| Approving Authority: | Academic Committee 8/2007 |
|
Approval Date: | 13 December 2007 |
| Approved Document No: | 2007/0017538 |
| Review Date: | 2009 |
| Policy Adviser: | Head of the Secretariat, ext 57726 |
Description of the Policy:
This policy specifies the University's assessment philosophy and the general principles that guide the University's assessment
practices.
Related Policies, Procedures & Forms:
Alternative Assessment for Students with Disabilities
Examinations Timetabling Policy and Procedures
Guidelines for Assessment Boards
Guidelines for Dealing with Lost Assessment Items
Guidelines for Group Assessment, Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment
Guidelines to Assist Staff in Designing Assessment Requirements
Student
Academic Misconduct Policy
Academic Misconduct Policy - Research Higher Degree Students
Policy on Invigilation of Examinations
Calculation of Grade Point Average
This document is available in Word format for downloading. Click here to download this document.
Philosophy of Assessment Roles The Assessment Requirements for a Course Award of Grades Pass Conceded Grades, Supplementary Assessment Special Consideration, Extensions and Deferred Assessment Conduct of Students in Examinations Cheating, Plagiarism Notification of Results Appeals Against Award of Grade Disposal of Assessment Material Responsibilities of Examiners and Course Convenors Responsibility of Faculty Assessment Boards
Assessment is the process of forming a judgment about the quality and extent of student achievement or performance, and therefore by inference a judgment about the learning itself. Assessment inevitably shapes the learning that takes place; that is, what students learn and how they learn it should reflect closely the purposes and aims of the course of study.
The aims of assessment include:
· improving the quality of the curriculum (courses and programs);
· evaluating the effectiveness of the teaching process and facilitating continuing improvement;
· improving and promoting subsequent learning through feedback
that is clear, informative, timely and relevant;
· formally certifying achievements for external audiences; and
· accountability to the University, accrediting bodies, employers and the wider community.
Assessment
methods may take a variety of forms: the key criterion for choice among methods should be appropriateness to the learning outcomes. Assessment should be criteria based rather than norm referenced, and may include individual or collaborative achievement or both. The requirements for learner success should be made clear, and the overall strategy should be to develop in students the ability to evaluate the quality of their own work in order to equip them to function as professionals with a commitment to life-long learning.
Assessment practices within the University are based on the general principles of criteria based assessment. These are that the desired learning outcomes for a course of study are clearly specified; assessment tasks are designed to indicate progress towards the desired learning outcomes; and the assessment grade is a measure of the extent to which the learning outcomes have been achieved. The standard of performance that is required for the award of a particular grade is a judgment that is based on the professional expertise of the various staff who contribute to the assessment process and is informed by experience with accepted standards, including, where appropriate, standards in other institutions. There is no pre-determined distribution of grades as the outcome of assessing a group of students.
Examiner An academic staff member who is responsible for assessing any aspect of a student's performance in a course.
Course Convenor The academic staff member appointed by the Head of School to have responsibility for the teaching and assessment of a course.
Dean The Dean of the Faculty responsible for the course or program in which the student is enrolled, as is appropriate for the particular aspect of assessment under consideration. The Dean is normally the Chair of the Faculty Assessment Board.
Student learning is gradual and cumulative, with qualitative changes taking place throughout the process. For this reason, the assessment requirements for a course should enable the teaching staff to engage in
both formative and summative assessment. The academic staff responsible for a course exercise their professional judgement in using a variety of assessment methods that are relevant, valid, fair and appropriate to the aims and objectives of the course.
The assessment requirements for a course are documented in the submission for approval of the course (the Course Outline). In approving the course for offer, the relevant Faculty Board shall have regard to the relationship between the assessment methods and the learning outcomes expected for the course.
