For Cohort Coordinators

• Studentrepresentanter
• Studentkontakter
• Epostlister

A class coordinator (kullkoordinator) is a dedicated teacher per student cohort, often a teacher that also teaches a course for that cohort. They act as an academic contact point for a cohort of students and focus on the learning environment for the students from their perspective as a cohort, across the courses. Class contacts work closely together with the contact students, study program leader (SPL), study advisors and other administrative staff. Cohort coordinators stay with a specific study year, that means, students get a new cohort coordinator as they progress.

Tasks and Role

For some teachers, their specific tasks are first not clear, as they are not more specific than keeping a dialog with the students in the three cohort meetings during the semester. The roles can also be interpreted individually and following the requirements of that cohort. Most cohort coordinators find their role after the first meeting and feel then comfortable with it. It's a role that is best experienced in practice but hard to describe in words. In particular, a cohort coordinator does not replace functions carried out by study advisors or other roles.

The concept of a cohort coordinator was introduced as part of the actions to improve student welfare during the pandemic. Effect and feedback from all sides was so positive that we decided to make this a permanent role at IIK.

Class Time (Klassens time)

The main instrument for the cohort coordinator are meetings with all students of the cohort. The meeting should be conducted three times a semester, ideally in the beginning or end of a lecture where all of the students meet up anyway (the focus course of that cohort), alternatively at a separate time slot. Often, half an hour is enough, but sometimes the dialog can fill an entire hour. During the class time, different issues may come up. Sometimes you can directly explain or solve them, or point to other roles or information. In other cases, you can try to find out more about the students concerns. The following is a list of possible follow-ups:

• Feedback on the experienced quality or any other issues can be forwarded and discussed with the respective course responsible, SPL or Head of Education.
• Course-specific issues should be handled by the reference group in interaction with the responsible course teacher. If students have done this (but with insufficient effect), inform the SPL or Head of Education.
• For personal issues, students should contact one of their study advisors.
• Social events are usually coordinated by the contact students for a cohort. SPLs and Head of Education are always open for ideas.

Getting Started

• Find the name of the contact student for your cohort
• Optionally find the focus course in the table on this page.
• Plan three class meetings. One within the first three weeks of the semester, one in the middle, and another one towards the end of the lecture period. If there is no suitable focus course, contact students can help with finding a good time slot.
• Inform all students via the focus course's Blackboard announcements or via the cohort's mailing list. Send a reminder a few days before the meeting.
• During the first meeting, introduce yourself and the tasks of the cohort coordinator(opening a dialog with the students). Explain the other supporting roles and functions to the students like study advisors, contact students, reference groups, and what their tasks are.
• If you want, you can open the dialog with a survey using Mentimeter, asking students for any issues, opening for (anonymous) questions or comments. This often results in meaningful, valuable dialogs.
• After the class meeting, make short notes about any issues and inform SPL and Head of Education.
• We have collected a number of help offers for students here.