Class lists are forwarded to academic units from the Registrar’s Office for distribution once during the academic session. However, the department will be requesting new class lists after every change of enrollment exercise, e.g. after last day to enroll with the permission of the professor. If for any reason you require a list at any another time you should be able to get a list from Maya. Please note that to do that you require a Passport York which can be obtained by contacting CNS. However in an emergency contact the course secretary for your course and they should be able to print out a list for you.

Contact: Alda Lone, ext 77797, alone@yorku.ca or Jackie Selman, ext. 77798, jselman@yorku.ca for any further information.

Course scheduling for the next academic year commences in September of the preceding year. As part of this exercise, a package of information will be sent to all course directors asking about the courses they will be teaching and the facilities these courses require. It is very important this information be returned at once in order to obtain the best possible choice of times and rooms.

Contact: Alda Lone, ext. 77797 alone@yorku.ca or further assistance.

An assignment drop-off box is assigned for each course to be used when students are unable to submit assignments in class. The boxes, which course directors should check on a regular basis, are opposite S 748 Ross; a key is available from the staff in the Main Office. (Please note that Division regulations prohibit the Main Office staff from receiving coursework from students.)

THE PROCESS

When a faculty member seeks to propose a new course, or revise or cross-list an existing course (including revision of a course as a “foundation” course, moving a course from one level to another, or altering the term of a course as half-year or full-year), or an academic program seeks to revise its degree requirements, they should consult with the chair of the Division’s Curriculum Committee. Then, the appropriate form - New Course proposal or Changes to Existing Courses & Degree Programs is completed and forwarded to the committee chair or to the Undergraduate Program Assistant (Alda Lone). The Curriculum Committee determines whether a proposal includes the required information and is consistent with the Division’s academic plan (and, toward these ends, may request revision of a proposal). The committee then forwards its decision to Division Council, which ratifies or declines the proposal or returns it to the committee for revision. (Curricular proposals on the agenda of a Division Council meeting are available for Division faculty to deliberate prior to the meeting.) Curricular proposals approved by Division Council are forwarded to the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy (CCAP), which likewise may approve or decline a proposal or request revision. Curricular proposals approved by CCAP are processed through the administrative machinery that permits a course to be scheduled or curricular changes to be implemented.

GUIDELINES FOR CURRICULAR SUBMISSIONS

FORM 1 – NEW COURSE PROPOSAL FORM

Form 1 is used for all new course proposals. Please include all of the information requested on the form; specific guidelines are provided on the form itself.

FORM 2 – COURSE CHANGE FORM

Form 2 is used for changes to existing courses. Types of course changes include:

• Change in course number/level (e.g., from 1350 to 1400, or from a 2000-level course to 3000-level course)
• Change in credit value (e.g., from a 6.0 credit course to a 3.0 credit course)
• Change in title (maximum 40 characters, including spaces and punctuation, for the short title)
• Change in Calendar description (maximum 40 words or 200 characters)
• Change in pre/co-requisite(s)
• Change in or addition of cross-listing, integration or degree credit equivalents/exclusions. Please note that such changes require approval by all of the relevant Faculties/departments/divisions.
• Regularize course (change from Special Topics to a permanent course)
• Retire/expire course

Each substantive change must be accompanied by a rationale. Since one change (such as a change in year level or credit value) may result in several other changes (e.g., to the course description, evaluation, instruction, bibliography, etc.), please submit as many details as possible. If there are several changes, please feel free to use a new course proposal form (form 1) in order to ensure that all the required information is included.

DIVISION PRACTICES CONCERNING CURRICULAR PROPOSALS

• The Division Curriculum Committee normally only considers proposals for new courses submitted by tenure-track faculty.
• In occasional circumstances, a new course is proposed not by the faculty member who will instruct it; for example, a new course may be proposed in the context of the curriculum of an interdisciplinary program by the program coordinator.
• In order to meet deadlines imposed by the room-allocations process, and to allow for the revision of proposals and possible delays at CCAP, the Curriculum Committee customarily begins considering proposals shortly after the commencement of autumn term, and faculty should be prepared to submit proposals at this time. This is especially important in the case of proposals for new large courses, for which room allocation for the subsequent academic year is done in autumn term.

