There are many practical questions that need to be answered before teaching a course. If you have a question that is not answered here, please ask the staff in the Mathematics Undergraduate Office (MUO), in the Mathematics & Computing Building (MC) room 4022.
About Teaching
Is there anyone who can give me advice about how to teach?
The Faculty is filled with excellent instructors who are happy to give advice and mentoring to newer instructors. If you have questions about teaching, creating assignments, student workload expectations, etc. please reach out to:
- Diana Skrzydlo, the Faculty's Teaching Fellow
- Your home department/school Chair
- If you are teaching a core or service course for the MUO, contact the Assistant Dean, Core and Service Teaching (math.ug.ad.cst@uwaterloo.ca)
If you’re teaching a course with an assigned Instructional Support Coordinator (ISC), they can help with any questions you have.
Matthew Babela is your Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) Faculty Liaison. He can provide assistance with developing your teaching strategies, using educational technologies in your teaching, and provide teaching observations with feedback. He is also always open to chatting about difficulties you may encounter (ex. student engagement). You can connect with Matthew in-person (MC 3044), on Teams, or via e-mail.
Getting Started
Course outline:
Beginning in Spring 2025, all Faculty of Mathematics course outlines must be posted to the online Course Outline repository. As such, we strongly encourage the use of Outline.
Outline creates searchable, accessible outlines in an easy-to-use format. The tool supports LaTeX and automatically imports information such as the course schedule, course description, and mandatory UW policy information. Outline also allows you to view and re-publish outlines from prior offerings of the course.
There are many benefits to using Outline for both instructors and students alike.
If you decide not to use Outline, your course outline must include the information detailed on the Secretariat site. A course outline template is available.
Note that as of Winter 2025 the cost of all required course materials (textbooks, software, edtech tools, etc.) must be included in course outlines.
Optional content to consider including in your outline:
GENAI:
The office of academic integrity has assembled some suggested text regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence for course outlines.
Inclusion of Mental Health and Diversity Statement:
The Mathematics Faculty has put together two optional statements on Mental Health and Diversity that you may use or modify to include in your course outlines. In addition the Registrar’s Office has instructor resources for student name usage, student pronoun usage, and accommodation for religious and spiritual observances (select the appropriate heading under the expandable content). You will need to login with your WatIAm ID and password to access these resources.
Optional Mental Health Outline Statement:
Mental Health Support: The Faculty of Math encourages students to seek out mental health support if needed.
On-campus Resources:
- Campus Wellness https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/
- Counselling Services: counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca 519-888-4567 ext. 32655
- Health Services: located across the creek from the Student Life Centre, 519-888-4096.
Off-campus Resources:
- Good2Talk (24/7): Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-925-5454 (Ontario and Nova Scotia only)
- Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247 (Waterloo Region only)
- OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning teens. Phone: 519-884-0000 extension 213 (Waterloo Region only)
- EMPOWER ME 1-833-628-5589 from Canada/US. Other countries see: http://studentcare.ca/rte/en/IHaveAPlan_WUSA_EmpowerMe_EmpowerMe
- EMPOWER ME China:
- China North 108007142831
- China South 108001402851
Optional Diversity Outline Statement:
Diversity: It is our intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, and that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class. We recognize the immense value of the diversity in identities, perspectives, and contributions that students bring, and the benefit it has on our educational environment. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. Please let us know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups. In particular:
- We will gladly honour your request to address you by an alternate/preferred name or gender pronoun. If you change your name or pronoun information in Quest after the first day of class, please let us know so we can update our records. Quest does not send instructors notifications of these changes.
- We will honour your religious holidays and celebrations. Please submit the declaration form in Quest within 2 weeks of deadlines being posted.
- We will follow AccessAbility Services guidelines and protocols on how to best support students with different learning needs.
How do I choose my textbook?
If you’re unsure about which text you should be using, consult the relevant department/school for guidance on choosing a textbook. If you have questions or concerns about the textbook for a MATH course please contact the Assistant Dean, Core and Service Teaching.
The W Store will contact all instructors explaining the process for Textbook/Courseware Adoptions before the start of term.
What do I do if I am sick or away last minute?
It is your responsibility to find someone to cover any lecture that you will miss. If your course has an Instructional Support Coordinator (ISC), contact them first. In a coordinated course, reach out to other members of the teaching team since they will be most familiar with what is being taught.
