Guidelines issued by the Office for Studies of the Masaryk University Rector’s Office No. 1/2021 Organisation of Teaching in Spring Semester 2021 (in the version effective from 1 March 2021) These Guidelines regulate the parameters and course of teaching (Section 9 of the Study and Examination Regulations of Masaryk University) and examinations in the spring semester 2021 based on the valid internal regulations of Masaryk University and current measures issued by state authorities of the Czech Republic in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the purposes hereof, synchronous teaching means online teaching in real time, with or without recording. Section 1 Academic Year Schedule (1) The spring semester 2021 shall be governed by the schedule published in the MU Information System. Section 2 Teaching (1) Personal presence of students in classes, and personal presence of participants in lifelong learning programmes and internationally recognized courses is not permitted. (2) The ban on personal presence shall not apply to exemptions granted by the Czech government or, as the case may be, to exemptions granted by the MUNI traffic light system, which responds to the current epidemic situation. (3) Teaching shall be in the online synchronous mode (at the time according to the schedule for in-person teaching) or in the asynchronous mode using a video or audio recording made in advance and with the support of teaching/learning materials. Instruction in the form of seminars shall be held online similarly to lectures; it may also be replaced with another remote form where a sufficient degree of interactivity is maintained. (4) The manner of teaching and of ongoing fulfilment of course requirements using remote communication means shall be determined by the course guarantor. (5) When the remote form of teaching is used, the course guarantor shall be responsible for such use of digital technologies that will ensure the compliance of the course with the accreditation terms. A mere provision of study materials for self-study shall not be considered adequate. The teaching form and methods shall be properly described in the course specification. (6) In case a student with special needs is enrolled in the course, the accessibility of the course is consulted with the guarantor by the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs. (7) With regard to 1^st year students, the guarantor of the degree programme in cooperation with teachers shall organise regular synchronous teaching in the relevant scope, supplemented with a sufficient offer of individual consultations. (8) The website is.muni.cz/samostudium/ is updated for the purposes of teachers’ support. The Methodology of Remote Examination and Course Completion No. 1/2020 is available to teachers (see is.muni.cz/go/distancni_zkouseni ). Section 3 Making Recordings of Classes (1) Online teaching in all types of education uses remote communication means. Audiovisual interaction between the teacher and the students may be a prerequisite for the fulfilment of educational goals of the given course. (2) The course guarantor is entitled to decide on making recordings of compulsory and non-compulsory classes; he/she shall enter such a decision into the course specification. If the course guarantor decides on making the recording, he/she shall also specify the manner in which the recording will be treated in the future, i.e. whether the recording will be (or may be) used as a study material for students of the given course and under what conditions. The course guarantor shall also specify where the recording will be stored and who will have access to the recording. (3) The course guarantor shall decide on making the recording of the classes also if the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs requires so. (4) The recording under subsection 2 of this Section is an employee's work in accordance with Section 3(27) of MU Directive No. 10/2013 “Intellectual Property at MU”, where the entity exercising property rights is Masaryk University and at the same time, such recording is an audiovisual work under Section 79 Act No. 121/2000 Coll. (Copyright Act). Any use of the recording is governed by the above mentioned regulations. (5) At the beginning of each teaching unit that is to be recorded, the teacher is obliged to expressly notify the students of the fact that the classes will be recorded. The teacher shall also advise the students that the information on the treatment of the recording is to be found in the course specification. (6) In case the course guarantor and teacher meet all the obligations related to the protection of personal data and personality rights of students through the procedure under subsection 2, the teacher is entitled to request that the students turn on their cameras so that the educational goals of the course are fulfilled as mentioned in subsection 1. This requirement applies to classes where students’ involvement is needed. (7) The use of recordings is only possible in compliance with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), and with Act No. 121/2000 Coll. (Copyright Act). The users are in particular not entitled to distribute, rent out, lend or disclose the recording to the public, so that the rights and interests of the participants to the classes or third parties and the university as such are protected. (8) The teacher shall enter the recording under subsections 2 and 3 into the IS MU application “Online Teaching” of the course and shall enable its viewing only to students of the given course while preventing unauthorized download of the file. The faculty e-technician can advise how to work with the recordings; instructions can be found at: https://is.muni.cz/samostudium/pages/02-online.html#archivace. (9) The teacher may also make a recording of his/her teaching without the presence of students, or a recording with the presence of students who have their cameras and microphones switched off, and determine the manner in which the recording will be treated in the IS MU. In such case, the teacher need not meet the obligation under subsection 8 and may enable access to students e.g. through a link to the storage folder in MS Teams or a similar tool. Section 4 Completion of Courses (1) All manners of course completion under Section 16(1) of the Study and Examination Regulations of Masaryk University (credit, colloquium, examination) may be achieved through remote communication means. The presence of students at a course completion is only permitted within the scope of currently valid measures of the Czech government in cases where remote performance is not feasible due to the nature of the course. (2) The course guarantor is entitled to change the manner of completion and the method of evaluation of the course during the course implementation. Students must be notified of such a change no later than 3 weeks before the first regular deadline for completion. (3) If a technical issue on part of the student disables the continuation of a started examination, the teacher shall assess whether the student’s performance until the connection failure can be evaluated with a grade from the A to F scale (or as the case may be, with Z, P, or N). If such evaluation cannot be made, the teacher shall excuse the student from the current examination and register him/her for an alternate examination date in the IS MU. (4) The examiner is entitled to prohibit using any audio device (earphones) by the student in order to prevent cheating during the course completion. This provision must be mentioned in the course specification. The restriction shall not apply to compensatory aids for students with a hearing impairment (hearing aids, cochlear implant). In such case, the student shall inform the teacher of the necessity to wear the aid during the examination. (5) If planning to examine a student with special needs, the examiner shall get in touch with the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs and ensure in advance that the examination is accessible to the student. (6) The course guarantor is entitled to decide on making a recording of the examination. The storage place for the temporary deposition of video recordings of examinations is provided in the IS MU (Teacher's Notebook / Examination) for each course; the recordings shall not be accessible to students and shall be automatically deleted after 60 days of depositing. Section 5 Completion of Studies (1) Upon the dean’s decision, a state examination (Bachelor’s, Master’s, advanced Master’s, or doctoral examination) or the defence of a doctoral thesis (hereinafter referred to as the “SE”) may be implemented in the online mode using remote communication means. (2) In case the SE is not open to the public in real time, the examination shall be documented through an audio-visual recording, which shall be kept in the IS MU for 5 years for the purpose of subsequent review of the examination procedure. Recordings are not made from a session of the board evaluating an applicant. (3) The chair of the examination board shall inform all participants to the SE in advance of the fact that a recording will be made, of the storage place and period, and of accessibility thereof. (4) Diploma theses (Bachelor’s, Master’s, advanced Master’s, or doctoral) shall be submitted and published in accordance with Section 40 of the Study and Examination Regulations of Masaryk University. Presentation of the printed version of the diploma thesis is not a precondition for admission to the SE. Section 6 Final Provisions (1) These Guidelines shall enter into effect on 1 March 2021 and repeal Guidelines No. 2/2020 “Organisation of Teaching in Autumn Semester 2020”. Michal Bulant Vice-Rector for Education and Quality Brno, 1 March 2021