Mark Roche, a 21-year-old biomedical engineering student at UC Irvine, said his classes depend on teaching assistants. Finals this quarter were altered from tests to group projects, which has resulted in less stress for Roche. “Honestly, I thought it was a win,” he said. But Iliana Rosas, 21, was disappointed this week when the professor for her sociology, race and ethnicity class canceled their final exam. She was looking forward to testing her knowledge. But without a teaching assistant to grade the test, the professor decided to eliminate it. … Professors at UC Irvine were also given additional time — until the third week of January — to submit student grades for the quarter. This means if a student fails a class, they won’t know until the next quarter has already started and they’ll be behind if they need to immediately retake it, Rosas said. [Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email to communications@uci.edu.] Read More