If those options fail, or you are teaching a single section course, contact colleagues in your unit or exceptionally capable graduate TAs who are already assigned to your course.
If you cannot find a resolution, contact your department Chair or the Assistant Dean, Core and Service Teaching (for core/service courses).
I plan to be away during the term, what do I need to do?
Ensure that you have permission from your department Chair, or the Assistant Dean, Core and Service Teaching as appropriate.
Which days during the term are holidays? What are the start and end dates of lectures?
Bookmark the Important Dates calendar – this site shows all dates of note for the term including holidays, add/drop deadlines, and final exam period, amongst others.
What calculators are acceptable for midterm tests and final examinations?
The standard calculator for the Faculty of Mathematics is the Texas Instruments (TI) 30X II calculator.
If you choose to allow students the use of a calculator during your midterm tests and/or final examinations, please be sure to review the Calculator Regulations site to ensure that you are in compliance with our standard rules.
Where can I pick up supplies (markers, chalk, etc.)?
If you are associated with a department, they should supply the items that you require to teach. Contact your department administration team.
If you are teaching a core/service course, contact the MUO for assistance.
How can I print assessments during the term?
If you do not have access to a department printer or require a large volume of printing to be done, use W Print’s services. You can submit your print requisition online and arrange for delivery to your office or a department mailroom.
For assistance with their services, contact wprint@uwaterloo.ca
What is LEARN?
Courses in Math normally use LEARN (learning management system) for distributing information to students and submission of assessments in some cases.
You will have access to LEARN as soon as you’re assigned to the course in Quest. This process may be delayed for instructors who are new to Waterloo, since it is based on your contract dates.
LEARN Resource Site
‘Instructor Resources for Student Success’ is a Learn site that connects instructors with resources they can easily import into their Learn courses to help support students.
For example, in the Academic Integrity section, instructors can download Authorized and Unauthorized Aids Infographics, academic integrity handouts, videos, modules, and quizzes.
Here is a short list of resources Math Instructors may find useful:
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Six core values of integrity: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.
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Academic Integrity Statement of Honesty – Examinations: downloadable form for use with exams, midterms, tests.
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Academic Integrity Checklist: downloadable form for assignments.
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Academic Integrity for TAs: information to help educate and initiate academic integrity conversations with Teaching assistants.
For support on using LEARN, view the IST Knowledge Base, or contact learnhelp@uwaterloo.ca
What is Odyssey?
Odyssey is a system that provides two main applications which are Instructional Support and Graduate Admissions. As an instructor you will only be using the Instructional Support application. The Instructional Support application is meant to assist course staff with administering their courses. The primary use is to manage the tasks associated with scheduling, printing, and administering written examinations.
Instead of submitting paper master copies of final exams for printing, instructors upload a PDF directly through a secure upload form. All the information required by the standard final exam cover page template is automatically written onto the cover of the PDF by the system.
Instructors have the option of assigning their students to specific seats. If this is chosen, each examination paper will be pre-printed with the name, ID, and seat location. Candidates will see their exact seat location on the Web. A PDF will also be made available that can be printed and posted in examination venues to help candidates who have forgotten their seat location.
More detailed information about the functionality of Odyssey and how to use it can be found online. As well, IST Knowledge Base articles for Odyssey can be found here.
What is Crowdmark?
Crowdmark is an online, collaborative marking system designed for page-at-a-time grading. Pages in an assignment or test can be graded by markers and reviewed by instructors concurrently.
Crowdmark offers online, manual grading to instructors and their teaching assistants, and a paperless way to distribute, collect, grade, and return feedback online.
Information about how to get started and use Crowdmark and links to supports as well as how-to articles can be found here.
What is Piazza?
Piazza is an online question-and-answer platform that blends the functionality of a discussion forum with that of a wiki. Piazza helps students ask and answer their own questions, under the guidance of their instructor or TAs.
Piazza is integrated into LEARN and has undergone a privacy security review. Over two hundred courses at Waterloo have used Piazza in disciplines such as Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, and Accounting and Finance. Please review Piazza’s privacy policy before use.
Much more information about Piazza is available through the Centre for Teaching Excellence website.
What is WPrint?
