• One of the reasons for why students often start assignments "at the last minute" isn't necessarily laziness, but because they have too much work (e.g., midterms, assignments, projects) to do in other courses. A solution is for such students to take less courses, perhaps deferring their graduation date. They could also "time slice" their courses, although the benefit of time slicing versus a large block of dedicated time needs to be considered. Every student should pay attention to his/her own utility function, whether it be to maximize overall grades (e.g., maybe just don't do an assignment that's only worth 2%, if a midterm worth 20% is quickly coming up in another course), or to focus on a course that really interests them and for which they believe will be integral to their future job.

• Avoid giving in to special requests for early exams (e.g., student wants to qualify for cheaper airfare). The Dean's office states: "Students are responsible for being available throughout their exam period, travel plans not withstanding. The dates of the exam period are published in the Calendar in the spring so students have no excuse for booking a flight during that period. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE IN TO PLEAS FOR EARLY EXAMS. If you do, the student is likely to cite your compliance as an argument to get a colleague teaching another course to do the same. Word gets around. If you think a student's case is exceptional (and wanting to get home early is not), direct the student to their Faculty's advising office."
• If a student misses a final exam, he/she must contact his/her Dean's office, or in the case of science students, the Faculty of Science Information and Advising Office to request an academic concession. You should only give a makeup exam if the Dean grants an academic concession. In particular, it is not your responsibility to evaluate the student's reason for missing the exam or to collect and validate any needed documentation in support of the student's claim--the science advising office will do that. If an academic concession is granted you get to select when the exam will be written.
  • The missed exam can be offered: (a) at the same time that the next section of this course has its final exam (e.g., in April for missed December exams), (b) during the August deferred exam period, (c) at a time of your choosing before the August deferred exam period.
  • Avoid having the student write the exam shortly after the others write (e.g., 0-3 days), as this usually gives a distinct advantage to this student (he/she has more time to study, and word gets around pretty quickly about the questions on the final exam). Furthermore, if more than one student missed the exam, it can be a hassle to try to accommodate everyone's schedule. If students fail to show for your make-up exam it is a missed exam and they must again request an academic concession. For additional information see the Academic Concession section in the Faculty of Science regulations at http://students.ubc.ca/calendar/index.cfm?tree=12,215,410,407 . You probably also want to consult the Term-end Guidelines found in the Learning and Teaching section at http://science.ubc.ca.

• To be fair to all students, avoid re-using exam questions for which the integrity may have been compromised. For example, students may already be discussing their solutions on the newsgroup or bulletin board. Replace such questions on future exams, including make-up exams. Also, replace "big mark" questions on a specialized subtopic with other questions, because once a student knows that subtopic X is covered, this gives them a distinct advantage over the other students. If you've numbered the exams (e.g., serial numbers), it should be easy to see whether or not you got all of the exams back, including the leftover ones. Be sure to collect the marking schemes from the TAs, and don't leave the marked exams or solutions lying around in open spaces in your office. These latter few points will allow you to re-use some questions on future exams.
• Some instructors feel that a student who writes a deferred exam should be given a slightly harder exam than the other students, given that they've had more time to study, and that word has gotten around about the questions on the exam.

Feedback

• The end-of-term review comes too late to allow for the implementation of requested improvements, at least for the current course. It is recommended that you hand out a short survey about a month into the course, asking about the pace of the course, the style of lecturing, the effectiveness of the overhead projector or whiteboard or laptop projection, whether one's voice is too soft, how the TA is doing in the tutorials or labs, etc.
• At the end of an assignment, you might want to ask a few final questions in the form of feedback (to accompany the assignment to be handed in), such as:
  • How long did it take you to complete this assignment?
  • What did you like the best about this assignment?
  • What did you like the least about this assignment?
  • What helped you learn the best in this assignment?
  • What distracted from your learning in this assignment?
• During office hours, ask some of your regulars how the class is going, how the TAs are doing, whether the textbook is helpful, whether an assignment was too long/hard, etc.