School Assessment Policy
Set out below are extracts from the School Policy related to academic issues. Please check these if you have any particular request to ensure that it falls within the policy guidelines.
Criteria for assessment
The policy in the Faculty of Arts is that assessment should be criterion referenced. The criteria for assessment are related to the unit objectives and should be made known to students at the beginning of the unit. Normally the criteria will be outlined in the Unit Guide, distributed to students at the beginning of the semester. It should be clear that what is being assessed is the work which has been submitted, not the student.
Each piece of assessable work should be designed to assess particular unit objectives. The objectives being assessed and the criteria for assessment should be specified for each assignment, preferably with the assignment topics, due date and weight.
Criteria for a failing grade should also be specified and markers should explain how a particular assignment failed to meet the requirements for a pass. The range of marks below 50% should be used rather than awarding a failed assignment an arbitrary mark.
Procedures for failed assignments.
All failed assignments are reviewed by a second marker.
Turnaround time
Students who submit their work on time should expect to get it back in time to use the comments for their next assignment. Late return of assignments will be grounds for an extension of time to submit the next piece of work. School policy is that 3 weeks is the turnaround time for assignments submitted by the due date. That means assignments should be returned to students three weeks from the date stamped on the assignment.
Submission and Return of Assignments from On-Campus Students
Assignments should be submitted with the appropriate cover sheet. Students should keep a copy of any assignment submitted.
Assignments are submitted via the locked assignment boxes, received and stamped by the School office staff and placed in lecturers' mail boxes. This provides a record that the assignment has been submitted. If an assignment is not submitted in this way, there will be no record that it has been submitted and penalties for late or non-submission may apply.
Assignments are to be returned directly to students by lecturers or tutors in classes (tutorials, seminars, lectures).
Only assignments that cannot be returned in class may be lodged for collection at the School office, where they will be kept in a locked drawer.
Students collecting assignments from the office must show their ID cards and can only collect their own assignments.
At the end of semester, students who cannot collect assignments in person will be able to request that their assignments be mailed to them. Any student wanting assignments to be mailed will need to make a specific request and will be provided with an envelope on which they will need to complete the address to which assignments should be mailed and list the unit codes for any assignments to be mailed.
Uncollected assignments will be held until the end of week one of the following semester. If they are still uncollected they will be disposed of according to the university's disposal schedule.
Submission and Return of Assignments from Off Campus Students
Students submit assignments with individually produced cover sheets through CeLTS. Assignments are returned through CeLTS. CeLTS maintains an assignment tracking system which provides verification that assignments have been submitted, therefore, students should not submit assignments directly to unit advisers or tutors.
Penalties for Late Submission
Students who submit their work late without an extension will incur the following penalties:
- Up to one week late - reduction of marks by 5%
- Between one and two weeks late - reduction of marks by 10%
Work will not be
accepted for assessment after two weeks unless an extension has been
granted.
It is recommended that in exceptional circumstances,
unit advisers set a new assignment topic for students who have established
a case to be allowed to submit work after assignments have been returned.
Extensions
Students may apply for an extension of the date for submission of assignment work. When granting extensions unit advisers should explain how the extension may affect the student's capacity to complete other work in the unit. Unit advisers should advise students of the grounds for which extension may be sought; normally this information will be included in the unit guide. The unit guide should also include a warning that having a number of assignments due at the same time is not normally grounds for granting extensions. Extensions and new due dates will be confirmed in writing and the provisions about penalties will operate from the new due date.
Rewriting failed assignments
There is no university or faculty policy which requires unit advisers to allow students to rewrite an assignment which has failed.
It may be appropriate, in certain circumstances, for unit advisers to allow a student to rewrite and resubmit an assignment which has failed. Circumstances in which a unit adviser would make this arrangement should be specified in the unit guide. The unit guide should also specify the criteria for assessment of a rewritten (revised) assignment. School policy is that resubmissions should only be allowed at first level, in exceptional circumstances, and at the discretion of the Unit advisor (by invitation). Resubmitted assignments should be marked on a Pass/Fail basis, which means the maximum mark for a resubmitted assignment is 59%.
An opportunity to rewrite and resubmit is not a guarantee that the assignment will pass.
In determining whether to allow a student to rewrite a failed assignment, the principal of equity and fairness to other students should be kept in mind.
Appeals against assignment grades and final grades.
A student who is dissatisfied with his or her mark for an assignment should, in the first instance, discuss it with the marker or the unit coordinator. The student may request that the assignment be reviewed or remarked by a second marker.
If the student does not wish to discuss his or her mark with the marker or unit coordinator, then s/he may approach the head of section, undergraduate coordinator or the head of school.
Students may appeal against an assignment mark on the basis of the criteria for assessment. In this case the matter will be referred to another marker who will be provided with the criteria for assessment for the assignment. The student provides a clean copy of the assignment as well as the original marked assignment so that the unit adviser can verify that it is the assignment which was marked. This is a re-assessment of the original piece of work, not an opportunity to rewrite the assignment, and the mark awarded may be lower than the original mark.
The mark awarded will be the final mark.
Appeals about final grades come under the Student Academic Grievance policy and procedures (link from the Faculty policy page).