THE PLAN, AS AT 2020-03-30, POST-MEETING

Take-home remote exam, with honour code, as a Canvas Assignment. Students with connectivity and access issues: to contact instructor, exam sent to them in PDF by email, and students email back their completed exam.

The exam must be available on the scheduled exam day, at the scheduled time, and should take 2.5 hours maximum, so that students will be able—if they wish— to take the exam at the appointed time in their exam schedule (in case their other exams are doing this too, and so as not to create extra conflicts and hardships for them).

It will be a take-home that should take *less* time than usual, and be a reduced version of the 18W2 FREN 102 and 19W1 FREN 101 exams. (See also, some old exams here.)

The exam will be available for 24 hours around the scheduled exam date and time, so as to allow instructors time to mark.

• Students who can’t do it in that time to contact coordinator to say when they can: JÓB can deal with individual cases, as with hardship etc. cases, and in many cases just extend time.
• JÓB will mark any such FREN 102 exams that arrive *later* than the appointed time, to help sessional colleagues with heavy marking.
• There will be a FREN 102 hardship exam on 16-17 April (24 hours again), which JÓB will organise and mark.
• I’ve had no requests for 101 hardship exams.

I’m preparing a message (which we can change if you have ideas on other things to include or exclude) to possibly send to students in both video and text format, along with the exam instructions and honour code (further down this present post):
https://blogs.ubc.ca/fren101and102/2020/03/29/draft-message-for-students-2020-03-29-to-send-2020-04-02/

• Q: *how* open book?
  • textbook + workbook + online dictionaries (with warnings and list of recommended dictionaries—on here and Canvas anyway—and students to add references) + any course materials on Canvas + student’s own notes
  • (but individual independent work: so not using other humans, friends, family, tutors, online tutoring help, online services, etc.)
• Q: how strict a time limit and other conditions?
  • loose time + stop and start (inc. to ask instructor/coordinator questions) + honour code: given the circumstances, #AcademicKindness is more important than policing and more likely to encourage honesty through mutual trust (yes, some people will cheat, some always do, that’s life: we’re not here for the psychopaths and sociopaths but for the good)
  • instructor choice: email PDF / Canvas assignment + submit file attachment / Canvas quiz
• Q: But what about cheating?
  • NB: those who really want to cheat can, will, and indeed have already got around these mechanisms; surveillance and distrust naturally breed distrust in return, and depersonalising authority thereby making disobedience a virtue; for more, see Proudhon, Foucault, etc.
  • NBB: the more work *you* put into policing mechanisms, the more upset you will be when—inevitably—someone cheats. It will feel personal. It is worse: the cheat has depersonalised you. This would hurt, at the best of times; we are not currently living in the best of times, so it will hurt more.
  • NBBB: More rigid =/= stronger but more brittle. Please be wary of anything that might contribute to you cracking, as a matter of mental health and wellbeing. You are more important than the **** who cheats.

EXAM STRUCTURE

• I. listening comprehension
  (5 multiple-choice + 5 fill in blanks / micro-dictée)
  audio = from textbook or workbook
  = 10 points
• II. open-ended opinion question associated with topic in I
  free form (no grammar etc. requirements), with image-prompt
  (which might, if you’re lucky, be amusing and/or a medieval manuscript illumination with option for instructor to change that to an image of their own free choice)
  = 10 points
  • vocab references (at least 5 from textbook with page numbers + at least 5 from dictionaries + source cited)
    = 5 points
• III. reading comprehension
  (5 multiple-choice + 5 T/F, correct the info)
  unseen text
  = 10 pts
• IV. open-ended opinion question associated with topic in III
  with required elements (see example in 101 exam skeleton draft)
  = 20 points
  • vocab references
    (at least 5 from textbook with page numbers + at least 5 from dictionaries + source cited)
    = 5 points
• V. grammar transformations, based on text in III
  (20 questions: see 101 draft skeleton; in 102, transforming verb tenses, pronouns, partitive)
  = 20 points
• VI. write about your favourite savoir-vivre item
  (+ some specifications inc. a JÓB random element)
  = 20 points
• total = 100 points (weighted at 40% of final grade)

FOR BOTH 101 and 102 :

