Resources for Instructors | Statistics and Actuarial Science

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Instructor/Faculty Teaching Advice

If you are new to teaching in the department or would like a more comprehensive document on the processes and resources for SAS instructors, please review our Faculty Teaching Information (PDF).

Course Setup Best Practices and Resources

There are many ways of delivering a course. With so many possibilities, it can be difficult to determine what are some best practices and where to go for resources. While planning your course and preparing your course outline*, keep in mind the following:

*Note: Creating your course outline through the Outline repository tool will be required starting Spring 2025. The available documentation can help with creating your course outline on the platform.

Review the Faculty's, Registrar's Office (under the Teaching menu) and IST’s teaching resources: The ISC team can help with understanding and navigating the guidelines provided by these resources.
Review the University’s important deadlines: The add, drop and WD deadlines, and relevant holidays can impact your course, which can be relevant for assessment planning. The ISCs and SAS advisors can help provide further information on how these deadlines and term time points can impact students and your course.
Keep track of the Registrar’s Office course requirement/deadline emails: Emails are archived on the RO’s website (under the Communications menu).
Create an accommodation plan for students who miss assessments.
Plan for the end-of-term.
Determine how teaching assistants will support your course.
Create a plan for how students can receive help in the course: There are a variety of options, including instructor and/or TA office hours, discussion forums (e.g. Piazza, Teams, etc.) and/or tutorials. Providing multiple avenues of support for students can be incredibly helpful for our diverse student population.

Make use of Odyssey and Crowdmark for in-person assessments.

Accommodations

There are many external factors that can impact your students’ ability to do coursework. In some cases, these factors and situations can have such an impact that an accommodation for the student may be necessary.

Accommodations for assessments should be made in the following situations:

Student submits a VIF, Covid-19-related absence, short-term absence, extenuating circumstance or religious/creed-related absence.
The student has an accommodation through AccessAbility Services. There are specific responsibilities for instructors to take into account for students registered with AccessAbility Services as noted by the Secretariat.
They are a student athlete with a game/meet at the time of the assessment.
They have clear documentation/reasoning that prevents them from attending an assessment (e.g. conference attendance, bereavement).

Possible accommodations that can be provided:

Provide an extension.
Provide a make-up assessment.
Provide an alternate time and/or location to write the assessment.
Shift the weight of the missed assessment to other assessment(s) (e.g. shifting the weight of a missed midterm to the final exam)
For student athletes missing an assessment due to an away game/meet, ask their coach to proctor the assessment.
*For students registered with AccessAbility services, accommodations will be determined and organized ahead of time with the AccessAbility advisor.

If unsure of how to handle a request for accommodation from a student, the ISC team can provide guidance.

End-of-Term

The end of term is a busy time for instructors. During this time, it is important to keep in mind the following deadlines and determine your plan if students miss their final exam.

Important deadlines:

Final exam printing deadlines
Final grade deadlines
Make-up Exam Period

*These deadlines are emailed to all instructors during the term. However, if you miss the email, they can be found on the Registrar’s Office website to review.

Missed Final Exam:

If a student misses the final exam, there are a few ways of how this situation should be handled.