COURSE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FOR FALL/WINTER 2006/2007

New Course Proposals – In order to have the necessary approvals in place for the Dean's December deadline all new course proposals must be received by Alda Lone by October 1st at the latest. Material submitted after this time may not receive Division Curriculum Committee approval in time for the Registrar's Office Room Allocation Exercise. 

Course Change Proposals – In order to have the necessary approvals in place for the Dean's December deadline all course change proposals must be received by Alda Lone by October 1st. Material submitted after this time may not receive Division Curriculum Committee approval in time for submission to the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Office of the Dean.

In addition to the information requested by the Faculty’s proposal forms, the Curriculum Committee expects that a letter of support from the program coordinator will accompany proposals either for new courses that are program-related or for revisions of existing program courses; for example, a proposal concerning a course whose curriculum clearly and substantially intersects the concerns of, say, the Urban Studies Program or the Law and Society Program should include a letter from the relevant coordinator.

Contact:  Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca for detailed information and further assistance in regards to New Course Proposals and Course Change Proposals.

PROGRAM/CERTIFICATE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINES FOR FALL/WINTER 2006/2007

• Changes to Existing Programs/Certificates – November 1
• New Program/Certificate Proposals – November 1

The deadline for program and certificate proposals are earlier than those for course proposals because program/certificate proposals normally undergo a more lengthy approval process, including submission to CCAP, Arts Council, Senate CCAS, and Senate. Proposals submitted after the deadline may not be approved in time to be included in the 2006-07 Calendar. According to Senate legislation, neither Faculty-approved curricular changes nor other proposals relating to curriculum, new programs or academic regulations can be included in university calendars unless they have received Senate approval. The guidelines for program/certificate changes and new program/certificate proposals are included in the Senate Curriculum Handbook.

Contact:  Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca for detailed information and further assistance in regards to Program/Certificate Proposals.

It is possible for students to complete work that was not finished during an academic session due to serious personal circumstances. Students may request “deferred standing” status from the course director and make arrangements to submit the uncompleted work that is outstanding at a later date. This process requires completion by the student and course director of a “deferred standing” form .that is available at the Division office or at the Registrars Office (soon to be online). The Course Director can choose not to agree to fill out the Deferred Standing form; in this case, the student can petition through the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Petitions Committee for deferred standing.

Course Directors please note that grade reporting forms do not recognize “deferred standing”; do not enter any mark on the grade sheets for students who have deferred standing status. Once the work has been completed fill out a “change of grade” sheet available from the Division office

Contact: Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca or Jackie Selman, ext. 77798, jselman@yorku.ca.

GENERAL INFORMATION

At the beginning of an academic session, course directors will receive an inquiry about whether there will be formal mid-term or final examinations in their courses. These will be scheduled during the examination period at the end of term, normally for either two or three hours. Scheduling is done by the Registrar’s Office, and the dates will be posted online. Please note that Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies regulations require that no in-class test or exam worth 20% or greater of final course marks may be scheduled during the last two weeks of classes in either term. As well, it is the Division policy that all 1000-level course have a final examination. If additional room is required for an in-class test or exam, please see Alda Lone, allowing sufficient time for room to be booked. “Take-home” final examinations are due one week after the examination period has commenced.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR INVIGILATORS

For information about securing exam booklets, about procedures before, during and after an exam, and about special problems that may arise. Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Invigilation Instructions are sent out every year. The following guidelines should be used to determine the number of invigilators required for an exam:

Normally, the course director acts as chief invigilator for a course. All course teaching staff, including lecturers and tutors, are also expected to assist with invigilation of tests and examinations. If an instructor will be unable to invigilate a test or examination, a colleague should be asked to do so. If the number of invigilators required is greater the number of course staff, the course director should ask Anna Hoffmann for authorization to secure suitable additional invigilators (for example, graduate students); the additional invigilators will receive their compensation from Anna Hoffmann. (Please note that, according to Division regulations, YUSA support staff may not be asked to invigilate a test or examination.)

STUDENTS UNABLE TO WRITE FINAL EXAMINATIONS

Before examinations, course directors should advise students that the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies has no provision for rewriting final examinations and that students unable to write an exam due to illness or other circumstances should immediately arrange to defer the exam. Students should understand that all examination results are final and that they cannot rewrite an exam or receive any other accommodation after the fact because of illness or other circumstances. If a student misses a final examination because of unanticipated illness or other circumstance, and provides proof, a course director may agree to a deferred exam for the student.

