• The MFRE team will contact you regarding your preferred Dates/ Times preference for your course.
• MFRE Weekly schedule provides details regarding the course schedule ( make-up-classes, workshops, seminars, fields trips, etc..)

MFRE has provided a template that contains both the UBC mandatory items and MFRE policies that need to be included on each course syllabus.

FRE Syllabus Template

• Edit yellow highlighted with course-specific information
• Create course-specific policies regarding the following topics:
  • Exam Policies
  • Late and/ or substandard Format Assignments
  • Plagiarism Penalties
  • Turn it in Reporting
  • Group Work and Peer Review

• Once you have updated your course outline, Please send it to Xiao Han (xiao.han@ubc.ca). Xiao will post the outline on UBC Wiki.

In order to have a balanced workload among the courses, we request you to update the assignments, papers, midterm due dates for your course

• Fill In the Google Sheets with the dates of your course assignments, midterm exams, papers, and office hours. If there are conflicts with other course assessment, you will be contacted
• Do Not Fill In Final Exam dates. Dates will be defined by the MFRE program- We will contact you for your preferred date.

The MFRE program has a strong support team and we encourage the instructors to utilize their assigned course assistant's skill set. Do note that all course assistants are MFRE alumni and thus they do know the courses and procedures very well. Besides grading assignments and holding office hours to review material with the students, course assistants can help you with the following:

• • Canvas Learning Management System Course Set up and Content Posting
  • Coordinate Presentations
  • Copying
  • Coordinating and Researching Readings
  • Provide feedback on course assignments presentations prior to these being given to students
  • Book rooms for student meetings/office hours
  • Coordinate site visits
  • Invigilate exam with Instructor
  • Set up and use Turn it in on all assignments and papers to check for plagiarism
  • Research or build material for class

MFRE has created and set up a canvas template for your course. Please complete the following information before the term begins:

Front Page on Canvas:

• Edit:
  • Course Description
  • Schedule and Office Hours
  • Course Assessment
  • Course Material

Do not Edit: No need to edit other front-page sections (i.e., Copyright, Academic Dishonesty, Plagiarism, And Turnitin, Acknowledgement, Communications, Copyright) as these have been updated with MFRE policies

Other Section of Canvas

• Add lectures slides, assignments to canvas as required

Resources:

• Canvas Home Page for your course, Weblink
• Canvas tutorials re: set up, use and FAQ: weblink

• Update: Students pass the MFRE assignments, papers, exams and projects from year to year so that cohorts have a copy of most course assessment items. Given that these assignments, papers, exams and projects are an essential part of the course grades, we ask you to regularly update these to mitigate incidences of plagiarism and academic dishonesty, make assessments fair for all students, and support a quality learning experience.
• Post: In addition, if it adds value to your course, we ask that you post past assignments, paper, midterms and final exams for students to use as a study guide

• Date for Exam: Final Exam & Midterm Exam dates
• Location and Invigilation for Exam:
  • Depending on the enrolment in your course, we may need to book higher capacity rooms for midterm and final exams to avoid plagiarism temptations and manage exam writing conditions. Xiao Han (MFRE staff), Olivier Ntwali, The MFRE Academic Program Manager will contact you if your course requires a larger room for exam writing.
  • We ask that both you and your course assistant attend each exam. If your course assistant cannot attend the exam, we will ensure that someone else attends in their place.
• Define and Include Exam Instructions on your exam.
  • Exam Protocol
  • Front page Exam protocol template. Please always use this template as a front page of your exam. 
• Review and Use UBC MFRE Exam Protocol For In-Person And Remote Examinations: 2023/2024

After the first set of assignments/exam ( between October and November in Term 1 and February and March in Term)  results are available, please review the student performance and complete the Excel Format and send it to Olivier Ntwali Academic Program Manager so that we can track any student of concerns.

In the excel format, input grades as of current status computed to 100%

• • Cumulative grades as of current adjusted to base 100%
  • Percentage of evaluation marks completed

A student of concern is a student whose grades is below 68%.

