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On April 19, 2000, the faculty voted to amend the Rules and Regulations of the Faculty in accordance with the recommendations of the Faculty Policy Committee Subcommittee on Examination and Term Regulations. The new regulations will take effect in the coming academic year, 2000 - 2001, and affect only undergraduate subjects. Here are the salient features along with some of the background. [The report can be read in its entirety at http://web.mit.edu/faculty/reports/exam-termregs/.]
This effort was motivated to a large extent by the seemingly growing number of end-of-term violations reported by students to the chair of the faculty. As well, the increase in the number of evening tests scheduled by daytime classes was posing problems. In parallel, the existing regulations were a patchwork derived from various sources and in some instances lacking faculty approval. In short, it was time for a full review.
The committee was chaired by myself and consisted of Professor Paola Rizzoli, chair of the Committee on Academic Performance; Professor Arthur C. Smith, chair of the Committee on Curricula; Dr. Alberta G. Lipson, associate dean, Office of Academic Services; and Mr. Jeremy D. Sher, chair of the Undergraduate Association's Student Committee on Educational Policy (SCEP). The report was compiled and edited by Ms. Mary Z. Enterline, associate dean, Office of Academic Services.
The central issue for the committee was how to craft a minimal set of regulations that discourage bad practice without restraining faculty creativity. In order to help us find our way we enunciated these five principles, which inform our conclusions and serve as the basis for our recommendations.
Here are the major changes. Text in
italics is lifted directly from the revised Rules and Regulations
of the Faculty. Remember, this affects only undergraduate
subjects and only during the fall and spring terms.
Announcement of Assignments at Beginning of Term
The faculty member must provide to students, by the end of the first week of classes, a clear and complete description of the required work, including the number and kinds of assignments, the approximate schedule of tests and due dates for major projects, whether or not there will be a final examination, and the grading criteria and procedures to be used. The precise schedule of tests and major assignments must be provided by the end of the third week.
The intent of this regulation is to ask faculty to lay out their plans at the beginning of the semester so that students can make informed decisions about which subjects to take and how to budget their time during the semester.
Testing During the Last Week of the Term
There shall be no tests after the Friday preceding the start of the Reading Period, to be called the Last Test Date.
The Subcommittee examined the present regulations governing tests administered during the last week of the semester in subjects without finals and concluded that the distinction set forth between tests and comprehensive examinations in the current regulations are ambiguous and effectively unenforceable. Under current regulations, tests must be restricted to subject matter taught in the last part of the semester. Comprehensive examination of the entire semester, even by a test lasting only a single class period, is forbidden. The rationale for this policy is that the last week of term is very hectic, and students do not have adequate time, without the benefit of the reading period, to review the entire semester's material. Therefore, the current regulations state that comprehensive examination of the entire semester must be done by holding a final examination that is scheduled during the final examination period. The Subcommittee judged it inappropriate to attempt to regulate content. Besides, the main issue is the time pressure placed upon the student during the hectic last days of the semester. In particular, this is precisely the time when cumulative projects come due. To avoid overloading, to allow students time to focus on the term projects, papers, and presentations, and to give students the benefit of time to review over the reading period, the Subcommittee concluded that it makes sense to shift all testing out of the last week of class and into the final examination period, regardless of the topical coverage of the test.
One End-of-Term Assignment for a Subject without a Final
For each subject in which there is no testing during the final examination period, at most one assignment may fall due between the Last Test Date and the end of the last scheduled class period in the subject.
The change, here, is in the interpretation of the regulation. In some subjects, an oral presentation is scheduled at the end of the term to be accompanied by the submission of a written report. The Subcommittee believes that it is in the spirit of the regulation to require both an oral presentation and a written report when the two derive from the same project. In other words, the assignment due the last week has two components: an oral component and a written component. Accordingly, the Subcommittee recommends that faculty members be allowed to require in the last week of semester an oral presentation and a written report when the two are parts of the same assignment, i.e., work products for the same project.
Take-home Finals and the Like
Ex camera finals may be held with the permission of the chair of the faculty. Permissions for ex camera finals shall be granted for no more than five years. The following restrictions apply: the ex camera final shall be offered over the course of a single afternoon, starting at 1:30 P.M. and ending no later than at 7:30 P.M., and students shall be permitted unrestricted use of resources.
In order to avoid the situation in which a take-home final in a single subject consumes vast quantities of students' time during the final examination period, the Subcommittee reaffirmed the current ban on take-home final examinations. At the same time, the Subcommittee supports adding more flexibility to the current testing format. The result is the ex camera (out-of-room) final (specification set forth above).
Ex camera examinations are intended to be a different mode of testing, used only in a limited number of subjects. The Subcommittee sees giving students access to computers and libraries as justification for ex camera examinations. Ex camera examinations can also be designed to evaluate student ability to select resources and answer questions of an integrative nature. Ex camera examinations are not intended to be opportunities to double the amount of material covered in conventional examinations.
Testing Outside Regularly Scheduled Class Times
The length of tests held outside scheduled class times shall not exceed two hours. Such tests must be scheduled through the Schedules Office. They may begin no earlier than 7:30 P.M. and may not be held on Monday evenings. A student who is unable to take the test owing to a conflict with a scheduled academic exercise or extracurricular activity shall be allowed to do so at another time.
The rise in frequency of evening tests poses scheduling problems. Recognizing that many students participate in athletics during the 5-7 p.m. period, the Subcommittee believes that students need some time to compose themselves between athletics and evening tests, so evening tests should start no earlier than 7:30 p.m. The Subcommittee makes this recommendation with the expectation that a student with a 7:30 test will be released from athletic practice as if he/she had a 7 p.m. class. By the same token, students who have academic exercises until 5 p.m. cannot be required by their coaches to leave class early.
Governance
Questions arising regarding interpretation of these regulations and requests for exceptions to regulations shall be referred to the chair of the faculty who will direct them to the appropriate committees. Exceptions to regulations shall be granted for no more than five years.
The regulations should not work at cross-purposes with the principles. Faculty who wish to conduct classes in a manner proscribed by the regulations can turn to the chair of the faculty for permission to do so.
Violations
The Subcommittee recommends that violations of regulations continue to be reported to the chair of the faculty. However, in a departure from current practice, the Subcommittee recommends that the chair of the faculty contact not only the faculty member whose actions are in question but also his or her department head. The hope is that it will become a matter of pride on the part of the department not to be confronted with "problems" in connection with violations of regulations.
Dissemination of Information
In the opinion of the Subcommittee, there is an acute need to raise faculty awareness of the relevant policies and regulations. Recall that when MIT became proactive on the issue of sexual harassment, an educational campaign was an integral component of the program. The Subcommittee believes that making deans and department heads more knowledgeable about the issues would help raise awareness among faculty.
It is not unusual to be asked why MIT has such an elaborate set of regulations governing term tests, final exams, and end-of-term practices; other schools are far less litigious in these matters. Indeed, at the time Lotte Bailyn asked me to chair this committee my predisposition was to reduce the number of rules to near zero. However, as I studied the files of reports of violations I came to appreciate that, in the words of Paul Gray, MIT is a special place, with the following curious mix. Faculty are judged primarily on their research, which by necessity must be conducted at the highest level. In parallel, they are also required to teach. Thus, the students are treated to this same high-intensity delivery; a huge amount of material conveyed at great speed. The faculty want their students to master the subject matter, but our unbridled enthusiasm can be so overwhelming as to have a quenching effect on learning. It is the hope of the Subcommittee that the revised regulation will provide a framework in which everyone involved in the educational process can flourish.
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