Dear students,
Due to the Pandemic, we, as BAU, carried all our training, education and service processes online in order to make it possible for you to continue your education and maintain your psycho-social, career and intellectual development. We have been able to achieve this through the relentless efforts of our Academic and Administrative Staff. We wish you all the success on your final exams that mark the end of this semester. Please remember that we are always here for you as the BAU family.
Programming process of our final exams has been completed. This spring semester, as of 23 March 2020, all assessments are being done online. Finals and make-up exams will be given in the same fashion. Taking your feedback into consideration, we wanted to reduce your exam anxieties. Therefore, instead of limiting final evaluations with traditional exams, we have decided to enrich our end-of-year evaluations with tasks such as take-home assignments, homework assignments and projects that take at least a day to finish thus allowing you to think and evaluate comfortably at longer intervals. Our exam program has been designed to ensure that students do not have any overlapping exams and they do not sit more than two exams on the same day in one program. Nevertheless, please check your own exam programs first and if you encounter any situation conflicting with the conditions mentioned above, inform your Faculty / School / Institute secretariat immediately.
We would like to share the following information about the scheduled exams:
• Our Learning and Teaching Centre and BAU Global Online (BAUGO) unit have designed guidelines about exam procedures and offered briefing and training sessions to faculty members and students who have requested. Should you have any questions regarding the use of the system in the exams you will take, please convey your questions or training requests through our Dean of Students’ Office.
• At the beginning of each exam; clear and understandable instructions about the procedure of the exam, the duration, assessment principles, student responsibilities, exam objections to the will be provided on the operation of the exam, the duration of the exam, scoring principles, student responsibilities, exam appeal and ethical rules.
• During our final and make-up exams, students who do not have sufficient technical facilities in their residences are welcome to take the exam in our university's laboratories.
• Just by showing their identity cards, students outside of Istanbul can sit their exams in computer labs that one of our partner universities will direct them to in accordance with their capacities and vacancies. The names of these universities that are located all around Turkey, will continuously be posted and updated as we have agreed to share information technologies with them for finals.
• In each exam; both a BAUGO member who can be reached from WhatsApp line (+90 212 381 09 99) and a research assistant appointed by the faculty / directorate will be there to assist you. Academic planning unit will assign research assistants for GE courses.
• The contact information of both officers and when to call them will be briefly stated and they will be expected to be available at all times during the exam. Students will contact these officers if they encounter any problems during the exam. When a problem that cannot be solved immediately occurs, deans / directorates will deal with it and offer solutions as soon as possible. In our university, make-ups are for compensating final exams.
• If the students cannot take a final exam for any reason or fail to complete their exam although they have followed the specified steps, reporting their valid excuses to the faculty dean / institute or school directorate within 3 business days following the relevant exam day, they are given the make-up exam without being asked for further conditions.
• According to our regulations, make-up exams can only be given once. Yet, due to the pandemic circumstances, being limited to Spring semester 2019-2020 only and with the permission of YOK, students who have missed the make-up will be given a second make-up without being asked for further conditions on condition that they report their valid excuse to the faculty dean / institute or school directorate until 17:00 on the day following the relevant make-up exam. No separate exam schedule has been set for second make-up exams. Relevant deanships / directorates will give make-up exams at a date and time they will determine during the make-up period. There will be no compensation for the second make-ups. Students will not be asked to turn on their cameras or use a browser locker while taking asynchronous exams to on itslearning system.
• Students should only open the exam in a single browser tab to avoid technical problems. According to our experience in midterm exams, opening the same exam in more than one tab may cause problems such as not being able to save answers.
• According to YÖK regulations, the exams that are not given over institutional systems will be recorded and archived by the relevant member of faculty / institute / college in order to be "transparent and auditable" within the scope of KVKK. Oral exams or project presentations that are to be carried out over Itslearning, Adobe Connect or Microsoft Teams will also be recorded and archived in our system. This will be done with student approval and within the scope KVKK for video and audio recording.
• In the event that the student objects to an assessment that he / she has not allowed to be recorded, it should be noted that the appeal commission can make an assessment based on the declaration, not the document, since there will be no record of the relevant activity.
• Plagiarism detection programs are used to evaluate homework, project and research reports. Students are responsible for preparing their work in an authentic manner and making proper citations.
• Apart from assessments such as exams (take-home), projects and assignment submissions that take at least one day, durations of online exams are extended at least 1.5 times compared to in-class exams in order to reduce your anxiety.
• In addition, each exam will be active during at least 4 hours of exam period considering the time zones of our students abroad. Please make sure that you have submitted your answers before the end of the exam in order for your exam to be valid. Do not wait for the last minute to press the send button to avoid problems due to slow internet connection.
• All our disabled students have been called; their ideas and requests have been received so that they can sit their online exams in the smoothest way possible. Our Dean of Students and Disabled Students Unit will continue to provide consultancy and support services to these students continuously during the exams.
• BAU Global Online is the main unit where students can receive technical support for the smooth running of the exam process on digital platforms. Our students should seek assistance from BAUGO on issues related to technical problems. BAUGO can be reached via the WhatsApp line at (+90 212 381 09 99). The relevant research assistant contact information for each final exam will also be shared with you by the Faculty / Institute / School.
• During the exam period, you can reach our Student Dean's Office through [email protected], +90 212 381 02 44 and the live support line on our bau.edu.tr for any questions, problems, suggestions and opinions. .
For the approaching final exam period, we do not share such unfounded worries like: “online exams can be exploited” with other academic circles. There is no place for any sort of misconduct, abuse or improper behaviour in our institutional culture. We know very well that BAU students will not resort to unethical means during the exams; not because they know that such behaviour entails severe disciplinary punishment but because they know that cheating in an exam will be a burden on their conscience, will threaten their self-esteem, and will gradually undermine their self-respect and self-confidence. The high moral standard of the BAU students makes them well aware that any grade they do not rightfully deserve is, in fact, stealing the other students’ rights, even though it might mean raising their own GPA/average grade. BAU students are wise enough to appreciate that anything they gain by cheating; will in no way contribute towards their academic success, prospective careers and personalities.
We believe that you will all be taking the exams: with your mind at peace, equipped with the knowledge you have acquired throughout the semester and the mutual confidence and respect you share with each other. We genuinely hope that you will achieve the success you so much deserve.
We hope you will be successful in all your final exams, and please remember that BAU will always be your family and will be happy to be by your side whenever you need. Wishing our best to you, your families and loved ones.
With our love and best regards,
TR
