Impartial Grading
Academic Evaluation
Teaching Assistants/Graduate Assistants are expected to evaluate student performance honestly and professionally, based solely on academic considerations and not on opinions or conduct in matters unrelated to academic standards. Students are responsible for meeting the academic standards and requirements of each course in which they are enrolled. To make clear to students the basis for academic evaluation, each Teaching Assistant/Graduate Assistant member normally should satisfy the following general guidelines.
- provide written course objectives/outcomes and the criteria and methods of student evaluation to the students near the beginning of each course;
- provide written make-up examination policy near the beginning of each course;
- return graded exercises to the student promptly;
- provide clear, formal written communications to students as to their progress by the middle of the semester or term at the latest. Grades should not be sent to students using insecure electronic communications such as email. They may be posted however, in the grade book portion of the UTC Learn course delivery system (Blackboard);
- make themselves reasonably available to students for conferences and make reasonable efforts to assist students who are having difficulty in their courses. The burden of taking advantage of such opportunities however, falls on the student. A student alleging unfair evaluation may appeal.
Policies
Each Teaching Assistant/Graduate Assistant has the obligation to evaluate the academic achievement of students in accordance with the following statements.
Purposes of Grading
- To define and communicate the student's level of educational achievement.
- To motivate students to greater effort.
Principles of Grading
- Grades should be directly related to the objectives/outcomes of the course and should reflect the emphasis given the various objectives in the course syllabus.
- Students should be informed of progress during the course, since evaluation should be an integral part of the teaching/learning process.
- Grades should be based upon a combination of a number of graded activities.
- Tests should be clearly constructed to reflect the content of the course and be related to the course student learning outcomes.
- Every effort should be made to make measurement valid, reliable and objective.
- Evaluation should be consistent with accepted norms for the institution. A "C" grade represents acceptable performance in the course.
- Student personality should not be a factor in grading, except when clearly relevant to stated course outcomes.
- In all sections of a multi-section course, evaluations should be consistent with accepted and announced norms for the course.
Grading System
- A = represents superior performance in the course.
- B = represents commendable performance in the essentials of the course.
- C = represents acceptable performance in the essentials of the course.
- D = represents marginal performance below the acceptable standards of university work.
- S = is given for courses completed on a satisfactory/no credit basis. The hours are not computed in the student's grade point average.
- NC = represents failure to complete the requirements in satisfactory/no credit courses. The attempted hours are not computed in the grade point average.
- I = may be given to a student whose work has been of passing quality and who has a valid reason for not completing some requirement of the course. Removal of an Incomplete must be submitted by the instructor to the Registrar no later than three weeks before the last day of classes in the next regular semester, or the Incomplete will become an F. The Incomplete grade will not be computed in the grade point average during the interim. Any student called to active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States may, with the permission of the instructor, can be given an indefinite incomplete.
- IP = used as an interim grade for courses and indicates work in progress. It must be removed by the end of the next regular semester or the In Progress becomes an F. The IP will not be computed in the grade point average during the interim.
- F = indicates unqualified failure and the necessity for repeating the course to obtain credit.
- W = indicates official withdrawal from one or more classes after the first two weeks of classes, and up to the last six class weeks before the final examinations. Comparable deadlines apply to each of the summer terms.
Midterm Grades
UTC requires that instructors give students midterm grades for all undergraduate courses. These can be posted in Banner, UTC Learn or hand delivered to the student in class.
Final Examinations
Final exam schedules are available online as a part of the Academic Calendar. Examinations are expected to be held at the time and place (usually in the regular classrooms) scheduled. No instructor has the authority to change the time or place of a final examination.