Final Exam Plan

April, 2020

Short Version: The exam will be semi-synchronous (you can take it within a window), administered by Canvas Quizzing, focused on the last half of class (non-cumulative).

If you need some accommodation (McBurney, you live more than 6 times zones away from Madison, you don’t have a good internet connection, …) contact the Professor by email.

The Rules (So Far):

More details will come soon.

Some details are still being worked out.
The exam will be “semi-synchronous” you may take it in a window of time that includes the officially scheduled exam slot. If you like, you can complete these exam during the scheduled slot.
The exam will be administered using Canvas Quizzing. It will be a sequence of shorter quizzes, rather than a single long quiz. You can take them back to back (as one long exam), or take breaks in between. Each quiz will be timed, but you can pace how you take them.
The exam will be “open book”. That is, we will not try to prevent you from accessing resources.
You may not collaborate with others. You should not talk about the exam or its topics during the exam window. While it is OK to read about graphics topics (you can consult resources during the exam), you may not write about them (e.g., post a question to an online forum). )
You should not communicate with other students in class during the exam window (even when you are not taking the exam).
The exam will focus on the 2nd half of class (the material not covered on the Midterm). I hesitate to say the “it will not be cumulative” because the later parts of the class build on earlier parts of the class.
The exam will be counted the same as the midterm, and the total contribution of the exams is reduced to 30%. (13% midterm, 13% final, 4% whichever is higher). The workbook grades will count for 70%. Quizzes and extra bonus points will be considered at edge cases.
We have provided a topic guide Final Guide.
We will have many different types of questions. Expect some short answer questions in addition to multiple choice.
We will not answer questions during the exam window.
You will need a reasonable internet connection to take the exam.
If you need some accommodation, send me email with the specific thing you need. This includes McBurney accomodations, or if you are more than 6 time zones away from Madison. We are still working out how we will handle these requests.

The Rationale:

I had a long-winded rationale on why I have chosen to do things this way. But, it probably isn’t worth your time to read it. Here are some of the high points.

Figuring this out is hard, because:

Things really are different. We are all facing many challenges.
I can’t change the class policies too much, since it needs to be fair to people who were counting on those policies.
There really is no good way to give the 559 exam. All options are problematic.
There are all sorts of University guidelines about how the end of the semester should work.
There are all sorts of University guidelines about how we should accommodate students in these difficult times. There are all sorts of University rules about how exams have to work.
We are stuck with the tools that the University gives us (i.e., Canvas).
The situation keeps changing: the University keeps updating their guidelines, colleagues keep giving different stories of the ineffectiveness of different approaches, …

Part (and only part) of the problem is academic integrity. Normally, I trust students: if you want to cheat, it is your loss. But cheating hurts those who are honest. This New York Times op-ed really resonated with me: “If my classmates are going to cheat on an online exam, why can’t I?". The responsibility for a fair exam is on both of us (student and professor): you (students) should act ethically, but I should create an environment that encourages good behavior.

Traditionally, the CS559 exam is a closed-book, short duration (100 minute) synchronous (everyone takes it at the same time) exam. It is relatively high stakes (this year, it was meant to be 17-22% of your grade). It is the only assessment of student learning for a lot of the material (the workbooks only assess part of the class, and have other issues in being used for assessment). A lot of exams need to be graded very quickly. At the same time we are grading the final workbook. The traditional 559 exam doesn’t work in an online setting.

Some observations:

Closed book exams don’t work well online. It is too tempting for people to access other parts of the internet (you are using a web browser to take the exam, a quick search…).
The “online” proctoring the University is offering seems creepy (it watches you with a camera, listens with your microphone, takes over your computer, …). I don’t feel like I can do this to students. (plus, it seems to have too many false positives). Update: it is so ineffective that the university has discouraged its use.
The synchronous exam in the given time slot doesn’t work well. Getting a solid 2 hour block of uninterrupted quiet time is difficult for many people. But a completely asynchronous exam doesn’t work either.
Canvas is really the only way to give an exam online, and it is quite limited.
Answering questions during the exam is very difficult since we have no good broadcast mechanism. This is particularly bad for asynchronous exams.

This is challenging, since I need to re-think assessment, but I am limited in how much I could re-think assessment. Had I known how hard it would be to give an exam, I probably would have designed the class differently.

The changes:

Online using Canvas Quizzing - it’s the only option.
Semi-Synchronous - synchronous is hard for practical reasons. Fully asynchronous is hard since it requires too large of a window for people to not communicate.
Non-cumulative - reducing the length of the exam by focusing it on the end of class makes it easier for everyone.
Lower weight - since it’s non-cumulative, this makes sense. Also, lower stakes should lower the stress, and with COVID-19, we all have enough stress.
Open book - since closed book doesn’t work online.