This message was sent to faculty from Mary J. Osirim, Provost and Professor of Sociology, and Judith Balthazar, Dean of Studies, on Friday, April 24, 2020.
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
The final exam period is around the corner. In past years, for many of us, that has entailed creating a three‐hour scheduled or self‐scheduled exam that students would take in one sitting. This semester, due to the conditions created by COVID‐19, we are asking that we rethink that model.
As students pointed out at last Sunday's SGA meeting and the Curriculum Committee noted earlier this week, a significant number of our students cannot count on three consecutive hours (more, for students with access issues) of quiet and uninterrupted time to take an exam for each of their four classes. We have students with unreliable internet, some of whom are driving to hot spots for their classes and would need to take their exams in their cars. Others with no private space in their homes cannot prevent interruptions from younger siblings. And others with family responsibilities cannot put them aside for three hours straight. In other words, social inequities that may be masked or mitigated when students are in residence at the College would end up significantly privileging some of our students during Finals this spring and disadvantaging others.
Rather than expecting each student to ask for special accommodations for exams, we are writing with the following "universal design" suggestions for those of you who believe a final exam is appropriate for your course:
- Assume that your students will be taking your exam under less‐than‐optimal conditions.
- Allow your students to choose to take your exam at any time within the exam period.
- Create exams that do not require internet access during the exam itself and that can be taken entirely off‐line.
- If you believe your exam should have a time limit, do not rely on Moodle or another online program to determine when the student started and finished it. Instead, in the spirit of the honor code, allow students to self‐report how long they spent on the exam.
- Allow students to break the exam up if they cannot complete it in one sitting.
- Finally, students at SGA suggested that faculty might consider making their final exam a "no penalty" or "extra credit" assignment, one that will count if it improves a student's grade but will be dropped if it does not.
We realize that this has been a challenging semester for all of us, one that has required us to rethink and readjust goals and expectations more often than any of us would have liked. For additional information and practical tips during exam time, visit the Registrar’s Office exam faq link at https://www.brynmawr.edu/registrar/faculty-faq-exams-covid-19
Thank you for your continued concern for our students and flexibility during these times. With our best wishes as we approach the end of the semester,
Mary and Judy
Mary J. Osirim
Provost and Professor of Sociology Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 610-526-5168
mosirim@brynmawr.edu
Judith Balthazar
Dean of Studies
610-526-5374
jbalthaz@brynmawr.edu