After the students of concerns are identified,

• They are made aware of the 60% and 68% UBC grads studies requirements and provide them with time and study management to support academic improvement.
• The course assistant will provide extra help to these students. As the term goes by quickly, please let us know as soon as possible so we need to contact these students

Course evaluations are an important tool to help you improve your teaching skills and make the necessary adjustments to your course content.

To ensure that you receive feedback from as many students as possible, we ask that you provide 15 minutes in class for students to complete the UBC course evaluation survey and that you monitor how many people have completed the evaluation using the Instructor survey link. We ask that you provide this time in the last 2 weeks of the term (preferrable not the very last class), so you can monitor the numbers and encourage those who have not yet done so to complete the survey before the end of the term

MFRE and UBC take plagiarism and academic honesty, in all its forms, very seriously.

1. MFRE Code of Conduct: Provided online and during first Sept workshop. View Student Code of Conduct
2. MFRE Exam Protocol: Provided online and used for all in-person and online MFRE exams. View Exam Protocol. link to doc
3. Turn it In Student Access: Turn it in folders are set up for each MFRE course and students are provided with a Turn it In Guide (i.e., creating a profile, accessing MFRE folders, and reading the similarity index) and asked to submit all of their papers/reports/assignments.
4. Plagiarism Awareness Workshop: Conducted in Sept to ensure students gain working knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism and what happens if they are found plagiarizing.
5. MFRE Academic Honesty Statements: MFRE provides the program’s statements, descriptions, and resources on both the syllabus and canvas front page for each MFRE course.
6. Course Plagiarism Policies: Instructors are asked to indicate on the syllabus how students will be penalized in case of minor and serious plagiarism.
7. Course Assistants Requested to Submit all Papers/Report to Turn it in: Course assistants are required to submit all student reports/papers to Turnitin and report any concerns to the Instructor and Olivier Ntwali, MFRE Academic Program Manager for investigation. The MFRE program will investigate and inform you of the next steps.

What To Do If You Suspect Possible Plagiarism?

If you are suspicious that a submission (assignment, paper, exam, etc.) might be plagiarized (from other students or other sources),or written by someone else other than the student (i.e., academic ghost writing), please inform Olivier Ntwali, MFRE Academic Program Manager and your course assistant. The MFRE program will investigate and inform you of the next steps.

Investigation and Provision of Penalties

In all cases, the MFRE Academic Director and MFRE Academic Program Manager will investigate, meet with the student, determine penalties , decide whether to escalate concerns, and then discuss options with the Course Instructor. Once the final decision re: penalty is defined, the student will be informed by the MFRE Academic Director and MFRE Academic Program Manager.

Penalties for Academic Dishonesty:

Incidences of academic misconduct may result in a reduction of grade or a mark of zero on the assignment, examination, or course and/or the matter being referred to the Dean’s office and/or President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline. Note: If a student needs to extend his/her program due to a failed course or unsatisfactory progress, they will have to pay the full MFRE tuition fees for that term/s.

Providing a grading rubric that specifies the details that you will be grading in assignments, presentations, or activities can be helpful for students, course assistants, and to keep grades objective. It also helps to support consistent and rigorous graduate-level standards.

Assignments/Reports: Ideas/Examples for Grading Rubrics

• Grading Criteria & Rubrics: Brown University: website
• Design and Use of Rubrics in Undergraduate Economics Courses: PDF doc
• Grading Rubric for Business Writing website

Presentation: Ideas/Examples for Rubrics

• Oral Presentation Rubric: website
• UBC Short Research Presentation Rubric: website

The MFRE program has found the best way to support academic honesty during exams is to apply a strict and consistent protocol.

• Review and apply the MFRE Exam Protocol
• Review Dates/Classroom for Final Exam & Midterm Exam dates

• Students Missing Exams, Requesting Delayed Assignment Dates, or Exhibiting Poor Performance (i.e., not turning in assignment, coming to class)
  • If you are unsure of whether you should be flexible with an individual or set of student requests, ask your course assistant and contact, Olivier Ntwali, MFRE Academic Program Manager.
• Schedule Changes
  • Because classes, exam and assignment dates are coordinated at the beginning of the term, please contact Olivier Ntwali, MFRE Academic Program Manager, if you need to change an assignment/exam due date or cancel/change a class lecture and he will ensure the new date does not conflict with other courses