2020-04-08 email (3)

TOPICS:

  • mechanics of voting + reminder of link
  • what happens next, if the exam is optional

Dear all,

1. Information about the exam is at

Révisions & examen final optionnel

(please copy the link and paste it into a fresh browser window: direct links from Faculty Service Centre emails are not always working today)

Your instructor should have emailed you this information on Monday (or possibly at the weekend).

2. The survey where you can vote on whether to make the final exam optional remains open until 5:00 p.m. PST tomorrow (Thursday 9 April). Here is the link again:
[Qualtrics]

If you are having trouble with the link, please do the following:

  • copy the link
  • open a fresh browser window (tested with Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
  • paste link and go
  • if that doesn’t work, refresh the page

3. If your / our shared decision is to give you that choice, I will send you a further email with step by step details on what happens next. I will also post that on our UBC Blogs site for all sections of the course, and if you are very lucky (and have a perhaps unorthodox perception of luck) I will also post a video version too.

For example:

  • you will know the rest of your marks (for all work submitted) before the exam
  • you can decide whether to take the exam or not at any time up to the end of the exam
  • if you submit the exam, your instructor will mark it
  • if including the exam in your final grade would lower your grade, they will not include it: you will receive whichever is the higher of
    (a) your pre-exam 60% (= everything except the exam) or
    (b) your post-exam 100% (60% pre-exam work + 40% exam).
  • WE WANT THIS TO BE A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR YOU. Now is a time for being humane and for humanity. Now is not the time for throwing you curve-balls, experimenting on you, playing mind-games, gamifying, or other inhuman(e) absurdities. (I, O’Brien, hereby officially virtually wave my fist angrily and shout unspeakable insults at any prof who is doing that sort of thing, It’s immoral and wrong. Grrr.)

I hope that all this is good news. Any other questions, please email me! Keep the emails going, they and you are very helpful. I’ve had an enjoyable day meeting many of you for the first time through your intelligent thoughtful questions. (Hello again also to my own students, who also asked smart questions earlier today!)

Dr Juliet O’Brien