Policies and Accommodations

• Plagiarism; situations of limited paraphrasing but proper citations may be dealt with as poor writing. Use of GenAI also falls under the plagiarism category. 

• Unauthorized/excessive collaboration 

• Cheating; unauthorized aid; violation of test regulations 

• Misrepresentation, e.g., lying; falsifying VIFs or patient records 

• Impersonation, e.g., clicker misuse; distributing confidential academic material; forged signatures 

• Theft of intellectual property

• Students who receive an allegation are entitled to:          

  • a presumption of innocence;                     

  • be made aware of the case against them;

  • have matters addressed fairly and expeditiously;

  • be accompanied by a support person to any meeting or hearing;               

  • have matters heard by those who are not sitting in judgment of their own actions or decisions;                  

  • know, respond to, and seek clarification of evidence presented by witnesses; and             

  • decisions based on the balance of probabilities with consideration given to University consistency and precedent;        

• Penalties are evaluated based on whether that student has had prior or similar academic offences; Instructors would not be aware of prior offences;  

• Penalties need to be consistently applied across the faculty and between faculties, and need to be aligned with Policy 71 guidance on penalties; Instructors would not be aware of typical penalties used across the faculty or university for a similar offence; 

• Penalties need to carefully weigh mitigating and aggravating factors in a consistent fashion, and; 

• The student may not be a Science student, in which case it would fall to the Associate Dean of the student’s faculty to determine the penalty. 

• The graded material is left in the specified pick-up location a maximum of two weeks; 

• The course outline specifies that graded material will be left in a specified location for up to two weeks and that alternate options will be arranged if requested by students;  

• The course outline specifies how long unclaimed assignments will be kept (a 1-year period after the end of course is recommended; however, a minimum of 1-month after the course grade becomes official is strongly advised to allow for any Policy 72 grievances to be initiated).

Instructors should note that theft is a real issue and this needs to be considered in deciding how to return graded material.  At best, stolen student work is an inconvenience to students.  More seriously, it can jeopardize their standing in a course, if they: 1) were not able to see where they went wrong in their work, 2) required the material to study for future course assessments, or 3) had a valid reason to request a re-assessment.

Other Privacy Issues

There are a few other FIPPA-related issues that instructors should be aware of when dealing with students, their quizzes, exams and assignments, and their records.

• When responding to students via email, instructors may want to include a "disclaimer" in their e-mail signature.  A suggestion is: "The information in this message, including any attachments, is privileged and may contain confidential information intended only for the person(s) named above.  Any other distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited.  If you are not the intended recipient or have received this message in error, please notify me immediately by reply email and permanently delete the original transmission from me, including any attachments, without making a copy.  Thank you."
• When using voice mail, the only information left in the message should be the caller’s name and contact information as well as the name of the person being sought.  Detailed information should not be left on voice mail.  

• Only academic advisors and their associated staff should have access to student files.  Others requesting information (e.g., to write a reference letter) should request a copy of the transcript from the appropriate student.  

• Student records must be stored securely. Electronic student records such as those maintained on laptop computers or USB keys present a significant risk to privacy, if lost. It is the responsibility of instructors to ensure that those with access to their students’ information (e.g., teaching assistants) maintain these records in a secure manner.  Data should be encrypted if loss is possible. Consult the IST Device Encryption website for information.  

• The disposal of student information in both paper and electronic formats must also be managed securely. Hard copies cannot be discarded using regular recycle bins. The university’s approved retention schedules for student information can be found in the ’Student Management’ and ’Teaching and Learning’ sections of WatCLASS (Records Classification and Retention Schedule). Based on experience with lengthy petition and appealed grievance processes, instructors are encouraged to keep electronic student information for two years.

• Short-term Absence: students can self-declare, through Quest, an absence for 2 calendar days or less, during the Formal Lecture Period; a short-term absence can be self-declared for any reason that prevents a student from meeting their academic obligations, with the exception of Laboratory (LAB) and Clinic (CLN) courses/class components (LAB and CLN courses/class components do not qualify for accommodation as a result of a self-declared short-term absence); students are permitted only one self-declared short-term absence accommodation per academic term; no documentation is required. 

• Covid-19-related Absence: students can self-declare, through Quest, an absence for 10 days or less due to Covid-19 related illness (including vaccination side effects) or a requirement to self-isolate; participation in online course elements may be reasonable, and any participation needs to be consistent across all courses; students are permitted only one self-declared Covid-19 related absence accommodation per academic term; no documentation is required. 

• VIF Declaration: A VIF is a declaration of absence for students and requires that documentation be provided. Students must refer to their home Faculty's process for VIF submissions. Science VIF information can be found here. See also the Verification of Illness Form (VIF) from Health Services.

• For extenuating circumstances that are not illness related, for which the VIF is not appropriate, other official documentation is necessary (for example: plane/train/bus tickets, court documents, police reports, death certificates/obituaries/letters from funeral directors, counsellor letters).                           

  • Science maintains a page with up-to-date guidelines for Accommodations for Illness or Extenuating Circumstances and can be reviewed as necessary.

• Refer to their home Faculty's process for VIF submissions. Instructions for Science students are found at: https://uwaterloo.ca/science-undergraduate-office/accommodation-illness-or-extenuating-circumstances#submitting.  

• Decide how to accommodate missed course elements.  

• Set accommodation policies in their course outlines so students know if accommodations are possible, the type of accommodations, and under what general conditions accommodations may be applied.  

• Provide expectations: A ‘severe’ incapacitation indicates students are unable to attend class and engage in most academic studies during the period indicated. If they attend classes/labs, submit assignments/reports or write tests/exams during this period, they are at risk of being accused of ‘misrepresentation’; a Policy 71 academic offence.                                       

  • In the absence of stated course rules in the course outline, students will be advised that they should consider not writing tests/exams during the incapacitation period                                   

• If uncertain about handling a VIF, check with the Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning).

• Verify VIFs are complete, with no clear indications of fraud. Any suspicious medical documentation should be brought to the attention of the Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Policy and the Academic Integrity Specialist. 

• Confirm information students submit with their documentation aligns with information presented in the documentation. This confirmation may cause delays in VIF submission completion. 

• Enter the record in vif.uwaterloo.ca. Information will be automatically emailed to not just the instructor of the missed course element but all the student’s instructors – to minimize the student inconsistently using the VIF (i.e., writing one test but not another during the same incapacitation period). Instructors will see what course(s) have been associated with the VIF. 

• Educate students about VIF use and responsibilities.