WPrint is a printing service on campus that can handle the printing of your tests, quizzes, midterms and exams. The most efficient way to have your course assessments printed by WPrint is to enter them into Odyssey. Once you enter an assessment into Odyssey you will see a deadline by which you must have the document submitted so that it can be printed and delivered on time.
Exams are returned to WPrint after students have completed them and WPrint will scan the exams into Crowdmark for you and they will also store the hard copies.
More information about WPrint can be reviewed on their website.
First Day of Class
Where and when is my class scheduled?
Instructors can review the time and location of their scheduled classes by logging in to Quest and using the ‘Class Search’ tile. Additional information about enrolment limits and class reserves can be found in the Schedule of Classes.
For instructors who use the Outline tool to build their course outlines, when you have finished selecting all of the sections associated with your course, the times and locations for those sections will become visible.
How do I get a class list?
Class lists, in Comma-Separated Values (CSV) format, can be obtained from Quest. After logging into Quest, select the ‘Class Roster’ tile, search for your class, select your section and then click on the ‘Download’ button to obtain your class list.
Accessing Quest
This requires an employee ID which you get from Human Resources when they sign you up to begin your employment here. If you have any questions about this process, you should consult the administrative staff in your home department/school. If you have no home department/school, consult the Assistant Dean, Core and Service Teaching, at math.ug.ad.cst@uwaterloo.ca.
Graduate and Undergraduate Teaching Assistants
How much work can I expect from the Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) assigned to my course?
GTAs are to work a total of 80 hours for the term (4 months). On average this works out to 5 hours of work per week. 3.5 of these hours are to be reserved for potential pool proctoring duties, so the maximum number of hours available for your course is 76.5 hours for the term. It is understood that these hours are usually not uniformly distributed throughout the term.
Planning your GTA course support workload is an important preparatory step and should be based upon the number of TAs that you have been assigned. Requests for additional GTA support are only granted in exceptional circumstances.
In general, GTAs could be expected to:
- lead tutorial(s)
- proctor course assessments (quizzes, midterm, final exam)
- mark assessments, including midterm tests and final exams
- answer student questions on online platforms
- hold office hour(s)
TA Agreement
Following changes to Policy 30 - Employment of Graduate Student Teaching Assistants, all instructors are expected to prepare a TA Agreement for the GTA’s assigned to your course. The Agreement should explicitly state your expectations for how your GTAs will spend their time on your course.
Before the term begins, the Math Undergraduate Office will send an email with details of the Agreement.
How much work can I expect from the Undergraduate markers assigned to my course?
Undergraduate markers are expected to work 3 hours per week, on average, only during the lecture period. Since they are not expected to work beyond the final day of lectures, this may have an impact on assessments scheduled for late in the term.
Note that undergraduate markers should not be assigned marking for the midterm or final exam.
Questions Students Might Ask You
Course override requests
The Course Selection and Enrolment website is a helpful resource which outlines the answers to many questions surrounding course overrides and enrolment.
MATH courses:
MATH course override requests are managed by the Math Undergraduate Office and all students seeking overrides to get into a MATH course should be directed to email mathuo@uwaterloo.ca with two exceptions:
- Time conflicts – if a component of a MATH course overlaps with a component of another course a student is taking they can request a time conflict override from the instructor of the course whose component they propose missing. Instructors for MATH courses have the authority to grant or deny a time conflict override request which impacts a component of their course. Approvals can be emailed to the MUO, mathuo@uwaterloo.ca, for processing.
- Advanced 200-level MATH courses – instructors for the 200-level advanced MATH courses have the authority to grant requisite overrides to students requesting enrolment into their courses. Approvals can be emailed to the MUO, mathuo@uwaterloo.ca, for processing.
CS courses:
CS course override requests are managed by the CS advising team. Students seeking overrides for CS courses should be directed to email csadvisor@uwaterloo.ca, with one exception:
- CS 115/135/145 in a Fall term – in fall terms only, the MUO manages enrolment into CS 115, CS 135 and CS 145. Students looking for enrolment into either of these courses in a fall term can be directed to email mathuo@uwaterloo.ca for assistance.
ACTSC and STAT courses:
ACTSC and STAT course override requests are managed by the SAS advising team. Students seeking overrides for ACTSC or STAT courses should be directed to email sasugradadv@uwaterloo.ca, for assistance.