SPECIAL EXAMINATION ARRANGEMENTS

Course directors will be notified in advance by students who are registered with the Learning Disability Centre and require special arrangements for writing tests or exams. The course director may be asked to forward a copy of the question-sheet to the Learning Disabilities Program forty-eight working hours prior the scheduled time of the text or exam in order for the Centre to arrange for the student to write in a room at the Counseling and Development Centre.

FACULTY OF LIBERAL ARTS & PROFESSIONAL STUDIES POLICY REGARDING ARCHIVING FINAL EXAMS

No final exams, either written on campus or done as “take-home” exams, are returned to students. Course Directors are required to deliver these exams to the course secretary sorted by tutorial and, for each tutorial, arranged in alphabetical order. The exam remains in the Division’s archives for at least one year, during which a student may view it for purposes of requesting a grade-reappraisal.

Contact: Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca

ENROLLMENT BEFORE CLASSES BEGIN

The process of enrollment starts when a student receives notification of the date of their “window” to enroll through the on-line registration system (REM). On this date, the student enters a catalogue number for a course, identified in the Faculty lecture schedule. (All students’ activities on-line are logged, providing a record of individual student’s efforts to add or drop a particular course.) If the Student does not get in through the system, the student may endeavor to enroll after classes have begun mindful of Sessional Dates for enrollment.

ENROLLMENT AFTER CLASSES BEGUN

After classes have begun, it is generally easiest if course directors leave the business of enrollment to the on-line registration system (REM). But if a course director intends to monitor personally who is admitted to a course, he/she should ask Alda Lone or Jackie Selman to change the enrollment status of the course so that only drops but not adds can occur through the enrollment system. The course director is required to inform students that this step has been taken and that enrollment into the course is only possible through permission from the course director.  The course director is expected to keep a waiting list and personally grant permissions for students to enroll when spaces become available. Enrollment Permission Forms are available at the Division of Social Science main office. Advised procedures for enrollment of students by course directors are:

1. to ask Alda Lone or Jackie Selman if space is available in a course;
2. in courses with tutorials, to consult with tutorial leaders; this is especially important in foundations courses because the CUPE contract requires that tutorial leaders MUST agree to enrollment increase beyond 25 in first year and 28 in second year; with a tutor’s agreement, 3 additional students may be enrolled in a tutorial (assuming that space is available for additional students in the tutorial and lecture rooms; Alda Lone has a list of spaces available in Division courses);
3. complete the Enrollment Permission Form available in the main office, which requires signature of the Course Director or Teaching Assistant.  The Course Director or student will then submit the completed Enrollment-Permission Form to the Social Science enrollment office.  The Social Science enrollment office will not admit students without a complete form including a signature from the Course Director or Teaching Assistant.

Contact: Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca or Jackie Selman, ext. 77798, jselman@yorku.ca for further assistance.

REGULATIONS ABOUT THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF GRADING COMPONENTS AND OF GRADES

Instructors are required to announce the grading components of a course in writing within the first two weeks of classes and may not subsequently revise these grading components without consent of the course’s students. A revision of grading components with which students agree must then again be announced in writing. In order to allow students to make an informed decision about whether to withdraw from a course, a substantial segment of their running course grade—and at least 10%—should be provided by the end of the first half of the course, in advance of the course-withdrawal deadline.

GRADE ROSTER LISTS

Grade roster lists, that identify students enrolled in a course or tutorial, will be distributed to teaching staff in autumn term and should be used during the session to record the grades of students on every item of graded coursework. At the conclusion of a course, completed grade roster lists are returned to the Division Office together with grade reporting forms and grade profile forms sent to you from the Division office. In the case of a course with tutorials, the course director will collect grade roster lists from tutors at the final course meeting and review them for completeness and mathematical accuracy prior to submitting them to the Division Office. Because these forms record information that Division administrative staff are often required to consult in cases of student inquiries or requests for grade reappraisals, it is essential they be clear and accurate; hence, instructors are advised to photocopy grade roster lists and maintain one copy as a working draft and another as a fair copy. (If an instructor elects to reinvent the wheel by constructing a customized grade roster list, it must have a similar format to the office-generated roster, include student numbers, and include the names of all students itemized in the grade roster list even if they appear to have dropped the course [or have never, in fact, darkened the door of the classroom].)

