Retningslinjer digital disputas

The main rule is that the trail lecture happens on the day of the defense, before the defense, unless otherwise agreed with the research administration. This applies even if the defense is digital. If this is agreed upon, the guidelines below applies. 

A digital trial lecture can either be held as a video conference over Zoom, with opponents, the chair of the defence and a technician as part of the conference, or by using Zoom to record the lecture by yourself, and distributing the recording to the opponents for evaluation.

We recommend that you use Zoom for your digital trial lecture. It may be useful to practice using Zoom for presentations before you conduct the lecture itself, regardless of whether you make a recording of your lecture or conduct it as a video conference. 

Recording your lecture using Zoom
The trial lecture recording should be ready no later than two days before the defence. 

In order to show slides from a presentation while presenting, you can share content (i.e. your screen). Check that your microphone works properly before you start recording, to ensure good audio quality.

If you need to use a blackboard during the lecture, we recommend using a tablet/iPad with a pen as a digital board, and sharing this screen whenever needed. 

When you have completed the presentation and stopped recording, please ensure that the recording was successful and that the audio is good enough, before you send the recording of your trial lecture to the AHO research Administration, so that they can publish it on the defence announcement, and distribute it to the committee for evaluation. To send the recording we recommend using FileSender. 

If the recording was unsuccessful, you can try again. If you have any questions or problems with Zoom, ikt-support@aho.no

Video conference in Zoom
If you wish to give your trial lecture as a video conference in Zoom with opponents present, you must agree on a time and date with the chair of the defence, the opponents and a technician from local IT (to manage the Zoom session).

The research administration have a few extra tasks to see to in relation to digital defence.

Your additional responsibilities in relation to the digital defence:

• Receive the recording of the trial lecture from the candidate and uploading it on the defence announcement website, no later than a day before the defence. If the candidate decides to perform the trial lecture live with the opponents and the chair of the defence, you do not need to do this.
• Add a link to the thesis on the defence announcement website, so that anyone who wishes to attend the defence also has access to the thesis.
• Once the trial lecture has been uploaded to the defence announcement, distribute the link to the opponents.
• Booking a technician from the  IT department and put the technician, the chair of the defence and the candidate in contact with each other, so they can set up a practice defence session in Zoom, prior to the defence. The practice session should take place two days before the real defence. If possible, the opponents should also take part in this practice session. 
• Once a technician is booked, and the defence is scheduled, make sure the appropriate Zoom link is included in the defence announcement, as well as a link to the thesis or (in the event of journal embargo) the thesis introduction without journal manuscripts. 
• If the candidate needs access to a room on campus, make sure they have access to the building. If they no longer have an office on campus, help provide a suitable room.

The responsibilities of the chair of the defence in relation to a digital public defence.

The defence will still follow regular procedure as far as the situation allows for it. In addition to your regular responsibilities during a defence, there are a few additional points that relate specifically to a digital defence.

• You will still lead the defence, but there will be a technician who will be the host of the Zoom meeting. Before the defence you should familiarise yourself with Zoom.
• Two days before the defence you must take part in a practice session in Zoom, together with the candidate, a technician and, if possible, the opponents. The technician will set up the Zoom session.
• Keep in mind that using Zoom on a Remote Desktop does not work. You must have the Zoom desktop client installed on the laptop or computer you are using. Read more about installing and signing in on Zoom.
• Make sure your microphone and camera work, and that you have a stable Internet connection.
• You will be a co-host in the defence. This is a safety measure, in case the technician should experience technical or Internet connection problems. If the technician is disconnected, you will automatically become the host, until either the original host or an alternative host join the session, at which point you become a co-host again.
• During the defence your microphone should be muted when you are not speaking, to reduce background noise. Whenever you need to speak, you must unmute your microphone. 
• Remember to still invite the general audience to ask questions ex auditorio, after the opponents are finished. The technician will notify you if there are any, and invite them to either write their question in the chat or ask it out loud. 
• When the defence is finished, you and the committee will be sent into a breakout session to decide on the fate of the candidate. The host will do this for you. Once the committee has reached a conclusion you must all return to the main session by clicking Leave Breakout Room in the bottom right corner of the screen. Once you are back in the main session you can announce the verdict of the committee to the candidate and the audience. 
• If the candidate decides to conduct the trial lecture live with the opponents in Zoom, you must be present for this.
• If technical issues occur that simply cannot be resolved right away, you should pause the defence until the issues can be solved. If it still cannot be solved, the defence may need to be called off and rescheduled.
• If you have any questions about digital defence contact AHO research administration.