COMM and MATBUS courses:
COMM and MATBUS course override requests are managed by the Math Business Administration advisors. Students seeking overrides for COMM or MATBUS courses can be directed to email mathbus@uwaterloo.ca, for assistance.
MTHEL courses:
Students seeking overrides for MTHEL 131 can be directed to email the SAS advising team, sasugradadv@uwaterloo.ca, and students seeking overrides for MTHEL 206 can be directed to email the Math/Teaching advisor, mceden@uwaterloo.ca. Any other MTHEL course override requests can be directed to the Math Undergraduate Office, mathuo@uwaterloo.ca.
AMATH, CO and PMATH courses:
Override requests for AMATH, CO or PMATH courses are handled by the individual course instructors. If you are teaching one of these courses and do not know how to handle override requests you can contact your Department Associate Chair Undergraduate Studies for guidance.
Advanced to honours course swapping
As per the Policy for Late Switches from Advanced Math Courses to the Regular Equivalents students enrolled in CO 255, STAT 240, 241 or any advanced-level MATH courses have the option to swap into the honours-level counterparts up until the WD deadline in a given term. Students looking to take advantage of this option should be directed to email the Math Undergraduate Office, mathuo@uwaterloo.ca, who manage this process.
When students swap from the advanced version of a course into the honours version the MUO will request that the Registrar’s Office process the enrolment change and they will include the advanced instructor as well as the new honours-level instructor on the email for awareness and follow-up.
Students making this change are normally only graded on the remaining components of the honours level course they join. It will likely be necessary to re-weight the remaining components of the honours-level course to accommodate this. Students are responsible for making up any material they have missed prior to making the swap.
Students looking for advice
If a student has questions about their academic plans, which courses to take, declaring a major or any faculty/university policies or procedures you can direct them to reach out to Academic Advisors for guidance and support, mathadvisor@uwaterloo.ca. If students are struggling with issues outside of school that are affecting their studies then Academic Advisors can be a good starting point for them. Academic Advisors can help to assess a student’s situation and then refer them to appropriate resources such as Counselling Services and Campus Wellness.
If students disclose to you that they have a known or suspected disability, condition or illness which impacts their academics you should refer them to register with AccessAbility Services as soon as possible.
If students are in need of academic/study support there are a few different resources they can be directed to:
- Math Tutoring Centre (for help with MATH courses)
- CS Consulting Centre (for help with CS courses)
- Tutor Connect (paid tutor service)
- Student Success Office learning support resources
- Dan Wolzcuk’s learning resources website
- Your office hours and any platform you are using for students to post questions and get extra help
- Academic Advisors can discuss strategies with students such as taking lighter and/or more balanced/manageable course loads
Students in distress
If you are dealing with a student in distress the first step you should take is to determine the type of situation you are encountering:
- Critical emergency
- Student is threatening to harm themselves or others
- Student is highly disruptive
- Student is incoherent or uncontrollable
- Student is directly or indirectly referencing suicide
- Potentially urgent
- You have not heard from the student despite numerous check-ins
- You notice concerning changes in the students personal hygiene or appearance
- You notice significant behaviour or mood changes in the student
- Non-urgent
If you believe you are dealing with a critical emergency situation then the actions you can take are:
- For on-campus support call Special Constable Service at 519-888-4911
- For off-campus support call 911
- Inform your departments Associate Chair Undergraduate Studies and request a debrief if needed
If you believe you are dealing with a potentially urgent situation then you can:
- Schedule a support and consultation meeting with the Campus Wellness, counselling services team at 519-888-4096 or, if you are unable to call, email them at counselling@uwaterloo.ca
More detailed information about how to handle students in distress can be found on the Campus Wellness Resources website.
There are also after-hours resources available for students who are struggling and in need of support.
AccessAbility Services
University’s Student Academic Accommodation Guidelines
Instructors are encouraged to become familiar with the Student Academic Accommodation Guidelines as they articulate the roles and responsibilities of students, faculty and staff in the academic accommodation process. Some of the more relevant topics for instructors which are covered by the guidelines are:
- Course instructor timeline requirements for facilitating accommodations
- Scripts for referring students to AccessAbility Services
- Duty to Inquire: what this means and what an instructor’s responsibilities are
Impact of Universal Learning Design on Accommodation
- Universal learning design (ULD) is a great way to increase the accessibility of your course for all students.
