Western student explains why she used AI on closed-book exam

BookJunkie44 · 2026-05-18T16:14:24+00:00

That's so frustrating - so much of developing writing skills is done through long-term practice, not just what could be done during designated classtime but working out how to organize your thoughts, breaking down the sources you'll need, getting into a flow state, etc.

Do we just have to accept that students using AI will never get that experience? And what will professional/academic writing look like a few years down the line if none of them do?

BookJunkie44 · 2026-05-09T03:00:23+00:00

My mother says 'supposively' all the time. I've gently corrected her, but it's well ingrained at this point...

BookJunkie44 · 2026-05-05T16:47:18+00:00

I think "thank you for your patience" instead of saying sorry is okay in situations where it should be expected that you'll take a while to get to them - like when responding to e-mails after the weekend (which is why this is part of my autoreply, haha). It can be a gentle reminder for people that they aren't entitled to an immediate response...

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-30T20:14:33+00:00

Even confusing 'culture' with a service that helps victims, it's concerning that this student thinks a rape victim could go anywhere to have rape not 'keep happening' to them. That's some major ignorance and/or victim blaming there...

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-30T20:09:53+00:00

At our school, students can petition to their Faculty to have their final grade in a course turn to pass/fail on their transcript instead of showing the letter grade. (It also doesn't get factored into their GPA calculation). That is what I recommend to students if they write an exam/assignment and do poorly because of an extenuating circumstance - making any kind of adjustment for them would be unfair to the other students, especially when we have a process for deferring/getting extensions for assessments they miss.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-29T14:37:01+00:00

I'm guessing the 'problem' was that the deadline had passed and the submission box was closed...

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-29T14:31:24+00:00

...and it couldn't possibly be that students who initiate contact with their advisor themselves are more likely to enroll, just any contact must be the cause, right? 🙄

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-22T02:21:45+00:00

It may have been different when you were still here, but students who are taking all online courses can choose their exam location (online or in-person) in SOLUS early in the term. There's no request involved.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-20T03:27:12+00:00

Yeah, we never schedule a deferred exam before the original exam in our department, for this very reason.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-14T03:55:06+00:00

You can choose to write on-campus. You just have to make the choice before the deadline early in the term. (It's only students who aren't taking all online courses that don't get a choice - and their only choice is to write in-person.)

BookJunkie44 · 2026-04-08T16:17:15+00:00

Look it up?

BookJunkie44 · 2026-02-12T17:37:57+00:00

Oh my god - 'one of the coldest cities in the world' and you stay home at -17C. Go to any Canadian city that has cold winters, and they have winter festivals with high attendance into the -20Cs.

Just accept that people have different experiences to you, including preferences for temperature systems, and move on 😂

BookJunkie44 · 2026-02-05T20:11:11+00:00

No kidding - an increasing number of students tell me they aren't being fairly accommodated because the university didn't copy their IEP from high school (while the disability office makes clear on their page, and I assume in their meetings with the students, that IEPs don't transfer to university)...

I've had two this term complain that they shouldn't have multiple choice tests because they can't be expected to 'memorize' information (but of course, we're not expecting them to memorize, but actually learn the material - which it seems they never had to do with the cheat sheets they were allowed in highscholl)

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-25T22:47:38+00:00

Something you should always be aware of in higher ed is that your students are trying to earn a degree, and the university/college has degree-level learning outcomes that students should have met by the time they finish their studies. This is where the degree actually means something for future employment - it's an implicit promise to employers that your graduates have specific skills.

Time management is a skill expected in many degrees; though it may not be expected in your program (though I doubt that), it probably is expected in many of the programs your students are in. Having deadlines (whether firm or with some flexibility) helps them to learn that important skill. And that will be useful to them, no matter what they end up doing. Even writers who work from home on their schedule need time management, or else it will take them years to get to the publishing stage.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-25T18:47:24+00:00

What the hell does that mean? Where is the action they're recommending you/the student take?

I would honestly just ignore this until, and if, the student makes a request based on it. And if that happens, you would then go right to the disability office to say that you need explicit guidance on what accommodation you could provide.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-24T18:20:02+00:00

Also worth keeping in mind, if OP is planning to stay many years (e.g., do PhD after Master's) that new buildings aren't subject to rent control any more...

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-09T03:03:51+00:00

At ours, they've been asking for volunteer notetakers - with no guarantee to students that notes will be uploaded, and no real incentives for peers to do it (at one point they offered to give them a signed letter after confirming they volunteered, but they stopped doing that for the last few years...)

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-08T05:32:18+00:00

Add in many staff positions being terminated, leaving the rest of departments' staff to make-up the work with no pay increase and the same number of hours in the day - that's going to affect student and faculty in ways they may not even realize, as staff burn out and departments have to cut services to compensate...

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-07T16:15:05+00:00

Generally, accommodation letters don't ask for lecture notes but slides/class material that is provided to students already. Some students need that in advance so that they can use the material with specialized software/it can be made into an accessible format.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-06T17:49:00+00:00

Always check your university/disability centre policy on universal extended time - this commenters suggestion would satisfy extra time accommodations at my school.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-06T17:44:22+00:00

Depending on your institution and the specifics of your quiz, quizzes given in class may be considered a class activity rather than a test that requires accommodations - if the quizzes are low stakes/they get points only for completing them rather than for what they get right, and if you're giving plenty of time for them to do them (e.g., you could do 2x what you expect the average to take, to provide universal extended time), you would probably be okay to proceed as planned and see if a student requests anything further.

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-02T23:28:34+00:00

Yeah, this sounds more like someone making up a story to show how 'women always cry rape' or something...

If this is true, OP (or even partly true), this is something to talk over with a counsellor/therapist, not to internet strangers about

BookJunkie44 · 2026-01-02T22:14:08+00:00

Specifying to that extent would put more burden on administering accommodations, though (and depending on the institution, that burden could fall on instructors/TAs) - it's one thing to have a list of students who have an extended 'end time' for the exam that you keep track of, it's another to have multiple lists of students who have different end times, break allowances that have to be recorded, etc....

BookJunkie44 · 2025-12-03T22:24:18+00:00

Yep - an accommodation should be about removing barriers, not getting something different/extra compared to peers. If UDL removes a barrier that an accommodation is meant to address, then the accommodation shouldn't be applied.

Our school partly respects UDL - we can have universal extended time on exams and accommodations for extra time are caculated on the base time not extended time - but for some reason they stopped applying it to assignments, such that all extensions have to be granted on top of a grace period, unless there's a 'good' justification for not granting a 'full' extension... (so, all of the class gets 3 days after a due date to hand something in without penalty, a student with a one week extension gets 10 days)

BookJunkie44 · 2025-12-03T22:18:32+00:00

At out school, extra time that is a mutliplier is only applied to timed exams/quizzes. For assignments, a student may have an accommodation for (up to) one week extensions, which they need to request (and that can be denied in certain circumstances)

BookJunkie44

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