IE-ULisboa 2020/2021 on-campus academic year

a. All members attending IE-ULisboa are responsible for their daily self-monitoring of signs and symptoms and should refrain from entering the premises of IE/FP if they present symptoms compatible with COVID-19. In this case, they should stay at home and contact the competent health authorities and follow the directions they are given;

b. Mandatory use of masks to access the premises and hand sanitising with a disinfectant solution at the entrance of the building, services, classrooms and labs and any other common areas;

c. Mandatory use of masks in closed spaces shared by several people;

d. Whenever the weather conditions permit it, keeping windows open, in working areas and public attendance services, to ensure adequate air flow;

e. Compliance with the social distancing rules recommended by the health authorities, namely keeping a minimum physical distance of 1 metre between people, in terms of both circulation and use of spaces;

f. Compliance with the entry, circulation and exit indications established for common areas;

g. It is recommended that students go to IE-ULisboa only on the days they have on-site teaching activities and that contact with administrative services is preferably done at a distance, namely by using the site, the academic portal, and email and telephone contacts;

h. It is recommended that teachers, researchers and scholarship holders occupying offices/working areas E-209, E-210, E-211 and E-215 respect the maximum number of seven users simultaneously.

a. Services with work on site, preferably, according to plans defined for each sector, and safeguarding the health and hygiene conditions of both workers and users;

b. Services will attend the public on site, through email and by telephone;

c. The provision of protection and hygiene equipment for workers carrying out their activities on site will be ensured, namely masks for everyday use, a container with disinfectant solution near the workstations and face shields for on-site attendance activities.

a. The Library and computer/study rooms – except for the space next to the bar/canteen – are open to students, albeit with limitations;

b. Access to the Library will be restrained to a small number of users, depending on the need to apply social distancing rules and the hygiene conditions inside, according to indications given at the reception desk;

c. The number of workstations in the computer/study rooms will be reduced by 50%, in order to safeguard social distancing inside and according to the spaces’ conditions of ventilation social;

d. The bar and the canteen will work every day, in compliance with the measures issued by the relevant authorities for this sector of activity. Their capacity will be cut by around 50%, with specific lanes for entering, circulating and exiting;

e. Given the limited access and use of the bar and canteen, adjacent external spaces will be created, exclusively for the purpose of eating meals, in compliance with the excepted rules of distancing and hygiene.

a. OPERATING REGIMES
All IE-ULisboa programmes are on site, with the exception of the Master Programme in Education, in the specialisation Education and Digital Technologies (which takes place in a distance regime) and the specialisation programme in Technologies and Robotics in Basic Education (which works in a b-learning regime with some on-site activities which take place on Saturdays).

b. FORMS OF PEDAGOGIC ORGANISATION

1) BACHELOR PROGRAMME IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING

1.1. Teaching activities in the Bachelor programme will follow an adapted regime. This way of working is characterised by the practical combination of two conditions: alternating on-site work with students’ autonomous work; and alternating the weekly presence of the students of each class in the institution;

1.2. Implementing this model implies dividing each class in two independent sub-units, each with 50% of the students enrolled in the class, and a work rationale that combines, for each sub-unit, sequences of on-site work and autonomous work, backed up by the adequate distance resources for each curricular unit;

1.3. The academic services are responsible for the composition of the two sub-units of the classes. The sub-units are composed for each programme, according to the students’ enrolment order, and considering the need to form balanced sub-units as regards numbers;

1.4. The composition of each sub-unit will be communicated to students and teachers before the start of the academic year, until the end of 10 September (except for information regarding the 1 year of the Bachelor programme, which will be communicated to students on 6 and 7 October).

1.5. Exceptions to the above-mentioned regime are the following curricular units, which involve teachers associated with risk groups:
– Quantitative Data Analysis (2nd year)
– Written Culture and Education (optional 2nd year)
In these cases, a distance regime will be adopted, particularly by means of synchronous sessions to take place, always, in the officially defined schedules. The teachers in charge of these curricular units will manage the scheduling of the synchronous sessions and their respective communication to the enrolled students.

