About lecturing a course

ABOUT LECTURING A COURSE

The old version of the regulations to consider is https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pk0J5C1LIkXHz-aPMCXZPr1SSD0YsLULJ8IslahdyOU/edit.

Course Structure and Syllabus

Faculty members can use any instructional mode; however, they should always make sure to develop and communicate the objectives of the course to the students. In regards to this, the instructors of the courses should prepare the course syllabus for all of your courses and share them with the Department of Education (DoE) before a semester begins. The template that IU is currently using for the course syllabus is in the appendix (Add as an appendix the template for the syllabus). Such template is then reflected by the DoE into the online teaching infrastructure (currentlyMoodle) and is used as the core reference for supplying course material, schedules, and calendars to students. The deadlines to prepare and submit the syllabus are June 30 (for Fall semester courses), October 31 (for Spring semester courses), May 01 (for Summer semester courses). The instructor of the course is expected to teach with physical presence at least 70% of the lectures.

Evaluation of students performance

The following is stipulated by the University Regulation “Ongoing and interim assessment of students’ knowledge in the autonomous noncommercial organization of higher education «Innopolis University».”

Ongoing academic progress assessment (OPA)

1. Ongoing academic progress assessment (OPA) is carried out by all types of self-study and contact work of students prescribed by the disciplines, practices, and programs of research work. The OPA is carried out by a professor giving courses, by the head of practice, or by the tutor of the research work.

2. The forms of the OPA include:

• individual realization of software code,
• individual assignments,
• practical and laboratory work,
• projects,
• examinations,
• colloquiums,
• tests (hand-written or computer-based),
• reports, essays, surveys,
• oral polls,
• discussions, training, workshops.

3. Other forms of OPA might be established in accordance with the curriculum and schedule.

4. The Instructor determines the frequency, the procedure, and the forms of OPA, as well as the evaluation system for it. The Instructor has a right to introduce corrections in the quantity and procedure of OPA.

5. The Instructor must enter OPA results into the LMSMoodle.

6. The OPA results must be taken into account when the final grade is given during course evaluation. Grades received by students during the OPA are not subject to retake.

Studentsmid-semester evaluation

Within the framework of the educational process’s quality assessment, the IU Department of Education analyzes students’ progress based on the OPA results around the middle of each semester. Based on this analysis, members of the DoE hold special meetings with the under-performing students to assess the reasons behind their struggling. The following procedures are in place:

1. Each course instructor should estimate students’ performance by the end of the 9th week of the semester. This is an estimation of individual students’ final grade

2. Such an estimate should be entered in the Moodle section of the course using an assessment named “Mid Semester Evaluation (for DoE)”

3. Such an estimate should be defined with the usual letter grades (A, B, C, D - where D means “fail”)

It is noteworthy that the mid-semester evaluation is not the same as the midterm evaluation.

Final evaluation

The official term for the final course evaluation is the “Interim assessment” (IA), and it will be used below. The following is stipulated by the University Regulation “Ongoing and interim assessment of students’ knowledge in the autonomous noncommercial organization of higher education Innopolis university":

1. The schedule and the place of IA are drafted by the DoE one week prior to the beginning of an IA, which must be approved by the Director of the University. Academic faculty and students must be informed of this via their corporate e-mails.

2. The IA is conducted after completing the course or practice in full or in part. This assessment will take place in a form that depends on the educational program, the work program of the discipline (course modules) and following the procedures, prescribed by relevant regulations.

3. The forms of interim assessment are:

• a test (including a pass/fail test),
• an examination.

Both of these can be carried out in the following forms:

• verbally and in a written form,
• in the form of testing, including the use of computers, software and hardware, as

well as

• in the form of an essay or
• project defense.

The form of the interim assessment is determined by the Instructor. Students must be informed about the IA form.

4. The final grade for the course (module) and practice (research work) can include the results of the OPA.

5. Recording the IA results can be conducted in the following 2 ways:

• The Instructor enters IA results into the LMSMoodle after which the results are

transferred into the intermediate attestation report.

• The Instructor fills out the intermediate attestation report (Appendix 1 of the

cited document) and submits it to the DoE. The DoE employees then transfer the grades into LMSMoodle.

6. The results cannot be reviewed after being entered into LMS Moodle and the interim assessment report.

7. Final results of the examination (tests) from the interim assessment report shall be entered into the student’s electronic record books (LMS Moodle, a system of educational process control 1C: University, student’s portfolio, and student’s personal account (my.university.innopolis.ru)).

Rules on final examinations

1. If a student has no valid reason for being absent from the exam, he/she is considered to not have passed the exam and not fulfilled academic requirements.

2. The Instructor can provide the list of supportive materials that students are allowed to use during the exam.

3. The use of non-allowed supportive materials during the exams, breach of study discipline (cheating, use of mobile phones or PC, attempts to talk to others, etc.) as well as infringement of the regulations is prohibited. These incidents can serve as a ground for removal of the student from the room and awarding thema D (unsatisfactory) or F (Fail) marks.

