Hygiene Concept for Classroom Teaching in Winter Semester 21/22 at the Department of Political and Social Sciences

The following hygiene concept is based on the currently valid Infection Protection Measures Ordinance of the State of Berlin, the key points for studying and teaching in the winter semester 2021-2022 at the FU Berlin, and the letter on (face-to-face) teaching in the winter semester 2021/22 at the Department of Political and Social Sciences from the Dean's Office of the Department of Political and Social Sciences dated September 23, 2021.

Equipment of the rooms

•  All rooms are again fully seated. Please refer to Appendix 1 for seating capacity information.

• All rooms are equipped with hand disinfectants and cleaning agents for the surfaces. If these are missing or empty, please report this to the house service hausservice@polsoz.fu-berlin.de.

• The department has purchased cameras and owls for hybrid teaching. These will be handed out by our media attendants. Please report to Medienservice@PolSoz.FU-Berlin.de.

Events in teaching rooms in the Department of Political and Social Sciences

• Mandatory spacing upon entry and exit is to be maintained when possible, and tight grouping outside the room is to be avoided by all participants.

• Wearing a mouth-nose protection is obligatory in the buildings of the FU Berlin, access to the event is to be granted exclusively via an appropriate mask. If this regulation changes, the lecturers and students will be informed immediately.

• Medical masks are now sufficient - regardless of whether with or without spacing in teaching rooms (seating with and without see Appendix 1).

• Participants are only granted access to a course if they can present a negative test result in accordance with §6b of the Second SARS-CoV-2 Infection Protection Measures Ordinance. The exceptions to the testing requirement according to §6c for vaccinated and recovered persons apply. The persons responsible for the event are entitled to inspect the original certificate pursuant to §6b (1) sentence 1 number 3 or 4 and to verify the identity of the person present by means of an official photo ID.

• Contact tracking is usually carried out via a.nwesen.de using a QR code. All attendees will scan the posted QR code upon entering the room. This applies to every session. Multiple QR codes have been hung in each teaching room with the number of seats per room (minimum spacing, maximum occupancy). For more information, please see https://anwesende.imp.fu-berlin.de/. If a QR code does not work or if a participant does not have an appropriate terminal device, the data must be recorded in writing in a table (see Appendix 2). The data remain with the instructor with the identification of the course and the specific date and are to be made available only after request by the dean's office in case of infection.

• In the case of the use of cameras that serve hybrid teaching and are aligned in such a way that images of individuals are transmitted on terminals of participants who are connected to the event via WebEx, written confirmation must be obtained from the participants that the transmission of images of their person is permitted (see Appendix 3). The consent must be provided to the instructor for each individual event date. Consents remain with the instructor.

• Please remember to air the room: Airing before, after and, if necessary, during the course (at least after 45 minutes for 10-15 minutes) is strongly recommended.

Reporting infections

• A suspected case or a positive test result must be reported to the Dean's Office in order to identify and inform possible contact persons. For this purpose, the suspected case or a confirmed illness should be reported under the following email address, stating the name, the course, the date of the last session and the event room: Covid-Pandemie@polsoz.fu-berlin.de. For the further procedure the Dean's Office will contact the lecturer as well as the (possibly) ill person

Reference to the hygiene rules within a course

The Dean's Office of the Department of Political and Social Science is relying on this basic principle in the winter semester 2021/22: Courses are a social space. This means: everyone shows consideration for each other, abides by the rules, and relies on trust and communication.

At the beginning of a course (or in the first session of a course), participants are informed about the following hygiene rules and referred to the department's homepage:

• The prescribed distances are to be kept where possible please also in case of movement within the room.

• Contact tracing is obligatory. Each* participant is requested to provide contact details via the QR code ( a.nwesen.de). If the QR code does not work or necessary terminals are not available, the data must be obtained in writing via the contact form attached in Appendix 2.

• Wearing the medical masks is now sufficient - regardless of whether with or without clearances in teaching rooms.

• The rooms used must be regularly and generously ventilated.

• Surface cleaning and hand disinfection are available in the rooms and should be used.

• Please follow standard hygiene rules (sneeze and cough etiquette, hand hygiene).

• Covid 19 is a reportable disease. If anyone becomes aware of an illness, it is to be reported immediately to the instructor. This notification will then be forwarded to administrative management.

• Individuals exhibiting symptoms of illness indicative of a respiratory illness are asked not to attend any Political Science or Social Science Department event.

Status 1 April 2022

The current regulations/corners for the summer semester 2022 can be found on the FU info page.

Accordingly, the most important rules for teaching are:

• The 3G obligation will no longer apply to lecturers and students.
• The obligation to document attendance in courses will be dropped.
• An FFP2 mask must be worn in closed rooms. The obligation does not apply during examinations or for lecturers at   their assigned place if the minimum distance is not undercut.

Wearing an FFP2 mask in the buildings of the FU Berlin is updated in the framework hygiene plan of the FU Berlin. We ask you to explain this rule in the courses in the sense of a self-commitment and for the protection of all. We would like to add the following information for our department. For students who have so far
have had little or no face-to-face study, orientation and a well-planned course schedule are particularly important. Please remember to communicate the rules in your course and your expectations of the participants at the beginning of the semester. Please be aware of additional counselling needs and questions from students. You can hold consultation hours digitally or in person. Please be accommodating and appropriate to the situation when dealing with compulsory active participation and/or compulsory attendance in face-to-face courses. If a student does not achieve the required level of regular and active participation for an important reason - and in addition to § 9 Para. 4 RSPO, these can also be pandemic-related constellations - you can make an agreement on an appropriate substitute study performance in individual cases.

Positive test result

• If you are found to be infected with Covid 19, please report it immediately to covidpandemie@polsoz.fu-berlin.de   
• General information on the reporting procedure can be found HERE.  If we want to maintain face-to-face teaching, we must act with the utmost caution and responsibility.

• Possibilities to book a workplace as a place of learning. Information and further possibilities can be found on the university library's website.
• As of now, the open-air area on the ground floor of Garystr. 55 is open again. More information HERE. Please note the information there on library use under pandemic conditions!

• From now on, students have the possibility to use free seminar rooms at the Department of Political and Social Sciences as a room to participate in digital courses. The respective room allocation plans displayed show whether the seminar room is free for the duration of your stay. It is also important that each student books in via anwesend.de (QR codes). This is ultimately for your protection and provides a timely means of contacting you in the event of an emergency. Please note that masks are required in the rooms!

• Here you will find the latest info on the Libraries of the FU

• Here you can find the latest information on the StudierendenWERKs at Freie Universität Berlin