Where considered to be appropriate, students may be offered a choice of assessment tasks from a specified range. The range
of assessment tasks shall be specified in the Course Outline. In such cases the assessment requirements should be discussed with students. The assessment tasks for each student should be negotiated between the lecturer and the student and, as soon as is practicable, should be documented in the form of a contract between the lecturer and the student as to the assessment tasks to be performed and the expected learning outcomes for the course.
Proposals to alter the assessment requirements of a course should be made to the Dean prior to the next scheduled offering of the course by the academic staff responsible for teaching the course by lodging a revised Course Outline. The Dean shall determine whether the proposed revised assessment requirements is consistent with the originally
approved assessment requirements in its relationship to learning outcomes and its overall demands on the students.
The Course
Convenor is required to provide all students with the approved Course Outline which states the assessment requirements for the course, including the due dates of assessment items and relevant characteristics such as word lengths for essays or duration for examinations. The Course Outline must state the criteria against which individual assessment items are judged and their relative weighting. The Course Outline must also indicate the way in which the assessment of individual assessment items are combined to give an overall grade.
The Course Outline is normally provided to students on the University's web site, in which case the Course Convenor should ensure that all students are advised of the location of the Course Outline at the commencement of the course. Where the Course Outline is provided in printed form, this must be provided no later than the first meeting of the class for the course.
Where a
student enrols in a course after the commencement of teaching or for whatever reason is not present when students are given information concerning the assessment requirements of the course, it is the student's responsibility to ascertain the information from the Course Convenor.
In exceptional cases, the Dean of the Faculty, on the advice of the Course Convenor, may approve a variation of detail in the assessment requirements of a course, providing any such variation maintains the relationship between the assessment methods and the learning outcomes expected for the course. Notification of the change to the assessment requirements must be provided to students in written and/or electronic form. In giving approval for the change, the Dean must be satisfied that students are
not disadvantaged by the change or the timing of the change.
During the semester, individual examiners
communicate their evaluations of individual assessment items to students with reference to the criteria against which performance has been assessed.
The use of the grading nomenclature (Pass, Credit, Distinction, etc.) in evaluating individual
assessment items is not permitted since this may curtail the ability of the Assessment Board to exercise its discretion in the award of the final grade.
A grade is awarded by the relevant Faculty Assessment Board and signifies the student's overall performance in the course.
Students' results in courses are recorded using the following grades. The description that accompanies each grade is given as a guideline to assist comparability across the University, but these descriptions must be interpreted within the context of each course.
High Distinction (HD)
Complete and comprehensive understanding of the course content; development of relevant skills to a comprehensive level; demonstration of an extremely high level of interpretive and analytical ability and intellectual initiative; and achievement of all major and minor objectives of the course.
Distinction (D)
Very high level of understanding of the course content; development of relevant skills to a very high level; demonstration of a very high level of interpretive and analytical ability and intellectual initiative; and achievement of all major and minor objectives of the course.
Credit (C)
High level of understanding of course content; development of relevant skills to a high level; demonstration of a high level of interpretive and analytical ability and achievement of all major objectives of the course; some minor objectives not fully achieved.
Pass (P)
Adequate understanding of most of the basic course content; development of relevant skills to a satisfactory level; adequate interpretive and analytical ability and achievement of all major objectives of the course; some minor objectives not achieved.
Non-graded Pass (NGP)
Successful completion of a course assessed on a pass/fail basis, indicating satisfactory
understanding of course content; satisfactory development of relevant skills; satisfactory interpretive and analytical ability and achievement in all major objectives of the course.
Fail (F)
Inadequate understanding of the basic course content; failure to develop relevant skills; insufficient evidence of interpretive and analytical ability; and failure to achieve some or all major and minor objectives of the course.