• grammatical and thematic matters up to start of the final dossier only
• no specific exercises on material covered in online classes or independently; it can feature for recognition in comprehension text, can be optional elements to include in writing
• for 101: no specific questions or exercises on LIRE, ÉCRIRE, POUVOIR, VOULOIR, DEVOIR, impératif présent
  • (JÓB note to self : include this at start of 102, along with the other usual 101 review)
• for 102 : no specific questions or exercises on PRONOMS COD & COI, PRONOMS RELATIFS, PRONOMS TONIQUES (covered at start of 111 anyway)
• Q: add a “treasure-hunt” element that is based on students having and using their textbook? Ex. identify the audio track for the listening comprehension (I’ll use audio from the textbook or workbook), find the page where we met a certain word in the reading comprehension

QUESTION: EXAM TO BE COMPULSORY OR OFFER “REWEIGHTING” OPTION?

DECISION: OPTION 1

• no changes to the syllabus
• the final exam is compulsory
• no changes to coursework: syllabus change from two weeks ago gives all students the opportunity to submit late work
• students all have the opportunity to choose a late W (see Arts info below) and, once final grades have been posted, to apply to Arts for Credit/D/fail
• suggestion to instructors: mark generously and kindly; try to ensure that, as far as possible, all students have at least 60% so that they all have the Credit option
• as far as possible = if a student has done little or no work, did test 1 poorly, and would have had an F bare pass on work done by end of week 9: that’s probably still going to be a D/F).

2020-04-08 AMENDMENT: EXAM OPTIONAL

(copy-pasted information coming up shortly, from information communicated to students)

QUESTIONS / TO DO

• practice exams
  • JÓB will upload recent old exams (101 19W1, 102 18W2) and their answers to blog here (and her own Canvas site)
    DONE: https://blogs.ubc.ca/fren101and102/2018/11/29/revisions/
  • and email to instructors for them to share with their students
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/csc0rq5q4gg5n4u/19W2%20FREN%20101%2B102%20exam%20information.pdf?dl=0
• any further hardship or conflict cases?
  • (students to contact coordinator directly by email)
• exam by email OR as Canvas Assignment OR as Canvas Quiz?
  • instructor choice
  • TAs: coordinator can set Canvas up for you (see LOGISTICS next for timetable: day before exam opens)
  • Zoë has kindly offered to make a Canvas Quiz version of the 102 exam in the Master Version (see LOGISTICS: this will be in mid-April)
• in lieu of exam invigilation, exam question email hotline!
  • I’ll be on “ask me anything” duty anyway, 12:00-22:00 and 08:00-12:00
  • we can also arrange a rota for responding to student questions: one 3-hour shift for each instructor
  • or they email their instructor and me, and one or other of us replies
  • instructors should NOT be on call all 24 hours of the exam! (if a student is working late and has a question, they stop until they receive an answer then start again; this might mean that they submit their completed exam more than 2.5 hours after they started, and more than 24 hours after the exam opened)
  • if anyone can do later night (22:00-01:00, or indeed later) or early morning (05:00-08:00) let me know

• JÓB to check:
  • grades in on Monday 4 May is OK with Arts Advising
    DONE: YES
  • … what else do I need to check and do?

LOGISTICS

• FREN 102 Weds 22 April 19:00-21:30
  • Mon 30-Tues 31 March:
    team consultation on exam practicalities
  • Thurs 2 April (not the 1st as people might think it’s an April Fool):
    JÓB writes and videos (video later) message for students, emails her own section and those of TAs, and sends message to faculty instructors for them to send to their own section
    DONE with changes including voting, 2020-04-09, videos next week
  • Weds 15-Fri 17 April:
    JÓB marking her own students’ work, as she is *weeks* behind on this
  • Fri 17 April-Sat 18 April:
    JÓB prepares exam
  • Mon 20 April:
    JÓB sends exam to instructors using Canvas for their exam
  • Tues 21 April:
    JÓB puts exam up on Canvas course site for her own section and on sites of any TAs using Canvas for their exam
    JÓB sends .docx and .pdf of exam to instructors
  • Weds 22 April 12:00 to Thurs 23 April 12:00:
    exam available to students
    • (to start exam within this time range, so if starting Thurs 12:00 they could be finishing Thurs 15:00)
    • JÓB available for student questions by email Weds 12:00-22:00 and Thurs 08:00-18:00
    • instructor team: we can arrange a rota for students to email you questions (one 3-hour shift for each of you) or leave it that they email their instructor and me, and one or other of us replies
  • Thurs 23 April, p.m.:
    JÓB emails corrigé approximatif to colleagues after exam closes
  • Fri 24-Thurs 30 April:
    instructors mark their section’s exams and prepare final grades
  • Mon 4 May:
    instructors’ final grades due on FSC (JÓB to double-check with SG / Arts Advising, I think this deadline gives us a couple of days’ leeway)

