Frustrations over hectic exam schedules were the topic in focus during the Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting in Capen Hall on Wednesday.
According to Terri Mangione, Ph.D., Senior Associate Vice Provost, the programming used in scheduling exams is long outdated.
"The current system can only support a maximum of 1,500 exams," Mangione said, "and with the anticipation of more students and classes, we can be sure we'll exceed that number very soon."
In addition to its limit, the program is prone to error, as it was written by students approximately 15 years ago in an outdated programming language. As a result, considerable tech support is required to keep the system moving efficiently.
Mangione underscored the fact that the program was student-made and is heavily focused on students' schedules.
"We will need to create a course-centric final exam schedule which will result in minimal exam conflicts," he said. "Also, there will be more flexible options for duration and seating."
While the new system helps to create less exam schedule conflicts, there are still problems involved.
"The exam schedule now allows for an exam of three hours duration, and can accommodate for double seating," he said. "However, this typically causes the location of the final exam to be different from the room the class was using."
Several professors pointed out that seating exams in classrooms other than where class is held sometimes causes logistical problem for students. They said that most students only look at the location of the exam 15 minutes before taking the test.
A new system would accommodate for this, as the program would be able to place the exams in the same room as the class, Mangione said.
In addition, the final exam schedule would be available at registration in order to prevent further complications - a feature helpful to students with busy schedules.
When Mangione was asked about last semester's ending exam day of Monday and the problems this caused, she suggested Saturday exams or a more condensed five-day option.
The five-day option would possibly involve decreasing exam times from three hours to two. According to Mangione, a survey of faculty and students at UB was conducted in which only 42 percent of faculty preferred a two-hour block while 87 percent of students preferred three-hour exam.
"It's interesting to note however that out of the 1129 students who responded to the survey on MyUB, 65 percent never, if rarely, took all three hours for their exam," Mangione said.
Several attendants raised an alternative to the time constraint. They discussed using Blackboard for exams as a way in which students could be given an entire day to reach a computer to take their tests.
Others brought up the possible dishonesty that could arise from this method. It was suggested that proctor classes could be used.
However, the committee seemed to focus more intently on the idea of simply obtaining a new system for organizing the exams.
"In order to gain this system, the plan would need approval from the ASAB in order to rewrite the exam schedule process," Mangione said. "Already, the project has been in planning for 15 months."
The university would also require a web interface for department schedulers, which would double-check the number of hours and seats for each exam, as well as cooperation from the faculty.
A problem of the capacity for classrooms along the academic spine was also brought up at the meeting.
According to Mangione, North Campus classrooms have reached their limits and the committee should look into using the Ellicott and South Campus classes as an alternative.
In response, a larger facility was proposed. This building would possibly be home to a 3,000 seat testing room in which double seating for exams would be accommodated. This room would seat the equivalent of 15 different classrooms.
