Experts in Teamwork - for students - Kunnskapsbasen

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Experts in Teamwork - for students

This page contains information about how to register for Experts in Teamwork (EiT), useful learning materials, and rules for attendance and exemptions. Students in EiT are divided into work groups called villages (classes of approximately 30-36 students). The course coordinator is referred to as the village supervisor. The villages are distributed across NTNU campuses, and some are digital.

Topic page about Experts in Teamwork | Pages labelled with EiT

Norsk versjon: Eksperter i team - for studenter

Innholdsfortegnelse [-]

When does the teaching take place?

Overview of important dates on the main page.

How do I register for EiT?

Choose a village

Villages 2024 (Villages 2025 TBA)

When registering for EiT, you must select 5 villages in order of preference. In addition, you must:

choose the village type required by your study programme
choose villages that are offered at your campus
choose at least two villages offered by a faculty other than your own
choose a maximum of three virtual villages (students in Gjøvik and Ålesund can choose four virtual villages)
choose only villages where you know the language of instruction (students from a few specific master's programmes may only choose English villages, these are labelled ENG in the overview below)

Virtual villages

Virtual villages are fully digital. This means that all teaching and group work takes place using digital collaboration tools. There are both virtual intensive and semester-based villages. See the specific village presentation for details. The virtual villages have a limited number of participants. Therefore some groups of students will be prioritized for these villages:

Students who, for health-reasons, must complete the EiT-course digitally.
Students living far away from the NTNU campuses, who follow an online study programme.
Part-time students and students which for other reasons have difficulty attending ordinary villages.

If you need to be prioritized for a virtual EiT village, please contact your faculty.

Register

Register your five village priorities on Studentweb from October 1 – November 1.
You may change the order of priorities as many times as you would like before the deadline.
Guide to registering on Studentweb

What should I do if I am unable to register on Studentweb?

If you are not following normal study progression, Experts in Teamwork might not show up on your Studentweb pages. If that is the case, you must contact your faculty before November 1, so that they can manually register your priorities.

What should I do if I need to take EiT a different semester?

EiT is typically a part of your 8th semester at university (the second semester of your master’s degree), but a student may wish to apply for taking EiT at a different time during their studies. If this is the case, please contact your faculty by November 1.

What are my village options?

Intensive villages are taught every day for three weeks in January, while semester-based village are taught for fifteen Wednesdays during the spring semester. Both village types are equal in scope. In some semester-based virtual villages work hours are more flexible. See the specific village presentations for details.

Your faculty or department decides if you can choose semester-based or intensive villages, or if you are free to choose between them. The overview below shows which village type(s) you can choose.

Please note: Students from study programmes marked with ENG must choose English speaking villages.

Villages 2024 (Villages 2025 TBA)

What should I do if I need to change my village type?

Your study programme decides which village type (intensive or semester-based) you must complete, or if you are free to choose either village type. See the overview above.

You can apply for a change of village type if you have good reason to do so. The application must be sent to the EiT contact person at your faculty. Your contact person can also give you more information, and answer questions regarding the application procedure. To apply for a change of village type you must send an application to your faculty before October 1.

Please note that even though you apply changing the village type, you must also register five village priorities on Studentweb before November 1.

Village assignments

By December 13 you will be able to see which village you have been assigned to by logging on to Studentweb or Blackboard. If you cannot find the information on Studentweb, please contact the Academic section for Experts in Teamwork.

Please note that when you have been assigned to a village, you are automatically registered for the EiT course and examination.

Welcome message from village supervisor

The village supervisor in the village you have been assigned to will send you a welcome message in Blackboard by December 13. This message will contain information about when and where you will meet the first day of EiT.

Are you missing information from your village supervisor?

We recommend contacting:

The village supervisor directly
The department that provides the village
The faculty of the department that provides the village

Please note: Information about location found in the schedules on NTNU's web pages may be unreliable because room assignments can change. Therefore, you should rely on the confirmation you get from the village supervisor, or the department, about where you are supposed to meet on the first village day.

The allocation process

The main rule is that there should be a maximum of two students from the same study programme in an EiT team. The Academic section for EiT distributes the students into different villages according to this principle, and the priorities that have been entered by EiT students on Studentweb.

Learning materials

Online course about groups and group dynamics

The course will give you insight into some selected perspectives to understand what happens when working together in groups. The course is intended as a supplement to the list of literature, and consists of a mixture of video, text, and assignments. It also contains some information about the history of Experts in Teamwork. The course provides an overview of some central topics which are useful when reflecting on what happens in the group, and when writing the process report. You will find a link to the course in Blackboard. Please note that the course is located on NTNU's platform for online courses, Digit. If you have not previously registered with Digit, you must create a user to access the course. Select "Create user with FEIDE" and use your NTNU account.

Guide for EiT students

The guide for students is an important document that you should read at the beginning of the semester. The guide contains the course description and an elaboration on EiT's learning outcomes and assessment criteria. The guide describes the framework of the course, such as attendance and compulsory activities.

The guide also contains a chapter that elaborates on what is expected regarding the content of the process report, and is intended to help in the writing process.

We recommend that all students read this guide during the first village days.

Guide for Students in EiT Spring Semester 2024 (English version, pdf)
- EiT assessment criteria adapted for assistive technology (docx)
Veiledning for studenter i EiT våren 2024 (Norwegian version, pdf)
- EiT vurderingskriterier tilpasset skjermlesere (docx)

Book of Reflections

EiT students receive a digital Book of Reflections. The book contains a guide to writing reflections. Your personal reflections form the basis for group level reflections, and for the group’s process report. The book will be made available via Blackboard.