GRADE REPORTING FORMS AND THE REPORTING PROCESS

Grade reporting forms are lists of a course’s students that are provided to course directors by the registrar’s office at the conclusion of a course and are used to record final grades. Because the forms are designed to be scanned electronically, it is important to follow the fussy but necessary directions that accompany them. For example, only HB pencils may be used in marking the grade “bubbles” so that corrections are possible without smudging and so that the “bubbles” are computer-legible; other directions concern how to transcribe students’ letter grades on the lines beside their names, how to record grades for students who may have been omitted from the form, and the method for signing the forms. Creativity at odds with the instructions is strongly discouraged; even small discrepancies from prescribed routine may render the forms computer-illegible, resulting in considerable time expended by Division staff who are then required to file a course’s grades into the system manually. Deadlines for submission of grade reporting forms are established by the Registar’s office and announced toward the close of term. While some flexibility is occasionally possible, it is important to consult about this beforehand with the Undergraduate Program Assistant Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca; unilateral adjustment of grade reporting deadlines may create serious backlogs for the Division’s administrative staff.

GRADE PROFILE FORMS

In addition to grade reporting forms, course directors are provided at the conclusion of a course with a grade profile form, used to record the distribution of grades in a course and a cumulative grade point average. In cases where a distribution or cumulative grade point average is defined as “atypical” by the Faculty, a brief written rationale should be provided with the grade profile form. “Atypical” grades are defined as 1000-level, 2000-level or 3000-level courses with:

• a grade point average higher than 6.5 and/or 75% or more grades of B
• a grade point average lower than 3.5 and/or 20% or more grades of F
• 50% or more grades of A and A+. Form

GUIDELINES FOR GRADES

In addition to defining “typical” grade distributions, the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies provides definitions for individual student’s grades (which are included in the York University Undergraduate Programs Calendar):

A+ — Exceptional: Thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques and exceptional skill or great originality in the use of those concepts/techniques in satisfying the requirements of an assignment or course.

A — Excellent: Thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with a high degree of skill and/or some elements of originality in satisfying the requirements of an assignment or course.

B+ — Very good: Thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with a fairly high degree of skill in the use of those concepts/techniques in satisfying the requirements of an assignment or course.

B — Good: Good level of knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with considerable skill in using them to satisfy the requirements of an assignment of course.

C+ — Competent: Acceptable level of knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with considerable skill in using them to satisfy the requirements of an assignment or course.

C — Fairly competent: Acceptable level of knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with some sill in using them to satisfy the requirements of an assignment or course.

D+ — Passing: Slightly better than minimal knowledge of required concepts and/or techniques together with some ability to use them in satisfying the requirements of an assignment or course.

D — Barely passing: Minimum knowledge of concepts and/or techniques needed to satisfy the requirements of an assignment or course.

E — Marginally failing.

F — Failing.

For further information is available online

GRADES IN LARGE COURSES

Grading dilemmas may arise in courses with multiple graders of differing experience and pedagogical approach, particularly large courses with several tutorials (some of whose tutors may be in their rookie year). When these dilemmas go unnoticed, cases of conspicuously varying grade patterns within units of the same course may create serious conundrums for the Division’s Grade Reappraisal Committee. Hence, it is useful if directors of courses with multiple sections meet early and often with tutors to insure that reasonable and consistent standards are applied throughout a course. This does not mandate that different tutorials should have prescribed distributions (inasmuch as there is often scholarly divergence among tutorials) but only that students submitting work of generally similar quality in a course receive generally similar grades. (In this vein, retroactive “adjustment” at the conclusion of a course of already-announced student grades, in order to harmonize grading standards, is strongly discouraged. In the event, students who request reappraisal of grades they have received that have been subsequently “adjusted” will generally be credited with the originally announced grade. The time to develop a course grading rationale is before grades for items of coursework are announced.)

TABLE FOR THE CALCULATION OF LETTER GRADES AS NUMERIC GRADES

For calculation table please contact Alda Lone, ext. 77797 or Jackie Selman, ext. 77798. The table will provide average numeric equivalencies of letter grades for components of coursework weighted at different percentages of an overall course grade. For example, the midpoint of a C+ grade given to a item of coursework worth 25% of the final course grade is 16.9 marks. Please note that the table is not proscriptive but provided solely as an aid in grading for those who may find it useful.

