The following is being sent on behalf of Jeffrey Stopple, Associate Vice Chancellor, Office of Undergraduate Education

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March 16, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Here are some updates from Undergraduate Education

For students who have missed or are missing final exams, please do not ask them to file for an incomplete this quarter - it requires too many signatures and too much running around.  Simply decline to enter a grade in egrades, and it will appear automatically as NG (No Grade).  The grade can be entered later through the usual grade change option in egrades.

However, grades do need to be resolved in as timely a manner as possible.  It is understandable one may need to offer an online exam for a winter course after spring quarter has technically started, but winter grades need to be resolved well before the end of spring.  The Faculty Code of Conduct requires faculty to submit grades in a timely manner, but there is some flexibility for a short period of time.

Due to the postponement of the grading deadline for winter 2020 (until 11:59PM Tuesday March 31), both the College of Letters & Science and the College of Engineering have decided to waive enforcement of prerequisites for spring 2020 (as was done in winter 2018 after the Thomas fire exam postponement.)  Individual faculty still have the final say under Senate regulation 10, which says "No student may begin or continue a course if the officer of instruction in charge considers him or her unqualified by lack of preparation.”   However, there will be many students with grade of NG in a prerequisite through no fault of their own - I beg faculty to show every consideration in these cases.  The Registrar office will still run checks of who would have been dropped from courses, and notify Colleges and Departments so that appropriate advice may be given to students.

We are working on best practices for crashing online for spring quarter.  Gauchospace has an attendance taking feature that can be used for synchronous courses.  Faculty can download the data, and export to advisors - the same way in person attendance is often tracked.  Asynchronous courses will take more effort, but we will have some advice on tracking participation by the start of spring.  Advice will be on the instructional continuity website, and messaging will go out to advisors in departments.

Many faculty have expressed a desire to start spring quarter two weeks late, due to the disruptions of planning for remote instruction.  An eight week quarter would require regulatory approval, and pushing everything back two weeks would overlap with summer.  It is inevitable that the beginning will be rocky.  Faculty have the usual minor flexibility to miss a lecture, but please be mindful that the quarter is always rushed.  We can not expect students to simply work 25% harder in every class on an eight week schedule.  Even if you need more time in the first week of classes to get your course up and running, please communicate with students and consider giving some assignments to get them started, as well as a preview of the course you are planning.

Inevitably, some courses are not suitable for remote instruction. Summer Sessions will be making every effort to meet the expected increase in demand.  If courses that are requirements for graduation in spring 2020 absolutely have to be cancelled, and alternatives cannot be scheduled, departments can petition for substitutions.  This is most appropriate for senior level courses.  For graduating seniors missing lower level courses, it is more of a judgement call.  Will the course be offered in summer?  Does the omission substantially detract from the degree?  Did the student do more advanced coursework making the missing course less important?

Finally, rumors do seem to circulate.  Please expect policy decisions to come from the Chancellor, the EVC, your Dean and Department Chair, and from the Senate.  

Jeffrey Stopple
Associate Vice Chancellor
Office of Undergraduate Education