Important information and preparations for the PhD candidate.

Your responsibilities:
You must apply for a digital defence. You do so by contacting forskningsadministrasjon@aho.no. In doing so you must also decide if you need to use an office at AHO during your defence, or if you can conduct the defence from home or an office elsewhere.

If you need to use a blackboard during your defence, we recommend using a tablet/iPad with a pen as a virtual board, and share that screen during the Zoom session. You may be able borrow a tablet/iPad from AHO, if needed. Contact the IT department to see if that is possible for you.

Together with the the research administration and the IT department, find a suitable date and time when you and your opponents are available. For some defences a preliminary date is already agreed upon. The research administration will assign a chair of the defence and a technician to facilitate your defence.

The technician will be the host of the Zoom defence meeting, but you will be a co-host, which means you can control your own microphone and must mute/unmute yourself. During the defence, remember to share your screen to show slides or other digital material. 

Prior to your defence you should familiarise yourself with Zoom as a tool, if you have not already done so. Make sure that your microphone and video works well, and that you have access to a stable Internet connection.

Two days before the defence, you will have a practice defence in Zoom with a technician and the chair of your defence. If possible, the opponents will also take part in the practice session. 

You must either record your trial lecture prior to the defence, or set up a time for a live video conference with your opponents and the chair of the defence, so that the trial lecture can be evaluated by the opponents in advance. 

During the defence we recommend that you shut down all other programs on your laptop, so that the only things running are Zoom, a digital copy of your thesis and your presentation of your work.

Anyone who wishes to attend your defence can do so by connecting to the Zoom session using the Zoom meeting ID, and get access to your thesis. Both will be available on the defence announcement site.

If technical issues occur that simply cannot be resolved right away, the chair of the defence will pause the defence until the issues can be solved. If it still cannot be solved, the defence may need to be called off and rescheduled.

If you have any questions regarding your defence, please AHO research administration.

The responsibilities of the opponents in relation to a digital public defence.
In addition to your regular responsibilities in relation to a public defence, some additional preparation is needed for a digital defence. Before the defence you should familiarise yourself with Zoom, which will be used for all communication purposes during the defence.

• Keep in mind that using Zoom on a Remote Desktop does not work. You must have the Zoom desktop client installed on the laptop or computer you are using. 
• You do not need to have your own Zoom licence to join a Zoom meeting. You can use the link to the Zoom meeting provided by the host of the defence.
• Make sure your microphone and camera work, and that you have a stable Internet connection.
• Two days before the defence there will be a practice session in Zoom for the candidate, the chair of the defence and a technician. If possible, you should also take part in this practice session. 
• If the candidate chooses to conduct the trial lecture as a video conference in Zoom, you must also be present for this, to evaluate the lecture. If the candidate records their trial lecture, you will be given a link to the recording, in order to watch and evaluate the trial lecture. 
• During the defence your microphone should be muted when you are not speaking, to reduce background noise. Whenever you need to speak, remember to unmute your microphone.
• During your part of the examination you may choose to share your screen in order to show material, such as slides containing questions or excerpts from the digital version of the thesis. To make this as simple as possible, we recommend that you limit yourself to as few different sources as possible, and make screenshots of the pages in the thesis that your questions pertain to, rather than jump between slides and thesis. 
• After the formal defence is finished and the audience has been invited to ask questions ex auditorio, you and the rest of the committee as well as the chair of the defence will be sent out into a breakout session to discuss the performance of the candidate. Do not disconnect from Zoom! When you have all reached an agreement, return to to main session by clicking "Leave Breakout Room" in the bottom right corner.
• If the candidate wants to perform their trial lecture as a live video conference, you must also take part in this over Zoom.
• If technical issues occur that simply cannot be resolved right away, the chair of the defence will pause the defence until the issues can be solved. If it still cannot be solved, the defence may need to be called off and rescheduled.
• After you have returned to the main session and the chair of the defence has announced your decision regarding the candidate, you may disconnect from Zoom.

