OPAL

OPAL (Online-Plattform für Akademisches Lehren und Lernen) is the central learning platform for the universities in Saxony. The Institute of Media and Communication uses OPAL for the organizational support of courses and lectures.

Advantages of OPAL:

• Simpler contact between teachers and students
• Availability of seminar documents, literature, etc.
• Mutual exchange for participants of a course by means of diverse OPAL functions (Wiki, Email list, etc.)

Above all, OPAL supports the learning process and simplifies organization. Additionally, although the use of the functions outlined above are optional, enrollment in courses (lectures, seminars, activities, etc.) on the OPAL site is mandatory. Enrolling on OPAL guarantees you a place in a course. This is especially important for seminars or tutorials with limited spots available.

Information and help with using OPAL is located here.

The enrollment period is usually during the week before the beginning of the semester. The exact date is listed on the website for the Institute of Media and Communication. Enrollment past the deadline is not possible.

As various seminars for the same module are offered in a semester (for electives), we recommend that you enroll in your chosen seminar in a timely fashion. Ever student will receive a spot in one of the seminars in this semester. No student is entitled to a certain seminar. As soon as all available spots are taken, participation is no longer possible for students who are not enrolled in the course.

Should it happen that all spots in a course, which you are required to take, are already filled, please contact the OPAL representative (opal.kowi@mailbox.tu-dresden.de). The size of courses are laid out in such a way that every student required to participate in a course can enroll in one. However, due to mistaken enrollments, it can be the case that the necessary places can be taken prematurely.

Enrollment after the fact is not possible. Exceptions can be made for Vorlesungen (lectures), which are usually accessible for any interested in attending. However, you will then not be able to have access to slides or the like, which are posted by the lecturer on OPAL.

In justified cases of hardship, late enrollments for other lectures may be possible, as long as there is still room available. In this case, please arrange an appointment with your student advisor.

All courses offered by the Institute of Media and Communication require online enrollment. This applies to all courses in:

• B.A. Core Area Media Research and Praxis
• Department for General Qualification (AQUA)
• M.A. Applied Media Research
•  Supplemental Area: Communication Sciences

You must enroll yourself only in courses in the current semester. Should you inadvertently enroll a course that, according to your plan of studies, you do not require (yet) (i.e. You are in your first semester and enroll in a third-semester course), disenroll from the OPAL course as quickly as possible, in order to free up the course for another student.  

For focus and supplementary areas in other institutes, other guidelines may apply.

On OPAL, you will only be able to find under the “Lernresourcen” tab the courses, which the Institute of Media and Communication offers. Courses for supplementary areas are officially courses of other institutes and therefore cannot be found among the offerings of the Institute of Media and Communication. This applies similarly for interdisciplinary courses like Statistics I & II, as well as the course Methodology I & II.

For example, if you have chosen the supplemental area of sociology or a course in the sociology faculty in the master’s focus area, you will find the OPAL courses under Lernressource for the corresponding institute that offers the course.

With that being said, however, please note that OPAL is not utilized in the same way across the university. To find out whether enrollment in OPAL is necessary for certain courses, please contact the corresponding institute. Just because enrollment via OPAL is not mandatory for a course, that does not necessarily mean that enrollment in any form is not mandatory. Other institutes may have their own enrollment processes. Enrollment in activities for Media Information is found on jExam. For courses in Media Information, enrollment is usually not necessary.

Information about the enrollment processes can be found on the websites for Sociology, Political Science, and Media Information. If you have issues finding the necessary information there, please contact someone at the corresponding institute. Unfortunately, staff of the Institute of Media and Communication will not be able to help you very much with questions about other departments.

On OPAL, you are registering for participation and, in particular, for access to the (copyrighted) documents for the lecture and, at the same time, providing your contact information for the lecturer.

Furthermore, for tests, which must be completed in accordance with your study plan, an online registration with the Examination Office is required. You can find information about that on the website for the Examination Office. The enrolling process takes place on the online examination system HISQIS.