Institutional projects

As part of the implementation of its 2019 digital strategy, the UNIL Rectorate has decided to provide teachers and students with a digital environment consisting in a selection of digital tools for teaching and learning with digital technology that meets educational needs as closely as possible. The implementation of this project has been entrusted to the CSE.

The aim of this project was to:

• Define a range of software available to all teachers and students at UNIL as part of teaching and learning.
• Institutionalise and develop the current Moodle and MyUnil platforms in synergy.
• Enhance the use of mobile digital applications linked to teaching and its organisation.

Initially comprising Moodle and its specific plugins, Mahara, Speakup and WOOCLAP, this portfolio has been topped up with REC·UNIL (UbiCast), CAMTASIA and ZOOM since April 2020. It is then up to each teacher to choose which of the available tools best suits his or her teaching.

Digitalisation is a challenge for all higher education institutions. The Swissuniversities P-8 programme « Strengthening digital skills in education » aims to support higher education projects in the field of education by funding projects that focus on the development of digital skills.

The joint UNIL and UniDistance project P8 Digital Skills - Future University is part of the the second phase (2021-2024) of swissuniversities' P-8 Digital Skills project. It comprises two development axes, the teachers’ axis and the students’ axis. Its objectives include establishing a set of digital competences based on DigCompEdu and DigComp adapted to the teaching and learning context in Swiss universities, and to produce resources for developing each of the competences required for teaching and learning with digital technology.

UNIL is the project's leading house.

The first discussions on the broadcasting of courses arose from logistical constraints, namely the lack of space in auditoriums. Faculties were in favour of doubling or even tripling the number of courses in order to avoid using broadcasting tools. The latter were very occasionally used in certain faculties when the logistical constraints became too great.

The health crisis of 2020 accelerated the installation of course broadcasting systems. The equipment of 91 rooms was completed in two years, and the use of live and/or deferred broadcasting was imposed. The return of students to in-person courses on a more regular basis from the spring semester of 2022 has prompted management to reflect on the educational uses of broadcasting systems. The CSE has been given a mandate to accompany this reflection with a view to proposing a framework for the use of these tools.

Born from a collaborative effort between teachers, IT specialists, engineers and educational advisors at the UNIL, a project was launched to create a system for teaching and learning at the university; A project to create an online assessment system has been initiated in the autumn of 2019.
The aim was to enable teachers to to administer exams on digital devices (desktop or laptop computers, tablets) while guaranteeing equivalent or even better security and safety conditions than traditional paper-based exams.

This system was designed to offer a number of pedagogical advantages, in particular a better alignement of assessment methods with certain types evaluated content (for example, the use of statistical software or programming in exam conditions); use of statistical or programming software under examination conditions), the integration of a variety of multimedia media or restricted access to online resources. From a practical point of view, the aim was also to automate the correction of MCQs and the calculation of statistical indicators relating to their quality.

Initially, only two examination methods were considered: MCQs and online homework, both using students' personal devices (personal laptop). A dedicated Moodle platform, MoodleExam, was set up and tested. However, the health crisis disrupted the timetable, leading to a temporary refocusing on the essential functionalities for holding exams remotely (use of test and assignment activities), in a simplified and streamlined interface.

Following the experience of the pandemic, during which exam sessions using this new platform were carried out remotely, the online assessment facility is now fully and successfully deployed. Teachers have been able to administer secure and varied exams, offering richer assessment opportunities that are better adapted to the needs of students. This collaborative project has demonstrated the adaptability and innovation of the academic community in the face of contemporary challenges.

The online assessment system has now been widely adopted by several faculties. It allows the organisation of several dozen exams  each assessment period, representing thousands of individual tests each session. Thanks to its ability to manage a large number of users efficiently, the system has optimised the evaluation process, reducing the time required for grading and entering results. This widespread usage has increased confidence in the system and continues to encourage other faculties and colleges to adopt it, creating a culture of online assessment within the institution.

The aim of the exam paper anonymisation project is to make the marking of exam papers anonymous in order to avoid well-known evaluation biases.

This projec was submitted  to the University Council in 2017, and voted on in 2018; the project mandate is entrusted to the CSE. An initial single solution (self-adhesive labels) was proposed for all faculties/colleges in 2020, but was postponed until 2022 due to Covid. For paper-based exams, this consisted in applying a sticker on the designated space for students to indicate their identity at the end of the exam. After grading, the identity could be partially withdrawn for entry of marks. For online examinations, the anonymity of corrections is guaranteed by the functionalities of the Moodle and MoodleExam platforms.

At the end of 2022, a new strategy was adopted by the Rectorate in order to respect faculty specificities as much as possible. Four different solutions were submitted to the Deanships (with the option of choosing one or all of the proposed solutions), and tested during the June 2023 exam session.

Following this pilot phase, the Rectorate decided on a gradual anonymisation, which seemed more appropriate, and setting a new goal of gradual progress, so that all written exams may be anonymized by January 2025 (subject to derogations in cases where anonymisation is not appropriate).

