3 - 01.4

Administrative policy and procedures regarding final examinations

  1. Purpose. All courses offered for credit require a substantial final examination.
  2. Intent and scope.
    1. The intent and scope of this policy applies equally to all departments, schools, colleges and campuses of the university.
    2. Final examinations have an important function in the progression of students through their courses of study. Final examinations are a vital element in students' intellectual development.
    3. The general nature of the final examination in each course is a curricular responsibility of the department, or school, or college without departments or schools.
    4. Within the limits of the course description, the content and weight of each examination is the responsibility of the faculty member teaching the course, except where a block final or standard final is established by the department, or school, or college without departments or schools, in which case these matters are a responsibility of the department, or school, or college faculty collectively.
    5. This policy applies to all Kent state university courses offered for credit.
    6. Monitoring and enforcement of this policy is the responsibility of department chairs, school directors, deans of colleges without departments and schools and campus deans.
  3. Definitions.
    1. As used in this policy, "final examination" means a formal examination or an equivalent appropriate activity used in evaluating student performance. In the case of courses that do not meet as formal classes (e.g., individual investigations, research, individual music instruction), or that do not use the lecture as a standard format, alternative activities (e.g., research papers, performances, presentations, portfolios) would be the norm. Other exceptions to the formal examination should be rare and justified on pedagogical grounds.
    2. As used in this policy, "on ground" means a course delivered in a traditional classroom setting to students in that classroom or to students receiving synchronous transmission of the course to another classroom location.
  4. Procedures for all campuses.
    1. Final examination requirements for departments, schools and colleges without departments and schools for individual courses are to be established through normal curricular procedures, recorded on the basic data sheet, and made available to faculty members.
    2. Faculty members are expected to include information regarding the nature and weight of the final examination on the course syllabus. This information must be supplied to all students in each course.
    3. Students with four examinations scheduled for one day may ask to change the time of one of the final examinations. Department chairs, school directors, deans of colleges without departments or schools, or regional campus deans may, in their discretion, grant relief to students with fewer finals examinations on any one day, if requested and if appropriate.
    4. Final examinations must be given at the officially scheduled time, day, and place as published in the schedule of classes or through other official university means. In rare and pedagogically justifiable cases, a faculty member may request permission to change the time of a final examination. Such a change cannot be made unless it is approved by the department chair, school director, dean of the college without departments or schools or regional campus dean.  If approval is granted, the final examination must also be given at the regularly-scheduled time for those students who prefer to take the final examination at that time.
    5. A period of at least two hours is to be allocated for each final examination period for on ground courses. Faculty members are urged to make full use of that time to the extent appropriate based on course credit hours. If students will not be given the full examination time period to complete the final examination, such information must be supplied to all students in the course on the course syllabus. Setting time duration for online final examinations during finals week is the responsibility of the faculty member teaching the course. Such information must be supplied to all students in the course on the course syllabus.
    6. Cancelled final examinations (due to weather or other emergency) will be rescheduled for the next available weekday(s) following the end of the regularly scheduled final examination week.
    7. Final examinations for online courses shall continue as scheduled in the event of campus closures during final examination week. Should this present a problem for an individual student, the student should contact the online course instructor.
  5. Additional procedures for the Kent campus
    1. The registrar's office is responsible for constructing and publishing the final examination schedule. Final examinations are to be scheduled over a five-day week following the end of classes for fall and spring semester. Final examinations are scheduled for the last day of class for summer terms.
    2. Departments, schools or colleges without departments or schools may establish block finals through normal curricular procedures. Requests for scheduling of block finals must be made of the registrar's office and approved by the dean's office and the office of the provost at the time of scheduling the classes which will be a part of the block final. All block finals must be included in the final examination schedule. Times for make-up exams must be scheduled for each block final examination to accommodate students with schedule conflicts.
  6. Additional procedures for the regional campuses
    1. Specific application and procedures appropriate to the regional campuses are to be developed by each regional campus dean in consultation with the faculty at the campus.
    2. Final examinations given at the regional campuses must be consistent with sections (B), (C), and (D) of this rule.
Policy Effective Date:
Mar 01, 2015
Policy Prior Effective Dates: 
5/5/1995, 9/7/1995, 2/27/1998, 9/19/2005, 6/1/2007, 12/28/2011
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