Make Your Mark: #SaveOurStudents

Seen a flurry of blue profile frames on your timeline recently? Yep, that’s #SaveOurStudents.

The QUT Guild has launched a campaign calling for students to sign a petition advocating for temporary academic concessions during the COVID-19 period. The Guild is calling on the QUT administration to #saveourstudents by providing equitable academic concessions and implementing an opt-in pass/fail grading system for Semester 1 2020. The petition is addressed to University Registrar Leanne Harvey and Vice-Chancellor Margaret Shiel and calls for reducing the weighting of group assignments, reducing the amount of documentation required to obtain an extension, reduce coursework to account for the week of teaching lost, amongst other things.

An element of the petition at the height of conversation is the call for an opt-in pass/fail system. Essentially, if a student with a 6.3 GPA received a grade significantly lower than their average, they could opt in to have that grade excluded from their overall GPA, with their academic transcript displaying a pass for the course rather than a number grade. The University of Melbourne Student Union recently ensured this opt-in system for its students, amassing over 13,000 signatures. If you would like to hear more about UMSU’s approach, Find more information here.

Find the QUT petition here at this link, and show your support by adding the below frame to your profile photo with the below caption. Glass wholly endorses this measure from the QUT Guild. We believe that students should have options and autonomy in this time to make the right choices for them, rather than navigating increasing restrictions and limitations.

Facebook Frame: here.

Caption: 

SIGN THE PETITION HERE:
https://bit.ly/3cuJoKr

The Guild is calling on the QUT administration to #saveourstudents by providing equitable academic concessions and implementing an opt-in pass/fail grading system for Semester 1 2020.

Students are doing it tough, and it’s certain this is going to have a substantial impact on our ability to study and submit assessment items that truly reflect our best potential.

A student who normally gets 7s might get a 5, or a student who normally just passes might fail. This affects career prospects, and the ability to change courses. The university has already agreed to not record fail grades this semester, but they need to go further and follow the University of Melbourne’s lead by implementing an opt-in system where students can choose whether their grades for this semester are included in their GPA.

This, along with the other academic concessions we’re calling for will help Level the COVID-19 playing field and minimise disruption to our learning.
Please support QUT students by signing the petition, changing your profile frame in support and encouraging your friends to sign as well.

QUT, #SaveOurStudents

Em Readman
Em Readman

Em Readman is a writer from Meanjin who lives in Boorloo. She has been published in Aniko Press, the Suburban Review, Bowen St Press, Baby Teeth Arts, and others. They were an editor of Glass Magazine in 2020 and 2021, and won the 2022 Blue Knot Foundation Award with the Hunter Writer's Centre.

Articles: 64

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