2) SPECIALISATION AND MASTER PROGRAMMES

2.1. In the specialisation (Pedagogy of Higher Education) and Master programmes (Master Programme in Education, Master Programme in Education and Training, Master Programme in Teaching, Master Programme in the Dissemination of Science), two pedagogic organisation modalities will be followed:
– In curricular units with 15 or less enrolled students, pedagogic work will follow the usual formats in the on-site programmes of IE-ULisboa.
– In curricular units with over 15 enrolled students, teaching activities will follow an adapted regime. This way of working is characterised by the practical combination of two conditions: alternating on-site work with students’ autonomous work; and alternating the weekly presence of the students of each class in the institution. Implementing this model implies dividing each class in two independent sub-units, and a work rationale that combines, for each sub-unit, sequences of on-site work and autonomous work, backed up by the adequate distance resources for each programme and curricular unit.
2.2. The academic services are responsible for the composition of the two sub-units of the classes with over 15 students. The sub-units are composed, for each programme, according to the students’ enrolment order, and considering the need to form balanced sub-units as regards numbers, given the established limit and number of vacancies in each programme.
2.3. The composition of each sub-unit will be communicated to students and teachers before the start of the academic year, until the end of 10 September, for all programmes.
2.4. The exceptions to the defined regimes are the following curricular units – or curricular unit modules -, which involve teachers associated with risk groups:

Master Programme in Education and Training, specialisation in Social and Cultural Development
– Quantitative Methods module of the curricular unit Research and Project Methodology
Master Programme in Education and Training, specialisation in Organisation and Management of Education and Training
– Quantitative Methods module of the curricular unit Research and Project Methodology
Master Programme in Education, specialisation in Innovation in Education
– Innovation and Teachers’ Professional Development (mostly distance learning)
– Quantitative Methods module of the curricular unit Research Methodology I
Master Programme in Teaching
– Curriculum and Evaluation (only the 2 classes taught by Ana Sofia Pinho)
– Plural Didactic Approaches

In these cases, a distance regime will be followed, mainly through synchronous sessions to take place in the officially defined schedules. The teachers in charge of these curricular units will manage the scheduling of the synchronous sessions and their respective communication to the enrolled students.

3) PhD PROGRAMMES

3.1. In the PhD programmes, pedagogic work will follow the usual modalities of IE-ULisboa’s on-site programmes.

3.2. Exceptions to this are
(a) the curricular units Research Seminar I and Transdisciplinary Seminar I, which will take place through a distance regime, in synchronous sessions, in defined schedules, from the beginning of the academic year, and made known in the IE-ULisboa site.

c. ORGANISATION AND LAYOUT OF CLASSROOMS, AUDITORIUMS AND OTHER AREAS FOR ACADEMIC ACTIVITY

1. A physical distance of at least 1 metre between people should be ensured, without compromising the normal functioning of teaching activities.

2. In the classrooms, where possible, the tables should be placed next to walls and windows, according to the physical structure of the rooms.

3. Tables should preferably be laid out with the same orientation. In case another type of organisation is chosen, any layout implying having students face to face at a distance shorter than 2 metres should be avoided.

4. Wherever possible, it is recommended that the first row of tables is not occupied and that the teachers and students are ensured a 2-metre distance.

5. It is recommended that each table/ desk is not occupied by more than one person.

6. In auditoriums, all the rows may be filled up, with unmatched seating and an interval of one place between people.

7. Whenever materials have to be shared, these should be sanitised.

d. ACADEMIC CALENDAR

1. In the post-graduate programmes and in the 2nd and 3rd years of the Bachelor programme, the academic year will begin on 14 September.
2. Due to an alteration of secondary school exam dates, the 1st year activities of the Bachelor programme will only begin on 6 October. The first week of classes will include welcoming activities for the 1st-year students (6 and 7 October).

e. MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES

In the present scenario of high uncertainty, managing IE-ULisboa pedagogic activities depends on the existence of more intensive monitoring and supervision, as well as on the active intervention and proximity on behalf of the programme/specialisation coordinators, with a special attention to the formal and informal feedback conveyed by students and teachers.

a. During the first semester, remote meetings will continue to be held, namely meetings of Master and PhD juries, selection boards in tenders, related to higher education teaching careers and the scientific research career, and public tests.

b. The meetings of governing and managing bodies will take place on site, in a blended manner or remotely, by decision of their respective coordinators, depending on the number of participants and the spaces used, and necessarily safeguarding compliance with the rules laid down by the public authority regarding social distancing and the occupation of public spaces.

a. In case someone presents signs or symptoms of COVID-19, a space has been set up to receive and isolate them – ROOM 16 –, together with the exclusive use of a bathroom nearby, if needed.

b. The team responsible for the implementation of the FP/IE-ULisboa Contingency Plan can be contacted in case of need, in the following order:

– Mr. António Júlio Fornelos (Head of Technical Services / Ext. 13658);
– Mr. João Costa (Coordinator of the Centre of Graduated Studies / Ext. 13792);
– Mrs. Telma Vargas (Coordinator of the Human Resources Management Centre / Ext. 13785).

c. Any member/visitor with COVID-19 symptoms should inform one of the people in charge of the Contingency Plan through the contacts mentioned above and follow the Contingency Plan Flow Chart, shown in the IE-ULisboa site and displayed in several areas of the building.