- It is important to be mindful of how ULD may impact students who require academic accommodations.
- AAS has put together a tip sheet for instructors that includes tips and scripts for students who inquire about how it will impact their accommodations.
Faculty Notification Letter
If a student in your class is registered with AccessAbility Services and has been assessed as eligible for accommodations within your course, you will receive a Faculty Notification Letter (FNL). The FNL will include a description of the accommodation so that you are aware of the roles and responsibilities involved with facilitating the accommodation. An FNL may be generated at any point in the term as students may experience a disability, and/or a change in their condition, at any time in the year.
The accommodations that have been assessed for your students are recorded in the Faculty Notification Letter database which can be accessed here: https://uwaterloo.ca/accessability-services/faculty-and-staff
AccessAbility Services can offer one-on-one support for instructors who have questions about fulfilling their students accommodations, reach out by email to access@uwaterloo.ca.
Midterm Tests and Examinations
With regard to Assessments: Tests, and Final Exams, it is especially important to remember:
- Lectures, tests, and other course activities may not be scheduled during the period (typically 2-3 days) between the end of classes and the start of exams.
- No tests or exams worth more than 25% may be scheduled in the last 5 lecture days of the formal lecture period for the term.
- Courses with final exams may not have other course assignments due during the final examination period.
- Courses without final exams may have an assignment equivalent in scope and value to a final exam due during the final examination period.
- Instructors are expected to be available for all scheduled final exams for their courses.
- Accommodations for deferred final exams are made only under extenuating circumstances, religious accommodations or final examination scheduling conflicts. It is the student’s responsibility to make themselves available for the entire examination period. Travel plans are not a sufficient reason to have a final exam deferred. Please see Academic Considerations and Accommodations and refer any request with which you are not comfortable to the Associate Dean – Undergraduate Studies.
- Any student may review their final exam under supervised access, without initiating a formal appeal procedure.
NOTE: "Deadlines for assignments are not permitted during a scheduled pause." This applies to extensions as well; no extensions are permitted for assessments due on the last day of classes, and if any extension is granted for an assessment due immediately before a reading week the new deadline must be after the end of that reading week. If this is impractical then consider alternatives, such as shifting the weight of the missed assessment to the final exam.
How do I schedule a midterm?
Your course may already have a test slot component that was set up by your department scheduling representative. You can verify this on the Schedule of Classes. If one of the components shown is a TST, then that is your midterm test slot.
Midterm tests for all core courses are scheduled by the MUO to ensure that students aren’t writing too many midterms in the same week, and as such should not be moved.
Rooms for scheduled test slots will be booked by your department scheduling rep.
If you do not have a scheduled test slot, you can use the Outline heat map feature to determine the best time to schedule your midterm. Alternately, your department scheduling rep can help you identify the best time.
Note that if you book your own midterm time, you must accommodate students who have a scheduling conflict with any scheduled component from another class.
If you book your own midterm time, your department scheduling rep can help you book rooms.
How do I schedule a final exam?
Prior to the start of term, you will receive an email from the Registrar’s Office (RO) with instructions on how to make arrangements for your final exam.
The Faculty’s standard practice is a 2.5 hour final exam, common to all sections with a shared delivery mode (on-campus versus online), which is scheduled and administered by the RO during the final exam period.
The final exam schedule will be posted at the end of the first month of term (September, January, May).
Registrar’s Office managed make-up exams
The Registrar’s Office manages two make-up dates for final exams, which are typically scheduled after the final exam period has ended.
If you have students who were unable to attend their scheduled final exam for any reason, we recommend making use of the make-up days to allow them to complete the course as quickly as possible.
For instructions on setting up a make-up exam, visit the IST Knowledge Base.
How do I create my midterm or final examination using Crowdmark or Odyssey?
Midterm templates exist in LaTeX and Word, including detailed instructions.
IST Knowledge Base articles for Crowdmark.
IST Knowledge Base articles for Odyssey.
Do I have to proctor (invigilate) my midterm test and final exam?
Yes, instructors are expected to be present when the midterm and final exam are written.
If you cannot attend your midterm or final exam, please notify your department Chair as soon as possible.
How long do I need to keep old exams and assignments?
Paper copies of assessments should be retained for 1 year after the end of the term in which they were submitted.
If you are using Crowdmark, the scanned copy becomes the primary copy. Once you have confirmed that the assessments have been successfully scanned, you may destroy the originals after 2 months.
