Assessment Practices Policy

Intent

This policy specifies the requirements of assessment practice for undergraduate and postgraduate coursework subjects.

Scope

All undergraduate and postgraduate coursework subjects.

Definitions

Definition of terms used in this policy are as per the ‘Glossary of Terms for Policies in the ‘Student’ and ‘Teaching and Course Management’ chapters’ of the Policy Library.

Policy and Procedures

A. General policy provisions

1.
Fairness and objectivity in assessment

a.
Teaching staff must assess each student's work fairly, objectively and consistently.

2.
Format of assessment

a.
Assessment must be based on more than one piece of work, other than in subjects with a designated research component.
b.
As part of the assessment in every subject, students should be required to produce some written work and at least one piece of individual work.
c.
Assessment methods must provide reasonable accommodation for students with a disability.
d.
No change may be made to the nature or weightings of assessment tasks after the second week of the study period (where the study period is 10 weeks or longer in duration), or after the first week of the study period (where the study period is less than 10 weeks’ duration), without the consent of every student enrolled in the subject. The Subject Coordinator must seek approval from the Head of School for any proposed changes in advance and for the way in which students are to be notified.

3.
Learning outcomes

a.
Assessment will require demonstration of achievement in a range of learning outcomes which accurately reflect the complex nature of particular disciplines.
b.
Assessments across all of the subjects in a course should cover the graduate attributes specified by Academic Board.

4.
Invigilation and weighting of assessment:

a.
For on-campus undergraduate subjects and on-campus postgraduate coursework subjects, non-invigilated assessment pieces must not account for more than 50% of the final mark, except in subjects with a designated research project.
b.
For on-campus undergraduate subjects and on-campus postgraduate coursework subjects, a student must obtain at least an average of 40% over all invigilated components within a subject to pass the subject overall, unless there are exceptional circumstances such as external accreditation requirements.
c.
No component of assessment may count for more than 70 per cent of the final mark, except in subjects with a designated research project.
d.
Any individual assessment task which must be completed satisfactorily must be clearly identified, and must be given sufficient weight to be considered compulsory. Students must not be required to satisfy the examiners in all the assessment tasks that are used in the subject unless there are exceptional circumstances such as external accreditation requirements.
e.
In subjects where fellow students participate in the assessment of another student’s work, a maximum weighting of ten per cent is permitted for such assessment. Provided such assessment is invigilated, it may count as part of the minimum invigilated component specified in 4a above.
f.
Group work may not constitute more than 50 per cent of assessment.

5.
Criteria for assessment

a.
The criteria for assessment must be provided to students in writing, including explanations where appropriate of how these criteria are to be applied.
b.
Teaching staff when allocating marks must be aware of the Distribution of Grades Policy as it refers to disciplines and the recommended cut-off points for grades (refer Clause 11 (c)).

6.
Timing of assessment and provision of feedback

a.
Teaching staff must provide students with appropriate feedback as promptly as possible on all work submitted for assessment.
b.
Teaching staff must be available for consultation with students after marked material has been returned and after final results have been released so that students can be advised how each mark was determined.
c.
Some feedback on performance should generally be provided to students before the deadline for withdrawal without academic penalty, to improve performance before further assessment.
d.
Written work submitted during a study period must be marked and returned within 21 days.
e.
Material submitted for assessment which is also intended to inform students and/or which is relevant to the final examination for the subject, must be marked and returned prior to the study week before the formal examinations.
f.
No test administered by a School worth more than 30% of the assessment in a given subject may be held in the three weeks prior to a scheduled examination period;

7.
Attendance and participation

a.
While attendance at prescribed classes must not be a component of assessment in any subject, the Head of School may allow participation in class activities to be an assessment component, provided that the criteria are made clear to students.
b.
Where participation in class activities is an assessment component, staff must record comments on students’ class participation.
c.
The Head of School may prescribe that attendance at specified classes be a mandatory requirement for satisfactory completion of a subject and in such cases mechanisms must be in place to ensure fulfillment of any mandatory requirements.

8.
Assignment submission and return

a.
Schools must provide a secure system for the submission and return of work, to safeguard against plagiarism and claims of non-receipt and non-return.
b.
Students may not email or fax assignments without prior approval from the Subject Co-ordinator
c.
Where assignments must be submitted via email the University will ensure that:

i.
Students

1.
have access to appropriate hardware and software;
2.
have a guarantee of security at least as good as current procedures for submitting hard copy;
3.
have a receipting procedure;
4.
have an undertaking that they may submit hard copy if they are unable to access appropriate equipment except where the electronic submission is part of assessment;

ii.
Staff

1.
establish procedures for receipting and recording submission, for downloading (if necessary) or for marking on screen and include instructions on these procedures in Subject Outlines;

iii.
Schools

1.
ensure that as part of the assessment procedure, instructions are provided to students as to the format for submission and the appropriate software;
2.
provide written instructions (via the Subject Outline or website) to students about practical matters such as ensuring that the student's name and number and short titles are on every page of the emailed assignment.

