We have reproduced two others below. Of course, the faculty will try to cope and to their best with the situation. And, yes, the Earth will still revolve around the Sun. But better coordinated systemwide decision making - starting at the level of UCOP and UC president Napolitano - would have led to a more orderly transition and a better outcome.
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To: UCLA Faculty
Dear Colleagues:
On March 10, 2020, Chancellor Block announced the suspension of in-person instruction and final exams beginning March 11 in order to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of students, staff, and faculty.
We would like to provide more detailed information about the status of final exams for Winter Quarter. While in-person instruction has been suspended, final exams must still be held for courses in which they were already scheduled, according to Academic Senate regulations [UC SR 770-772; UCLA SR A330-332, UCLA SR 505].
Due to the suspension of in-person final examinations, instructors will have the flexibility to change their method of final assessments. Alternates to a written exam, for example, could be an online examination, take-home exam, or other evaluation. As stated in Divisional Regulation 332: The final grade shall reflect the student’s achievement in the course and shall be based upon adequate evaluation of the achievement.
We encourage all instructors to find alternative methods of final assessment, as such assessments allow evaluation of a student’s performance throughout the quarter as well as their cumulative subject mastery. We strive to maintain the rigor and academic excellence that defines UCLA with the need for flexibility in these challenging times. We want to emphasize that each instructor who is scheduled to offer a final assessment needs to do so remotely without disadvantaging students.
If, after full consideration of all alternate methods of assessment, an instructor should find it absolutely necessary to cancel their final examination, the Graduate and Undergraduate Councils hereby delegate temporary authority to department chairs, vice chairs of graduate or undergraduate education, or their local equivalent, to cancel a final examination for a course for Winter Quarter with stipulations. If an instructor and department cancels a final exam, they must provide the following information to the respective Council: a) Instructor justification for cancellation; b) a copy of the course syllabus; and c) how assignment of final grades will differ from the syllabus due to final exam cancellation/method of calculation of final grades. Departments should collect this information using the Final Exam Exemption Form (DOCX), and submit all forms for each department as a single electronic document to the respective Councils no later than 8:00 a.m. on March 16, 2020, via email submission to senateoffice@senate.ucla.edu.
Thank you for your flexibility and patience as we work through this transition.
Sincerely,
Adriana Galván
Chair, Undergraduate Council
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Andrea Kasko
Chair, Graduate Council
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A Note on Respondus for Winter Exams
Dear (omitted)
A follow-up note on Respondus (https://humtech.ucla.edu/
It was relayed that Respondus takes careful planning and testing—and glitches still may occur. It is more successfully used in computer labs where the equipment is up-to-date (old computers may crash when using Respondus) and the online connectivity is stable.
Exams may be given and final papers submitted through CCLE (https://ccle.ucla.edu/)
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