“Friday 15th May is the first day of the summer examination period at Maynooth University. I’ve written posts at the start of every examination period I’ve been involved with over the 11 years or so I’ve been blogging but this is definitely the strangest …” (more)
[In the Dark, 14 May]
“Figures for Irish universities’ expenditure on exams have indicated that UCD spent €1.3 million on exams for the 2019/2020 academic year, according to figures revealed by The College Tribune in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. UCD’s spending on exams per student represented the largest in the country according to these figures …” (more)
[Alex Lohier, College Tribune, 7 May]
“So far, I’m not a big fan of the situation that Covid-19 has forced us all into replacing end of semester exams with assignments/projects. Exams designed to assess learning outcomes are not being used, and it has not been easy coming up with replacements in the form of an assignment to to the same thing …” (more)
[Careful With That Axe, Eugene, 29 April]
“Trinity has made last-minute changes to the scheduling of four real-time exams, meaning students in some modules will sit their exams outside of the designated exam period and in a contingency week previously set aside for the return of assignments …” (more)
[Donal MacNamee and Cormac Watson, University Times, 23 April]
“Is tréimhse iontach dúshlánach é do mhic léinn agus léachtóirí araon san Ollscoil, toisc gur fadhb í seo nach raibh aon choinne againn léi. Ba chor gurb í an tseachtain seo caite an tseachtain múineadh deireanaí do chuid mhór na mac léinn Ollscoile in Éirinn ach mar gheall ar an ngalar cuireadh na modúil ar fad ar líne …” (more)
[Conor Brummell, Irish Times, 20 April]
“Students are currently preparing for an unprecedented exam period, with the traditional RDS setup upended and online and take-home assessments ushered in as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. But in Trinity, it seems that the more things change, the more things stay dispiritingly the same …” (more)
[University Times, 19 April]
“University College Dublin (UCD) has announced today a range of new academic supports designed to take into account students’ precarious situations amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. The new academic regulations will affect assessments since March 23rd and remain in place until the end of the trimester …” (more)
[Conor Capplis, College Tribune, 17 April]
“Students have blasted the College amid widespread timetabling issues for this year’s summer exams, with many fretting due to assessment pile-ups and others reporting scheduling mistakes ahead of an unprecedented exam period …” (more)
[Donal MacNamee and Emer Moreau, University Times, 17 April]
“We surveyed a group of UCD students pursuing mainly undergraduate degrees at the university. In recent weeks, there has been growing demand from students for the implementation of a No-Detriment policy in universities. Online petitions have gained well over 10,000 signatures nationwide …” (more)
[Conor Capplis, College Tribune, 16 April]
“The USI (Union of Students in Ireland) have called for cooperation between universities and students’ unions to ensure no students are negatively impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, many students are working from home. According to the USI, this has left students in difficult situations, with students not being able to access the internet or devices like laptops to do coursework …” (more)
[Tadgh McNally, The College View, 15 April]
“With a nationwide lock-down resulting in the closure of schools, libraries and co-working spaces, where do DCU expect students to prepare for examinations? There has been a lot of uncertainty among students and lecturers alike regarding how DCU will hold this year’s summer examinations. For final year students especially, this has been a most stressful time in our entire university experience …” (more)
[Joy Nwagiriga, The College View, 14 April]
“In some ways, Trinity’s decision on no detriment last week – eagerly anticipated by students, and first revealed in this newspaper – felt almost anticlimactic. Student campaigners, who had mobilised en masse and pushed the issue firmly onto the agenda and into the national media, didn’t have their demands met by University Council. But College explained its rationale, and worked hard to capture the spirit of the campaign in a way that fits into its assessment structures …” (more)
[University Times, 13 April]
“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has warned that optional resits in this year’s summer assessments – approved last week among a slew of new measures – ‘could place great pressure’ on August’s supplemental exam period and raise questions about when the next academic year starts …” (more)
[Emer Moreau, University Times, 13 April]
“The talk of future employers devaluing grades awarded during the Covid-19 crisis has felt surreal. It is a sensation comparable to when you are listening to someone speak your second language, and you believe your interpretation to be at fault, as it is highly implausible that they’re saying what you’re hearing. You think you understand the individual words, but the way they are being put together doesn’t make any sense …” (more)
[Sam Cox, Trinity News, 13 April]
“The creators of the original petition calling for a ‘no detriment’ policy to be implemented have called on Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) to carry on the campaign. The no detriment policy, which Trinity have declined to implement, would have meant that as long as students receive a passing mark, their overall average grade would not be brought down by upcoming assessments …” (more)
[Finn Purdy, Trinity News, 12 April]
“The youth political wings of most of the country’s main political parties have called on ministers for education on both sides of the border to liaise with the heads of third level institutions and professional bodies to put in place a ‘no detriment’ marking policy. Most universities, colleges and institutes of technology campuses on the island have been closed since early March and college authorities have been working since then to mitigate against the disruption caused to students and to academic programmes by the coronavirus pandemic …” (more)
[Éanna Ó Caollaí, Irish Times, 11 April]
“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has strongly criticised outgoing Minister for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell-O’Connor, for her failure to acknowledge the huge contribution that lecturers and academic planners have played in developing alternative online arrangements for student examinations due to Covid-19 …” (more)
[IFUT, 10 April]
“The University of Limerick has said the idea of ‘non-detriment’ grading is already built into its assessment systems. It comes as almost 24,000 students signed a petition urging the college to implement such a policy regarding assessment for students …” (more)
[Nick Rabbitts, Limerick Leader, 10 April]
“Following the closure of the university as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, many universities including Durham, Exeter, Cambridge and Oxford, amongst others, have implemented a ‘safety net’ policy which secures that students will maintain their graded average up until the date of closure of the university. Such a policy has not been accepted by Queen’s University Belfast …” (more)
[Change.org, 9 April]
“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has hit out at the government for overlooking the ‘huge contribution’ of academics in developing alternative assessment models for this year’s summer exams. In a press statement today, Joan Donegan, the general secretary of IFUT, condemned Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor – who yesterday praised many higher education stakeholders for their efforts in developing online assessment tools – for ‘pointedly’ refusing to thank lecturers …” (more)
[Molly Furey, University Times, 9 April]