4. If any of the incidents described above occur, the Instructor should inform the Vice- Rector for Education of this in written form or via the corporate mail. The Vice-Rector in their turn sends an official note on Regulations infringement to the Director of the University for further consideration and decision.

5. Presence of the third parties on exams and tests without the written permission of the Vice-Rector for Education of the University is not allowed.

6. Students with an individual education plan may pass tests and exams only during the period determined by their individual education plan.

7. Students with a valid reason of absence (illness, family circumstances, etc.) who were not able to pass tests and exams within the established timeframe are permitted to retake an exam on individual terms. The terms are approved by the direct order of the University Director.

8. For students who provide justification documents for their absence in the exam (sick leave sheet, medical certificate, etc.), the examination period may be extended by the number of calendar days indicated in the presented document. This document should be provided no later than three working days after being issued.

9. The following procedure is applied for the extension of the examination session:

• A student provides the DoE with:

1) A statement in the name of Vice-Rector for Education to extend the examination period; 2) Documents confirming the reason for the extension of the examination period (a medical certificate or other documents).

• The Vice-Rector for Education examines the submitted documents and visas

student’s statement.

• Based on this, the Department of Education of the University drafts submission

for the Director on the extension of the examination period, indicating a concrete number of extension days.

10. A student is not allowed to have an extension of the exam period if he/she does not submit the justification document in time.

Marks and grading policy

IU five-point grading system:

• “Excellent” - A - A student gets A (“Excellent”) mark when he/she shows his/her full knowledge of the subject of a study program.

• “Good" - B - The learner has the knowledge of the subject in the almost full volume of the curriculum; independently, in a logical sequence, and in a comprehensive manner, answers all the questions, emphasizing the most essential, is able to analyze, compare, classify, generalize, and systematize the studied material, highlight the main concepts, establish causal relations; clearly formulates answers, freely interprets analytical results and solves situational problems of increased complexity; is well-acquainted with basic literature and research methods; can correlate the theoretical aspects of the activities of a subject with practical problems.

• “Satisfactory" - C - The learner has only basic knowledge of the discipline; has difficulties when answering questions, operates with inaccurate wording, misses essential parts of questions. The student is able to solve only the easiest

tasks.

• “Unsatisfactory" - D - The student did not master the required minimum of subject knowledge,

is unable to answer questions even with additional probing questions from the instructor.

• “Passed" - P

• “Fail" - F - The student did not master the required minimum of subject knowledge, is unable to answer questions even with additional probing questions from the instructor.

1. The grades A, B, C, and P are considered positive and are not subject to retake in order to improve the grade. The grades D and F are considered negative (unsatisfactory).

2. A student who has completed in full the requirements of the current year’s curriculum and have successfully passed all examinations and internships is transferred to the next year in accordance with the Director’s order based on the proposal of the Vice-Rector for Education of the University.

Retakes and missed assignments

The following is stipulated by the University Regulation “Ongoing and interim assessment of students’ knowledge in the autonomous noncommercial organization of higher education Innopolis University":

1. The negative results of the interim assessment in one or several academic subjects, courses, disciplines (modules), practice (educational, industrial, pre-diploma) of the education program, as well as absence on the exam without a valid reason, are considered as unfulfilled academic requirements. Students are required to fulfill these requirements within the timeframe established by the University.

2. The University defines the schedule of retakes for each course and practice and designates for this purpose an additional exam (retake) session. This schedule is approved by the director of the university and is communicated to students through corporate e-mail.

3. The structure of the retake (including labs, oral, written, practical) is defined by the instructor. The grading policy is up to the instructor and needs to be clearly stated in the syllabus.

4. If the student has failed to fulfill his/her academic requirement during the retake for the first time (hereinafter - first retake) they have a right for a second retake with the committee assigned by the university for this retake.

5. The first retake should be held by the same instructor to whom the student failed the exam (test) for the first time. If the instructor does not have the opportunity to conduct the exam at the fixed time, the Vice-Rector for Education appoints another instructor.

6. The Committee for the second retake is approved by the director’s order on the basis of the submission of the Vice-Rector for Education of the University. The opportunity to fulfill academic requirements is granted to each student no more than twice.

7. Students must pass the retake no later than one year since the date the unfulfilled requirement originated. This period does not include the following: sick leave, academic leave, maternal leave.

8. University has the right to conduct the first and the second retake during vacation. In this case, the University must set several retake periods, both during the holidays and during the semester.

9. The second retake could not be scheduled to take place during the internship (practice) period or interim assessment period (with the exception of the IA in remote learning format).

10. Graduating students are allowed to complete their unfulfilled academic requirements before the order of their admission to the state final certification is issued.

11. The mark for the second retake is awarded based on the agreement of all committee members. The decision of the committee is adopted by a simple majority of votes, is final and is not subject to revision.

12. The results of the retake (corresponding scores and marks) are recorded in accordance with the general rules for entering the results of the interim assessment. This information is recorded by the instructor in the interim reassessment paper.

13. The students who did not liquidate the academic debt in due time are expelled from the University as having failed to fulfill their responsibilities for the conscientious mastering of the educational program and the implementation of the curriculum.

14. The retakes take place during the first week of the following semesters.