Pilot for Centrally Scheduled Midterm Examination Period

December 20, 2023

At a special meeting on Dec. 13, Senate approved a pilot for a centrally-scheduled midterm examination period. The pilot consists of two days of midterm examinations: Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. Sunday, Feb. 11 will be held in reserve for rescheduled examinations in the event of cancellations.

The pilot is optional, with a limited number of participating instructors in the Faculties of Science, Social Sciences, and Engineering and Computer Science. The Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management (OREM) will contact participating units/instructors with additional information, including the timetable.

The pilot is intended to support instructors with scheduling midterm exams while also helping to address the increase in accommodated assessments. While the pilot won’t address all challenges experienced by students and instructors regarding academic accommodations, it provides an opportunity to test a universal design principle of additional time for all students, in a distraction-reduced environment.

We continue to explore and consult on other strategies that will have a bigger impact on meeting student accommodation needs, as outlined in the memo to Senate.

On a related note, please be advised that the seating capacity for the temporary, dedicated Clearihue classrooms will be reduced in the spring term to ensure a distraction-reduced environment, based on lessons learned during the fall term (these classrooms were set aside in the fall term as part of a series of interim measures). As a reminder, the Online Assessment Room is a Zoom invigilation service for online exams that instructors may book through LTSI 10+ business days in advance of their assessment.

VPAC and OREM will evaluate the success of the midterm examination pilot and report back to Senate for future consideration. A longer-term implementation of a centrally-scheduled midterm examination period would require changes to systems and processes.