Propedeutic Center – CePro

The mission of the Propaedeutic Center (CePro) is to facilitate the organization and running of the major service courses given in the first year, and in particular the corresponding exercise sessions. The courses concerned are: Analysis I and II, Linear Algebra, Mechanical Physics and Thermodynamics, General Chemistry and Advanced Information, Computation, Communication (ICC).

Its objectives are:

Coordination and management of Teaching Assistants (Student Assistants and Doctoral Assistants) for the courses concerned. Actions may include:
- their recruitment, in close collaboration with the sections
- their training before the course, in collaboration with the Teaching Support Centre (CAPE)
- their follow-up during the semester
- their evaluation at the end of the course, in collaboration with CAPE
- their financial management, in close collaboration with the sections
Participation in teaching, according to the means available to the Center
Coordination of the technical and logistical organization of exams
Sharing of existing teaching resources and developing new ones, according to the needs of the sections
Management of technological tools, in collaboration with the Centre for Digital Education (CEDE)
Communication to the sections concerned of the proposed changes in course content

Short term

define and communicate clear rules for Teaching Assistants (Doctoral and Student Assistants)
support the First year committee (propaedeutic)
identify fixes for Fall 2021

Medium term

support the relevant first year courses (propaedeutic)
support first year students
train Teaching Assistants (Doctoral and Student Assistants)

Long term

create a community of teachers
promote innovation in teaching

CePro depends directly on the AVP-EDU. It is advised by a board consisting of the section directors providing the common courses (also known as service courses), the section director of the section receiving the service courses, the CAPE director, and the Associate Vice-President for Education. The committee defines the regularity of its meetings.

Currently, the focus is on the following common courses:

Linear Algebra
Analysis
Physics
ICC

Each of these courses comprises

~2000 students
~8 teachers
~8 main TAs
0-20 Doctoral Assistants
60-100 Student Assistants
(including tutors)
1 course coordinator
(Soon) a CePro Referent

What does she/he do ?

Teaches a common course
supports the principal Teaching Assistants
trains Teaching Assistants under the supervision of CePro and CAPE
promotes innovation in teaching within the group

CePro supports teachers in the preparation and automatic correction of paper exams (midterms, mock exams and end of semester exams) from a technical point of view. This service is offered to the propaedeutic courses. This service is also available for other EPFL courses, but with a limited level of support.

For more information please access to our dedicated Moodle. (Teachers have access rights to Moodle, to give access to your assistants please send an email to [email protected])

Teaching Assistants need to be carefully trained and coached. CAPE and CePro have joined forces to offer training organised in three steps:

introductory session
coaching during the semester (2 meetings)
concluding session

At the end of the course

Student Assistants get an attestation of participation (compulsory, 6h-8h)
Doctoral Assistants gets credits (2 ECTS in EDOC, elective)
The attestation includes a short evaluation from the teacher of the course.

Propedeutic Center – CePro

Our team

Simone Deparis

David Strütt

José Luis Zuleta

Sylvain Brechet

Julien Andres

Ludovic Bonivento

Sylvie Bui

Lucile Pinard

Virginie Ledouble

Vera Guedes