With a view to contributing to a safer functioning of on-site activities, COVID-19 testing operations will take place on a regular basis, aimed at the ULisboa community, under the coordination of the ULisboa Rectory.

1. The terms of reference herein identified aim to help steer the preparation processes of the forms of pedagogic work to be adopted in the 2020/2021 academic year, in relation to the first semester. The terms of reference regarding the second semester will be defined at the end of November, in the light of the existing conditions and of the evaluation of the work carried out in the meantime.
2. The terms of reference apply to all the IE-ULisboa programmes that operate in an on-campus regime. The exceptions to this way of operating are the Master’s programme in Education, in the specialization Education and Digital Technologies (carried out as distance education), and the specialization programme in Technologies and Robotics in Basic Education (which works in a b-learning regime with some on-campus activities which take place on Saturdays)¹.
3. The implementation of these terms of reference implies the need for an articulated intervention of the governing and managing bodies of the IE, of the coordinators of the programmes/specializations, of the IE Advisory Department and of several IE/FP services (academic services, library, technical services), from the moment they enter into force.
4. These terms of reference are based on the assumption that next September, IE-ULisboa may operate in an ‘advanced opening’ scenario.
5. In case a scenario with greater restrictions is established, at any moment, by public and academic authorities, IE-ULisboa will proceed with all the teaching and evaluation activities of its programmes using the working model adopted between the beginning of March and the end of the second semester of 2019/2020, with the changes found necessary to reduce the difficulties identified by students and teachers and to improve the provision of our educational service.

¹The on-campus activities foreseen in the ‘Technologies and Robotics in Basic Education’ programme should take into account these terms of reference inasmuch as they are applicable.

1. This scenario represents the possibility of a significant change in the measures to fight the pandemic, especially in the restrictions of people’s physical mobility, the use of social and academic spaces, and ways of social interaction.
2. It implies the possibility of people moving around freely or with very few limitations on national territory (e.g., the possibility for students to regularly travel to their places of origin and/or residence) and in urban spaces (e.g., the use of transports limited only by the rules of social distancing in use), as well as the possibility of people’s (regulated) access to social and cultural equipment and services and to equipment related to fundamental consumption.
3. It implies the absence of restrictions to the ULisboa campuses and to its main infrastructures (namely, faculty buildings and support structures, such as residences, canteens and libraries).
4. It implies, however, that there are limitations with regard to the gathering of great masses of people and/or groups of people in physically limited spaces, namely classrooms, libraries, computer rooms, study rooms, common circulation and co-presence areas, associated with maintaining restrictive social distancing rules (e.g. keeping a 1-metre distance)². In the current physical conditions of the IE/FP buildings and, above all, considering the classrooms’ capacity, these limitations mean it is impossible to hold on-campus theoretical-practical sessions (the typical form of the curricular units of the IE-ULisboa programmes) with more than 15 students³.
5. Last, but not least, this scenario implies that ULisboa and its organic units are capable of guaranteeing its communities the health, hygiene and safety conditions that meet the standards established by reference entities.

² WHO.
³ This number [15] may be subject to change due to possible external regulatory interventions, namely on behalf of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education or the ULisboa Rectory.

1.  The forms of pedagogic work organization to be developed in the first semester of the 2020/2021 academic year, in the advanced opening scenario, are ruled by three key goals:

(a) ensuring the scientific and pedagogic quality of teaching-learning experiences and the quality of learning, in exceptional circumstances of pedagogic work;
(b) promoting students’ return to a full academic life, which includes, but greatly exceeds, the experience of teaching activities;
(c) ensuring health, hygiene and safety conditions for the whole IE-ULisboa community – its students, teachers/researchers, technical staff and their families.