CONTACT: Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca, or Jackie Selman, ext. 77798, jselman@yorku.ca

(Original document passed by Social Science Council, November 1997; revisions passed at September 1999 Council Meeting)

1. Students may request a review of any grade at any time by speaking to the course director. After receiving the final grade in a course, all students have the right to ask for a review of written work contributing to the final grade. Where no record exists of work completed (as in tutorial performance, for example) no review is possible. Students must complete a Grade Reappraisal Form which is available online.
2. The Grade Reappraisal Committee expects that any student wishing a review of a final grade will first discuss with the course director any issues arising from the disputed grades before petitioning the committee. In courses involving Teaching Assistants, the course director shall review work graded by a T.A. before it becomes the subject of a formal review.
3. Reviews of work are designed to ensure that the grade assigned any piece of written student work was reasonable. The reviewer should consider any comments made on the work by the grader in deciding on the reasonableness of the original grade. As far as possible, the reviewer should employ the criteria embodied in the course assignment. Reasons for their decisions shall be provided by reviewers. Normally, reviewers shall have two weeks to complete their review.
4. The anonymity of both the student and the reviewer will be protected. The office staff will ensure that the teaching staff selected by the grade reappraisal committee to review the work will not see the student’s name. When the student receives the letter informing him/her of the decision, he/she will receive the reviewer’s comments on the work without the reviewer’s name.
5. The role of the reviewer does not include passing judgement on the nature of the assignments or alteing the grade distribution in a course. If there is a disparity between the grader and the reviewer of more than one full grade, then the committee should decide whether it wishes to consult a second reviewer for another opinion. The committee has the discretion to accept or reject the recommendations of the reviewer after reflecting on their reasonableness. The responsibility of accepting a different grade and recommending a grade change to the Division of Social Science is that of the Grade Reappraisal Committee.
6. The student shall submit the original copy(ies) containing the instructor’s comments of all work to be reviewed as well as all pertinent course-related material which will guide the reviewer in assessing the work. Normally, the Committee will inform the instructor of the request for review and give him/her two weeks (1) to verify the authenticity of the student’s work, and (2) to submit additional course-related materials if not supplied by the student.
7. The person selected to review work in a course should NORMALLY be the full-time faculty member (of those available) most knowledgeable in the area of the course in questions. Retired faculty are eligible to do reviews. If no qualified person is available in the Division, a reviewer should be sough from the outside.
8. In addition to written work to be reviewed, the reviewer should be given the written assignment instructions, which were issued to the student. There should also be a course outline and/or a statement of the course aims and objectives. An example of an A,B,C, and D work would be useful. (Course directors are advised to file examples of work of different grades with their course secretary before assignments and exams are returned.) The instructor should submit the materials to the committee.
9. Speed of response is of critical importance. Normally a decision shall be made within one month of receipt of request for review. When a decision is made both the petitioning student and the instructor shall be informed of the decision in writing. At this time, both should be advised that the decision is appealable by student or instructor to the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies on the grounds of procedural irregularity only, and that a request for review must be submitted in writing within 15 working days of notification of the Division’s decision. Both parties are entitled to The non-confidential information necessary to make the appeal.
10. A copy of the grade review report and reasons for the committee decision shall be kept on file.

Full-time faculty members may consent to supervise a student in a half-year or full-year independent studies course. The Independent Study Application indicates the information required for Faculty approval of an independent studies course and the steps to be followed in securing approval.

Contact: Alda Lone, ext. 77797, alone@yorku.ca or Jackie Selman, ext. 77798, jselman@yorku.ca for further assistance.

What Can Be Petitioned

Who May Petition Through The Office Of The Registrar

Information To Submit

Petitions Materials

Petitions Confidentiality

Petitions Deadlines

Peititon To Enrol Late

Financial Petitions

Tutorial hours are assigned by Lil Di Giantommaso in consultation with course directors. Please note that, after tutorial times are assigned, they may not be rearranged without notifying Lil Di Giantommaso.

Contact: Lil Digiantommaso, ext. 77799, lilianad@Yorku.ca for further assistance.