If you have any questions please the AHO research administration.

The technician functions as a host for the defence, and is responsible for managing all participants during the entire defence. 
 
Responsibilities as host

• Conduct a practice defence session in Zoom, together with the candidate and the chair of the defence and the opponents (provided they are available) two days before the defence. During this practice session, make sure to inform the candidate and the chair of the defence about how the digital defence will be conducted, and point out functions such as the chat, "Raise hand", "Go slower" and break-out sessions. 
• As host, you must schedule the disputation in Zoom, and ensure that all necessary participants are invited. Those who have to be present, in addition to yourself, are the candidate, the chair of the defence, the chair of the committee, the first and second opponents.
• Others may choose to attend, but will most likely not play an active part in the defence.
• You will be the host, but you must make the chair of the defence, the candidate and the first and second opponent co-hosts. Everyone else will be participants. This ensures that if you as a host mute them and do not allow them to unmute themselves, they will not accidentally disturb the defence by forgetting to turn off their microphones.
• Remind the chair of the defence, the candidate and the opponents to mute themselves when they are not speaking.
• Only hosts and co-hosts should be allowed to share their screen. This prevents unwanted sharing from other participants. 
• Even though Zoom allows for more than one person to share a screen at the same time, we advice against using this option as it does not work optimally. Instead, we recommend one person sharing at a time, and changing between candidate and opponents sharing whenever necessary. 
• When the chair of the defence invites the audience to ask questions ex auditorio, you must monitor the participants to see if anyone "raises a hand", signalling that they wish to ask a question. Some may choose to signify this also by writing directly in the chat to get your attention. At this point you must either invite them to ask the question in writing in the chat or to ask it directly, by unmuting them. 
• When it is time for the opponents, the chair of the defence and the chair of the committee to "leave" in order to decide if the candidate has been found worth of the degree of PhD, it is your responsibility to send them out in a break-out session. Once they are satisfied, they will return to the main session and the chair of the defence will announce their decision, after which the formal defence is over. You can choose to join them in the break-out session, if you wish, as they may need technical assistance. 
• If technical issues occur that simply cannot be resolved right away, the chair of the defence will pause the defence until the issues can be solved. If it still cannot be solved, the defence may need to be called off and rescheduled.

Prior to the start of the general defence

• The digital defence session should start 30 minutes before the official public defence, to allow for participants to connect, test microphones and camera, and figure out how to work with Zoom.
• As soon as the chair of the defence, the candidate and the opponents join the session, make them co-hosts.
• As soon as all three members of the committee are present in addition to the chair of the defence, create the breakout room where the committee and the chair will confer after the defence is over. 
• Rename the opponents, so that their names start with 1. opponent, 2. opponent and 3. opponent followed by their actual name. Rename the candidate, by writing Candidate before their name.
• Under "Advanced sharing options", check that only hosts can share a screen. 
• During this start-up period, you as a host, should cover a few ground rules before starting out. This should cover:
  • The candidate and the members of the committee should not leave the meeting until the chair of the defence officially declares that the defence is finished. 
  • How microphones should be muted whenever you are not supposed to speak.
  • If there are issues with poor Internet connection, and either the opponents or the candidate miss something said by anyone else, they should signify this, preferably by clicking on "Participants" and select "Go slower" in the menu on the right hand side. Other members of the audience should not ask for this, as it will only cause unnecessary disturbances. 
  • When the chair of the defence opens up for questions from the audience, participants should click "Raise hand" under "Participants" to indicate that they wish to ask a question. 

