Important Announcement Regarding Final and Make-Up Exams

Dear Students,

Due to the global pandemic, we at BAU have moved all our teaching, learning and service processes online and have gone through a labor-intensive period together with all our faculty members and administrative staff so that you can continue learning and continue your psychosocial, career and intellectual development. We wish you success in the final exams that mark the close of this semester and want you to know that, as the BAU family, we are always by your side.

The scheduling process for final exams has been completed. This Spring semester, as of 23 March 2020, all our assessments have been conducted online. The same method will be followed for final and make-up exams. In order to reduce your exam anxiety, and again in light of the feedback we received from you, we have not limited end-of-year course assessments to conventional exams only, but have enriched them with exams spread over at least one day (take-home), which allow you to think and work comfortably over longer periods of time, or with assessments such as assignments and projects.

Our exam schedule has been prepared to ensure that no student has overlapping exams and that no student takes more than two exams on the same day from the courses of one program. Nevertheless, please first check your own exam schedule and, if you encounter any situation contrary to the conditions stated above, notify your Faculty/School/Institute secretariat urgently.

We would also like to share the following information about the exams:

Our Center for Teaching and Learning and our BAU Global Online (BAUGO) unit have prepared guidelines on online exam practices and are carrying out various information and training activities for academic staff and for students who request them. If you have questions about using the system in your exams, please submit your questions or training requests through our Dean of Students Office.

At the beginning of each exam, clear written information will be provided on how the exam works, the duration of the exam, grading principles, student responsibilities, exam appeals and ethical rules.
During final and make-up exams, students who do not have adequate technical facilities at their residence may take their exams in our University's laboratories.
Students outside Istanbul may take their exams, simply by showing their ID cards, in the computer laboratories designated for them, subject to capacity and facilities, at universities across Türkiye with which we have made agreements (and with which we have decided to share our IT resources for final exams), as listed in the continuously updated list to be announced on our website.

For each exam, both a BAUGO staff member reachable via the WhatsApp line (+90 212 381 09 99) and a research assistant designated by the faculty/directorate offering the course will be on duty. Research assistants for GE courses will be assigned by the academic planning unit. The contact details of both staff members and the situations in which they should be contacted will be briefly stated, and they are expected to be reachable without interruption throughout the exam. Students will contact these staff members if they encounter any problem during the exam. For problems that cannot be resolved immediately, the deans' offices/directorates will address the issue and provide a solution as soon as possible.

At our University, make-up exams serve as a substitute for final exams. If students cannot take a final exam for any reason, or cannot complete their exam despite following the specified steps, they will be admitted to the make-up exam of the relevant course without any further condition, provided that they notify the dean's office of their faculty or the directorate of their institute or school of their acceptable excuse within 3 working days following the relevant exam day.

According to our regulations, there are no excuse exams for make-up exams. However, due to the current pandemic conditions, and with the permission of YÖK, limited to the 2019-2020 Spring semester in which only online exams are held, students who cannot take a make-up exam will be granted the right to a make-up excuse exam for the relevant course without any further condition, provided that they notify the dean's office of their faculty or the directorate of their institute or school of their acceptable excuse by 17:00 on the day following the relevant make-up exam day and their application is accepted. No separate exam period has been defined for make-up excuse exams; the relevant deans' offices/directorates will admit students to excuse exams on a date and time they determine within the make-up period. There will be no further excuse exam for excuse exams.

For asynchronous exams held on the itslearning system, students will not be required to take the exam on camera or to use a browser lockdown tool.
To avoid technical problems, students should open the exam in a single browser tab only. Based on our experience in the midterm exams, opening the same exam in more than one tab may cause problems such as answers not being saved.

In accordance with YÖK rules, exams not conducted through institutional systems will be recorded by the relevant academic staff member with student consent within the scope of KVKK (the Personal Data Protection Law) so that they are "transparent and auditable", and archived by the relevant faculty/institute/school. Oral exams or project presentations held via itslearning, Adobe Connect or Microsoft Teams will also be recorded, with student consent within the scope of KVKK for video and audio recording, to be archived in our system. It should be noted that if a student appeals an assessment that they did not consent to being recorded, since there is no record of the activity subject to the appeal, the appeal evaluation committee may evaluate it based on statements rather than documents.

Plagiarism detection software is used in the evaluation of assignments, projects and research reports. Students are responsible for preparing their work in an original manner and for properly indicating their citations.

In order to reduce your anxiety, the durations of online exams other than exams spread over at least one day (take-home) and assessments such as project and assignment submissions have been set by faculty members to be at least 1.5 times the time that would be given in an equivalent face-to-face exam. In addition, taking into account the time zones of our students abroad, each exam will be active for an exam period of at least 4 hours. For your exam to be valid, please make sure you have submitted your answers before the end of the exam duration and period. To avoid problems due to slow internet connections, do not wait until the last minute to press the submit button.

We have met with all our students with disabilities and received their opinions and requests so that their education and exams can be carried out smoothly in the digital environment. Our Dean of Students Office and our Disabled Students Unit will continue to provide ongoing counseling and support services to these students during the exams.

The main unit from which students can receive technical support to ensure that the exam process in digital environments runs smoothly at our University is BAU Global Online (BAUGO), and our students should seek support from BAUGO on matters related to technical problems. BAUGO can be reached via the WhatsApp line (+90 212 381 09 99). The contact details of the relevant research assistant for each final exam will also be shared with you by the Faculty/Institute/School.

Throughout the exam period, our Dean of Students Office is also available to serve you for all your questions, problems, suggestions and opinions via its e-mail address and phone number ogrencidekanligi@dso.bau.edu.tr, +90 212 381 02 44 and via the live support line on bau.edu.tr.

We do not enter the final exam period with the concern, voiced in some circles, that "online exams involve opportunities for misuse". For there is no place for anything bad, unfair or ugly in our institutional culture. We know that BAU students will stay away from such attempts not because they know that resorting to unethical means in exams carries severe disciplinary penalties, but because they know it would wound their conscience, erode their personal virtues, and destroy their self-respect and eventually their self-confidence. BAU students have a moral standard that recognizes that every undeserved grade, even if it raises their own grade point average, means stealing the rights of other students. BAU students are aware that no gain obtained through the misuse of certain opportunities will ever contribute to their education, their future career or their character.

 

We believe that you will take your exams with knowledge, with peace of mind, and with the trust and respect you have for one another, and that you will achieve the success you deserve.

 

Knowing that we, as the BAU family, are ready to support you whenever you need us, we wish you an exam period full of success. We wish you, your families and your loved ones healthy days.

 

With our warmest regards,