• FREN 101 Fri 24 April 19:00-21:30
  • Mon 30-Tues 31 March:
    team consultation on exam practicalities
  • Thurs 2 April (not the 1st as people might think it’s an April Fool):
    JÓB writes and videos (video later) message for students, emails her own section and those of TAs, and sends message to faculty instructors for them to send to their own section
    DONE with changes including voting, 2020-04-09, videos next week
  • Mon 20 April:
    JÓB prepares exam
  • Weds 22 April
    JÓB sends exam to instructors using Canvas for their exam
  • Thurs 23 April
    JÓB sends .docx and .pdf of exam to instructors
  • Fri 24 April 12:00 to Sat 25 April 12:00:
    exam available to students
    • (to start exam within this time range, so if starting Sat 12:00 they could be finishing Sat 15:00)
    • JÓB available for student questions by email Fri 12:00-22:00 and Sat 08:00-18:00
    • Nick, Joyce, P.: we can arrange a rota for students to email you questions (one 3-hour shift for each of you) or leave it that they email their instructor and me, and one or other of us replies
  • Sat 25 April, p.m.:
    JÓB emails corrigé approximatif to colleagues after exam closes
  • Sat 25-Thurs 30 April:
    instructors mark their final exams and prepare final grades (and on Sat 2 May; Fri 1st May is May Day and I do not expect ANY of us to be working then)
  • Mon 4 May:
    instructors’ final grades due on FSC (JÓB to double-check with SG / Arts Advising, I think this deadline gives us a couple of days’ leeway)

HONOUR CODE EXAM INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

= will be on the front page of the exam (if emailed PDF); or the first item, to be copied and pasted into a student’s own exam (if Canvas Assignment); or the first question (if Canvas Quiz)

INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDANCE

This is an honour-code take-home examination.

It consists of the following files:

1. the exam instructions and questions (PDF)
2. the audio file for the listening comprehension
3. the electronic exam booklet (.docx, .pages, and PDF): this is where you’ll write your answers, and this is what you’ll submit online to your instructor when you’ve finished. You may alternatively write your answers by hand on a separate paper, scan or photograph that, and submit that (preferably as one single file as a PDF) to your instructor when you’ve finished.

You MAY use:

• our course materials: Cosmopolite 1 textbook and workbook (including the pamphlets at the end) and shared course materials on Canvas;
• your own notes from this class; and
• a dictionary (or dictionaries, plural, you may use more than one: see further down for a list of dictionaries: all are online and free).

Before you start, please read this page of information and, especially, the formal statement at the end and sign your name (writing it is fine) and write the date.

Time: two and a half hours. The exam stays open for 24 hours (12 noon to 12 noon) around the time of your scheduled exam. That way, you can still take the exam at the original scheduled time if that suits you. It is designed to take around two hours, comfortably, with time for thinking and for looking things up. You may stop and start as need be: we will trust you to keep an eye on time. If you’re slightly over time, that’s OK. We’d like you to NOT worry about things like that, and instead focus your energies and excellent minds on the exam itself.

As this exam is independent individual work, you are honour-bound NOT to communicate with anyone until you have finished and submitted the exam: that means no communication of any sort and in any medium with anyone: classmates, other students, family, friends, neighbours, tutors, online services, exam upload sites, crowdsourcing, reddit, etc.

EXCEPT: You might need to stop the exam and step away from it to deal with something practical at home: you might need to attend to a relative, help someone out, you might be interrupted by children. That’s FINE AND UNDERSTANDABLE. (And yes, you can talk to them. It would be rude, and possibly inhuman, not to. Just don’t talk to them about any material content in the exam. Exercise common sense: if a child asks “what are you doing?” and you mention the word “exam” in your reply to them, that’s OK even though technically it’s talking about the exam to another person.)

