Policies – Academic Concessions
During the course students may experience unanticipated events or circumstances that interfere with their ability to accomplish academic work.
UBC has a policy in place to help navigate such circumstances. The detailed policy can be found in the Calendar under Academic Concessions. Please read it and make yourself familiar with its details.
From the perspective of this course, the only types of academic concessions that a course instructor can deal with unilaterally are concessions referred to as In Term Concessions.
Other types of concessions, like a Deferred Standing for a missed final exam, or the granting of a late withdrawal are outside the scope of what a course instructor can grant.
With respect to In Term Concessions these broadly fall into two categories:
In both cases you are required to send email to the course co-ordinator cpsc317-admin@cs.ubc.ca in a timely manner. For an expected absence please send the email at least 2 weeks in advance of when the concession is sought. For an unexpected absence please send email as soon as you can. We will determine how the potentially missed work will be dealt with and inform you of our decision. Note that the calendar entry explicitly states that Students must plan so as to avoid when possible conflicts with academic requirements
and are to use things like published assignment, quiz, exam dates, etc. to arrange their other activities to avoid creating conflicts. In particular this means don’t go scheduling co-op or job interviews so that they conflict with any formal assessments (i.e. quizzes midterms) or create time problems for completing assignments.
Normally, in a course you are expected to attend all regularly scheduled activities of the course. However, there are situations when you may not be able to make a scheduled examination or test during the regular term. For example, you have to appear in court, are on a varsity sports team and will be away, have military service obligations, or the exam conflicts with a religious observance. If your absence will create a problem for a test, then you are to notify us as soon as you become aware of the problem so that alternate arrangements can be made. Failure to notify us in a timely fashion (i.e. at least two weeks in advance) will result in a mark of zero for the missed work. For additional information see the Academic Concession Section of the calendar. Since you typically have several weeks notice about when an assignment is due no special allowances will typically be made for assignments. Assignments are to be handed in on time or before your absence.
Note: University regulations only require that accommodations be made for a very small set of absences, so don’t go planning extended weekends and that sort of thing. Keep in mind that going to university is essentially a job and just as you expect us to make sure that my other obligations and extra-curricular activities don’t interfere with my attendance and preparation for class, we expect the same from you.
As outlined in the sickness policy, we do encourage students to follow best practices for their own health (stay home, rest, get better) and the health of others (isolate and follow provincial health guidelines). If you have an unexpected absence from class due to illness you do not need to report it. If you miss a quiz or cannot complete an assignment due to illness please report it via email to the course coordinator. Remember, it is your responsibility to inform us of your absence in a timely manner. Failure to contact us may result in receiving a zero for missed work.