Academic Standing reporting updates and timeline

There will be no changes to the existing Academic Standing Report (formerly the Probation Report) for the spring 2016 academic standing run. Updates to this report are planned for later this summer. The team is working on transferring two queries into reports that will be accessible to you through the MyU Reporting Center. One is a report that checks for anyone with an academic standing that doesn't match the service indicator placed by the college. The other is a report that checks for anyone who received an academic standing during the cleanup run that is different than their original academic standing for that semester.

The Academic Standing run dates for spring 2016 are:

• May 20-26: Spring 2016
• August 25: Final run of spring 2016

The full schedule can be found on the One Stop website.

Finally, as a courtesy, last year the Office of the Registrar and One Stop sent an email to students who are registered for summer classes and how that can impact their academic standing; a copy of the updated email can be found here. This communication will be sent to students again this summer; however, it will be evaluated as to whether to continue sending and will be seeking your feedback.

Academic Support Resources (ASR) staffing updates

Congratulations to Ingrid Nuttall, director, Office of the Registrar, on her new position of IT Manager of Enterprise Systems in the Office of Information Technology (OIT). Her last day in ASR will be Friday, May 27. Ingrid, no doubt, will bring to OIT her high energy presence, professionalism, improv talents, and project management skills. She has been instrumental in many directives across the University over the years and will be missed by many. Her infectious personality has allowed partnerships to be built across many units, paving the way for helping faculty, staff, and students at the University.

Jeremy Todd, Office of Classroom Management, will step in as the interim director. He has been very involved in the various projects and process that occur in OTR the past few years. He assisted in the Office of Student Finance transition of directors. Jeremy is well versed in the workings of Academic Support Resources units. Please feel free to contact him with any questions at toddx012@umn.edu. A search for a permanent director will begin shortly.

FERPA: Can a committee request the name of the student with the highest grade point average of a certain cohort to award the student at an awards banquet?

If the committee requesting the information consists of employees from your institution, you should be fine providing the information to them under the “school official” exception to signed consent, which can be found in detail in §99.31(a)(1)(i). However, if the committee is not comprised entirely of employees at your institution, you have two options available. If you have an “honors and awards” category in your directory information, you could provide the name or names, absent the specific GPA, to the committee. If you have any question about directory information in particular, reference §99.37. Alternatively, you can obtain written consent from the student to disclose this information to the committee.

Final grade entry

The following message will be sent the week of May 2 to all Twin Cities instructors teaching a course in spring 2016:

You are receiving this email because you are teaching a class on the Twin Cities campus for the spring 2016 semester. If you do not have grade entry responsibilities, you may disregard this message. Please note: the information below is intended to complement what you may have already received from your college or department, including processes specific to your unit.

Things you must know!

• When verifying grade rosters, make sure you select the final grade roster from the drop down menu; the menu defaults to midterm roster (see Fig. 1). If you do not see the grade rosters you expect, please contact your department class scheduler. 
• If grades have been transferred from Moodle, they must be approved in PeopleSoft. When you are ready to submit your grades, change the Approval Status to Approved and click Save (see Fig. 2). 

Verify access to grade rosters 

You should verify that you have access to all of your assigned grade rosters before the last day of instruction. To do this, access your Faculty Center in the MyU: Teaching tab and view the Grade Rosters for the classes you teach. When grade rosters are created, you will see an icon that looks like a person inside a square next to the class in Faculty Center. Click that icon to view the roster (see below for an example). Using the dropdown menu, verify a Final Grade roster has been created.

Class rosters and grade entry for courses owned by the School of Public Health are available only through the School of Public Health grading system. Faculty within the Medical School and the Law School typically do not access their grade rosters electronically and should contact their administrative support if they have questions.

Deadlines and NR grades

As a reminder, spring 2016 grades (full semester) are due on Wednesday, May 18 (see the complete list of grading due dates). Grades should be entered utilizing the MyU: Teaching tab by 11:59 p.m. on the date that they are due. Please remember that a grade of "NR" (Not Reported), will be given to students who are not assigned a grade by their instructor by the grading due date. Once NR grades are entered, grades cannot be uploaded or imported from Moodle, and a grade change must be done for all NR grades.

Uploading grades directly from Moodle 

Use this guide to uploading gradebooks from Moodle to the final grade roster in PeopleSoft. Make sure that the final grade roster has been created prior to uploading from Moodle. Grades will be posted nightly.

Additional resources available on One Stop Faculty website 

How-to guides on entering grades, making changes to grades, and more are available in the Grades section of the One Stop Faculty website. Grading due dates, frequently asked questions, and the grading and transcript policy are also available.

Tech tips

• Clear your browser's cache
• Try http://upgrade.umn.edu/technology/index.html or using another browser
• Use Faculty Center in only one browser or tab at a time
• Grade entry will work on mobile devices (e.g., phones, tablets)

Where to go for help 

See our Quick Start Guides for grades. If you encounter issues with grades entry, please contact the Student Records Training and Support Team at (612) 625-2803 or srhelp@umn.edu.

Planning for final exams

The following message was sent on Monday, April 25 to all faculty teaching an undergraduate course at the Twin Cities campus:

As we prepare for the start of finals week on Monday, May 9, we would like to remind you of the University policies surrounding final examinations.

Students with final exam conflicts such as a religious observance (e.g., prayer), three (or more) final examinations in one calendar day, or two exams scheduled at the same time will be expected to notify and provide documentation to instructors as soon as possible. Instructors are expected to make appropriate accommodation to eliminate the conflict.

Full text regarding scheduling and final examinations can be found in this University policy. The policy states that if a comprehensive exam is given, it must be given during the final examination period. Comprehensive exams may not be given during the class sessions before the final exam period. Although late-semester examinations may rely on cumulative knowledge from the semester, if they are not comprehensive in nature they must be given in that class during the term and not during the final exam period. If only one examination is given during the term, that examination may not be given during the last week of classes. Instructors can expect students to contact them if they have three exams on the same day, two exams scheduled at the same time, or other exam conflicts or concerns.

Please note that during finals week building hours may vary from standard classroom hours. Be sure to carry your U Card with you at all times. For more information about specific building hours, visit the individual building details page via the Campus Maps website.

Other resources

• Final exam schedule
• Common exam schedule
• Final exam regulations

If you have additional scheduling concerns, please email ocmsched@umn.edu. For policy related questions about exam scheduling, please contact Sue Van Voorhis or Stacey Tidball.

Auto-enroll wait list process for May/summer and fall 2016

The auto-enroll wait list process for all summer 2016 sessions on the Twin Cities campus began around 11:58 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26 and will run through the first day of the session in which the class is scheduled. The auto-enroll process for fall 2016 began around 11:58 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27 and will run through the first day of the session in which the class is scheduled. Students can add themselves to a wait list through the first day of the session.

If you encounter any issues with wait listing or the auto-enroll process, please contact the ASR Training & Support Team at srhelp@umn.edu. More information on how students can add themselves to a wait list can be found in this guide.

(Graduate education) New automated email communication for Graduate and Professional Students

Graduate Student Services & Progress (GSSP) and the office of the Registrar (OTR) is automating the current congratulations email sent to graduate students after they have cleared their degree requirements to align it with the Letter of Certification. With the new process, an email (titled "Your degree award") will be automatically sent to the graduate students' University email approximately 24 hours after they have cleared degree requirements in PeopleSoft. This new automated communication will provide better service to students seeking more timely notification and proof of degree completion. Automation will go live by the end of April 2016, and any old processes will be retired once the new process is live. Stay tuned for more information at the Registrar's Advisory Council meeting on Monday, April 4.