Students voice concerns about grading system online
New Year’s has come and gone, and University of Ottawa students are slowly settling into the new year and new semester. However, many students are still waiting on thing from 2015—their grades. A number of U of O students have taken to Twitter to comment on how they have yet to receive marks for some of their classes, even as the winter semester begins.
When will my marks be posted?
A common question raised was what the actual deadline is for the grades to be posted.
“This is something we find in the collective agreement of professors,” said Isabelle Mayrand, director of operations at the office of the registrar. “Professors have ten work days to submit their final marks after the date of the exam.”
The final day of exams was Dec. 22, meaning that Friday, Jan. 15 was the last day for professors to submit their marks. After allowing some time for the faculties to enter the data, Mayrand said that all marks should be ready for viewing by Monday, Jan. 18.
“Most faculties, when the marks are received, post them right away,” said Mayrand. Some, however, take a bit longer. The common law faculty, for example, has a probation process. “At the time that they receive all the marks, they submit them to a committee to approve them before posting.”
Will I still have time to appeal?
Another common concern expressed over social media is that if it takes time to get marks back, there will be little or no time to appeal them.
“We count the days the students can appeal a mark as of the date the mark was posted,” said Mayrand.
There can still be some difficulties, according to Mayrand, for example if the student gets their marks back partway into the semester.“It might take a bit of time before the appeal goes through, and by the time the appeal goes through it might be a little late to change courses.” However, Mayrand says such issues are rare. “If we have an issue, it’s exceptional.”
Was it like this last year?
According to Mayrand, the process for posting grades is no different than it has been for a number of years. “It’s the same process,” she said.
According to the U of O website, last years deadline for marks to be posted for the fall semester was Jan. 16, 2015.
