Huh?

[sarren]

Dragonfly handed in an assignment worth 30% two weeks ago and has just received an email from her lecturer saying it's now only worth 20%, that instead the previous one was worth 5% more and the final one is now worth 5% more. Can they do that?




Driving home from work on Tuesday with a shattering headache, honestly nearly took out a cyclist. It was dusk, and I was pretty much focussed on the pain, and I did not see him. As I turned the corner I caught sight of something in my peripheral vision and swung the wheel over. I'm kind of surprised the guy restrained himself to 'what the ???' gestures. Went home, ate something minimal, crawled into bed. Dragonfly kept the pets at the other end of the house for the night and when I eventually slept I slept for over 11 hours uninterrupted.

Last night they the pets made up for it with a record breaking effort of ALL of them waking me up at one time or another.
- the puppy scratching madly at the hall door. Whhhhyyy?
- Dfly's cat yowling to be let out. And later yowling to be let back in.
- my cat standing on me and meowing loudly and at length.
- and finally, my normally well behaved grown up dog lying next to my bed panting really loudly until I finally woke up and realised what the hell the noise was. (he knows he's not allowed in my room).

Comments

[baby-elvis.livejournal.com]

I would check on the University's policies, and perhaps ring the Dean's office.

[victorian-tweed.livejournal.com]

*hugs you tight*

[fred-mouse.livejournal.com]

I don't clearly recall where dragonfly is studying, but hopefully one of the following is useful to you.

ECU (from http://www.ecu.edu.au/CLT/directorate/about/assessment_ECU.pdf)

has under 'responsibilities of unit coordinators"

"To ensure that no change or changes are made to assessment methods and the content of assessment, after the distribution of the unit outline, without reasonable consultation with students enrolled in the unit. The Unit Coordinator must receive approval from the Head of School of any proposed change and inform the students in writing or electronically"

and

"Determination of Marks and Grades Students must be advised in the unit outline how all marks and grades are to be determined. They must be informed of their numerical mark, grade or pass/fail result for every component of assessment in the unit except for any final examination or test. Note that participation in class activities, but not attendance alone, may be a component of assessment."

(more policy at http://www.ecu.edu.au/GPPS/policies_db/policies_view.php?rec_id=0000000028)

Murdoch has lengthy policy at http://www.murdoch.edu.au/admin/policies/assessment.html, but I couldn't find anything about setting marks. but the link to http://www.murdoch.edu.au/admin/policies/assessmentlinks01Jul09.html#84 find me

"8.4.2 Provide students with clear statements of assessment methods, due dates, assessment weighting and teacher expectations regarding standards prior to the commencement of the teaching.
8.4.3 Inform all enrolled students in writing if there is an unavoidable change in assessment or due date. This advice should be given as soon as practicable following the change and students should acknowledge receipt of that advice."

I didn't find anything at Notre Dame, and my memory is convinced that she isn't at UWA or Curtin, so I'm not going looking there (I searched 'assessment policy' on the front pages of the websites)

Hopefully some of this is useful to you. Talking to someone within the school/division/department (whatever they are calling it this year) is worth considering.

[zebra363.livejournal.com]

No pets on the road trip!

[klia.livejournal.com]

As others have already said, it sounds like Dragonfly's lecturer did a bit of bait-and-switch, which doesn't sound kosher to me. Informing students of the switcheroo after most of the assignments were already turned in seems pretty skeezy. If it were me, I'd definitely check in with the dean or dept. head.

Hope you're feeling better!