Early Academic Assessment (EAA)/Midterm Grading:
September 16, 2021 through October 13, 2021
TO: All teaching faculty
FROM: R. Darin Ellis, Associate Provost of Academic Programs and Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness
RE: Early Academic Assessment/Midterm Grading Fall 2021
We have a new name—Midterm Grades. For ease in the switch, we will be including both the old name, EAA, and the new name, Midterm Grades, in our communications this term.
Please remember that the EAA/Midterm Grades period begins week 3 and continues to the beginning of week 8.
After conducting surveys of students who have received EAA/Midterm Grade warnings of C- and below, students stated that when the warning comes from the instructor it carries more weight. Therefore, when you give EAA/Midterm grades, the warning notice will come from you rather than from me. Students do not necessarily know who I am, so it makes the email alert more personal and readily identifiable if it comes from your account. If you do not agree, you may have the letter come from me. Just select the button having the letter sent by the Associate Provost. You will be able to see the letter that the student will receive from you, but you will not be able to change it.
While all teaching faculty are urged to use the EAA/Midterm Grades reporting system, only instructors teaching courses numbered 3999 and below are required to give EAA grades. Student comments from the surveys in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 indicated that students in higher-level courses (4000 level and above) have found the alert to be helpful.
As part of our retention/graduation initiative, class lists will now show the class level of the enrolled students. Please check to see if all of the enrolled students are correctly placed (e.g., there are no freshmen in your 4000 or 5000 level course). In order to retrieve your class list(s) with class levels, sign in to Academica and go to “Faculty Instructional Resources.” Next, select “Download Classlist”. When a new window pops up, select the second option “Download a class list from the Datamart/ODS”. Values for undergraduate students include:
U1—Freshmen
U2—Sophomore
U3—Junior
U4—Senior
U6—Post-bachelor
This is the first fall semester that we are using the new grading system. All students enrolled in courses numbered 3999 and below should receive a grade, but only those students who receive a grade of C- or below will get an email notification after you submit their grades. Students that receive EAA/Midterm grades of C or above can view their grades on Academica but will not receive an alert. The "No One Needs" button no longer exists! On the upside, faculty will be able to upload their grades from an EXCEL spreadsheet. The grading system does not allow a direct upload from CANVAS. One must first download to EXCEL and then upload that spreadsheet to the EAA/Midterm grading system. Faculty will continue to click one of the two submit buttons to determine who signs the email to the student: the email comes either from the faculty member or from the Associate Provost.
Once you have entered EAA/Midterm Grades in Academica, please announce this in your class. I hope that this will increase the possibility that your students will check their WSU email for a possible alert.
EAA grading pages are available for entry in Academica beginning Thursday, September 16, 2021, through Wednesday, October 13, 2021. Detailed information (including procedures, details of the grading system, and technical support information) is available online by clicking on the Online EAA/Midterm grade Program link: http://reg.wayne.edu/faculty/eaa.php.
In addition to the Early Academic Assessment (EAA)/Midterm Grading, we will be requesting more detailed reports for both our Student-Athletes and students who are receiving additional academic support from one of our campus partners using Week 3 and Week 9 Progress Reports. Our Academic Advisors, Athletic Coaches, and Student Success Coaches rely heavily on these progress reports to tell us more about how these students are doing in your classroom and how we can support you in teaching our students. The Weeks 3 and 9 Progress Reports combined with the EAA/Midterm Grades, help our students not only succeed but thrive here at Wayne State University.
Naida and I would like to thank you for attaining a 98% participation rate for winter 2021. We want to encourage you to exceed that and aim for 100%!
Your active participation is essential to our efforts to improve student learning, and I appreciate your efforts to support this program. If you have any questions or want to request an exemption, contact either your college EAA/Midterm grades coordinator (available on the registrar’s website in the grading tab in the above link) or Dr. Naida Simon at n.simon@wayne.edu or 313-577-3157.
