Evaluating Student Performance
Instructors announce the Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), Student
Outcomes (SOs), and grading policies at the beginning of the term and closely
monitor the students’ performance in the course during the term. Student
performance in the CLOs and SOs is assessed through a variety of assessment
tools. Following is a list of such tools and a typical grade distribution:
20% Midterm
Exams
40% Final
Exam
40% Other
course activities such as: Homework, tests, quizzes, projects, presentations,
lab reports, technical reports…etc…
Instructors can alter this distribution provided that the contribution
of the Final Exam grade to the total course grade does not exceed 70%. The
grades corresponding to the final mark obtained by the student in the course
are recorded as follows:
Range of Marks
|
Grade
|
GPA Points
|
From 95 to 100
From 90 to 94
From 85 to 89
From 80 to 84
From 75 to 79
From 70 to 74
From 65 to 69
From 60 to 64
Less than 60
|
A +
A
B +
B
C +
C
D +
D
F
|
5
4.75
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.0
|
IC grade (Incomplete): If a student
has not completed all the requirements of a course, the instructor may, with
the approval of the Department Council, give the student an IC grade. The
student has to complete the course requirements by the end of the following
semester (summer term not counted). Failure to do so will automatically
change the IC grade to an F grade (Fail).
IP Grade (In Progress): Students taking
courses that may require more than one semester to be completed (such as the
senior project course) may be assigned a grade of IP if they have not
finished all the course requirements. The student may be given up to two
extra semesters (excluding summer terms) to complete the course work.
Repeating Courses: Students are permitted to
repeat a course in which they earned an “F” grade. The new grade does not
cancel the old one. Both old and new grades are kept in the student’s
transcript and count toward his GPA.
The Academic
Affairs and Training Unit (AATU) provides
all necessary information concerning registration (including registration
windows) and course add-drop procedure to the academic departments at the
beginning of each semester. A web-based Student Information System (ODUS
Plus) is used to facilitate and regulate various processes for student registration
and academic advising. The application (ODUS Plus) is a customized version of
Banner, a Student Information System used by more than 1800
universities and serving more than 10 million students worldwide. All
information concerning every student in the Faculty of Engineering is
documented, continuously updated, and saved on ODUS Plus. An automated
warning is issued to students on probation due to low academic performance
(GPA less than 2.75 out of 5 or the student has exceeded 15 semesters in the
University without graduating), and limits on the term loads are enforced
through ODUS Plus according to the student GPA.
Summer Training Performance Evaluation: Summer training is administered through the AATU in coordination with
external agencies in the country. Each student is assigned a faculty member
to be his summer supervisor and a representative from the training
organization to supervise and mentor him at work. Summer supervisors are
assigned between 10 to 20 students from the program. The performance of the
student in training is jointly evaluated by the representative of the
training organization and the summer supervisor faculty member. The student’s
performance is evaluated through the following three ways: Evaluation by the
representative of the training organization, regular on-site visits by the
summer supervisor faculty member, and an end of training written report and
oral presentation to the summer supervisor faculty member.
Prerequisites:
Prior to 2012,
student registration was handled by an in-house developed web-based
application software, On Demand University Services (ODUS). A more robust
system (ODUS Plus) which is based upon the internationally known Banner
Student Information System was introduced in 2012. The system is able to handle
different plans for the same program and accounts for different equivalent
courses in fulfilling the prerequisite conditions. The system is currently
being rolled over and the first phase has already been completed and is being
in use by the whole university. The following summarizes prerequisite
handling during the different registration periods.
During the Preregistration Period (lasts for three weeks during the
preceding term): The student chooses the courses and preregisters
online. ODUS Plus enforces the prerequisites automatically.
During the Student Add-Drop period (the week immediately before the
start of classes): The Student may add and drop courses and ODUS
Plus enforces the prerequisites automatically.
During the Departmental Add-Drop period (the first two weeks of the
semester): The student may, through the department,
register for a course for which the prerequisite handling has not yet been
automated. Permission of the Academic Advisor and the Department Head are
required and the registration requires privileges assigned only to the Head
of the AATU and to the Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs.
During the Vice-Dean Office Add-Drop period (Week 3 and 4 of the
semester): The student may, through the Vice-Dean Office,
add and drop courses in exceptional circumstances. During this period,
academic advisors review the class schedule of their advisees and will
request changes if any discrepancies, errors, or prerequisite violations are
found.
At the end of the registration period a report is produced through ODUS
Plus that details any possible prerequisite violation. If any are found, they
are forwarded to the Department Head for review. The Department Head then
forwards any corrections to be made to the Office of the Vice-Dean who will
drop the courses with prerequisite violations and may add other courses if
necessary and as appropriate. The student is then informed of any changes to
his schedule and encouraged to discuss them with his academic advisor who
will send any final requests to the Department Head who will forward them to
the Vice-Dean Office.
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