faculty group of students.au.dk editors. Your faculty’s editor has overall editorial responsibility for your faculty’s students.au.dk (and the corresponding Danish platform studerende.au.dk). So you can always contact them for feedback and guidance.
- If you’re not sure whether the information you want to communicate belongs on students.au.dk, you can always ask your faculty’s editor.
One-to-one communication by email
Of course, lots of staff correspond with students one-to-one every day.
We communicate with students one-to-one in connection with:
- Student guidance
- Correspondence about the individual students’ applications for dispensations, special needs and so on.
- Information related to the individual students’ progression, for example correspondence about thesis contracts, questions for a lecturer, correspondence about registration for courses/exams or SU.
We don’t send emails about matters not directly related to the individual students’ progression in an effort to make sure students don’t receive excessive amounts of email from us.
We also communicate one-to-one with students via Digital Post (official notices), through the different studies administration systems and in person. In these situations, it’s important that it’s easy for the student to decode what unit or staff member they are corresponding with.
What is nice-to-know information for students?
Nice-to-know information for students is information that’s relevant for students but not critical to their progression.
In other words, nice-to-know information is all the non-critical information we give students that can help improve their academic experience. This is the kind of useful information students themselves perceive as nice-to-know. Examples include announcements and information that encourage students to a particular course of action, announce planned maintenance of systems and buildings or draw attention to an issue of academic relevance.
| This counts as nice-to-know information for students: | This does not count as nice-to-know information for students: |
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Precisely what kinds of information are defined as need-to-know and nice-to-know at the individual faculties is determined in dialogue with relevant stakeholders.
Please note: In connection with cross-university initiatives and activities of particularly high strategic importance, some forms of need-to-know information may be considered so crucial to the university’s endeavours and cultural cohesiveness that they can be communicated through the same channels as need-to-know information. This decision rests with the Committee on Education.
How and when should nice-to-know information for students be communicated?
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We communicate nice-to-know information for students in the form of posts and static content on students.au.dk, on-campus messaging and social media, as well as through in-person or online events hosted by the university’s staff or in class.
- When communicating about a specific topic or initiatives, it’s important that we think through what communication channel makes most sense in the specific situation, and that we select our communication channel based on that analysis.
- Remember that you can always consult your faculty’s editor, who will help you decide on the most appropriate strategy for communicating the specific topic or initiative.
Communicating nice-to-know information through lecturers
- If you have nice-to-know information you’d like lecturers to communicate to students, you should provide a clear plan for what should be communicated and slides for them to use.
- It’s also important that you coordinate with relevant managers to agree on which classes the information should be presented in, making sure that students aren’t presented with the same message in different classes, so we make sure students don’t get a lot of redundant communication from the university.
Use Teams or social media
- Students can join groups for their year or other communities in Teams, and users with editor rights can share relevant content with these groups.
- Experience has also shown that using social media to draw students’ attention to nice-to-know information can be a good strategy as well: some students follow AU-related groups on social media, where it’s possible to share relevant content directly or through editors, or in the case of closed groups, through student associations and mentors.
- Do be aware that while the available social media channels can play a role in getting your message out, they should always be used as a supplement to our own platforms. In other words, social media should not be considered an authoritative source for our students. Rather, they should be used to direct students to relevant information on our own platforms.
Get the word out on campus
- Our students spend time on our campuses, which gives us plenty of opportunities to supplement digital media with on-campus messaging. For example, posters, flyers, notices on notice boards or content on info screens.
- You’ll find an overview of info screens at different AU locations on our campuses here: https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/communication/web-and-newsletters/information-screens-at-au.
Do you need help to decide on the best way to communicate nice-to-know information? You can always contact your faculty’s editor.
How to: Nice-to-know information on students.au.dk
Students are expected to find nice-to-know information themselves, in the form of posts, events, offers or static information on students.au.dk.
Follow this checklist when communicating nice-to-know information as a post or event on students.au.dk:
- Follow this guide to writing a good announcement/event post.