Give a final exam grade of zero: If it is not required for a student to write the final exam to pass the course (including cases where the final exam is weighted less than 50% and the course outline does not explicitly require writing the exam to pass the course) and the student does not submit any documentation which reasonably excuses them from the final exam, then it is recommended that you calculate the student’s final grade based on a final exam grade equal to zero.
Provide a grade of DNW: If a student misses the final exam and submits no documentation which reasonably excuses them from the final exam and the exam was required to pass the course, then a grade of DNW is acceptable. A DNW may also be acceptable in cases where the student does submit documentation, but their grade on completed work is below 50 and/or they completed very little coursework throughout the term. *Note: a DNW counts as a fail and counts as 32% to the student's average. If their calculated final grade is between 32 and 50 then the numerical grade should be given to the student.
Offer a make-up or alternate exam: This option is recommended by the University and Faculty of Math for students who miss the final exam and submit proper documentation or reasoning for missing the exam. The Registrar’s Office provides specific make-up exam dates (which typically run during the start of the following term), but you can also choose to arrange a make-up exam at an agreed upon time with the student. In scenarios where the make-up occurs after final grades are due but before academic progression then it is necessary to assign this student a grade of IP until their grade can be updated with their exam mark.
Grant an INC: This option can be provided to students who request it, submit proper documentation (e.g. VIF) or reasoning for missing the exam, and have shown they have a reasonable chance of passing the course. When granting an INC, it is necessary that you submit an INC grade on Quest, determine the INC completion date with the student, complete the INC form (under the Teaching menu in the RO website), and refer the student to the MUO’s INC process.

The ISC Team can help instructors with organizing their make-up exams.

FAQ

Academic integrity

Q: What should I do if I have a concern of academic integrity (i.e. a suspected case of cheating)?

A: Please refer to Policy 71 for the full procedure. In general, you can resolve it informally with the student(s). However, we highly recommend that you refer the concern to the Academic Integrity Office and the Assistant Dean of Students. They will investigate the situation and provide you with an update with any penalties for the student(s). When submitting a case, provide the student’s details, a description of the issue, supporting evidence, and any communication with the student. Penalties can range from grade reductions to probation, depending on the severity following the Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Concern for a student

Q: What should I do if I am concerned about a student’s performance in the class (e.g. missed a significant amount of class, poor performance, significant number of VIFs)?

A: If you are concerned for one of your students, you can start by reaching out to them by email and letting them know about your concern. You can also reach out to their academic advisor as they can check in with the student and refer them to additional supports.

Q: What do I do if a student comes to me with concerns of their well-being or in distress?

A: For urgent matters, if a student is in distress, please refer or walk the student to Counselling Services. If there are concerns for the safety of the student, yourself or others, please call Constable Services (519-888-4911 ext. 22222) or 911 right away.

Depending on the situation, it may also be worth referring a student to additional University supports.

*For students facing deeply troubling concerns, they may be reaching out asking for accommodation for an assessment. You can provide accommodation for these circumstances without needing documentation. It can also be incredibly beneficial to reassure the student that they do not need to worry about getting documentation to you right away as these services can help with those steps as well.

Resolving an INC

Q: What do I do if a student is completing their INC when I am teaching?

A: The MUO will reach out to you with a list of students completing their INCs in your class, what component(s) of the course need to be completed and the name of the instructor when they originally took the course. They will add the students to your LEARN page as Guest Students and if necessary to Odyssey for the final exam. At times, students may directly reach out to you prior to the MUO adding them to the necessary platforms. You can ask Learn Help to add the student to your LEARN page as a Guest Student and add the student to Odyssey yourself.

It is the student’s responsibility to attend to the necessary assessment to resolve their INC. As the instructor, your role is to ensure that they are able to access the assessment and once their grade is calculated to send that grade to their original instructor. If the original instructor is no longer at the University, then you can let the ISCs know.

Q: What do I do once a student from my course completes the necessary component(s) for their INC?

A: Once you receive the student’s grade(s) for the remaining component(s) of their INC, you will need to update their final grade. This can be done by emailing the MUO or updating the grade through Odyssey Grade Revisions (Course -> Enrollment-> Grade Revisions).

Student grievance

Q: What does it mean when a student submits a grievance?

A: A grievance falls under Policy 70 and occurs when a student believes that a decision that was made was unfair or unreasonable towards them. A grievance does not mean you necessarily did anything wrong. However, the Assistant Dean of Students will reach out to gather necessary course information such as grading decisions to determine whether the student’s grievance is warranted. If the grievance ends up being warranted, the Assistant Dean of Students will reach out to you to let you know of the decision and provide any necessary next steps.