Sisu FAQ for teachers

Where can I learn more about using the teacher version?

You can find further information on the user rights of supervisors in the Sisu instructions on PSP supervision.

You can explore the teacher version of Sisu by reading the instructions available here.

You can also learn more through training and video tutorials.

When will I receive the user rights required of teachers in Sisu?

As a teacher, you will automatically receive user rights in Sisu, depending on the courses and studies for which you are indicated as the teacher, or on the supervision group (‘tutoring group’ in Sisu) in which you are indicated as the supervisor (‘tutor’ in Sisu). These automatic rights will give you access to course participant lists and enable you to send messages to students and assess their studies. Teachers’ user rights are valid for four months after the end of a course or examination (‘implementation’ in Sisu).

Whom should I contact if I do not have the user rights of teachers?

If you teach a course but do not have the user rights of teachers in Sisu, you can contact the education planning officer in your degree programme, who can, if necessary, add you as the course teacher.

Are the user rights of teachers sufficient for admitting registered students to a course?

The addition of students to courses, as well as their deletion from courses, requires an administrator’s user rights. Please contact an education planning officer if a student should be admitted directly to a course or if registration information must be edited after the registration deadline. However, during the registration period, you can admit a specific student ahead of other students if a normal registration process is used (see the instructions for the management of registrations). When the registration period closes, these ‘pre-admitted’ students are the first to be admitted to the course.

Can I search for any student in Sisu, or will I only have access to information on my own students? 

As a rule, supervising teachers can only view information on their own students in Sisu. However, you can use the range of settings in Sisu to, for example, add automatic verification steps to a course registration process to ensure that students have completed the prerequisites. This means you need not access student-specific information.

If you must access further information on registered students (e.g., concerning the course prerequisites), you can change your user role from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner to that of an administrative user (Staff), after which you can search for information on registered students through the Students search.

 

What should a student’s study plan include?

Study plans do not need to be fully completed for the whole duration of the degree programme. It is sufficient that the plan contains the studies for which the student is about to register.

Must the Sisu study plan be submitted to the supervisor for approval, as is required with personal study plans (PSPs) in WebOodi?

No, because Sisu ensures that students select in their study plan the compulsory studies required for their degree as well as a sufficient amount of optional studies in accordance with the structure of their degree programme. Approval is required only for selections that differ from the degree structure as well as sections of the study plan that have been defined as requiring separate approval. Students can apply for approval under the free edit mode in Sisu. Student Services processes the applications and, if necessary, consults with teachers.

What should students do if they find credits missing from Sisu or error messages in their study plan?

You can ask students to read the instructions for adding missing credits here: Sisu instructions: Study plan.

Can students create a study plan if they have not yet selected their study track?

Yes, they can. Students need not confirm their study track in Sisu during their first year of study, unless the study track was confirmed at the student admission stage. When selecting a study track, it is important to bear in mind that students can plan studies for different tracks and use their plan to help them select their track. However, electronic applications (e.g., credit transfer, or recognition of studies) should not be submitted before the study track has been confirmed because the applications are not moved from one study plan to another. The study track is confirmed separately.

Why must a study plan be created in degree programmes that are based on a predetermined schedule?

All students need a study plan to register for teaching, submit applications and graduate. The degree structures of such degree programmes are described in Sisu so that the structure of the students’ study plan automatically includes all compulsory studies. Only the method of completion need be selected for compulsory studies. Students must usually add only other optional or elective studies to their plan.

Can exchange students create a study plan in Sisu before arriving in Finland?

Exchange students can log in to Sisu once they have a University IT user account. They must also create a study plan to register for studies. However, they can begin study planning before they have a user account by exploring the studies available.

Do teachers receive an email notification of messages arriving in Sisu? 

Unfortunately, Sisu does not currently send email notifications. The possibility of adding this popular feature to the system is being investigated.

Can I send the students in my groups a joint message through Sisu, or do I have to copy their addresses to an email to send them this type of message? 

At present, you cannot send messages in Sisu to a group of students you are supervising, so for now we recommend that you use email. 

