1. www.le.ac.uk/sas Student and Academic Services Implementation of the Senate Regulations for Assessment & Award Open Briefings for Colleges 3-9 May 2013

2. Purpose of this session Acknowledge concerns and allow opportunity for discussion Set out the operation of assessment and awards processes and procedures between now and July Explain how you will get the information and/or training when you need it Explain the process flows: –marks into and out of the central student records system –consideration of marks at panels and boards –calculation of outcomes –how students will receive their outcomes Clarification of roles and responsibilities for Panels and Boards, including the Academic Registrar’s Representative role

3. Agenda IntroductionCollege Academic Director College Director of Administration 15 minutes Implementation of new regulations and SITS Deputy Academic Registrar (Student Administration) Deputy Academic Registrar (Quality & Standards) 30 minutes Q&APanel25 minutes Summary & next stepsCollege Academic Director5 minutes

4. Progress to date Special project team established involving Registry, ITS and departmental staff Critical path to July graduation ceremony has been mapped and resources allocated Current activities: –Re-designing Panel and Board report formats –Testing schemes of assessment –Scheduling Panels and Boards, allocating ARRs –Building portal for marks surfacing –Training programme –Developing a business flow across the organisation

5. How the team is working Based in CWB 5 th Floor –Daily stand-up meetings to check progress and identify obstacles Weekly Operations Group –Thursday AM, includes College Directors of Administration Fortnightly Steering Group –Friday AM, chaired by Registrar, includes College Academic Directors Escalation of issues via Directors of Administration to enable front-line staff to focus upon task at hand

6. Communication FAQs issued periodically to departments Website with FAQs and other documentation: www.le.ac.uk/assessment-regs www.le.ac.uk/assessment-regs Open briefing sessions – slides will be on the website Operational handbooks (including detailed process flow) for Panels, Boards, Marks Entry – under development and will be on the website later this month Dedicated training sessions for Marks Entry, and briefings for Chairs of Boards/Secretaries of Boards/ARRs Developmental testing/process development with departments via project team

7. University Framework Senate Board of Examiners Mitigating Circumstances Panel Panel of Examiners

8. Role of Panels of Examiners Two Key functions: 1.Assuring academic quality and standards –Consider the pattern of student achievement for individual modules –Review marks and identify and investigate unexpected trends –Check marking and moderation working satisfactorily 2.Consideration of individual student performance on specified modules regardless of programme of study –Agree marks and make recommendations on module outcomes to Boards of Examiners –Act on recommendations from Mitigating Circumstances Panels –Agree release of provisional marks to students

9. Role of Boards of Examiners A Board of Examiners: Confirms recommended module outcomes from Panels Considers academic performance of students Agrees awards and classifications Considers borderline cases

10. Role of Boards of Examiners continued Agrees progression decisions Ensures the appropriateness of marking practices across all modules Makes recommendations on prizes Considers comments from external examiners where they are present

11. Process - Overview May-June 2013 Quality checking of data Update electronic record Create paperwork for Panel Panel of Examiners SITS Business Objects report developed Update electronic record Confirm provisional results to Students SITS process to change status of marks and automated email to students Hold Board of Examiners ARR present for awards Business Objects reports developed Update electronic records Business Object report developed & function to amend & ‘lock’ Registry change status of results and send automated email to students Assessment & Marking Informal feedback to students SITS Business Objects Reports Used Enter marks & grades via eVision or upload In SITS via eVision Students receive provisional module results Create paperwork for Board SITS Business Objects report developed Programme Team confirm reassessment method Programme Team confirm reassessment method Confirm agreed results to students Students receive agreed final results SITS Business Objects Reports Used Students Academic & Admin SITS

12. Some SITS Context Not all programmes are starting in the same place Differing levels of data exist for different programmes – this is a long-held historical position Paperwork can only be produced from SITS for programmes which have full curriculum structures and assessment records in SITS SITS has taken marks and grades for many years – the difference this year is timing SITS has held re-assessment data for some years – this year’s process is designed to improve the accuracy of that data (& in turn improve student experience)

13. All about the data Departments to check the module records of students using the Business Objects reports, including the ‘Module Credit Check Report’ and the ‘Panel Report’ Marks Entry –Use spreadsheet upload of local data –Direct into SITS via eVision Departments can use the Panel of Examiners report to identify gaps in the marks A Business Objects report ‘Re-assessment Recommendations’ (under development) will be available to ensure that re-assessment instruments are accurate Prepare Mitigating Circumstances data from local databases in readiness for Panels Find Business Objects reports at http://crs.le.ac.uk in the Registered > Awards and Assessments > Panel and Board Reports and Registered > Modules & Courses > Module Registration Foldershttp://crs.le.ac.uk

14. The Panel of Examiners Secretary prepares meeting paperwork, including agenda, membership list, recommendations from Mitigating Circumstances Panels and the Panel of Examiners report Panel of Examiners is held After the Panel departmental staff update SITS, via eVision Marks Entry, with any changes (such as marks subject to moderation, waiving of late penalties). The timescale for doing this is on the same day as Panel