In curricular units with 15 or more enrolled students

1. In the ‘advanced opening’ scenario, the IE-ULisboa programmes submitted to these terms of reference will adopt a mixed organization modality for teaching activities in all curricular units with more than 15 enrolled students.
2. The use of this model aims to guarantee the regular occurrence of on-campus teaching activities to all students, though limited by the impossibility of gathering high numbers in the classrooms and other building spaces without putting at risk the health of the IE/FP-ULisboa communities.
3. This model should guarantee that all students attend and participate in on-campus activities corresponding to 50% of the sessions programmed for the first semester in each CU.
4. This way of working is characterised by the practical combination of two conditions: (a) alternating on-campus work with students’ autonomous work; (b) and alternating the weekly presence of students of each class in the institution.
5. Implementing this model, based on the (previous) adaptation of the CU programme, implies dividing each class in two independent sub-units, and a work rationale that combines, for each sub-unit, sequences of on-campus work and autonomous work, backed up by the distance resources deemed appropriate for each programme and CU.

In curricular units with less than 15 enrolled students

1. In curricular units with less than 15 students, pedagogic work will resume the usual formats in the on-campus programmes of IE-ULisboa.

Special cases

1. The curricular units Research Seminar I (modules 1 and 2) and Transdisciplinary Seminars I (3 sessions), both of the 1st year of the Doctor’s Degree in Education, gathering students from several specialities, will be carried out in a distance regime, with synchronous sessions.
2.  In the (‘on-campus’) programmes in which IE participates with other ULisboa organic units, the curricular units under the responsibility of IE teachers will follow these terms of reference. Should it become essential to elaborate more specific terms of reference, these should be defined by 1 July 2020.
3. The curricular units in which teachers belonging to risk groups (see VI.2, below) are involved may have a special operational regime. This regime should be defined and validated by the time teaching staff service distribution for 2020-2021 is approved.

Timetables

1. In order to reduce concurrent presences in the building and different spaces, IE and FP have harmonised aspects regarding weekly and daily timetables, including start and end times of classes and breaks, to foster the asynchronous attendance of common spaces, such as the bar, canteen and library.

Regulations and hosting of students from other countries

1. Given the exceptional circumstances, including mobility limitations students may be unaware of, during the first months of classes IE-ULisboa will welcome to its programmes all those from other countries who are duly enrolled and substantiate their delay justifiably.
2. Furthermore, these students will be integrated in teaching activities since the start of the semester, using distance working and teaching methods.

Start of the year and duration of the first semester

1. In the Master programmes and 2nd and 3rd years of the Bachelor programme, the academic year will start in mid-September (usual dates).
2. Because of a change in dates of secondary school exams, classes of the 1st year of the Bachelor programme will only start at the beginning of October.
3. The delay in starting the 1st year of the Bachelor programme will be adjusted in the academic calendar by prolonging the teaching period throughout January.
4. In every study cycle there will be welcoming activities for the students.

Conditions for supporting academic work⁴

1. During the first semester of 2020/2021, the Library and computer rooms will be open to students, albeit with limited access.
2. Access to the Library will be restrained to a smaller number of users, depending on the need to apply social distancing rules and the hygiene conditions inside. A regime of shifts or maximum periods of stay may be adopted.
3. The number of workstations in the computer room will be smaller in order to safeguard social distancing inside and according to the space’s conditions of ventilation.
4. Sanitising material will be placed at the entrance and inside all these spaces.

Other spaces for supporting academic life⁵

1. The bar and the canteen will work in compliance with the measures issued by the relevant authorities for this sector of activity.
2. Given the limited access and use of these spaces, due to these rules, adjacent external spaces will be created, where meals can be eaten while complying with the expected rules of distancing and hygiene.

⁴ Together with FP.
⁵ Together with FP.

1. Mandatory use of individual protection equipment, namely community masks, by everyone.
2. Keeping a minimum physical distance – 1 m between people –⁶, both when in movement and when using spaces.
3. Guaranteed cleaning, disinfection and ventilation of spaces for use, at suitable intervals.
4. Encouraging remote meetings, namely meetings of Master’s and PhD juries, selection boards in tenders, related to higher education teaching careers and the scientific research career, public tests and meetings of governing and managing bodies⁷.
5. The presence of any element of the academic community in the IE/FP space is limited by exercising ‘self-monitoring’, and this is to be respected by everyone. Whoever manifests Covid 19 symptoms should refrain from being present.

⁶ WHO.
⁷ Obviously, the above-mentioned juries and meetings will continue to be planned this way as long as this legislative permission is maintained.

1. At their own request, people associated with risk groups – as regularly established by DGS (e.g., people with chronic diseases or whose immune system is compromised) – may, if they prefer, develop their activities at distance. This request should be addressed in writing to the board by 10 July.
2. In these cases, and with respect to teachers, it is recommended that the Distribution of Teaching Staff (2020/2021) encompasses solutions that allow teaching activities to be shared, so that the existence of regular on-campus activities is maximised.