Many students in my group have a study plan, but some don’t. How should I start using Sisu with these students? 

You can ask students to begin creating a study plan by first reading the general and degree programme-specific instructions for study planning on the Instructions for Students website. They can then proceed in accordance with the Sisu user instructions for study plans.

As a supervisor, can I access information on students’ completed studies that are about to expire (e.g., studies that are six months away from expiring after being completed 10 years ago)? 

Sisu does not currently indicate in the study plan if completed studies have expired or are about to expire. Information on expiry can be checked on the basis of the completion date, which can be seen in the student information on the Completed credits tab. A note in Sisu stating that a course or an examination will not expire does not, in fact, tell you anything about its actual expiry.

Where can I find the degree structure of a degree programme to compare it with students’ study plans?

The easiest way to explore a degree structure is to change your role in Sisu to that of a student and create a plan in the degree programme of your choice. Creating a plan does not require a right to study because everyone with a user account can access the student version of Sisu. You can also find degree structures in the teacher version of Sisu on the Curriculum planning page. Further information on exploring degree structures

Where can I find the studies available? Does Sisu have course catalogues?

Unlike WebOodi, Sisu does not include course catalogues. In Sisu, you can explore the degree structures of various degree programmes and search for individual courses. The Courses website can also be used to search for information on courses available at the University of Helsinki.

What role do teachers play in the registration process? Must teachers review the students to be admitted to courses?

Practices vary by degree programme, but generally the education planning officers of each programme define the course registration criteria and timetables. When students register for a course, the validity of their right to study, their attendance at the University as well as other relevant admission criteria, if any, are automatically checked. One possible criterion is that students must belong to a specific degree programme if that is the course target group. Registration criteria can be decided separately for each degree programme and course. Furthermore, the students admitted to a course can be manually selected. Further instructions for registration are available from the education planning officers of degree programmes. You can also read the instructions for managing teaching and registered students.

What information on registered students can I access?

When you click on a student’s name in the course participant list, you can access information related to the student’s right to study (e.g., the student’s degree programme), the teaching groups chosen by the student, and the additional information provided by the student if requested in connection with registration.

If you must access further information on registered students (e.g., concerning the course prerequisites), you can change your user role from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner to that of an administrative user (Staff), after which you can search for information on registered students through the Students search.

Who creates and opens registration processes?

Education planning officers create course implementations (i.e., courses in Sisu) and make them available for registration.

Can teachers add students to courses or change the status of a registration from rejected to accepted?

Teachers’ user rights do not enable them to add students to courses or change the status of a registration from rejected to accepted. If necessary, teachers can ask administrative staff to add students to courses.

Can students be manually added to courses after the registration deadline?

You can use late registration to allow students to register if they missed the original registration deadline. If the late registration period has ended, administrative staff can add students to the course. If the maximum number of students have been admitted to a course, but you would still like to add a student, you should contact administrative staff because the total number of participants for the course must also be increased. For Open University teaching, the addition of students always requires the help of administrative staff because the courses are subject to fees.

What should I do if registrations have not yet been confirmed, but students should access the course Moodle page before the course begins?

You should consider whether the actual registration period should end well before the beginning of teaching to enable the earlier confirmation of registrations. A late registration period can then be created in Sisu if the course still has places. In some cases, direct registration may be the best option, enabling the immediate and automatic confirmation of all those who register. You should discuss the options with, for example, an education planning officer.

What should I do if I wish to send a message to students during the registration period, i.e., before those admitted to the course are confirmed?

You can send a message in Sisu to all those registered before the registrations have been confirmed. Such messages will appear only in Sisu, and no email notifications will be sent. Instructions for sending a message can be found here. You can also download students’ email addresses from Sisu as a CSV file. If you do not filter the list of participants, the CSV file also contains students who have added the course to their plan, but have not yet registered for it (registration status ‘planned’).

During the registration period, the most important information on the course should also be added to the course page (see the user instructions for course pages). You can use the course page to, for example, present the content and implementation of the course, share material and links, and send messages to students. You can publish, for example, a link to the Moodle course area and the course key, if any, on the course page. Please note that email messages sent from the course page are only sent to confirmed students, so you should not send such messages during the registration period.

