Academic resources for faculty & staff

This page is jointly maintained by Undergraduate and Graduate Student Services in consultation with the academic departments. This page includes best practices and resources not found in the WashU Bulletin. Links to the Bulletin are included where appropriate. The Bulletin is a reference for school policy. It supersedes any web content and is specific to each student’s year of entry.

Teaching & Grading Resources

The Center for Teaching and Learning

The mission of The Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington University is to improve teaching and learning by integrating pedagogy and scholarship with classroom design. Bookmark The Teaching Center's website and return regularly to learn about its faculty programs, learning communities—including the STEM Education Research Group, and symposia. The Teaching Center is your source for information on:

• Course Design and Preparation
• Constructing a syllabus
• Teaching Methods

WebFac

WebFAC provides a platform for viewing course information, including class rosters (showing the numbers of enrolled, waitlisted and dropped students), course classroom location, and final exam dates and times. In addition, a built-in email tool allows instructors and teaching assistants to send emails to an entire class or selected students.

Although WebAdvising is also available to faculty advisers (more information below), many faculty prefer to also manage advisees through WebFAC. This includes advisee grades, class schedules, GPAs and unofficial transcripts. advisers can see student registration worksheets and authorize students to register from within WebFAC.

WebFAC also acts as a starting point for access to other web applications, including A&S PlanIT, Canvas, Course Evaluations, Course Listings, EGrades, Syllabi Central, WebAdvising and WebSTAC.

More information regarding WebFAC may be found at the WebFAC help site.

Class Attendance

Each professor in the McKelvey School of Engineering decides how many absences a student may have and still pass the course. Professors are expected to give reasonable consideration to unavoidable absences and to the feasibility of making up work that has been missed. Students are expected to explain to their professors the reasons for any absences and to discuss with them the possibility of making up missed assignments.

• http://bulletin.wustl.edu/undergrad/engineering/policies/

Canvas

Canvas is the university sponsored and maintained learning management system (LMS) on campus. The best place to start is mycanvas.wustl.edu.

E-grades

EGrades is a web application used by faculty and instructors to submit and approve mid-term and final grades. The electronic grade submission process, called EGrades, gives each instructor the ability to enter grades directly into an online roster or to import a file containing grade information. Grades entered and approved online immediately post to the students' academic records in the university's Student Information System (SIS) and display to students in WebSTAC. The easiest way to access EGrades is from within WebFAC. After logging in to WebFAC, select the EGrades link from the left-hand menu. The EGrades Home page will list all course sections for which instructors have been designated in WUCRSL (the course listings database) as an instructor or as a support person with EGrades approval capability, and for which the grading period is open. Instructors should contact their departmental course administrator if they do not see their course sections listed in EGrades or if they don't have the capability necessary to approve grades.

More information regarding EGrades may be found at the EGrades help site.

Incomplete Grades

The most up-to-date policy on incomplete grades (I-grades) can be found in The Bulletin. What appears below is considered best practice and is endorsed by the McKelvey Undergraduate Studies Committee and the McKelvey Masters Curriculum and Policy Committee.

While use of the I-grade is the prerogative of the course instructor, guidelines for its use follow:

1. A student should have completed and passed a majority (or some agreed-upon preponderance) of the work required for a course.
2. An incomplete should not be given simply because a student fails to complete all course requirements on time, if there are excessive absences, and/or the student is already failing the course. In such instances consideration should be given to simply submitting the grade that the student has earned.
3. An incomplete grade should not result in a student potentially gaining advantage over his or her classmates by virtue of obtaining additional time to do a superior job.
4. The student should initiate the request for an incomplete grade, and such request should be made by the last class meeting. Incomplete grades should be issued only when there is an agreement in place with the student as to the nature of the outstanding work, and the timeline for completion (if different than outlined in the McKelvey Incomplete grades policy). It is the student's responsibility to be in communication with the instructor regarding these details.
5. A student should not re-enroll in a class to complete an 'I' grade. Enrolling in the class a second time invokes the Retake Policy. A student who would need to re-enroll in a course has not met the 'majority of the work' guideline (see point (a), above.

Course Evaluations

At McKelvey we participate in university-managed course evaluations for all fall, spring, and summer courses. More information can be found at evals.wustl.edu. The primary contact for McKelvey course evaluations is Asst. Dean and Registrar Laura Setchfield.

