Faculty Council, Registrar examine myZou issues
Some students who should be dropped from classes are failed instead.
Published March 23, 2010
Faculty Council is working with the University Registrar to correct technical problems with myZou's grading system.
"We're working with Brenda Selman, the Registrar, on ways of eliminating problems associated with students being failed, because they don't show up to a class that they're registered for but never attend and assume that they have been dropped," Faculty Council Chairwoman Leona Rubin said. "These are just technical types of things we're working on."
One of the issues of the system is some students who should be dropped from classes they never attend are not dropped and fail the course.
"Right now, a student who is registered for a class and never shows up to the class has to be dropped from the class," Rubin said. "Somebody needs to do that."
Selman said there is a hierarchal system to successfully drop a student from a course due to absences.
"If a student has not met the requirements for attendance, the faculty member notifies the dean's office, who in turn notifies us if the drop meets their approval in accordance with policies," Selman said. "We then drop the student."
Selman said the faculty handbook contains policies related to dropping students for absences, and she doesn't believe the system is in need of a change.
"Students are not dropped unless (the process) has been completed," Selman said. "Therefore there is no need to alter the myZou system."
Rubin said Faculty Council and the Registrar's office are working together to fix potential holes in the reporting system.
"We're still trying to work out exactly what the Registrar needs and what we can do with the faculty handbook that allows her to correct these issues," Rubin said. "There's not much to say at the moment except we're working with her to fix that situation."
Exactly whose responsibility it is for notifying the Registrar of being dropped from the course is an area of confusion.
"It's not always clear whether it's the faculty's responsibilities, the student's responsibilities or who notifies the registrar," Rubin said. "Those are just technical things we're trying to do. We're trying to find an electronic way to do it."
Faculty Council has not yet come up with a solution for ensuring students are appropriately dropped from courses, Rubin said.
"But that is something we're working on with the registrar, for students who are in a class but don't plan to go to the class and don't realize they are still registered," Rubin said.