In some cases, you should consider whether the actual registration period should end well before the beginning of teaching to enable the earlier confirmation of registrations. A late registration period can then be created in Sisu if the course still has places. In some cases, direct registration may be the best option, enabling the immediate and automatic confirmation of all those who register. You should discuss the options with, for example, an education planning officer.

Is it possible to send an email from Sisu to course participants?

If students have registered for the same course implementation in Sisu, you can send them a joint message via the implementation. Course pages and Moodle can also be used to send messages to students. If you wish to send an email, you can also download the list of participants from Sisu.

I would like to add an end-of-course examination to a general or resit examination session. How is this done?

Please contact an education planning officer in your degree programme.

Students can’t register for a course if it is not in their PSP. How quickly and flexibly can a PSP be changed if you suddenly find a course you wish to take? 

Study plans can be edited flexibly during studies, which means that students can add a course to their plan and register immediately if registration is ongoing. Moreover, courses need not be immediately included in the right place within the plan. In other words, a course can first be added to optional studies for the purpose of registration and later be moved to the right place in the plan.

How can I export the teaching calendar from Sisu to Outlook, for instance?

You can export the Sisu teaching calendar, for example, to your Outlook calendar by clicking on Export into external calendar and copying and pasting the link provided into your browser address bar. Then select the program with which you wish to open the calendar file.

Can some assessment information be entered for all course students, and can assessment be performed in parts?

You can enter information on the assessment page for several students or one student at a time. Studies can be assessed in parts by first confirming the grades of some students and returning to the others later.

How should I record pass/fail grades?

In Sisu, the grading scale defined for a specific implementation (e.g., a lecture-based course) in the teaching programme can be seen on the assessment page. You can select a grade from this scale. If the scale has been defined as pass/fail, only these two options will be available.

Do teachers receive a confirmation of course assessments in Sisu?

Sisu does not send a separate notification to an external system (e.g., email) when a course assessment has been recorded. The grades entered and confirmed by the teacher remain visible in the assessment details of the implementation.

When will students be informed of a confirmed assessment? How long is the delay in Sisu between the assessment and the visibility of assessment results for students, and is someone involved in the process before students can view the results?

As a rule, students can view information on completed studies the day after the assessment has been confirmed. Students can also view the grade distribution for the course, and this information is also transferred to the course pages. In Sisu, information on assessment moves automatically, and an administrative employee only gets involved in the process if a course consists of several components and the employee must manually compile the completed components in Sisu.

NB! Completed studies are not necessarily displayed to students the day after the grades have been recorded if they have not added the course to their plan, the course information under Studies does not include a responsible teacher or the method of completion is unclear. In such cases, completed studies appear to students as partially completed courses under My profile > Completed credits > Partially completed courses. You can ask the students to contact Student Services, where the staff can change the course from partially to fully completed.

Does the teacher need to send students a confirmation message?

No. A green wreath in the list on the Sisu assessment page means that the student’s completed studies have been recorded. However, the wreath is not shown next to failed courses; instead, these will be accompanied by a red tick symbol, and the information will be recorded in Sisu.

Can I verify that grades have been saved correctly?

You can see each entered grade and related information in Sisu on the page for assessing the implementation. Once grades have been submitted, the information will remain locked on the assessment page. You can later return to view this information via the My teaching page. 

Can I continue to send information on completed studies to academic administration staff for recording?

In Sisu, teachers themselves record completed studies. Separate results lists or the email addresses for recording completed studies are no longer used. The only exceptions to the above are the personalised assessments of studies for which registration has not been required, erroneous grades that must be rectified, and completed studies which the teacher cannot record in Sisu due to a permanent technical obstacle. Personalised assessments can be sent to assessment@helsinki.fi.

Can a teacher also assess courses for which students do not register?