UNIL's Pedagogical Impulse Fund follows on from the Pedagogical Innovation Fund, which supported more than 170 projects between 2008 and 2020. After being put on hold during the Covid period, the updated Fund will be relaunched in 2023 in a more streamlined format to better respond to the current needs of the community. Its objectives are to provide a pedagogical boost to existing individual teaching and/or to support teaching projects bringing together several teachers at faculty, interfaculty or inter-institutional level.

The CSE has been mandated by the Directorate to design and implement the new FIP process, which it coordinates and monitors.

In 1994 a working group was set up at UNIL at the request of teachers to implement a system and tools to obtain feedback from students on their teaching. In 1998, following a pilot phase, UNIL introduced the student evaluation of teaching (SET) and set up the Teaching Support Centre, with the task of carrying out and processing the SET and supporting teachers in this process.

In 2014, the principles, values and procedures for implementing the SET were specified, and the questionnaire formats  were completely revised.

In 2019, the Management entrusted the unit, which has since become the CSE, with the task of developing courses of action for the future development of the SET, with the aim of :

• Establish and communicate the goals and values of the evaluation system more widely.
• Expand the number and type of courses evaluated
• evaluate teaching using digital devices, and encourage teacher-student communication
• provide systematic feedback to students
• detect cases of problematic teaching and ensure pedagogical follow-up.

The new directive of Direction 3.22 was adopted in 2021.

The CSE is continuing its mission of coordinating the teaching evaluation process for the whole of UNIL (with the exception of the School of Medicine).

VAE helps to facilitate access to studies for different groups, to enhance the value of atypical career paths and to welcome people who have worked or are working, and have sometimes failed at their first “university life” attempt, and who are willing and able to return or come to university. It is based on a vision of lifelong learning, in a spirit of openness and respect for the principle of equal opportunities.

Since 2016, the University of Lausanne has been offering adults returning to university the opportunity to enhance their professional achievements through the VAE procedure, which makes it possible to obtain, in the form of equivalence, some of the ECTS credits that make up a programme or curriculum. Directives 3.17 and 3.18 of the Rectorate of UNIL frame this procedure.

The CSE supervises and supports the system in the following ways:

• Accompanying Faculties that wish to do so in setting up the procedure.
• Information for people interested in the VAE procedure in conjunction with SOC, SASME and SII support
• Accompanying people applying for VAE.
• Dynamisation of the Romandy network of the VAE, in partnership with the University of Geneva and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (see www.vae-formations.ch )
• Production of annual reports for the UNIL’s Vice-Rector for Teaching.
• Promotion and communication on the VAE procedure within UNIL (Faculties and central services concerned such as the SOC, SASME, SII) and externally (Offices-emploi, for example)

In 2011, UNIL decided to implement the Swiss Qualifications Framework for the description and organisation of its curricula. This process is in line with the Bologna reform and the European qualifications framework adopted in 2011 by the Swiss University Conference (CUS), which today corresponds to swissuniversities .

The project was initiated in 2011 with 3 pilot faculties. Support was then gradually extended to the other faculties. The objective was achieved in 2017.

Since the objectives were incorporated into the regulations, which marked the end of the project, the CSE has continued to support the creation and redesign of the curricula. Thanks to the work carried out on the training objectives, a more systematic reflection on the coherence of the curricula can continue to this day.

Useful documents

The main aim of the Digital Skills P8 project (2018-2021) is to integrate research on digital technology into the specific contexts of the disciplines taught at UNIL.

After identifying digital-related teaching, the project working group, made up of expert lecturers in various fields, developed a framework for promoting a digital culture at UNIL. The aim of the framework is to help teachers, colleges and faculties to formulate digital learning objectives (disciplinary digital competences) for their bachelor programmes.

This initiative is part of the 2021-2026 Statement of Intent   and faculties and colleges can benefit from the support of the CSE in this process. A set of resources is also available in the "Objectif LON" booklet to accompany this initiative.

Find out more:

• Framework for the development of a digital culture at UNIL for teaching and learning (2020)
• Booklet Objectif L.O.N.

Initiated at Unil in 2011, the aim of the mentorships is to enable first-year students (mentees) to meet or correspond regularly with more advanced students from the same faculty (mentors) in order to facilitate the socialisation and integration of the former into university life.

The CSE is supporting Faculties that so wish in the implementation of a mentoring system by and for students.
In this same perspective, the CSE has been involved in providing advice and tools for student mentors and tutors on the www.unil.ch/sherpa website.

Advanced students can help first year Bachelor students succeed by offering them tutoring. Faculty tutoring systems were developed at UNIL following an AESSP initiative supported by the Pedagogical Impulse Fund in 2011.

Faculty tutoring schemes aim to reinforce the learning of students by improving their working methods and/or supporting the development of their disciplinary and/or cross-disciplinary skills.

To this end, various measures have been put in place, such as support for faculties and pedagogical training for tutors. This has enabled tutors to run methodological workshops, be on call or provide support during courses.

The health crisis that began in 2020 has caused upheaval for students at UNIL who had to adjust their learning strategies to the new distance learning mode, in particular by demonstrating adaptability and re-organisation in their working methods, information management and cooperation, which had become virtual.

The CSE, in collaboration with the SOC, created video tutorials on this subject and made them available to the UNIL student community.

All the videos produced are available on the CSE’s YouTube channel