The Faculty Information Handbook

Maintained by the Provost's office, and includes information regarding best-practice and policies surrounding class cancellation, disability resources, Title IX, etc. You are encouraged to review the Statement of Best Practices and Expectations on Teaching and Learning at Washington University

Final Exams and Reading Days

The Washington University in St. Louis academic calendar is designed to establish and preserve maximum classroom instruction time for all courses, protect students' opportunities for review of course material, and provide faculty with ample means to evaluate performance.

If unforeseen circumstances prevent the student from sitting for the regularly scheduled examination, instructors should make alternate arrangements on an individual basis. Faculty members are encouraged to be responsive to requests from students whose religious commitments conflict with scheduled examinations.

• https://facultyinformationhandbook.wustl.edu/reading-days-and-final-examination-period/

Advising Resources

WebAdvising and WUachieve

Whereas WebFAC is primarily used for teaching, WebAdvising is a tool specially designed for use while advising. Although originally created for Arts & Sciences, it is the best place to retrieve a complete picture of your advisee's progress.

Also available for use while advising is the university sponsored and maintained degree audit system, WUachieve. For more information, please visit the McKelvey WUachieve site.

Pre-requisites

There is no system functionality that prevents students from enrolling based on incomplete pre-requisite coursework. As needed, the McKelvey Engineering Registrars can run reports to verify that all enrolled students in a course have met listed prerequisites. The best place to find information on course pre-requisites is within the course description either in The Bulletin or Course Listings.

Transfer courses

As an adviser you may be asked about already completed or intended transfer courses. The best contact for student questions related to transfer credit is the McKelvey Registrars. You can send them an email by clicking under Quick Contacts to the top right. The registrars also maintain a transfer database with approved equivalencies. This page also includes a form to request new equivalencies.

Undergrads can find more info about transfer courses at the EUSS Transfer Course webpage. Transfer course policies for undergraduate can be found in The Bulletin. Graduate students should speak with their faculty adviser as all transfer work must be approved by the department. Transfer course policies for graduate student can be found in The Bulletin.

Waitlists

Course enrollment limits and waitlists are controlled at the department level. Work with your departmental administrator to understand and change these settings for your courses.

Student Record Holds

Students who have a hold on their academic records are not allowed to register for additional coursework or make schedule changes. All students should check before registration to verify there are no holds on their records. Students with records on hold should check with the related department to have the hold removed. Holds information is available to students via WebSTAC and to advisers and certain administrators via various applications such as webadvising.

Registration Authorization

Washington University considers advising to be an important part of a student's educational experience. Most students are therefore required to meet with their academic adviser prior to registration each semester. Students are encouraged to formulate their educational goals, make lists of the courses they wish to take (including alternatives) and review these when meeting with their academic adviser. The McKelvey Registrar will communicate registration information via email to both students and advisers prior to summer and fall registration.

• Registration information

Administrative Resources

Calendars

There are several calendars to bookmark

• McKelvey Engineering Academic Calendar
• University Academic Calendar
• McKelvey Engineering Events Calendar

WUCRSL

WUCrsL is the Washington University Course Listing system. It is a client software tool used by CFU administrators and the academic units to maintain course data. WUCrsL was developed in-house by WUIT and receives ongoing enhancements to meet the needs of the university. Access is limited to select users and is protected by WUSTL Key authentication. The course data entered into WUCrsL is reviewed and approved before ultimately appearing in The Bulletin or in the Online Course Listings. Within each department select administrative users have access to enter course data into WUCRSL. This group is organized and assisted by the McKelvey Registrar.

SISAdmin

The Student Information System (SIS) contains data relative to the academic records of all Washington University students. It is the official record of the university. The data in SIS is the core of the students' educational record and includes detail on each student's program(s) of study and coursework, as well as demographics and other supporting information. SIS user interfaces include client software for administrative users and a number of web applications designed to meet the needs of specific constituent groups, all of which access SIS data in real time. SISAdmin is the client software tool used by CFU administrators and the academic units to maintain student data, programs of study, enrollment functions, Housing records, and Student Accounting data. SISAdmin was developed in-house by WUIT and receive ongoing enhancements to meet the needs of the university. Access is limited to select users and is protected by WUSTL Key authentication. Within each department select administrative users have access to SISAdmin. This group is organized and assisted by the McKelvey Registrar.