- Remember to include both a Danish and an English version where relevant. You’ll find tools and guidance about working between Danish and English and translation services on the AU Language Services webpage.
- Publish the announcement in TYPO3/Publish the event in TYPO3.
- Remember that you can use categories and tags to reach the relevant target group.
Use this checklist when communicating nice-to-know information as a web page:
- Follow this writing guide to help you compose a good web text.
- Remember the English version. You’ll find tools and guidance about working between Danish and English and translation services on the AU Language Services webpage.
- Remember to always make it clear what unit the information is from when posting information on students.au.dk. This makes it easier for students to decode who the sender of the information is. It’s also important to state clearly who students can contact if they have questions or need additional help.
Remember that AU IT also offers guides to optimising your web content and working in TYPO3.
For nice-to-know information on students.au.dk in general:
- The student editorial team has the overall responsibility for developing and maintaining students.au.dk (and the corresponding Danish platform studerende.au.dk). Your faculty’s editor has overall editorial responsibility for your faculty’s students.au.dk (and the corresponding Danish platform studerende.au.dk). So you can always contact them for feedback and guidance.
- If you’re not sure whether the information you want to communicate belongs on students.au.dk, you can always ask your faculty’s editor.
Communicating on Brightspace
Brightspace is our Learning Management System (LMS). As such, the platform is primarily a space where lecturers and students communicate about matters relating to individual courses.
There are two types of information that belong on Brightspace:
- Course information
- Course evaluations
You’ll find guides to the various functions in Brightspace on AU Educate.
Course information: Need-to-know course-specific information about courses and teaching
Information about courses includes:
- Course overviews
- Announcements from lecturers about teaching and examinations
- Changes to/cancellations of classes
- Changes in teaching arrangements
- Course syllabuses
- Overview of learning activities for individual courses
- Course content (for example, assignments)
Who should communicate course-specific information on Brightspace?
Lecturers are responsible for communicating information about the courses they’re involved in.
As an administrative staff member, you can post information about changes/cancellation of classes or changes in teaching arrangements in a course group in the event that the lecturer is unable to do so, or if you have been given responsibility for communicating course information.
Course evaluations
Communication about course evaluations includes:
- Information about course evaluations, including objectives and deadlines
- Reminder messages about course evaluations
- Course evaluation follow-up
Who should communicate about course evaluations on Brightspace?
The relevant lecturer or administrative staff member should post information about course evaluations in the course group.
Information at kursuskatalog.au.dk/en
AU’s course catalogue is the source for all the formalia about teaching and exams for each course. This includes information about course content, the name of the lecturer, comments on the form of instruction and information about forms of examination and exam aids.
Do you have any requests regarding the information provided about individual courses at kursuskatalog.au.dk? Learn more and find contact details for your local super user in the EDDI ‘help universe’ (in Danish).
The relationship between the academic regulations and the course catalogue
The academic regulations for a degree programme describe the programme’s formal requirements. For example, the academic regulations set out the rules for the degree programme’s exams and describe the course elements that comprise the programme. Here you’ll also find a degree programme diagram that provides a schematic overview of the structure of the programme. The diagram links to the course catalogue, where students can get more detailed information about individual courses – both mandatory and elective courses.
The academic regulations are governed by various ministerial orders that you’ll find on the staff service website.
Job and project postings and publicity for events
External senders:
- We don’t share job postings, projects, scholarships, case competitions and other larger events from external senders. External senders should be referred to the AU Job and Project Bank, where students can search for this type of content themselves.
Internal senders:
- Internal jobs should also be posted in the AU Job and Project Bank.
- Internal events should be communicated using the ‘news module’ and/or the event calendar on relevant study portals. They can also be posted in the AU Job and Project Bank.
Another option is encouraging internal and external senders to contact the relevant student associations or other relevant bodies/parties which might be willing to share the post in a relevant context where students interested in this kind of information can access it.
Sharing on social media:
- Sharing job posts and the like on AU-related SoMe channels is also a possibility. The faculties and some departments have profiles on social media and can share job posts published in the AU Job and Project Bank.