9.
Assessment in multiple teaching locations and modes

a.
No more than 20 per cent of the assessment may be different to allow for any curriculum variation between subjects taught in multiple teaching locations or modes, unless approved by Academic Board (see Policy for On-shore Subject Equivalence and Policy for Off-shore Subject Equivalence for further details).
b.
Where there is no differentiation in curriculum, the assessment practices for the subject must be the same for each location and mode.
c.
Where examination security might be jeopardised by different time zones, parallel versions of examinations may be employed.

10.
Examination papers must:

a.
be appropriate to the objectives and any stated student outcomes of the subject;
b.
contain questions which are fair, appropriate to the level of the subject and answerable in the examination setting;
c.
use commonly accepted terminology and language appropriate to the subject;
d.
be of a duration appropriate to the demands of the questions;
e.
be approved by the examiner of the subject, checked by another member of staff with appropriate content expertise and approved by the relevant Head of School.

11.
Marks and grades

a.
Students must be informed of their numerical mark or grade for every component of assessment in the subject.
b.
Unless otherwise approved by the Head of School, the final assessment mark for each student in a subject shall be determined on the scale of 0 to 100% or be represented as the appropriate letter grade as approved by Academic Board.
c.
The following cut-off points for grades are recommended.

Grade ------------- Range

High Distinction: 85%-100%

Distinction: 75%-84%

Credit: 65%-74%

Pass: 50%-64%

Fail: <50%

12.
Working in teams

a.
Staff must recognise that working in teams may pose special difficulties for students from non-English speaking backgrounds or students with a disability, and adjust their requirements and support accordingly.
b.
In subjects that use group methods of assessment some scheduled class times must be dedicated to group meetings. In-class supervision and discussion of group assignments must be built into the schedule of lectures or tutorials and take place according to the percentage of assessment allocated to group work.
c.
Subject Co-ordinators must provide, in advance, plans for alternative individual assessment for students whose groups disband. However, the Subject Co-ordinator retains the right (after hearing claims from students) to decide whether a group will be disbanded.
d.
Group activities must be assessed by means which will allow the real contribution of each member of the group to be determined.

13.
Retention of assessment materials

a.
Unclaimed assessment items worth 20% or more of the aggregate mark for the subject must be retained for a period of six months after the end of the study period;
b.
Unclaimed assessment items worth less than 20% should be retained for six months after the date of submission.
c.
Examination scripts should be kept for a period of twelve months following the end of the examination period.

14.
Oral presentations

a.
If the value of the presentation is over 20 per cent of the aggregate mark for the subject, staff must provide a means by which a remark is possible if a student should appeal the grade given (for example by video-recording or including two markers at the initial presentation). If fellow student ratings are to be considered as part of the assessment for the subject, the criteria for assessment must be reproduced on a marking sheet given to every member of the class each time an oral presentation is made. Subject to the ten per cent rule specified in clause 4.e above, marks awarded by students may or may not be used to determine the mark given to the student, but the sheets will be kept by the tutor and may be used as part of any re-assessment requested by the presenter.

15.
Negative marking

a.
The practice of ‘negative marking’, specifically the deduction of marks (or fractions of a mark) for any wrong answer or blank answer (typically, but not exclusively) in multiple choice questions, is prohibited. Pro-Vice-Chancellors through Heads of Schools are responsible for ensuring that negative marking does not occur in any assessment used to establish the final grade for any subject.

B. Variation of Assessment Methods in Individual Cases - Procedure

16.
Requests for a variation (in an individual student case) of the method or details of assessment for a particular approved subject shall be submitted to the relevant Head of School. If the Head supports the request, it shall be forwarded to the relevant Pro-Vice-Chancellor for approval.
17.
A request for variation, on medical or psychological grounds, of the method or details of a student’s assessment for a particular subject should be accompanied by a medical certificate or psychologist’s report as appropriate.
18.
When a request is received without appropriate supporting evidence, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor shall require the evidence to be produced unless it is considered that there are grounds for thinking it unnecessary or inappropriate.

Policy sponsor:	Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Approval authority:	Academic Board
Version no:	07-1
Date for next review:	06/12/2012

Version no.	Approval date	Implementation date	Details
07-1	06/12/2007	07/12/2007