AND EXCEPT: You may ask your instructor and/or the coordinator questions: the coordinator will respond to emails (juliet.obrien@ubc.ca) 12:00-22:00 on the day that your exam opens, and 08:00-18:00 the day after. Your instructor will inform you separately of their availability. If you think that your question is the sort where you could find the answer by Googling, for example, which isn’t just looking up a word in a dictionary; and if you’re not sure if you would be allowed to do that: this is the kind of question that you should ask your coordinator or instructor, so email to ask your question and we’ll help! Basically, ask me anything: I will probably be able to answer, the worst I’ll do is say “I can’t answer that without giving you the answer to the question, but I can give you a clue.” During the exam, instead of working as surveillance of you, we’re going to be working as support for you.

How to work on and submit your exam:

• You can work directly on the electronic exam booklet (.docx, .pages, or PDF) or write by hand on paper and then scan or photograph it.
• Then save your work as a PDF.
• Your instructor will tell you how to hand it to them: this will probably be on Canvas. It might be by email. (Such things may vary from section to section in our course, and from student to student depending on all of our individual circumstances.)

DICTIONARIES

The following approved dictionaries are free, online, and French into and from a number of languages. When looking up a word, read through the WHOLE dictionary entry for it, read contextualised examples of usage (Linguee is very good for this), and do a reverse look-up when you think that you have the right word, to check. Individual words rarely translate as exact 1:1 mappings. If in doubt, please include the original word that you were looking up—in any language—next to the word you found or above it or in a footnote. That will help your instructor  when they are reading your work.

• Linguee: linguee.fr
• WordReference: wordreference.com
• Lexilogos: lexilogos.com

ABOUT HONOUR AND THE HONOUR CODE

As you all know, our new onlinised learning environment offers us an opportunity to think, learn, and engage with the course materials and with each other in new and innovative ways.  Throughout this process—including during exams—please remember that as members of this academic community, we should act according to the same code of honour, where we take responsibility for our personal behaviour, respect others, nurture independent thought, and abide by the standards of academic integrity embraced by UBC and as is expressed in our course syllabus in both in-person and online learning environments. For this specific assessment, we hope that you will respect the guidelines. We trust you.

A note for students who are worried about the possibility that other students might cheat on this exam:

• In accordance with the UBC Respectful Environment Statement, I will treat you as moral agents and responsible adults, and hold you to the same standards as I do my faculty colleagues and indeed as I hold myself: we are all fellow Members of the University.
• I will assume, and presume, that you are all persons of honour.
• Once your instructor has marked your exams, they and/or the course coordinator will recheck, at random, very good exams (= 80% / A- and above); your instructor or the coordinator may have a short conversation with you (probably Canvas Collaborate, as it supports telephone calls) to go through certain parts of your exam with you. If you’ve done your exam honestly, this will just be a bonus one-on-one chat and some human contact and some extra French conversation practice!

THE FORMAL HONOUR CODE DECLARATION

I pledge my word as my bond and promise on my honour as a Member of our University that:

• this is my own individual work;
• I have done this work alone and independently: without contacting, communicating with, or assistance from other examination candidates, students, friends, family, neighbours, tutors, online services, exam upload sites, crowdsourcing, reddit,or any other person or agency or entity
• I understand that I may ask my instructor and/or the coordinator questions;
• I have not consulted or used any unauthorised materials: automated translation, translation engines, spell-checking and grammar-checking software; and
• the only materials that I have accessed are those that are permitted: our course materials (Cosmopolite 1), course materials on our Canvas course site, my own course notes, and a dictionary.

Signed: ____________________________   Date: __________________

 

FACULTY OF ARTS INFORMATION (2020-03-27) + UBC RULES, REGULATIONS, POLICIES

See Exam strategic plan (2020-03-18 to 2020-03-29)

FOR ADDING VARIATIONS TO THE EXAM (HARDSHIP VERSIONS)

For extra exams, I’ll change the questions and, in the two first open-ended writing sections, I will throw STORYCUBES dice : throw, say, 6 dice and ask students to use and identify and underline at least 2 —verbs, vocab—in each answer

AND

in the last section, talk about your favourite savoir-vivre item: I’ll throw add StoryCubes dice for the character to whom you are explaining this. Choice of 3 dice here, and I’ll recast to check they’re book vocab or cognates.