List of literature

The list of literature is an overview of texts and aims to provide a theoretical framework for the course, as well as a basis for reflection on group processes. The texts describe and discuss group dynamics from different perspectives. The list is digital and will be made available via Blackboard.

Reference groups

In EiT reference groups are used to ensure the quality of the course. On the webpage for village supervisors, you can find the normal procedures and templates for reference group reports.

Attendance rules

Attendance is obligatory in Experts in Teamwork. If your absence exceeds 20 percent (three days), you fail to attend the first or second village day, or you do not participate in the final presentation and teamwork dialogue, you will be unable to submit your work for grading. This applies regardless of the reason for the absence. You must be present the following days:

The first or second day, in order to complete the cooperation agreement.
The day of the final presentation of the project and the dialogue about the teamwork in the student team.

Why is attendance obligatory in EiT?

The entire group needs to be present and participate in teaching activities together to develop teamwork skills. Tasks and facilitation help the student groups reflect, which in turn provides a foundation for learning. Therefore, the group members must work together, and be present in the village at agreed-upon times. Since the course is experience based, and the experiences form the basis for a common report, it will negatively affect the rest of your team if you are absent.

What are the obligatory activities in EiT?

In addition to obligatory attendance, the following activities are obligatory:

Drawing up a cooperation agreement between the members of the student team during the first two village days.
An oral presentation of the project at the end of the teaching period.
The village supervisor and the student groups must complete a perspective dialogue about the group process towards the end of the teaching period.

Why do I have to be present on the first or second village day?

The foundation for the teamwork is built at the start of the semester. As members of a team, you are mutually dependent on each other’s efforts, contributions, and presence. Certain rules need to be established to ensure healthy cooperation in the team. Through negotiations students decide what rules should apply in their team, and this decision is recorded in a cooperation agreement. This activity is compulsory and must be completed during the first two village days to pass the course.

I am going to be absent for more than 20 percent of the time. Is there anything I can do?

The village supervisor does not have the option to make an exemption from the attendance rules. If you have compelling reasons for your absence, we recommend that you contact the village supervisor’s faculty. Present your case, and the faculty will consider if it is possible to find a solution.

What should I do if I get ill?

If your absence does not exceed 20 percent, it is enough to inform your village supervisor and your team, and to come to an agreement with your team regarding catching up on missed work. You must still be present on days with obligatory activities.

Do we have to stay in the village room the entire day?

It is the village supervisor who decides when the team needs to be present in the village room and when the team can choose where to work. This will probably vary during the project period.

One of the outcomes of EiT is writing a team process report, and a facilitator will observe the team as they work together. He or she has the task of helping team members to reflect on all aspects of the team's cooperation. It is important that most of the work in the team is done together in the village room to enable the facilitator to observe and assist your understanding of cooperation issues.

Assessment

The project report and the process report are assessed based on the grading scale A–F. The project report and the process report each contribute 50 percent of the final grade. The team as a whole receives one grade. It is not possible to award individual grades. Compulsory activities must be approved by the village supervisor before the team can submit the reports for assessment, but the oral presentations do not count in the final grade.

Explanation of grades

Individual students are entitled to an explanation of the grade. The student must submit their request for an explanation to the village supervisor’s faculty within one week after the announcement of the grade. The explanation must normally be given within two weeks after the student requests an explanation. See the page explanations of grades and appeals for more information.

Appeal against a grade

If an individual student wishes to appeal against a grade, the appeal must be submitted to the village supervisor’s faculty no later than three weeks after the announcement of the grade. The faculty then appoints a new assessment committee consisting of an external examiner and another village supervisor. It is important that at least one member of the new assessment committee has previous experience in grading process reports in EiT. If the student has requested an explanation, the deadline for appeal is three weeks after the explanation was given. For appeals against the grading of group work, where a common grade is given, the individual student appeals. Any change after the appeal will apply only to the person who has appealed. See the page explanations of grades and appeals for more information.

Continuation of your project results

Experts in Teamwork (EiT) wishes to support the continuation of EiT project results.

Spark NTNU is a free counselling service for all NTNU students. Spark can help students with funding and further development, no matter how far they have developed their idea. Does your student group believe that there might be potential in the idea or concept you have been working on in EiT? Look at the videos below and do what hundreds of NTNU students have done before you: register the idea at SparkNTNU.no for free guidance.

Link to the videos can be found here: How to sign up and Spark xEiT

The project is part of Engage Centre for Engage Education through Entrepreneurship

Guidelines for applications for exemption from EiT

In addition to the general provisions in the Universities and University Colleges Act § 3-5 Academic recognition, the following guidelines for exemption apply to the Experts in Teamwork course:

Upon application to the Faculty, students may be granted the right to substitute the Experts in Teamwork course with another programme-relevant course that has the same scope at master’s level, if they fulfil one of the following criteria.

Students who have to complete programme-relevant fieldwork or time abroad, or who have other programme-related absences that mean that they cannot be at NTNU during the same semester in which the Experts in Teamwork course is scheduled.
Students who, for compelling practical reasons, cannot be present when the Experts in Teamwork course is being held.
Students who, for documented health reasons, are not able to complete the Experts in Teamwork course in accordance with their study plan.

Before you apply for an exemption due to compelling practical reasons, you should consider whether a virtual village could be a solution for you.

For more information, read the complete guidelines. The application must be sent to the EiT contact person at your faculty. He/she can also answer questions regarding the application procedure.

How do I apply for an exemption?

You must send an application before October 1 to the EiT contact person at your faculty. The application must contain relevant documentation. The faculty can also give you more information, and answer questions regarding the application procedure. You can also apply after October 1, but after this date you are not guaranteed a place in one of your prioritized villages, in cases where an exemption is not granted.

Please note that even if you apply for an exemption, you must register five village priorities on Studentweb before November 1.