 
The general procedure during a defence

• (If the candidate decides to perform their trial lecture live, with opponents and chair of the defence, you must function as technician for this session as well. The trial lecture is prior to the rest of the defence)
• The chair of the defence will start the defence by introducing the candidate
• The candidate will take over and present their work. This will most likely involve screen sharing to present slides or a "blackboard" from an iPad. 
• The first opponent takes over and puts the candidate's work into a larger context. This is also likely to involve screen sharing, but only the first opponent needs to speak.
• After placing the candidate's work in a larger context, the first opponent will ask questions for the candidate. They may also want to jump back and forth between the opponents screen sharing and the candidate's screen sharing.
• When the first opponent is finished, there may be a short break, but that will be decided by the chair of the defence. 
• The second opponent takes over.
• When the second opponent is finished asking questions, the chair of the defence will usually say a few words before inviting the audience to ask questions ex auditorio. Anyone who wishes to ask a question can signal by raising their hand. The host can see this by clicking on "Participants", and look for a red hand next to a participant's name.
• When the potential questions from the audience have been answered, the chair of the defence will invite the candidate to say a few words, typically thank the committee, supervisors, etc. 
• Finally, the two opponents, the chair of the defence and the chair of the committee will leave in a break-out session to confer and reach a decision about the candidates work. Everyone else may stay in the main session.
• They then need to return to the main session and the chair of the defence will announce their decision.
• You may close the session. 

 
Settings when scheduling the defence

• Click "Schedule" in Zoom, and name the session after the name of the candidate. 
• Choose the date and time corresponding to 30 minutes before the defence should start.
• Set Meeting ID to "Generate Automatically".
• There is no need to require a password.
• Under video you can select either "On" or "Off" for the host, but set "Participants" to "Off".
• Under "Audio" select "Telephone and Computer Audio".
• Under "Calendar" select "Outlook".

Under "Advance Options" select "Enable waiting rooms", "Mute participants on entry" and set up an "Alternative Host". The alternative host will be another technician who will work as a back-up in case you get disconnected. 

A digital defence makes use of Zoom for communication. 

• The defence will still follow regular procedure as far as possible, hence it will still be open to the public and the audience can ask questions when invited to do so.
• You can follow it in Zoom even if you are not affiliated with AHO, all you need is either to install Zoom or run Zoom in a browser. There will be a Zoom link to each individual defence on the defence announcement website. 
• The Zoom session will start 30 minutes before the defence. This is to sort out technical issues before the defence starts. We recommend that everyone is present for this, regardless of whether they will play an active part in the defence or not. 
• We recommend using a headset with a microphone, rather than to rely on the built-in microphone of your laptop. This reduces background noise and increases sound quality.
• We recommend sitting alone in a room during the defence, to limit noise and disturbances in the background. This is open to the public, so anything in the background will be visible to others in the audience as long as your camera is on.
• To limit disturbances from other applications on your own computer, please turn off sounds and notifications from other apps, such as mail clients or websites. 
• Please turn off the sound on your mobile phone during the defence, at least if you are going to actively participate in the defence.
• If your are not speaking, mute your microphone. The host of the session may also choose to mute your microphone for you.
• Please do NOT share your screen unless you are actively part of the discussion.
• You will not be able to record the defence, even though there is a record-button in Zoom. We ask that you do not take screenshots during the defence either, without the consent of every participant.

Information for anyone who wishes to attend a digital defence. 

As a member of the audience at a defence we ask that you follow certain guidelines:

• Familiarise yourself with Zoom prior to the defence, as this is the tool that will be used throughout the defence. 
• You will be able to download a digital copy of the thesis from the defence announcement website.
• The host of the defence will mute your microphone on entry. You should not be able to unmute it yourself, but we ask that you refrain from trying to unmute yourself in any case, as it may cause unnecessary disturbance and delay. 
• If you do not wish for other participants to see you, please turn off your video feed in Zoom. 
• The defence is not recorded and the host will prevent anyone who try to record in Zoom, but be advised that we cannot prevent other participants from taking screenshots during the defence. If this is unacceptable to you, we recommend not participating in the defence. 
• If you wish to ask a question ex auditorio, please do so only when invited to do so by the chair of the defence. This only happens after both opponents have finished asking their questions. Signal that you wish to ask a question by clicking on "Participants", and select "Raise hand" in the meny that shows up on the right hand side. You can decide if you wish to ask the question orally or in writing using the chat function in Zoom.