Timeline for Is it unreasonable to change the rules of a quiz/exam one week in advance?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
22 events
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| Nov 27, 2017 at 19:56 | comment | added | Mayou36 | @KonradRudolph, or let us now, 1) why the change is so urgent (but was not announced earlier! <- very contradicting...) and 2) what would you consider a "too close timeframe" then? | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 19:54 | comment | added | Mayou36 | @KonradRudolph, consider two things: how urgent is the change and what is the damage done to students. It's not important to change the rules, open book exams are not a problem per se (and OP would have had the chance to announce it earlier). On the other hand, the student clearly showed his disadvantage. How he plans to pass the test is really up to him, just inside the rules. Blaming the student is like blaming a pedestrian who crosses the street if the light is green, does not look around (in civilized countries) and gets hit by a car. No, it is still not the pedestrians fault. | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 15:17 | comment | added | Konrad Rudolph | Completely disagree: 10 days for such a relatively minor change is ample notice. And it is a minor change: if a student spent hours collating preprinted lecture slides then that’s their own fault (what they heck were they doing anyway?!). Else they should be able to transfer their cheat sheet into a hand-written format easily enouhg. | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 12:10 | comment | added | Mayou36 | @Makyen, yes... I state that from a legal nature, this depends on the country. Exactly what you are saying. You cannot do everything and there can be laws which prevent you from simply changing the rules, but there don't have to be. My answer clearly deprecates to change the rules, adding that even if it were legal in your country/school, rather don't do it. But this is, as stated, country specific. Do you prefer "school specific" or where do we disagree? Even at the very beginning, it is stated that: if you only care about legality, do whatever is legal in your department/country. | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 3:00 | comment | added | Makyen | @NicoleHamilton, The last line of the answer is: "Sidenote: yes, probably you can legally do that. It depends a lot on your country...", which is explicitly stating an opinion on legality. It specifically references that it varies by country, which further implies that they are talking actual legality, not analogy. It's certainly not a strain on credulity to take the words exactly as written. | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 2:31 | comment | added | Makyen | @NicoleHamilton, IANAL, which should be your default assumption for anyone on the internet. However, I do have experience with litigating the results of one party attempting to unilaterally change the terms of a contract after the contract is formed (doing so is usually invalid). Note: I'm commenting about (disagreeing with) a legal opinion expressed in this answer. Any actual legal opinion would have to take into account the jurisdiction in which this is occurring, which is unspecified, and the exact details of the situation (which are insufficiently specified). | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 1:57 | comment | added | Nicole Hamilton | @Makyen You're making a legal argument as if you're a lawyer and know what you're talking about. But I'm pretty sure neither is true. | |
| Nov 26, 2017 at 20:31 | comment | added | Makyen | You delve into the legal argument and state what is, IMO, false. The syllabus, by it's nature, becomes part of the contract under which the students have purchased enrollment in the course (paid tuition). Unless there's a school policy explicitly stating, or the syllabus explicitly states, that all terms in the syllabus are subject to change, then the terms in the syllabus are not something that the instructor gets to change on a whim. Without such statement, a student could bring successful suit to force the course to be taught to the syllabus and/or obtain damages for it not being so taught. | |
| Nov 26, 2017 at 15:20 | comment | added | Mayou36 | @NicoleHamilton okey thanks! If you have some idea for improvements of the wording, please let me know or edit my answer accordingly. | |
| Nov 26, 2017 at 15:07 | comment | added | Nicole Hamilton | Okay, sorry, upon re-reading it, I realize I misread your answer. | |
| Nov 26, 2017 at 14:54 | comment | added | Mayou36 | @NicoleHamilton, can you may explain more? | |
| Nov 25, 2017 at 22:03 | comment | added | Nicole Hamilton | Make up your mind. | |
| Nov 25, 2017 at 16:14 | history | edited | Mayou36 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 25, 2017 at 15:55 | history | edited | Mayou36 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 25, 2017 at 15:49 | history | edited | Mayou36 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 25, 2017 at 15:43 | comment | added | Mayou36 | @DanielR.Collins, interesting. What do you mean by "academic work"? This is a course for students, not academic work. I fully agree with your comment about academic research! But do you have exams in academic research? Do you throw people out because they are not able to answer you a few questions withing 3 hours? Is that how academia works? No! I think you agree. Is that how courses for students work? Yes! The rules are different, the two things are different. It's a 600 stud course, not a PhD/Master small group course... | |
| Nov 25, 2017 at 15:37 | history | edited | Mayou36 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 25, 2017 at 15:16 | comment | added | Daniel R. Collins | -1 Evidences a fundamental misunderstanding of academic work. Faculty have flexibility; they are not in a suicide pact with a mistake on a first assignment. This is the danger of erroneous "syllabus is contract" talk in certain circles. | |
| Nov 25, 2017 at 14:54 | comment | added | padawan | @ILiketoCode Unfortunately, people tend to side with the professor in case of a conflict, even though there is no rational reason. The tone might somewhat be disturbing, but this answer explains the situation plain and simple, IMHO. | |
| Nov 25, 2017 at 14:48 | comment | added | I Like to Code | Why did whoever it is give a -1 to this answer? | |
| Nov 25, 2017 at 14:43 | history | edited | Mayou36 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 25, 2017 at 14:37 | history | answered | Mayou36 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |