how things work
There are some fairly clear rules of operation in effect at the School of Architecture that need to be respected in order to keep things running smoothly. Some are policies. Some are simply good practices.
EXTENSIONS, ILLNESSES AND ACADEMIC ACCOMMODATION
It is typical in this Architecture program for students to work very hard and this
can be bad for your physical health. You don’t tend to get as much rest, eat properly,
and hence catch bugs and get sick. When you are overloaded, it is also the time when
family problems that you may have been able to keep “under control,” tend to cause
troubles with the completion of your final projects, assignments and exams.
It is important that if you have a problem, medical, family, stress related, whatever – and it is causing you grief in having the suitable mental framework for completing your assignments – that you inform your professor, the Undergraduate Officer, Donna Woolcott and if stress related or extremely private in nature, the Counsellor, as the problem arises. The information will be kept confidential.
If you need academic accommodation or extensions you MUST have a Verification of Illness form (pdf) or a Verification of Counselling Form completed and given to Donna for your file. Academic accommodations will not be made without adequate documentation. This is against University Policy. Academic accommodations that require extensions MUST go through Donna as extending time in one course invariably results in a domino effect that must be properly coordinated. An Extension Agreement will be completed and put in your file folder in the Front Office that notes the new deadline(s). Academic accommodations include, but are not limited to: missing a test/quiz; missing a presentation; missing a field trip; moving the hand in for an essay or project; rescheduling a review; requiring extra time to complete any work.
If you feel the need for academic accommodation due to illness or stress related manifestations you are NOT to write a test. Poor performance cannot be fixed after the fact. It is necessary to perform “damage control” ahead of time. If it is not going to be “too personal” when you receive the F, it shouldn’t be seen as too personal to speak privately about the matter when arrangements can be made.
If you feel too ill to write a test or exam, do not write it. We cannot undo a bad performance after the fact.
The best preventative advice is to get sleep every night, eat well, and kick back every once in a while for a mental break. All-nighters are completely ineffective ways of time management!!! They undermine your ability to function. Skipping classes is also a bad habit. You miss information and it takes longer to catch up than sitting there and listening. If you are having time management issues, please take the time to see the Counsellor.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term. Once registered with OPD, please meet with the professor, in confidence, to discuss your needs. Letters are sent to the course professors regarding your accommodation. The Disability letter will be placed in your file. It is important to note that you must visit OPD at the beginning of every academic term to renew your accommodations. This might seem onerous, but it is the policy as not all disabilities are permanent and things may either get better or worsen.
It takes time for these letters to be processed so please visit OPD early in the term.
If your accommodation includes extra time to write tests and exams, please query them as to appropriate accommodation for essays and project based work as these are not normally accommodated by the regular letter.
THE PURPOSE OF REVIEWS
Desk reviews, interim reviews and final crits all have a different purpose
in the studio education process.
Deskcrits are working sessions. As a student, you will receive feedback on any issues you raise, based on any drawings you may share at that time. It is difficult to talk to you about design issues without images that you have produced. Verbal agreement about ideas not drawn cannot be conclusive. The more you can bring to your desk crit, the more feedback you can receive. Obviously, if you are not in studio and don’t get desk crits, you are missing out on a lot of teaching/learning. If you work at home or on computer and don’t bring everything in, you shortchange the process. It is quite fair to eavesdrop on a fellow student’s desk review (without interrupting). They may be looking at issues similar to yours and you may have questions answered as well.
Interim reviews provide a group occasion to check progress on projects and often use invited guests to bring fresh ideas to the process. Many students find interim deadlines inspirational. Interim reviews are an opportunity for general and specific discussions about the progress of the project. They are neither grading sessions nor can every crit address every issue in detail that the project is to address. If they did, each student would need and hour or two rather than 15 to 30 minutes to present their project. Again, reviewers can only comment on issues/ideas if they are drawn. It is fine to verbalize up a storm but if it is not visible, it is not there. Attendance for all reviews is critical to get a thorough overview of the issues.
Final reviews present us as a community with an opportunity for an academic discussion/forum about the projects, based on completed work, completed drawings, ideas, details, etc. Final reviews are not grading sessions. A “good crit”, i.e. no bloodshed, no tears, does not equal a “good grade.” It simply means that nothing contentious arose during your 15 to 30 minutes. Guest reviewers (legally) cannot assign grades nor take part in the grading process although their input is valuable. They are there to enliven and extend the academic discussion about the project. Grading takes place by your studio faculty, later. They are normally all present and must discuss every project inputting their knowledge based on conversations with you (desk reviews), interim review progress, final review, looking at the final hand-in for completeness and excellence. Your work is judged within itself and ranked against that of all of your classmates. The profs and grad TA’s must reach a consensus before they will assign your grade. Grading is taken very seriously.
Although some professors may take detailed notes during reviews that are distributed to the students as a record of the session, this is more the exception that the norm. As you go into your final reviews, vigorously adopt a buddy system for note taking during reviews. It is impossible to remember all that is said during your session and it is very helpful to have the minutes to reflect on after the fact.
It is expected that all students attend all reviews and all days for their class’
reviews. This cannot be stressed enough. This is a major learning session. There
is not time to discuss every aspect of every project. You can learn a lot from the
review of other students’ work. You are all working on the same basic project.
You likely have similar flaws and successes. You should not be sitting out in studio (or at home)
while the reviews are going on. You are expected to be in attendance, offering critical
input, and listening. Attending the reviews of other classes is also beneficial
if time permits.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING IN STUDIO
The students at the School of Architecture have the very privileged position of being the
very few undergrad students who have personal studio space in which to work. The Design
Studio, and the space in which it is conducted, are the central core to our programme
and to a very important way of teaching and learning.
Choosing not to work in studio on both studio and non-studio days is a problem.
It is expected that you will be in full attendance in studio from approximately 10 ‘til 6 on your studio days (as per your specific timetable). Professors and TAs should be able to drop by your desk at any time to look at your work, discuss it and give you feedback. They may in addition choose to schedule desk crits throughout the day at more specific times. During the day they may choose to call the class or small groups together to address common issues or problems. If you are not there you are missing critical information. If you are perceived to be absent a significant amount of the time, it is not only irritating but your interest in studying architecture is questioned.
It seldom fails when dealing with students who are borderline or failing studio that the professors will cite non-attendance, and missed desk crits, as a key problem. You cannot learn if you are not there. This is not distance education. It is always perceived as disinterest.
The studio mechanism not only gives you access to the profs, but also to peer assistance and discussion. See what other students are doing and compare methods and approaches. Senior students can pass by and help.
Some students flee studio because of their inability to work in noisy and messy surroundings. Take 15 minutes now and then to clean up a bit. The place cannot only be a pigsty but also a fire hazard. Keep your music under control. Personal listening devices are required. It is not a party. Just because you like to rock while you work, many do not. Also, chatting to share information is good. Socializing to the point of disrupting others is unfair.
Be considerate. Respect the space of others.
DO NOT PULL ALL NIGHTERS. Staying up all night to work, particularly if it becomes a routine way of working, undermines your ability to think and therefore design properly. It is not considered a good habit. Seek to get no less than 6 hours of sleep every night. You will perform better.
UNIVERSITY DEADLINES
Each term there are specific deadlines announced on the Registrars part
of the website: click on Important Dates at:
http://www.quest.uwaterloo.ca/undergraduate/dates.html
There are deadlines for fee payments in order to avoid late fees. There is also a deadline after which, if you have not paid fees, you will be automatically deregistered and asked to leave the university. Paper fee statements are no longer provided by the University; they are available only through Quest. The Quest website contains a link in the Help section under How Do I View My Account to the University Finance website on which you can view a schedule of fees. There is no such thing as a free term. Your tuition covers only 20% of the cost to educate you. If the University does not receive your fees in a timely fashion, the Government does not give the University the remaining 80% of the money. It is called a “head grant.” We have students every term it seems who “forget” to pay their fees. I don’t know about you, but writing a cheque for several thousand dollars is quite memorable to me. The “I forgot” excuse doesn’t work
QUEST - THE BIG IDEA
Quest is a “student driven” system. The idea is to have students
“in charge of themselves.” You register yourself, you have access to
your registration information / status / course schedules / grades /
fee statements / biographical information – all online, from anywhere
and at any time. You add and drop courses online. You can update
your home and mailing addresses and email information. You can print
off unofficial copies of your transcripts as well.
This control brings with it responsibility. If you are registered for courses you are not taking, it is up to you to drop these in a timely fashion. The “higher ups” are increasingly reluctant to grant late drop petitions. They cannot understand why you could not have checked your status in a more timely fashion. Frankly, nor can I. This also goes for making sure you are registered for courses you are taking. Late adds are also being frowned upon and often not granted.
If you have met all the prerequisites for any of our Arch courses, you should be able to sign up. If you have failed a prerequisite, the request will be denied. If your Quest record shows “service indicators,” this means you have either failed something or owe money. You will be denied self registration in this case and must talk to the UGAC officer regarding your situation. Finance service indicators cannot be overridden. Monies owed must be paid in order to register.
Some courses are divided into subsections (i.e. lab and lecture components or multi studio portions). You have to be sure to sign up for all the “parts” of some courses for the registration to work.
The only courses you are not allowed to sign up for yourselves are research and experimental courses (like Arch 384, 484). You must email the UGAC officer with these requests who then has to fill out forms to allow your entry.
The system also will limit the number of credits you may sign up for. This eliminates students signing up for 3 or 4 electives, cruising around, checking them out, and then dropping the ones they don’t want.
Quest has redone their instruction section on their part of the site.
You get to Quest through the UW homepage
(
http://quest.uwaterloo.ca/undergraduate/). Please try to work
through the instructions before you cry for help. If you have problems,
first contact the Quest people. Remember, it’s a student driven system.
DROPPING AND ADDING COURSES
Students can enroll in courses online through Quest. They can also drop and
add courses online up until a certain point in the term. Usually online ADD
is in effect for the first two weeks of the term, and online DROP is in
effect for the balance of the term. The exact dates are posted on
the Registrar’s website (see Important Dates at
http://www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/students/index.html) and are noted
in the side column on the course homepages and on your term calendars of
deadlines. There are two types of penalties for dropping a
course after the initial deadline. The first is a WD grade. The course
will permanently appear on your transcript with a WD beside it. No grade
is entered. If you drop a course during the third month of
the term, a WF grade is assigned with a permanent grade of 32% attached
to it. It is better to just finish a course than drop it during the
third month.
INCOMPLETE COURSES
An INC grade is only given in a course for extenuating circumstances. The
INC is supposed to allow a student to recover/regroup and complete the
work prior to the beginning of the following term; ie. 4 months. It is
not meant as an open ended amount of time to complete the work at either
your leisure or convenience.
If you receive an INC grade on your end of term transcript, you will also receive a MNP (May Not Proceed) decision and an Academic Advice Service Indicator. Your registration for the following term (online enrollment) will be blocked until the INC grade is cleared. No exceptions. It is important that you complete your work in a timely fashion and allow two to three weeks for the professor to grade this late work and then another week or more for the grade to be processed and the service indicator to be lifted. Late grading is not an instantaneous process. Nor will the professor be able to "drop everything" to attend to late grading as the current term's teaching responsibilities will normally take priority.
Even if you have successfully pre-enrolled for an upcoming term, an INC grade and a MNP decision will result in your pre-enrollment being cancelled.
REPEATING FAILED COURSES
If you fail a core course you are required to repeat the course.
ARCHITECTURE DOES NOT OFFER SUPPLEMENTAL EXAMS, DEALS OR EXTRA
PROJECTS TO MAKE UP THE FAILING PERCENT POINTS. You will need
to be overridden into subsequent terms until this course is cleared.
You will not have a normal enrollment appointment. Please contact the UGAC officer
at registration time to make arrangements.
If you fail an elective course, you may either repeat that course or take another elective to replace the credit requirement. For courses of 1.0CR or higher weighting, the old failed grade will remain on your transcript (but not figure into yoru average -- this shows up as a NACC on your transcript) and the new grade will be calculated into your average. For all 0.5CR courses or less, both grades will be calculated into your average.
This policy became effective as of September 2001. Failed courses taken before September 2001 are all eligible for a NACC designation if they have been repeated. If you are an "old timer", and this does not show up correctly on your transcript, please contact me as I have had to do all of these manually. When the new Quest system begun in 2001 file conversion resulted in all previously nulled grades being refigured into your average.
FAILING STUDIO: Most studio courses will have a proviso in their course outline that will state "if a student fails the final project, they fail the term, regardless of the overall average obtained for the term". As there is much group work in the early part of most studio courses, the final individual project must demnostrate essential skill levels and lessons learned in order for the student to progress to the next term. The studios are arranged much like building blocks. If the design studio faculty (who always team grade projects and compare all of the projects within a class when grading) feel that you are not ready to proceed, you will be held back. If the actual average is a pass, but the final project causes the fail, a grade of 46% will normally be applied.
AVOIDANCE OF ACADEMIC OFFENSES
Academic Integrity:To create and promote a culture of academic integrity, the behaviour of all members of the University of Waterloo is based on honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.
Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm
Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm
Appeals:A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm
Note for students with disabilities: The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term. Once registered with OPD, please meet with the professor, in confidence, during my office hours to discuss your needs.
APPEALS
If you are unhappy with the grade you are given in any course (stemming
from the rationale that you feel it really should have been higher...,
NOT that you were mistreated), this is the procedure.
1. The student attempts an informal resolution by speaking to or
corresponding with the Professor. They are still "not
satisfied".
2. The student completes a request for reassessment form
(www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/forms/FormalInquiry.pdf) and submits it
to the Associate Dean Undergrad (Wayne Loucks, Engineering). Often the
student will meet with him before the form is submitted, or even call
him (or a phone appointment booked through Colleen at 4761).
3. Once the Associate Dean has the form and explanation he forwards
the whole lot to the Chair (Director) for action and consideration
(with a cover memo). At this point the chair selects to most reasonable
technique to determine the validity of the request. If a studio
reassessment, a committee of 3 studio faculty (who were not involved
in creating the original grade) look at the project, the project outline
and other projects from the term that had similar grades, as well as
those on either side.
4. The Associate Dean receives a decision/recommendation and communicates
that to the student.
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES
There are 3 (acceptable) ways of getting your degree at UWSA without
studying IN Waterloo.
1. Rome. This is the easiest way as the entire class goes to Rome, is taught by UW faculty, tuition is paid to UW, your grades are easily recorded on your transcript as they follow our grading system. You take all of the required courses for that term.
WARNING:
Exchange grades and Letter of Permission grades are entered as CR. Numeric grades are not entered. If you are looking for Scholarship opportunities, this can be negative. Be forwarned that students can end up doing an extra term to complete
their UWSA courses and this will cost extra fees if you cannot find an institution with proper matches for the courses. You are not exempted from
workterms. Also, students away on exchange do not go
through the normal coop job placement process. You are given last dibs
on unclaimed jobs. Best to arrange your employment before you go.
If this is not enough travel experience for you there are 2 other ways, however, you are responsible for picking a program that has all of your core courses available. This is very tricky as we are on a coop system and other universities may not offer courses such as timber, steel, concrete, ico, environmental design, etc. You are responsible to make these courses up, even if it means taking an extra year/term back at Waterloo to make up the courses. In no case is a student exempted from our core courses simply because they were not offered at their exchange university. As part of our accreditation deal, you are required to take all of our courses or their approved (by your UGAC officer) equivalents. Even the studio you take must be similar in nature to the one offered at UW. This is of particular importance for the 3A term as you would need to find Steel, Concrete and Cold Climate Building Science, and the 4B comprehensive building design term. As a rule, exchanges during the 3A and 4B CBD term are not permitted. The 3B term is presently the suggested term for an exchange. You need to find a school that offers an Option Studio (pretty open for theme), a course in Modern Architecture (studying the local architecture in detail is fine), an urban course, an advanced building technology or structures course, and an elective.
2. International Exchange Program: This is the next "cheapest" way to do a travel term. It has some key hitches though. You must be going to a University with a program in architecture that is part of a registered exchange with UW. Because the tuition is paid to UW, (much cheaper than anywhere else), the other university has a similar arrangement for their students to come to Waterloo. The numbers of students going back and forth are approximately equal. You need to check the UW website for a list of limited schools that take part. Look here to see if you can find an authorized exchange. Exchanges are a legal swap agreement that expect similar numbers of students from here to go there, and vice versa. If it is not listed on that website, it doesn't exist. Here are the university rules about exchanges.
We register you at Waterloo for the same course numbers that you are supposed to be taking that term. When your transcript arrives back after you complete the abroad term, we are required to give you a CR for the course and not a grade. For students concerned about raising their averages to obtain a 75% for Masters admission, this might be a problem. Make sure you can handle the language of study. We have had difficulty with students trying to study in Italy (Pescara) or Mexico (old NAFTA exchange) or Taiwan -- who could not make their courses due to the inability to speak/write/read a university level of the language of the host country. It is slightly more demanding than ordering a meal in a restaurant... Imagine taking Ico if you didn't really speak English.
All arrangements for Exchanges MUST go through Cindy Howe at the Engineering Exchange Office and Donna Woolcott is the point person at the School.
Website for Engineering Exchange Office.
List of countries with Exchange Opportunities.
GENERAL PROCEDURES.****VERY IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW THESE! IT CAN TAKE A YEAR TO GET ALL OF THE ARRANGEMENTS IN PLACE.
You must complete a Sequence Change Form for CECS.
Recent exchanges:
Please look through the institutions and packages on this website.
3. Letter of Permission: In this type of program you register at another University and pay tuition to them (not UW). It can be very expensive as most US schools have much higher tuition than here. Single courses at Pratt, for instance, are $US1500. Most universities have higher rates for international students. The university you are applying to must first accept you as a student and allow you to study there (this has nothing to do with us). You must then fill out a UW Letter of Permission form, which is cleared through the UGAC Officer. I must see full course descriptions in order to grant course equivalency. When you complete your course (with a minimum C- grade or it won't count at all), you get a CR grade as a transfer credit on your transcript. The onus is on the student to obtain the official transcript and hand it in to the Office for final crediting of the courses on your UW transcript.
Letters of Permission can also be used to pick up electives at another university while on a work term, or to retake courses that you have failed. These must be pre-cleared with the UGAC officer in advance of taking the course. Again a minimum C- (62%) grade must be achieved for the course to count.
Exchanges and Letters of Permission take extra time for the front office and the student. You have to think well in advance of when you would like to travel. Many exchanges require application up to a year in advance. It is the responsibility of the student to send Donna all the information about the proposed exchange or Letter of Permission course, including detailed course descriptions so that equivalancy of courses can be assessed. Think carefully about exchanges. It is rather embarrassing when students drop out at the last minute, after many people have spent a great deal of time making preparations for the exchange. It is also the student's responsibility to make sure that transcripts are sent to Donna so that credits can be applied.
4. Terms away and Coop: Students who are not studying in Cambridge, nor on the Rome term, are not included in the regular coop education job system. They will only be eligible for the last available jobs, given out a couple of weeks before the end of term. Best advised to have something lined up ahead of time.... Also, if your exchange term dates do not coincide precisely with Waterloo term dates, you must complete a Sequence Change Form for the CECS people.
DEANS HONOURS LIST ELIGIBILITY
For those of you to whom being on the Deans Honours list is important, this is for you.
You need to:
a) have one of the top 3 to 5% in ranking in your class.
b) have not received a failing grade in any course or received INC grades
in the term for which you are under consideration for DHL
c) have been in attendance full time that term and have taken not less
than 3 courses
Rule c) knocks out anyone who is spending all of their time (say on studio), but chooses to "postpone" completing other courses until later (therefore giving you more time to get better grades in the courses you complete).
The Dean of Engineering states the rules for this. It is arrived at by a
complicated secret formula... It is based upon your rank in the class,
having an average over 80%, and being in the top 3%. So just having an
average over 80% is insufficient.