Other grades that may be awarded are:
| · | Pass Conceded – refer to section 5.1 |
| · |
Fail No Assessment Submitted (FNS) |
Did not present any work for assessment, to be counted as failure:
|
· | Withdraw with failure
(WF) |
Cancelled enrolment in the course after the final date for withdrawal without failure (see Student Administration policy, section 6):
|
· | Withdraw (W) |
The student
has withdrawn from the course. This is NOT counted as failure and appears beside the course on the academic record when the withdrawal from the course is processed administratively after the last date to drop a course without being liable for fees, up until the final date for withdrawal without failure
Course Convenors and examiners are not required to include marks as part of their recommended grade, with the exception of Honours courses where percentage marks are required to be awarded as these are used as the basis of the Honours classification. Where marks are allocated to individual assessment items in order to facilitate the combination of the assessment of individual items to arrive at an overall grade, the Course Convenor recommends the "Grade Cut-offs" as the manner of recommending the students' grades. The Faculty Assessment Board may vary the grade cut-offs and/or the grades recommended by
the Course Convenor. Where the grade cut-offs and/or grades are varied by the Faculty Assessment Board, the Course Convenor will be consulted.
Because grade cut-offs may be varied from the standard grade cut-offs by the Faculty
Assessment Board, students must not be advised that a course will have pre-determined grade cut-offs.
Where a student has not achieved a passing grade but has demonstrated a level of performance that is close to that of a passing grade, the Faculty Assessment Board may award a grade of Pass Conceded in order to facilitate student progress through a program. The grade of Pass Conceded does not satisfy prerequisite requirements.
Limits on the number of credit points that may be awarded in respect of courses awarded a grade of Pass Conceded are set down in the general requirements for degree programs (Bachelor's
Degree Policy), for Honours programs (Honours Programs - Requirements and Administration) and, in some cases, in the approved requirements for specific programs, as advised on the University's web site.
The Faculty Assessment Board may, at its discretion, grant supplementary assessment to any student gaining a Pass Conceded in a course, and to any other student with a grade of Fail whose overall performance in the course justifies it. The purpose of supplementary assessment is to provide the students with additional time for private study followed by the opportunity to demonstrate that the criteria for passing the course have been met.
The Faculty Assessment Board may, at its discretion, grant supplementary assessment where the student has failed the last course required to complete the requirements of the degree. To be offered a supplementary assessment under this provision, the student must have attempted
all assessment items and attended any examination associated with the course and must apply to the Chair of the Faculty Assessment Board for the supplementary assessment within two weeks of the release of examination results.
Supplementary
assessment is not available in Honours programs or in other programs where the program requirements indicate that no supplementary assessment may be granted.
The supplementary assessment item or examination should, as far as possible, take the same form and cover the same material as the original assessment item or
examination and must have the same weighting as the original assessment item or examination.
A student may not be awarded a grade higher than "Pass" for a course in which supplementary assessment is granted.
A student's result for a course in which a supplementary assessment item or examination was undertaken shall be determined by combining the mark obtained in the supplementary assessment item or examination with marks obtained for those assessment items in the course for which supplementary assessment was not
granted, according to their approved weightings.
Where a student who attempts a supplementary assessment item achieves a grade that is poorer than the one obtained in the initial attempt, the original grade recorded stands.
Pending the notification of the result achieved in supplementary assessment items or examinations, the student's academic record shall show, for each course in which a supplementary assessment item is being attempted, the code SP (central supplementary examination) or SS
(school based supplementary assessment/exam).
A student is allowed only one attempt at each supplementary assessment item.
As a general rule, supplementary examinations are held in the designated deferred/supplementary examination periods as advised on the University's academic calendar.
6.1.1 The Faculty Assessment Board may extend special consideration to a student in any course and in respect of any assessment item.
6.1.2 Students may apply for special consideration if:
| ·
| their performance in an assessment item was seriously affected, or |
| · | they were seriously
disadvantaged when the assessment item was attempted, |
on the grounds
of illness, accident, disability, bereavement or other compassionate circumstances.
An application for special consideration is applicable only where the assessment item or examination has been attempted. Where
the student is unable to attempt the assessment item or examination, the student may apply for deferred assessment (section 6.2) or an extension of time to submit an assignment.
