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Investigate poor answer #112

Open srkirkland opened 1 week ago

srkirkland commented 1 week ago

received from: rpthomas@ucdavis.edu

Submitting User Info: Kerb Id: rpthomas Name: Rohit Thomas

Original Subject: Hallucinations from Policy Wonk Urgency Level: Non-Critical Issue Support Department: Programming Support For Application: PolicyWonk

Supplied Message Body: Hi, I just wanted to let you know about two arguably incorrect responses from Policy Wonk.

I set the Focus to APM and asked, "can an assignment be due after the final exam?" I got an answer which specifically mentioned the "timing of assignments" and deadlines, although the cited reference did not mention timing or deadlines. https://policywonk.ucdavis.edu/share/QFIthfM19t_uofE5osPNf

I also asked the same question with almost-identical wording, "can assignments be due after final exams?" This time I got both the statement of a policy and a response that indicated there wasn't enough information to answer the question, with no citation. https://policywonk.ucdavis.edu/share/1deuB4kxZXoqLF4tnasNa

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I would suggest an answer that quoted the policy more closely, such as, "The faculty has authority for all aspects of the course, including content, structure, relevance of alternative points of view, and evaluations," perhaps with the addition that these decisions "should be based upon academic considerations administered fairly and equitably under policies established by the Academic Senate"--WITHOUT mentioning "timing of assignments" or stating that, "Yes, an assignment can be due after the final exam." An answer like, "Sorry, I couldn't find enough information," would also be appropriate--better to give incomplete information than to give incorrect information.

That is, since PW couldn't find a policy stating that faculty have complete authority over timing of assignments, PW shouldn't state that faculty do have this authority.

I don't know if there's a more relevant policy to cite. Certainly it's not appropriate for faculty to set deadlines that occur after the end of the quarter, although this isn't exactly what I asked.