TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT

• Examinations

In each semester, there are two 1-hour mid-term exams and one final 2-hours exam (at the end of the semester). For the mid-term exams, the lecturer returns to you, after one week of the examination time, your corrected answer sheet marked with some feedback for you to check. Whereas the final exam is an unseen exam and you can obtain your marks from the Admission and Registration Office or directly from the University web site at most after hours of the examination time.

At the end of each semester, the timetable of the final exam of the next semester is set by the Admission and Registration Office to help and guide you in choosing your modules for the next semester. The two mid-term exams are set by the Department and the syllabus of each module contains their timetable. The lecturer of the module will also inform you about this timetable in the first lecture of the semester.

For the research project (2) module, you should submit your final project report to the Department in the fourteenth week of the semester. In the fifteenth week, a committee will assess your project work, report, and presentation.

 

• Role of Internal and External Examiners

For each module, the Department assigns a module coordinator and an internal examiner who is one of the senior staff members. If many lecturers teach the same module concurrently, they should suggest exam questions (for the first, second and final exams) and run the same exam for all sections. The main coordinator of the module will collect these questions from lecturers and select some of them to be in the exam paper. The internal examiner moderates the exam paper.

On the other hand, external examiners validate the standard of degree program. The external examiners are expected to look at the question papers, inspect a selection of scripts and project reports (particularly those on borderlines). They supply an assessment report to the Department.

 

• Criteria for Assessing Examination Work

First-class (90 – 100 marks):
First-class answers demonstrate depth of knowledge or problem-solving skills, which is beyond that expected from a careful and conscientious understanding of the lecture material. Answers will show that you

• have a comprehensive knowledge of a topic (often beyond that covered directly in the program) with an absence of misunderstandings;

• are able to apply critical analysis and evaluation;

• can solve unfamiliar problems not drawn directly from lecture material and can adjust problem-solving procedures as appropriate to the problem;

• can set out reasoning and explanation in a logical, incisive, and literate style.

 

Upper Second Class (80 – 89 marks):
Upper second-class answers provide a clear impression of competence and show that you

• have a good knowledge base and understanding of all the principal subject matter in the program;

• can solve familiar problems with ease and can make progress towards the solution of unfamiliar problems;

• can set out reasoning and explanation in a clear and coherent manner.

 

Lower Second Class (70 – 79 marks):
Lower second-class answers will address a reasonable part of the question with reasonable competence but may be partially incomplete or incorrect. The answer will provide evidence that you

• have satisfactory knowledge and understanding of the principal subject matter of the program but limited to lecture material and with some errors and omissions;

• can solve familiar problems through application of standard procedures;

• can set out reasoning and explanation which, whilst lacking in directness and clarity of presentation can nevertheless be followed and readily understood.

 

Third Class (60 – 69 marks):
Third class answers will demonstrate some relevant knowledge but may fail to answer the question directly and/or contain significant omissions or incorrect material. Nevertheless, the answer will provide evidence that you

• have some basic knowledge and a limited understanding of the key aspects of the lecture material;

• can attempt to solve familiar problems albeit inefficiently and with limited success.

 

Pass (50 – 59 marks):
Answers in this category represent the very minimum acceptable standard. Such answers will contain very little appropriate material, major omissions and will be poorly presented lacking in any coherent argument or understanding. However the answer will suggest that you

• have some familiarity with the general subject area;

• whilst unable to solve problems, can at least formulate a problem from information given in a sensible manner.

 

• Appeal Procedures

If you have good reason to question a mark you have been given (in midterm exams or in coursework), you should in the first instance approach the module lecturer. If the problem is not solved, you must submit it to your primary tutor. He/she will find the appropriate solution with administrative structures.

Problems with final examinations are resolved by submitting complaints or appeals in writing (within three days of the announcement of examination results) to the Department. Such requests are forwarded to the Examination Committee of the Faculty. The Department and the examination committee will consider these cases and checks if there is any mistake in the summation of the marks and so on.

 

• Unfair Practices

The University treats attempting to cheat in examinations severely. The penalty is usually more severe than a zero in the paper concerned. More than one student were dismissed from the University because of this. Plagiarism, or copying of course or lab work, is also a serious academic offence as explained in the University guidelines. In Computer Science Department these guidelines apply also to laboratory exercises.

 

• Department Guidelines on Plagiarism

1. Coursework, laboratory exercises, reports, and essays submitted for assessment must be your own work, unless in the case of group projects a joint effort is expected and is indicated as such.

2. Unacknowledged direct copying from the work of another person, or the close paraphrasing of somebody else’s work, is called plagiarism and is a serious offence, equated with cheating in examinations. This applies to copying both from other students’ work and from published sources such as books, reports or journal articles.
3. Use of quotations or data from the work of others is entirely acceptable, and is often very valuable provided that the source of the quotation or data is given. Failure to provide a source or put quotation marks around material that is taken from elsewhere gives the appearance that the comments are ostensibly your own. When quoting word-for-word from the work of another person quotation marks or indenting (setting the quotation in from the margin) must be used and the source of the quoted material must be acknowledged.

4. Paraphrasing, when the original statement is still identifiable and has no acknowledgement, is plagiarism. A close paraphrase of another person’s work must have an acknowledgement to the source. It is not acceptable for you to put together unacknowledged passages from the same or from different sources linking these together with a few words or sentences of your own and changing a few words from the original text: this is regarded as over-dependence on other sources, which is a form of plagiarism.

5. Direct quotations from an earlier piece of your own work, if not attributed, suggest that your work is original, when in fact it is not. The direct copying of one’s own writings qualifies as plagiarism if the fact that the work has been or is to be presented elsewhere is not acknowledged.

6. Sources of quotations used should be listed in full in a bibliography at the end of your piece of work.

7. Plagiarism is a serious offence and will always result in imposition of a penalty. In deciding upon the penalty the Department will take into account factors such as the year of study, the extent and proportion of the work that has been plagiarized, and the apparent intent of the student. The penalties that can be imposed range from a minimum of a zero mark for the work (without allowing re-submission) through caution to disciplinary measures (such as suspension or expulsion)

Most modules have some continuous assessment, such as assignments, essays, tutorials, laboratory exercises, seminars, and examinations. Assignments and any coursework must be submitted by the due dates and any submission after these dates will not be assessed. The proportions of coursework and examination are set out in the detailed syllabus for each module.

The examination and continuous assessment marks are combined to form a single mark out of 100 for each module. This mark is divided as follows: 60% of the total mark is given for two 1-hour midterm exams, coursework and/or seminars, projects, or essays, and 40% for the final exam that may be a written exam only or a written exam plus final laboratory exam (if applicable), final small

project, or seminar presentation. The 40% of the final exam is from the University regulations. The minimum pass mark is 50% for any module.

When you do not sit for the final exam without any excuse, you will either get the “University zero” (i.e. 35%) if your collected mark during the term was less than or equal 35%. Otherwise, you will retain your collected mark. If it is above (50%) then you are passed, otherwise, you have to re-enrol in this module and study it again.

On the other hand, if you have a certified excuse approved by the lecturer, the Department Head, and the Faculty Dean, then you can submit a request for “incomplete” that lets you sit for the exam, which is normally held at the first two weeks of the semester that follows.