15. The Panel of Examiners continued Once updates are complete, notify the designated Registry Data Officer Registry will: –update the results status on SITS and run an automated email communication from SITS to inform students that their provisional module results are on line –Update the master record regarding Panels and Boards At this point, departments retain the opportunity to check reassessment records and ensure they are accurate on SITS for each student

16. The Board of Examiners The designated Registry Data Officer will monitor that all Panel outcomes affecting a Board are updated in SITS Once all Panel outcomes are in SITS, Registry will run the auto- generation of Progression Codes and Award Calculations which will generate a limited number of progression recommendations for the Board Once this is done the Board of Examiners Report can be run Secretary prepares meeting paperwork, including agenda, membership list, Board report & Reassessment Recommendations Report Board of Examiners held - Board report annotated with changes to recommendations

17. After the Board Immediately Post Board – person who annotated the Board report will work with the designated Registry Data Officer to update SITS with: –updated recommendations (progression codes & award calculations) –final opportunity to update with different reassessment instruments Annotated Board report becomes part of the central record of decisions Once data entry is complete, there is a regulatory expectation that marks are agreed and released immediately. However we anticipate that departments will require an opportunity to review Registry runs SITS process to update marks to ‘agreed’

18. After the Board Registry will update the ‘release status’ in SITS and run an automated email communication to inform students that their progression or award recommendations are confirmed and online Chairs’ actions will need to take place for students with defer decisions, by 1 July for a July graduation The onward processes are graduation, re-registration and/or reassessment

19. Getting there… This is what the in development screen looks like to release marks

20. Roles and Responsibilities The Chair ensures that meeting is properly conducted and Board is guided to clear recommendations and decisions that students are treated equitably and in accordance with regulations where present, external examiners are given the opportunity to comment

21. Secretary The Secretary: Works with the Chair to ensure that the meeting is properly conducted Ensures that all necessary documentation is available for the meeting Ensures that changes are recorded on the Board Report and updated in SITS afterwards Ensures that a formal record of attendance is taken and full and accurate minutes produced

22. Academic Registrar’s Representative (ARR) The ARR is only present at awarding boards. Their role is to provide regulatory advice to the Board to ensure that decisions on individual students are taken in accordance with Regulation Note – advice on individual student cases can be sought from College Academic Advisors in advance of Board meetings in the normal way

23. External Examiners Role of external examiner articulated in Senate Regulations 7.37 – 7.48 Changes introduced to ensure compliance with Chapter 7 of the Quality Code for Higher Education Changes notified to externals in October 2012 – letter sent by Heads of Department External Examiner Handbook will be sent to all examiners by mid May

24. Registry Data Officer For specific Panels and Boards, monitor that the data is being returned in a timely fashion. To escalate if not Work with the person coming out of the Board to update SITS with progression codes and award calculations, as well as re-assessment records

25. Key changes from last year Introduction of single University processes –the Panel of Examiners –Mitigating Circumstances Panels Heightened awareness of the inter-dependency of shared modules and joint degrees Introduction of Academic Registrar Representative role for all awarding boards Changes to the role of the External Examiner to meet the requirements of Chapter 7 of the UK Quality Code for HE Introduction of standard agenda and minute templates

26. Key changes from last year continued Using SITS to calculate the recommended outcome for a student – where possible * Using SITS generated paperwork to support the process of Panels and Boards of Examiners * *Important exception - This is not possible where module data and full history of marks is not in SITS - relates to specific areas of the University and most obviously DL students Timescales are shorter – due to academic year and date of graduation

27. Areas of risk Mitigating circumstances data will be outside of SITS, meaning there are 2 data sources to manage Tight timescales, finite resources and interdependency of the data means we need to plan carefully, particularly –Some Boards meet before relevant Panels have met, creating need for Chair’s Action (affects c.100 students) –Large number of Boards meet without the recommended 5 days between it and relevant Panel (affects 2,409 students) This leaves some areas we will need to pay particular attention to…

28. Reducing the risk Registry has examined the data, identified ‘hotspots’ created by Panel and Board scheduling problems and is working with Directors of Administration and department teams. Departments should plan precisely how & when Chair’s actions will be processed Departments should anticipate staffing requirements in order to get the data updated after the Panel on same day

29. Reducing the risk continued Running the calculation of confirmed outcomes (progression codes and award calculation) should only happen once (lesson from pilot) Registry is planning staffing requirements – based on Board and Panel dates and will be using additional staff (from DL Hubs) Board and Panels must go ahead as scheduled and be quorate

30. Questions

31. Summary & Next Steps Website available here: www.le.ac.uk/assessment-regswww.le.ac.uk/assessment-regs Marks Entry training: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/staff- development/courses/it/corporate-systems/sdcct079 http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/staff- development/courses/it/corporate-systems/sdcct079 Hard copies of handbooks will be sent out