Grading Guidelines
UMUC faculty are expected to assign grades that accurately reflect the work students have completed in their classes. Each faculty member is responsible for ensuring that the course syllabus clearly communicates performance standards and for applying these standards fairly and consistently throughout the session. An overview of UMUC's grading policy is provided below.
For additional information on assigning, submitting or changing grades, see Section 2.7 of the Worldwide Faculty Handbook.
Recording Grades
The WebTycho classroom contains an electronic grade book that faculty use to track and calculate their students' grades throughout the session. Faculty members are required to use this grade book to provide students with interim feedback on their performance throughout the session.
Guidelines on the recommended frequency of interim grading are available in The Undergraduate School Guidelines for Undergraduate Teaching or The Graudate School Faculty Expectations.
Final Grades
Official and final grades must be submitted via the electronic grade roll in the MyUMUC faculty portal. (See Posting Final Grades for instructions.)
Faculty should enter the final grade within 72 hours of the final exam or project. If waiting to receive a final exam or project from a student, leave that grade blank. Enter subsequent grades one at a time, immediately as finals arrive.
If the grade is still blank because the final exam or project hasn't been received after a reasonable period (normally no more than a month—but for eArmyU sections, 14 days), see Missing Grades section below.
All grades must be submitted within four months of the end of the semester. If you are unable to enter/change a grade after four months, please contact your academic department.
Missing Grades
Unless the student has requested an Incomplete, the instructor should give the final grade based on work received—assuming a zero for the final and/or other missing work. Faculty cannot take it on themselves to give an Incomplete—it must be requested by the student.
Grade Changes
Undergraduate School
Afterward, if the final arrives or there is a legitimate exceptional reason for the delay, a grade change may be necessary. In that case, the subsequent grade is likely to be less problematic for students because it will be higher, not lower, since the zero will be replaced. Changes must be made well before the four-month limit. In very unusual circumstances, a grade change may be necessary more than six months after the end of the term. This cannot be entered electronically. It must be done manually and requires special permission from the Dean's office (see Procedure for Late Grade Changes).
Graduate School
Faculty may change grades, if necessary, for four months after the class ends by accessing the electronic grade roster in MyUMUC. Changing grades is generally prohibited unless a student's grade was miscalculated, an error was made in posting the grade, or a mark of I was submitted and the final grade must be updated. After four months, faculty members must contact their academic administrator for clearance to change a grade.