6.1.3 Requests for special consideration must be made in writing and accompanied by appropriate documentary evidence (See Section 6.4). Requests for special consideration in respect of an examination must be lodged at a Student Administration Centre no later than three working days after the date of the examination. Requests for special consideration in assessing an assignment must be lodged with the submission of the assignment. Requests for special
consideration in respect of performance across all assessment items in a course must be lodged at a Student Administration Centre no later than three working days after the date of the final examination or assessment item.
6.1.4 Form of Special Consideration
In response to an application for special consideration, the Assessment Board may take one or more of the following options:
| · | take no action; |
| · | provide for an extension of
time in which to complete an assessment item; |
| · | award a final grade on the basis of the student's performance across the course; |
| · | provide another assessment task. This may be either an alternative assessment task or a replacement assessment task. An alternative assessment task provides an opportunity for the student to demonstrate learning outcomes similar to those related to the original assessment task; for example, an oral examination may take the place of a written examination. A replacement assessment task is one that resembles as closely as possible the original assessment item and carries the same percentage of total weighting for the course; |
| · | recommend to the Director, Student Administration that the student be granted withdrawal without failure on compassionate grounds. |
6.2.1 Students are required to submit assessment items by the due date, as advised in the Course Outline. Assessment items submitted after the due date will be subject to a penalty unless an extension of time for submitting the item is approved by the
Course Convenor.
6.2.2 Requests for Extension
Requests for extension of time to submit an assessment item must be made in writing to the Course Convenor.
Where the request is made on medical grounds, an appropriate medical certificate must be submitted (see section 6.4.1).
The request for an extension should be lodged by the due date for the assessment item. A
copy of the extension request should be attached to the assessment item when it is submitted.
6.2.3 Penalties for Late Submission
An assessment item submitted after the due date, without an approved extension, will be penalised. The standard penalty is the reduction of the mark allocated to the assessment item by 10% of the maximum mark applicable for the assessment item, for each day or part day that the item is
late. Weekends count as one day in determining the penalty. Assessment items submitted more than five days after the due date are awarded zero marks.
6.2.4 The Course Convenor may vary the provisions of section 6.2.3 provided that any penalties to be imposed for late submission are approved by the relevant Faculty Board in the context of approving the Course Outline and are conveyed to the student as part of the Course Outline.
6.3.1 Students may apply for deferred assessment if they were prevented from performing an assessment item, such as an examination, text, seminar presentation, or other assessment
activity scheduled for a particular date. The following would generally be considered acceptable grounds to approve a deferred assessment:
· on the grounds of illness;
· accident;
· temporary disability;
· bereavement;
· sporting or cultural commitment at state, national or international representative level. Students applying for a deferred examination for this reason may also apply for an alternate sitting (refer to Examinations Timetabling Policy, Section 12.0);
· or other compassionate
circumstances (for example, death of a family member or close relative, serious illness of a family member or close relative, involvement in an accident where this does not involve injury, significant and unexpected employment problems or pressures, significant relationship problems).
Approval to sit a deferred examination will not be granted where students could
reasonably have been expected to avoid the circumstances of missing or performing poorly in an examination. The following would generally be considered unacceptable grounds to approve a deferred examination:
· misreading an examination timetable;
· applications submitted after the 3 day deadline (See Section 6.3.2);
· holiday arrangements, including for international travel.
Booking a plane ticket prior to the end of semester examination period is not considered an adequate reason for a deferred examination;
· sporting or cultural commitment, other than at state, national or international representative level;
Applications may be rejected if there is reason to believe that a student is seeking to achieve an unfair advantage through deferred assessment. This judgement may be based on the particular circumstances of the application together with the student's academic record and history of deferred examination
applications.
Where a student is prevented from attending an examination for other reasons that are specified in the Policy on Examination Timetabling the student may apply for an alternative sitting.
