Assessment Archives - Academic Induction

Transfers and Withdrawals

Coventry University 09.16.2014 Comments Off

The purpose of the procedure is to notify the Faculty Registrar, as a matter of urgency, of any significant changes to the information given about students at enrolment, so that records may be kept up to date, appropriate internal action initiated and outside bodies informed as necessary.

Please note that it is a student’s responsibility to notify the University of their withdrawal at the point of leaving the course by completing a withdrawal form and submitting this to the relevant Faculty Registry Office. All course and module changes must take place by the close of business of the Monday of teaching week

Transfers

Step 1: The Course Director for the course on which the student is enrolled is responsible for checking the Amendment to Enrolment Form and returning it to the Faculty Registrar for authorisation. In cases of internal transfers the Course Director releasing the student should obtain the signature of the Course Director of the course that the student is transferring to.

Step 2: The student’s signature should be obtained, if this is possible.

Step 3: The Faculty Registrar is responsible for securing the consequent modification of all central records and informing the Finance Office, via UNIVERSE, so that any financial adjustments can be made. The Faculty Registrar also notifies, on behalf of the University, any external bodies concerned.

Permanent or temporary withdrawal

Step 1: The Course Director for the course on which the student is enrolled is responsible for checking the Complete Withdrawal Form and sending it to the Faculty Registrar. Overseas students MUST be referred to the International Office for guidance on the visa implications of temporary withdrawal/interruption of study. The date of withdrawal will be taken as the date when the form is authorised by the Faculty Registrar.

Step 2: The student’s signature should be obtained, if this is possible.

Step 3: The Faculty Registrar is responsible for securing the consequent modification of all central records. The Faculty Registrar also notifies, on behalf of the University, any external bodies concerned, as well as circulating confirmation e-mail notices to internal Departments

Deferrals

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A deferral is permission to delay an attempt at a particular assessment until after the relevant assessment board has met. A deferral normally involves a new but equivalent assessment task. In the case of an unseen written examination, the deferred attempt will take place at the next scheduled examination period. If you are asked to advise a student on applying for a deferral please follow these steps:

Step 1: Refer the student to the guide ‘Extenuating circumstances – a guide for students’ which is available from the Registry section of the Student Portal

Step 2: Having read this advice and if the student feels there are grounds for a deferral, please direct them to the Registry section of the Student Portal or to the Faculty Registry to obtain a deferral form and advise them of the importance of submitting this form with third-party evidence BEFORE the submission date of the assessment. All forms with evidence must be submitted to the Faculty Registry.

Step 3: After consideration, the student will be notified via e-mail of the decision whether or not to grant a deferral (normally within 24 hours). If successful, they will be informed of the next opportunity to attempt the assessment. Depending on the structure of the course, this may be at the same time in the following year or during the next semester. When attempting a re-scheduled assessment, it will be treated as a first attempt and no penalties will be applied (unless it is a deferred re-sit whether the module mark will be capped). If rejected, the student can appeal within seven working days, but must provide new third-party evidence which will have not been considered previously.

Extensions

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An extension is permission to hand in a piece of assessed work after the published hand-in date without incurring a penalty. If a student is granted an extension, this will normally be for a period of up to two weeks. If their circumstances are such that an extension of up to two weeks would not be sufficient or they feel that despite being granted an extension their performance in a piece of coursework could be seriously impaired, they may apply for a deferral of the coursework assessment.

To qualify for an extension the student must have mitigating circumstances which are unexpected and/or exceptional.

If you are asked to advise a student on applying for an extension please follow these steps:

Step 1: Refer the student to the guide ‘Extenuating circumstances – a guide for students’ which is available from the Registry section of the Student Portal

Step 2: Having read this advice and if the student feels there are grounds for an extension, please direct them to the Registry section of the Student Portal or to the Faculty Registry to obtain an extension form and advise them of the importance of submitting this form with third-party evidence BEFORE the submission date of the assessment. All forms with evidence must be submitted to the Faculty Registry.

Step 3: After consideration, the student will be notified via e-mail of the decision whether or not to grant an extension (normally within 24 hours). If successful, they will be given a new submission date no more than two weeks after the original submission date. If rejected, the student can appeal within two working days, but must provide new third-party evidence which will have not been considered previously.