- Projects and events taking place in collaboration with AU that are directly relevant for students at the faculty or the university in general can also be shared.
- It’s always up to the staff members responsible for the particular social media profile to assess whether a post meets their criteria for sharing.
Surveys and studies involving students
External senders:
- At AU, we are unable to accommodate requests from external institutions, groups and individuals who are interested in sending our students surveys in connection with research or studies (see AU’s guidelines for the disclosure of student emails and data). We can inform external senders about other options, like hanging posters up on campus or contacting relevant student associations or other relevant parties.
Internal senders:
- Surveys or recruitment for internal purposes, such as student panels or marketing, can be set up in GetFeedback on relevant students.au.dk pages or mystudies.au.dk.
- Such initiatives can also be announced on students.au.dk.
- If there is a need to recruit a very narrow group of students, we recommend a more personal approach to recruitment, where potential participants are contacted directly or recruited through tutors, student workers or another established student group that can help establish direct contact to potential participants, for example by participating in a class meeting.
- It’s also important that the sender is always clearly indicated in these contexts so students can easily identify who is behind the survey.
Do you need advice or guidance on recruitment for internal surveys or studies? You can always contact your faculty’s editor.
Urgent information
Urgent information is communication in connection with emergencies, such as:
- Warning and alarms
- Evacuation
- Accidents
- Fire
- Acts of violence
- Bomb threats
- Suspicious mails
- Abandoned items
- IT system failures
- National emergencies (such as the Covid-19 pandemic)
In emergencies, the highest priority is providing accurate information to affected target audiences quickly. This means that communication efforts are organised in the following way:
- Communication is coordinated with the designated management representative, as defined by the emergency management team and emergency response group.
- At a minimum, the heads of communication at the faculties should be kept informed. Relevant communications officers should be involved, depending on the location of the emergency.
- In the event of a prolonged emergency situation, additional faculty contact persons should be involved to ensure that faculty-specific information is available.
If warranted by the nature and scope of the emergency situation, necessary information/announcements can be communicated widely to affected students on all relevant AU platforms and SoMe channels:
- Students can be emailed. Keep in mind:
- Use a shared mailbox when emailing students during an emergency.
- Identify the sender of the mail clearly in the body of the email.
- Make sure the mail contains the AU logo so students know it’s not spam.
- A site or news feed can be set up on students.au.dk that can be updated as events unfold as a primary source of relevant coverage of a particular situation.
- An ‘emergency banner’ can be published on Brightspace, My Studies and the local students.au.dk pages that direct students to the latest information for affected groups of students.
- Social media can be used to support the primary platforms in order to get the message out as widely as possible.
Background
In 2020-21, a comprehensive survey was conducted of how staff and students rated internal communication at AU. This resulted in a report called ‘Communication with students at Aarhus University’ (21) (in Danish).
According to the report, the major challenges for students are the large number of student-oriented platforms, the complexity of our communication, and a lack of clarity in communication. For students, these challenges have consequences including: a high risk of overlooking relevant communication, significant time spent, a feeling of uncertainty and a sense that individual students are responsible for the communication.
Based on the report, a number of recommendations were made, including the development of a shared communication practice, clear communication objectives and a simplified platform landscape.
A draft of the communication practice was developed by the editorial team for students.au.dk and a steering committee with management representatives from across AU (including studies administration, the faculties and CED) under the auspices of the ‘Strengthening communication with students at Aarhus University’ (SKS) project. Students and administrative staff from the departments/schools, faculties and the central administration were involved in the development of the new practice.
In September 2023, the Committee on Education adopted the work of the SKS as general guidelines for communication with students and communication objectives. The guidelines should also be used in communication with EVU students, where appropriate.
The communication practice and guidelines on the staff website are based onAU's shared guidelines for good communication with studentsandobjectives for communication with students at AU.
If you have any general questions about our work to ensure the quality of communication with students at AU, please feel free to contacteditor Charlotte Møller Nygaard, AU Student Administration and Services.