Your home department can help arrange for secure shredding of completed assessments.
The full list of retention rules relating to teaching can be reviewed here.
Absence Declarations and Missed Assessments
There are several ways that students can declare absences when they miss assessments. The Absence Declarations website outlines the different types of absences that students can declare:
- Short-term absence
- Declared in Quest
- No documentation required
- Valid for two (2) days
- One submission per term and only available during the formal lecture period
- *If you are unsure what to do about a particular request please reach out to the Assistant Dean of Students
- COVID-19-related absence
- Declared in Quest
- No documentation required
- Valid for up to 10 days
- One submission per term
- Religious or creed-related absence
- Declared in Quest
- No documentation required
- No limits on number of submissions per term and only available during the formal lecture period
- Verification of Illness
- Submitted to the central absence database
- Documentation required and all submissions reviewed prior to approval
- Should be submitted within 48 hours of missed assessment
Regardless of what type of absence a student has declared, email notifications are sent to their instructors so that they are aware. The emails will provide a summary of the absence information including the dates for the absence and, if applicable, the severity of incapacitation. Students are directed to carefully review their course outlines to determine what their instructors want them to do when they miss an assessment and declare an absence.
As a course instructor, you maintain agency to decide what academic considerations to grant a student who has missed an assessment and has declared one of the absences noted above.
Incomplete (INC) Grades
An incomplete (INC) grade indicates that course requirements are not yet complete. An INC grade can be assigned to students who are unable to complete a course due to documented absence at the discretion of the course instructor.
Students seeking an INC for a course are required to submit credible documentation through the Absence Database. In most cases students seeking an INC will have missed the final examination or final assessment for a course.
What to consider when deciding whether to grant an INC
When deciding whether to grant an INC grade to a student instructors should consider:
- Whether the student has a reasonable chance of passing the course
- What grade the student would need to achieve on the final exam to pass the course and, based on the student’s performance and engagement in the course, whether it is plausible they could attain that grade
- Overall, given appropriate documentation, instructors should be granting INCs unless it is reasonably certain that a failure is inevitable.
How to assign an INC grade
If you decide to grant a student an INC, upload that grade in Quest in the same method as you upload numeric grades. In addition to this, you must also submit an INC Grade Form which can be found on the Registrar Resources website under Teaching>Grades management>Incomplete (INC) Grade Form. An INC Grade Form must be completed for each student that you assign an INC grade.
INC Grade Form
The INC Grade Form will ask you to outline the outstanding course elements the student is required to complete and the deadline by which they must complete them. The maximum amount of time a student can be granted to clear an INC is one year from when the course was originally taken. The normal expectation is that students will clear their INCs in their next study term when the course is offered. As an instructor you should consider:
- When the course is offered next
- When the student will next be on a study term. Students are not normally expected to clear INCs during work terms though they may if they choose to do so.
The next steps in the INC process
At the beginning of each term the MUO obtains updated INC information from Quest, as generated by the INC grade form. The MUO contacts each student who is carrying an INC in a Math Faculty course to clarify whether they will be clearing INCs in the current term or not. The MUO organizes LEARN access for all students who confirm they are clearing INCs, and, where appropriate, the MUO adds students to final exams in Odyssey. Emails are sent by the MUO to current term instructors with a list of the students clearing INCs with them as well as who their original instructors were. Once the current term instructors have graded the final assessment/exam for a student clearing an INC they are asked to send that grade to the original instructor who assigned the INC. The original instructor would then calculate the student’s final grade for the course and submit a grade revision to the Registrar’s Office so that the student’s record can be updated. Grade revisions can be submitted to the Registrar's Office, or emailed to the Math Undergrad Office.
Questions or concerns with the INC process
If instructors have any questions or concerns related to INCs they can reach out to the Math Undergrad Office for guidance and support.
Final Grades
How to submit final grades
Final grades are submitted through Quest each term. Instructions for how to submit grades in Quest as well as the final due date when grades must be in can be found on the Registrar Resources website under Teaching > Grades management. It is very important that grades are submitted by the final deadline as they are necessary for the running of academic progression at the end of each term.
Grade Revisions
If you need to change a final grade during the final grade submission period then you can re-upload your grades in Quest. If you need to change a grade after the final grade submission period then you will need to submit a support request. Instructions for these processes are available on the Registrar Resources website.