6.3.2 Requests for deferred assessment must be made on the form
provided for this purpose and accompanied by appropriate documentary evidence. (See Section 6.4) Requests for deferred assessment in respect of an examination must be lodged at a Student Administration Centre no later than three working days after the date of the examination. Requests for deferred assessment in respect of other assessment items must be lodged with the Course Convenor no later than three working days after the date pertinent to the assessment item.
6.3.3 Approval of Deferred Assessment
Applications for deferred examinations for central and end of semester examinations shall be considered by the Manager, Examinations and Timetabling or nominee who approves or rejects the application.
Application
for all other deferred examinations, including school-based examinations, shall be considered by the Course Convenor or nominee who approves or rejects the application. The Course Convenor notifies the Chair of the Faculty Assessment Board of the outcome of the deferred assessment application.
6.3.4 Form of Deferred Assessment
Where the Assessment Board grants a student deferred assessment, this normally takes the form of a replacement assessment item or examination, in which case, the
replacement assessment item should resemble as closely as possible the original assessment item or examination and should carry the same percentage of total weighting for the course.
In exceptional cases, the Assessment Board may respond to an application for deferred
assessment by giving special consideration through one or more of the actions described in 6.1.4.
6.3.5
A student who is granted deferred assessment in a course is eligible for the full range of grades available for that course.
6.4 Documentation required to support an Application for Special Consideration, Extension or Deferred Assessment.
6.4.1 Students applying for deferred assessment or special consideration on medical grounds must submit the Griffith University Student Medical Certificate, completed by a registered medical or dental practitioner stating
| (i) | the date on which the practitioner examined the student; |
| (ii) | the severity and duration of the complaint; |
|
(iii) | the practitioner's opinion of the effect of the complaint on the student's ability to undertake the assessment item. |
Where it is not practicable for the student to submit a Griffith University Student Medical Certificate, a certificate from a registered medical or dental practitioner may be accepted, provided that the certificate is an original copy and that the certificate contains information equivalent to that contained in the Griffith
University Student Medical Certificate.
A statement that the student was "not fit for duty" or was suffering from "a medical condition" will not be accepted unless the information required in (i), (ii) and (iii) above is included.
6.4.2 Students applying for Special Consideration, Extension or
Deferred Assessment on other grounds must submit suitable documentary evidence, such as a bereavement notice, letter from employer, practitioner or professional, statutory declaration, copy of accident report.
6.5 Students who feel that their case for Special Consideration, Extension or Deferred Assessment has been wrongly dismissed by the Course Convenor or Manager, Examinations and Timetabling or nominee may appeal in writing against that decision to the Dean as Chair of the relevant Faculty Assessment Board. The decision of the Dean is final.
Invigilators shall have and may exercise all such powers as are reasonably necessary to ensure the proper and efficient conduct of the examination.
If invigilators detect student behaviour that could be construed as cheating or other misconduct they may ask the student concerned to move to another position or, in the event that the student is creating a disturbance, ask the student to desist. If the student fails to comply, the invigilator may require the student to leave the examination room. Immediately
following the conclusion of the examination, the invigilator shall make an incident report that includes evidence of alleged cheating or other misconduct. The Manager, Examinations conveys the incident report to the Course Convenor who takes action according to the Student Academic Misconduct Policy.
.
Students may, under certain conditions, be permitted to use resource materials during an examination, such as dictionaries, including English-foreign language
dictionaries and electronic dictionaries, calculators, text books, reference books, student notes. The Course Convenor is required to specify the resource materials that will be permitted in an examination. This information must be advised to students in writing prior to the examination and must also be provided to students in the examination room. A discrepancy between the information on permissible resource materials that has been conveyed to students prior to the examination and in the examination is grounds for appeal
by students.
It is the responsibility of the Course Convenor or nominee to ensure that the materials brought in to the examination room by students conform to the specifications of permissible resource materials. This
may be done prior to the examination or during the examination.
Notwithstanding the requirements of this section, special arrangements may be made for students with disabilities, as provided for in the University's policy on alternative assessment provisions for students with disabilities.
Refer to the University's Student Academic Misconduct Policy..
