The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 2005 Page: 5 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2,2005
EXAMS
From page 1
lack of specification of whether final papers
and projects will be assigned due dates just
like final exams.
"I think in general it's a good idea," Corcoran
said. "I think the main issue is eliminating the
self-scheduled exams, which have really been
very problematic."
Corcoran said the senate is responsible for
setting the academic calendar. She said main-
taining the four-day reading period before finals
begin will be important in setting the calendar.
Self-scheduled exams
Last semester, only 38 classes — or four
percent of all classes — had self-scheduled
finals. In Fall 2004, five percent of classes had
self-scheduled exams.
Levy said self-scheduled exams present
multiple problems for the Registrar's Office,
including finding student proctors, locating
exams that students do not turn in and contact-
ing professors who do not deliver their exams
to the Registrar's Office for distribution.
The proposal states that in Fall 2004,
students failed to register for six percent
of self-scheduled exams by the registration
deadline.
"There is a very high cost to running this
boutique system with all of these very special
cases and that takes a great deal of time and
effort on the part of the Registrar's Office, which
is understaffed to begin with," Levy said.
Levy said the Registrar's Office has to
handle other work-intensive tasks during the
final exam period, including processing course
evaluations and entering grades. In the spring,
the Registrar's Office also has to calculate final
GPAs for graduating seniors, Forman said .
Lloyd said he likes self-scheduled exams
because they give students flexibility.
Forman said he recognizes both the flexibil-
ity self-scheduled exams offer students and the
burden they place on the Registrar's Office.
"(Proposing the elimination of self-sched-
uled exams) is the kind of call we have to
make all the time," Forman said. "There's a
certain benefit that comes to self-scheduled
exams, but it comes at a cost. And we just
have to figure out what the benefit is worth
and whether there's another way to achieve
those same aims that's a little more efficient."
Scheduled exams
Under the current system, a faculty member
is allowed to schedule exams if his or her final
exam has circumstances that necessitate an
entire class taking an exam at once — such
as the presentation of audio or visual material
— or if he or she teaches a class with 50 or
more students.
I.ast semester, 8 percent of classes hacl
scheduled exams, including 70 percent of
classes with 50 or more students. In Fall 2004,
about 9 percent of exams were scheduled,
including 60 percent of classes with 50 or
more students.
Enrollment Administration Director Diane
1 lavlinek said the proposed exam schedule (see
box, right) is an outline demonstrating stag-
gered due dates could work, but that it could
change to accommodate special circumstances,
such as separating large courses.
Levy said he does not think there would be
a large increase in faculty choosing scheduled
exams if the proposal is passed.
"I think it's almost inconceivable there
will be zero increase (in scheduled exams],
but the best estimates from talking to (faculty
members] is that that's not what the domi-
nant consequence will be," Levy said. "The
dominant consequence will be more flexible
take-home exams."
Levy said he thinks faculty members' trust
in the Honor Code will result in more take-
home exams.
"My feeling with the Honor System — if we
truly believe in it — is that take-home exams
are a much more flexible mechanism," I^evy
said.
Levy said the 50-student minimum for
scheduled exams was eliminated in the proposal
because it was an arbitrary number with no
ideological underpinning.
Havlinek said she understands students
for the most part will have less flexibility in
choosing exam times. However, Havlinek said
students will benefit from knowing before the
start of the semester when their final exams
will be scheduled so they can better plan their
vacation schedules.
Forman said he thinks professors some-
times choose to give scheduled exams because
they would like to answer questions that might
arise during the exam and thus would like their
whole class to take the exam in the same loca-
tion at the same time.
Forman said he expects faculty members
would move the due dates of some end-of-
semester assignments from the last week of
classes to the final exam period, becau se facu lty
would have more flexibility in choosing exam-
period due dates.
Forman said the scheduled dates for finals
would encourage faculty who are concerned
about having enough time to grade their ex-
ams to give more take-home finals. Under the
current system, take-home finals can be due
no earlier than the last day of the final exam
period.
"One of the things that
stops faculty from giving
more take-home finals is
the fact that they are not
due until the last day of
finals period, which makes
grading a crunch time,"
Forman said. "I think if
we give faculty more flex-
ibility about when they can
make take-home projects
due, we'll see finals time
being used for its intended
purposes."
Levy said even though
the proposal does have
some disadvantages, im-
plementing it would be
beneficial overall.
"(Faculty I see that, in
fact, it's a set of puts and
takes in which, in the
end, we end up being able
PROPOSED EXAM SCHEDULE
Under the proposal, all courses are assigned a final exam time, at which faculty can require
students to take an exam or set as the earliest due date for take-home exams. Here is a
proposed exam schedule based on course meeting times:
Exam Time
Exam Day 9 a.m. 2 p.m. 7 p.m.
1 (Wednesday)
MWF (9 a.m.)
MWF (1 p.m.)
MWF (8 a.m.)
9 a.m. or 1 p.m. OF
2 (Thursday)
TR (9 a.m.)
TR (1 p.m.)
TR (8 a.m.)
3 (Friday)
MWF (10 a.m.)
MWF (2-3 p.m.)
10 a.m. or 2-3 p.m. OF
4 (Saturday)
TR (11 a.m.)
TR (2 p.m.)
11 a.m. or 2 p.m. OF
5 (Monday)
MWF (11 a.m.)
MWF (4-7 p.m.)
11 a.m. or 4-7 p.m. OF
6 (Tuesday)
Overflow/Conflicts
TR (3-7 p.m.)
Overflow/Conflicts
7 (Wednesday)
Overflow/Conflicts
Overflow/Conflicts
Overflow/Conflicts
SAMPLE EXAM SCHEDULES
Two examples of exam schedules under the proposal based on common course schedules:
Course schedule
MWF TR
10 a.m. 9:25 a.m.
11 a.m. 1 p.m.
1 p.m.
Exam Day
9 a.m.
2 p.m.
7 p.m.
Wednesday
EXAM
Thursday
EXAM
EXAM
Friday
EXAM
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
EXAM
Tuesday
Wednesday
Course schedule
MWF TR
9 a.m. 10:50 a.m.
10 a.m.
11 a.m.
2 p.m.
Exam Day
9 a.m.
2 p.m.
7 p.m.
Wednesday
EXAM
Thursday
Friday
EXAM
EXAM
Saturday
EXAM
Sunday
Monday
EXAM
Tuesday
Wednesday
to work more effectively and actually create
some flexibilities that balance out some of the
changes," Levy said. "Ultimately (it will] allow
us to have a more effective exam structure
and schedule and allow students to plan their
semesters more effectively."
URBAN THEATER ACROSS AMERICA
Jose Casas' 14
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 2005, newspaper, December 2, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443095/m1/5/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.