What grades should I assign?
A passing grade in a course is 50% or higher though in many cases students may require a higher grade to fulfill a pre-requisite for subsequent courses they need to take. Please take these requisite thresholds into consideration when assigning final grades. If you assign grades just below the pre-requisite thresholds be careful to make sure you can defend your decisions.
If students fail to complete course elements that your outline stipulated were required to pass the course then the final grade assigned should be the lesser of the earned grade or 4% less than the passing grade.
Who to consult
Most courses will have a standard range that the class average is expected to fall within. For example, honours-level MATH or MTHEL course final grades are normally assigned with a class average between 65% and 75%. If you are teaching one of these courses and you find that your class average is likely to fall outside that range, you should contact the Assistant Dean, Core and Service Teaching.
If you are teaching another Math Faculty subject (ACTSC, AMATH, CO, COMM, CS, MATBUS, PMATH, STAT) contact your Department Chair if you require assistance with your final grades.
End of Term
Submit final grades
For courses that hold final exams within the formal exam period, final grades are due seven (7) days after the exam has taken place. A chart outlining the final grade due dates as they relate to the final exam dates is available on the Registrar Resources website under Teaching > Grades management. Grades that are not submitted by their stipulated deadlines can have an enormous impact on the academic progression process. Instructors who anticipate any issues with submitting their grades on time should reach out to the Math Undergraduate Office as soon as possible.
Students may contact you asking to find out their grades. Per Policy 46 (Information Management), instructors should not release final examination and final course grades to students prior to the end of the Final Examination Period.
Exam review requests
Students may request an informal review of a final examination (both the questions and the examination responses) up to one year from the date that the examination was written or until the date indicated in the course outline.
A review of the final examination may turn into a request for a regrade. Students opting for a regrade should be informed that the entire examination will be regraded which could result in a higher grade, the grade remaining the same or it could result in a lower grade. Students are not permitted to request that only select questions within the final examination be regraded.
Grade challenges
If students wish to challenge their grade on the final examination, the request must be made within one month of notification of the grade. Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances) dictates the challenge process.
Student Discipline
Instructor Responsibilities
Policy 71 allows for instructors who discover or are provided with evidence of academic offences to seek an informal resolution directly with the student. If an agreement is reached, the proposed resolution must be reported to the Integrity Officer at integrity.officer.math@uwaterloo.ca, and is still subject to the approval of the Assistant Dean for Students (or, in cases involving graduate students, the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies). Note that this approval will depend on how closely the proposed resolution matches established precedent, on the Guidelines attached to Policy 71, and on whether the student has any previous offences on their record.
If you choose to attempt an informal resolution, please be aware that the usual privacy guidelines apply (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat/policies-procedures-guidelines/policies/policy-46-information-management ). In particular, unless you have written permission from the student whose information is being shared, you must not:
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Inform a student of the identity of another student under investigation (even if the allegation is of unauthorized collaboration between the two students).
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Provide a student with the ID number, the UW userid, or any other identifying or biographical information belonging to another student.
Care must be taken to anonymize any evidence which you share.
You are not expected to seek informal resolutions. You may report suspicions of misconduct directly to integrity.officer.math@uwaterloo.ca, and leave the entire process to the Assistant Dean for Students. In addition to the student’s identity and your evidence, please provide your course outline (if it is not on the Outline site), and any comments you have about the evidence. If you use Crowdmark in your course, granting access to both integrity.officer.math@uwaterloo.ca and math.ug.ad.students@uwaterloo.ca may be helpful.
No penalties should be applied until the Assistant Dean for Students has issued a decision.
Privacy
What are the university's policies on privacy?
The University’s guidance on general principles pertaining to information and privacy can be found at: uwaterloo.ca/privacy.
WatClass is the approved University records classification scheme and records retention schedules, described in the "Information Lifecycle Management" section of Policy 46 - Information Management. WatClass is used to categorize and manage the retention of all University of Waterloo records, in all media and formats.
Instructors, including sessionals, must use their assigned University of Waterloo email when:
- Communicating with a student
- Communicating with any University of Waterloo employee pertaining to a student
For help with privacy protection issues and questions contact the University Privacy Officer.
For help with records management issues and questions reach out to the University Records Manager.