Step 4: The Module Leader will be notified by the Faculty Registry of all successful extension applications relating to your module. Providing the student meets the new extended deadline, they will be awarded full marks for the work submitted. Work submitted after the extended hand-in date should receive a mark of zero.

Plagiarism and Turnitin

Coventry University 09.16.2014 Comments Off

Plagiarism is the term used commonly across the University for all forms of cheating in assessment, including the copying of other students’ work, inappropriate collaboration etc. The process for investigating plagiarism cases is Faculty-based and each Faculty has a number of Academic Conduct Officers (ACOs), usually one per Department, who have two main roles:

a) to consider cases of alleged academic misconduct and either (i) determine if any academic and/or disciplinary penalties should be imposed, or (ii) in extremely serious cases, that may involve a student being excluded from the university, refer the case to an Academic Conduct Panel (ACP) for a decision;

b) to meet students accused of plagiarism or other forms of cheating and, in addition to discussing the alleged cheating offence, to help advise them how to improve their work, particularly in cases where students have not properly understood how to reference sources used, and also to help advise staff on how to detect and deter plagiarism.

Turnitin is an on-line service that checks if a text-based piece of coursework contains sections that are identical to work previously published elsewhere or posted on the internet or submitted by other students. However,

not all overlaps found by Turnitin are necessarily plagiarised;
work may be plagiarised even if Turnitin does not find any overlaps;
embedded pictures, tables and non-text objects and any textual content within such items cannot be compared or matched by Turnitin.

Nevertheless, it is still a very useful tool to help detect if plagiarism may be present. Turnitin can also be used for on-line marking of coursework, and this is now the expected norm in some subject areas. If you identify a possible case of plagiarism when marking, please contact your Academic Conduct Officer for advice.

Moodle

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Moodle is the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE) and Module Leaders are responsible for maintaining a module web for their module(s) which includes:

names and e-mail addresses for all tutors on module;
teaching timetable for year with rooms and activities;
assessment titles and requirements, assessment weightings and deadlines for coursework (add to calendar);
details of exams, length and time of year, marks for coursework;
Module Guide, teaching materials where possible and previous exam papers.

For further information on Moodle, including help guides, please go to: http://cuba.coventry.ac.uk/moodletutorhelp/basics/

Exams

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Examinations are time-limited assessments, organised and invigilated by Academic Registry. Examinations take place at the end of each teaching cycle, i.e. each semester, however, the process of preparation of this takes place throughout the year.

Step 1: As Module Leader you must make the format of the assessment clear in your Module Descriptor and indicate whether an examination is required.

Step 2: In advance or at the beginning of the academic session you will be contacted by your Faculty Registry Team who will request a draft examination paper and will notify you of the deadline.

Step 3: Prior to the submission deadline you must produce your exam paper, or as Module Leader, collect and collate all questions and ensure that the paper has been internally moderated.*

Step 4: Once submitted, your paper will be moderated by the external examiner and you will receive copies of the external examiner’s comments for your response. You will be required to inform your Faculty Registry Team once your paper is complete.

Step 5: The Registry Team will duplicate and submit your paper to Academic Registry for distribution. You must ensure that you are aware of the exam date and location and be present for the first 20 minutes of the exam to answer student queries and again at the end of the examination to collect your papers from Academic Registry for marking.

*This process is in transition between paper based and online using the “SharePoint” system. You may well be using SharePoint where this process is simplified using a workflow which prompts staff, via e-mail, to undertake their role in developing the exam papers.

Coursework

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It is the responsibility of the Module Leader to ensure that all assessment, including assessed coursework, is clearly outlined in the Module Descriptor. Assessed coursework normally falls into one of four categories:

Assignments with hand in date;
work, which is set during a scheduled class and collected (in class) normally within two weeks;
in-class tests;
laboratory sign-off, where class time is scheduled for laboratory/practical work to be demonstrated and signed off.

Coursework Journey

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Assessment should be, wherever practicable, online with feedback online. This means that full advantage can be taken of Moodle 2, TurnItIn and the Gradebook. Marks for all assessment should be published, under provisional cover, on Moodle as soon as possible after grading. The student can then check their grades ahead of the examination board and the uploading of grades from Moodle to Universe can be done most effectively. Examination grades should not be published before the end of the examination period, but ought to be available as soon as practicable afterwards.