Updated policy recommends no major projects during ‘No-Test Week’
An updated No-Test Week or “dead week” policy for Utah State University, passed when it went through the Educational Policies Committee earlier this month with changes to the language. A similar revision was presented to the EPC last year but was rejected.
The new policy states, “where possible, it is highly recommended that due dates for papers, projects, or assignments that are worth a significant portion of a student’s grade have deadlines that occur the week prior to No-Test Days and two weeks prior to final examinations,” according to the minutes from the academic standards subcommittee.
Michael Peters, president of the USU Student Association, said there was a lot of feedback and a lot of faculty input on the new language of this policy. He feels that it was rejected last year because faculty didn’t want to be held to a specific percentage of the students’ grade they will be responsible for on No-Test Week.
“The policy that failed didn’t accomplish anything. If it fails, it never goes in the books and there’s no record of it,” Peters said. “By passing a less stringent policy, it’s something on record so people can refer back to it. By lightening the language a little bit, we were able to pass it.”
Scott Bates, chair of the academic standards subcommittee, said he couldn’t recall if professors were ever held accountable for the No-Test Week policy.
“Nobody is going to be strict with you on this,” Peters said. “It is a recommendation.”
Bates said the Office of the Provost sends an email out to professors reminding them what No-Test Week is.
With the wide variety of departments and courses at USU, and the different ways they are structured, Bates said some professors may need to have tests or projects due during No-Test Week.
”It would be hard to review every single document in the syllabi handed out across campus and see how such a wide variety of courses are being taught,” he said
Peters added that their intentions behind the policy were to make the students feel better about completing a big project, then still having time to study for a final exam.
Since the policy isn’t enforced, professors still have the option to schedule assignments worth a significant amount of a student’s grade during dead week.
“There is some inherent tension with the policy to start with,” Bates said. “Sometimes it works in students’ favor, and sometimes it does not.”
Bates added that students are unlikely to complain if their test was originally scheduled on Friday afternoon of finals week and was moved to the Thursday of dead week.
Overall, Bates feels that the new policy is a great fit for students and professors alike.
“There is some connection to what students are looking for and what faculty is looking for,” he said. “ I think what the current policy does is strike a happy medium.”
However, Bates feels that the No-Test Week conversation is still ongoing.
“It seems like every once in a while, there will be a student champion of it. It’s been going on for a while,” he said.
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