Following approval of results by the Assessment Board, students are notified of their results by the following means: -
· publication on the University's web site, accessible to the student with appropriate security measures;
Results that are unfinalised or unavailable at the time of the general release of results must be finalised by August 31 in the case of results applicable to semester 1, and March 31 of the following year in the case of results applicable to semester 2 and May 31 in the case of results applicable to summer semester. Results that are unfinalised by these dates are converted to a Fail (F), unless the Dean gives approval for the finalisation of the result to be held over to some later date specified when the approval is given. UNF (Unfinalised) is entered on the transcript for approved late finalisation of grades.
| (a) | be made in writing on the appropriate form |
| (b) | state the grounds for the review request |
| (c) | be lodged with a Student Administration Centre within 14 days of the date on which student grades are posted on the University's web site. |
Schools are required to retain all uncollected essays, assignments, examination booklets and other assessment materials for a minimum of six months from the date of issue of results. At the completion of the six-month period, Schools may destroy all assessment material except that material that relates to appeals that have not yet been finally determined.
Course Convenors are responsible for conveying to students clear advice about the aims and objectives of the course, the assessment requirements, the relationship
between the assessment methods and the expected learning outcomes, the criteria against which individual assessment items are judged and their relative weight.
Examiners are required to provide feedback to students on their performance in assessment items conducted during the semester.
Examiners should give guidance to students and comment on work presented for assessment during the semester by written comments or other suitable means. Examiners should be prepared to discuss with students their performance in an examination.
Regardless of whether the invigilator for an examination is a University staff member, a postgraduate student, or a paid invigilator, the Course Convenor or nominee must be present in the examination room 15 minutes prior to the commencement of the examination and for the first 15 minutes of the examination, except where the examination is conducted at a remote location. In this case, the Course Convenor or nominee must be available by telephone for the period 15 minutes prior to the commencement of the examination and for the first 15 minutes of
the examination.
It is desirable that the Course Convenor be able to be contacted by telephone throughout the duration of the examination.
13.2 The Faculty Assessment Board is responsible for
13.2.1
determining final grades through
· scrutinising grade recommendations from Course Convenors to ensure comparability of standards
and consistency with University policy;
· consulting relevant Course Convenors regarding any queries concerning their recommended grades;
13.2.2 determining the Honours classification to be awarded to students who have satisfied the requirements for Honours degrees within the Faculty;
13.2.3 approving the award of conceded passes and supplementary assessment;
13.2.4 determining the outcome of applications from students for special consideration and deferred assessment;
13.2.5 dealing with
allegations of cheating and plagiarism as provided for in the Student Academic Misconduct Policy.;
13.2.6 determining the recipients of prizes and awards within the Faculty;
13.2.7 recommending
to the Academic Committee candidates for the University Medal and Bachelors Degree Medal.
13.3.1 monitoring the outcome of assessment processes, identifying courses in which the outcomes are unsatisfactory and providing advice to the Faculty Board or School Committee on actions to improve assessment outcomes;
13.3.2 providing advice to the Faculty Board on the basis of assessment performance indicators about the need to review program structure and contributions of courses to a program;
13.3.3 providing advice to the School Committee in relation to the review of student progress through programs for which the School is responsible.
13.6 The Faculty Assessment Board may appoint an alternative examiner or examiners from within the University or external to the University in order to provide the Assessment Board with advice on the assessment of a particular student or course.
13.7 The functions of the Faculty Assessment Board may be carried out executively by the Chair of the Assessment Board.
13.8 The Chair of the Assessment Board is responsible for ensuring that final grades are determined for all students enrolled in programs within the Faculty by August 31 in the case of results applicable to semester 1, and March 31 in the following year in the case of results applicable to semester 2 and May 31 in the case of results applicable to the summer semester.
13.9 The Chair of the Assessment Board is responsible for
determining appeals from students against decisions in response to applications for special consideration and deferred assessment, as provided in section 6.5.
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