If no course implementation is created for which students can register in Sisu, the personalised assessment feature is to be used. Personalised assessments are completed by academic administration staff based on the information in teachers’ requests because these assessments require manual verifications to ensure that the information is entered correctly. Such assessments may include theses and traineeships. The personalised assessment feature in Sisu is not the same as the assessment carried out on the assessment page. Personalised assessments can be sent for recording to assessment@helsinki.fi. The following information is required:

- Title and code of the course/other studies

- Scope of the completed studies

- Student’s name and student number

- Grade

- Language of completion

- Date of completion (i.e., date of the final examination, test or other method of completion)

- Any additional information (in Finnish, Swedish and English)

- Assessing teacher(s)

I sent information on completed studies for personalised assessment, but I cannot see the information on my assessment pages. Have the credits been recorded?

Personalised assessments do not appear on teachers’ assessment pages even if the student has registered for the relevant course or examination, because the assessments are recorded through another technical procedure. Assessment support staff send teachers a message when the completed credits have been recorded.

How can I rectify a grade that has been confirmed?

If you notice an error in a confirmed grade, please send a rectification request to assessment support services: assessment@helsinki.fi.

What should I do if a student wishes to raise a confirmed grade?

You can replace a previously recorded failing grade on the assessment page with a passing grade, but a separate implementation (course or examination) is always required to raise a numerical grade. In such cases, the student registers separately in Sisu, for example, for a general examination session, for which you can find the implementation and the assessment page in Sisu under My teaching. If no separate implementation has been created for raising the grade, please contact the education planning officer.

How are no-shows (i.e., students who do not come to an examination they have registered for) recorded in Sisu?

No-shows are not recorded in Sisu.

If an assessment is not successfully completed in Sisu for some reason, or errors occur, who is responsible?

The teacher assessing a course is responsible for its assessment as before. Sisu and the new practices used will not change this. If you inadvertently enter an incorrect grade, you must notify assessment support services (assessment@helsinki.fi) and ask them to rectify the error.

Can a student who has received a passing grade by mistake protest a change in the grading since the studies have been officially recorded as completed?

No. The teacher assessing the studies decides on the grade.

Will a document similar to a transcript of studies be available in the future, indicating the studies a student has completed and which have been registered?

Students can view not only their study plan, but also their transcript of studies in Sisu, and can print out a transcript. Supervising teachers can view the studies completed by the students in their group.

If you must access further information on registered students (e.g., concerning the course prerequisites), you can change your user role from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner to that of an administrative user (Staff), after which you can search for information on registered students through the Students search.

Will the assessment of theses continue in E-thesis?

The faculties and degree programmes currently using E-thesis to assess theses will continue to do so. Sisu will not change this. 

I have received notifications in Sisu about applications submitted by students. Do I need to process them in Sisu?

No. Administrative staff process, for example, applications for credit transfer or the approval of content that deviates from the predetermined degree structure and, if necessary, they can ask for the course coordinator’s decision. Teachers process only their students’ messages and comments directly in Sisu.

How will I approve applications for substitution in the future?

Applications for the recognition of prior learning (credit transfer) are submitted in Sisu, where students can submit substitution and inclusion applications, together with the required attachments. Initially, you will not be able to assess applications directly in Sisu, and Student Services will forward substitution applications to you via email for assessment. If inclusion applications are also assessed by teachers in your degree programme, these will likewise be forwarded to you via email for assessment. As Sisu is developed further, teachers will be able to review and assess applications directly in Sisu.

How are study modules compiled in Sisu?

In Sisu, students no longer need to apply separately for the registration of study modules, unless they wish, for some reason, to have the modules registered before the completion of their degree. Otherwise, Student Services will compile study modules in connection with graduation.

The content of a study module needs the module coordinator’s assessment only if a student wishes to deviate from the predetermined structure of the degree programme. Students apply for the approval of deviating structures through their study plan in Sisu, after which an administrative staff member requests the relevant teacher’s assessment by email. In other words, teachers do not need to process module applications in Sisu.

Will WebOodi be decommissioned entirely, or can I continue to access it to view information?

You can no longer log in to or view information in WebOodi. To request information on Oodi, please send email to opiskelijarekisteri@helsinki.fi.