Technician - December 02, 2009 by NC State Student Media

Technician          

wednesday december

2009

Raleigh, North Carolina

Dead Week represents final challenge of semester Final week of classes relieves stress for some students, adds more work for others by kevin cook

Jessica Neville Staff Writer

Dead Week, the last official week of classes before exams, could be a relaxing time or a stressful time for students depending on their teachers’ expectations for the week. According to the University’s Regulation on Tests and Examinations, faculty members may not assign tests, quizzes or new papers during the last week of classes. Projects, reports, homework and lab tests are permissible, however, as long as they were scheduled in the syllabus beforehand. The regulation also states assignments should not have a due date during the final exam period unless they are a part of the final exam. Vice Provost and University Registrar Louis Hunt said Dead Week was designed to make sure students know the expectations for each of their classes before the end of the semester. “The University decided to implement a Dead Week to prevent students from getting overwhelmed in the final week of the semester and give them time to prepare for their final examinations,” Hunt said. Jennifer Beane, a freshman in animal science, said she doesn’t see the difference between Dead Week and any other week of school. “I have just as much work to do as always, if not more,” Beane said. “Most of my work was assigned beforehand but I’ve had so much else to do I couldn’t start on it until this week.” Rachel Miller, a junior in communications, said to her Dead Week is not dead. “Not all teachers acknowledge the purpose of Dead Week,” Miller said. “I personally have a couple of presentations this week and an exam. I did know about them a while ago but it’s a lot of work to do right before exams.” Hunt said students who believe their instructors are not following the regulations for Dead Week should start by talking to their professor. “Students will generally find that faculty are trying to help them succeed,” Hunt said. “Many of the things I have seen questioned over the years are actually permissible according to the regulation.” Helmut Hergeth, chair of the Academic Policy Committee in the Faculty Senate, said as long as faculty members plan well they should have no reason to give exams or new assignments in the last week of classes. “It makes sense to have due dates for long-standing projects in the last week because it gives students the maximum amount of time to work,” Hergeth said. “If we have no assignments due during Dead Week

What do you think the purpose of Dead Week is?

“It seems like it’s just a time when professors freak out and try to cram everything you haven’t learned in the semester into one week.” Taylor Threatt, sophomore, computer engineering

“I guess to relax or something. It’s just a time with less work.” kevin cook/Technician

Matt Gromlich, senior in plant biology, studies for his probability final exam Tuesday morning in the Learning Commons of D.H. Hill library. “Probability is definitely my hardest class,” Gromlich said.

it just mean they would be due before Thanksgiving break, which would not be any easier for students.” Not all students are unhappy with their Dead Week workload. Josh Bishop, a freshman in engineering, said he has less work to do this week than usual. “I will have more time to study because I don’t have much work to do this week and I also have reading days,” Bishop said. Eric Mayer, a graduate student working on MMB and MBA degrees, said Dead Week is a good idea because it gives students the chance to catch up on work and cram for exams. “As a graduate student, Dead Week has not been

as important to me,” Mayer said. “But as an undergraduate it was a good time for me to collaborate with other students and make sure I had all my work done for my classes.” Students have questioned the regulations in the past and requested that no assignments, presentations or lab tests be allowed during Dead Week, according to Hunt. “We have considered these requests, but changing the policy would mean everything would be due one week earlier for students, or the semester would have to be extended,” Hunt said.

Caroline Barfield Staff Writer

As the end of every semester approaches, students have the option of completing course evaluations. These evaluations give professors insight on students’ opinions of the course and what can be done to improve teaching tactics. Students, including Ashleigh Lockhart, a sophomore in chemistry, think having the evaluation system is smart and complete their evaluations the first day they are available. Lockhart said the evaluation process was simple and didn’t take long. “I completed my class evaluations before Thanksgiving break. It doesn’t

take long, and the majority of my system. “The system used for class evaluafriends did them,” she said. Lockhart said professors were part tions is very effective. It’s easy for stuof her reasoning for completing the dents to complete them when checking their e-mail,” evaluations. she said. “Most of my Cutright thinks teachers gave int he professors centive, including benefit from the my math teacher system. who made a good “ It b e n e f i t s point. She said, the professors to ‘If you don’t like know what stume, and don’t tell dents think about me, how can I imthem so they can prove in case you i mprove t hei r get stuck with me Angela Farr, communications teaching methdown the line?’” assistant professor ods,” she said. Lockhart said. Professors, “I thought it was however, disagree with the effectivegood reason to complete them.” Morgan Cutright, a sophomore in ness of the evaluation system. Angela Farr, a communications ashistory, also thought highly of the

“It’s usually one of two people who respond, those who love you and those who hate you”

“To give you time to prepare for exams.” Rachel Andrews sophomore, First Year College

Professors question feedback from evaluations Students participate; professors see unhelpful responses

Karan Koyani freshman, biological sciences

sistant professor, said students’ responses are typically not very helpful or insightful. “Most of the comments made are not helpful and it’s usually one of two people who respond, those who love you and those who hate you,” she said. “Comments from either are not constructive because they like to call professors names or dote about how much they loved a class and neither range of those is really insightful.” The two extreme sides of students that participate make it hard for professors to make changes. “Without constructive comments, we don’t know what works

EVALS continued page 3

Creamery accepts meal equivalency Staff Report

Beginning today, the Creamery in D.H. Hill Library will be accepting meal equivalency. The location has been a Board Bucks-only location similar to CStores and vending machines, but students can now use alloted meals for ice-cream purchases. This change in policy came after a high demand from students on meal plans. The change goes into effect at 11 a.m. today when the Creamery opens.

insidetechnician

Altering exam times reduces stress during crunch time Students with three exams in 24 hours have option to switch one specified exam to alternative time Lauren Leslie Correspondent

Students who have three exams in 24 hours during exam week are not required to take all three exams that day. Students have the option to alter a specified exam time by reporting to the Department of Registration and Records, where a form is provided for

students to file the request. Kate Wilson, administrative support for Registration and Records, said students must bring their student ID with them when requesting the form. According to Wilson, the form is only accessible in the Registration and Records office.  “A student can only qualify for an alternative exam period if they have three exams scheduled in 24 hours. They must be consecutive: morning, afternoon and evening,” Wilson said.

Holly Swart, assistant registrar, said when students come to Registration and Records they are verified for eligibility before the form is handed to them. Once approved, the common exam is usually the first option to reschedule. Students are to take the completed paperwork to the corresponding instructor to arrange an alternative time period for the exam to be taken, Wilson said. Both the student and the instructor

must sign the form, with the new exam date initialed. The instructor and student should retain a copy of the form for time misconceptions to be avoided. Alex Smetana, junior in accounting, said he does not have three exams on the same day but, if he did, he would not go through the process of getting one changed. “It’s too much work to get all

EXAMS continued page 3

African Student Union celebrates Kwanzaa See page 6.

viewpoint campus & capital classifieds sports

4 5 7 8