7.10.1 Policy on Lecturer Absence
In the event of an unplanned lecturer absence the policy is to provide an alternative; postponement or cancellation is only used as a last resort. The appropriate Faculty Manager and PL identify one of the following responses:
1. Substitute Lecturers – in cases where the module is delivered by more than one lecturer. 2. Substitute Class - by locally adapting the timetable with regard to cross listed modules. 3. Pre-Specified Work - all staff are required to supply academic operations with one hour of
pre-prepared learning or assignments updated as the module progresses. This is then set or supervised by a lecturer from the same subject area.
4. Class Postponement – the class is rescheduled within one month.
5. Class Cancellation – by agreement with the Head of School, there should be no more than 4% of any module cancelled and only when it can be demonstrated that there is no impact on the achievement of learning outcomes.
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Learners are made aware of any of the above interventions by web text in advance of the class where possible. This policy is overseen by the school management team, and incidences recorded by Academic Operations.
7.10.2 Policy on Staff Mentors
When a lecturer has been approved by the AASC they are deemed competent to deliver academic programmes at DBS and/or supervise projects or dissertations. In each case the subjects and levels are defined and held by the Registrar’s Office and HR. An academic contract cannot be issued without AASC Certification.
In some cases there are conditions associated with the AASC approval. These are: • Approved with a Teaching Mentor
• Approved with an Assessment Mentor • Limited to a level
• Specific to a subject area, for example key skills for professional programmes.
Where a teaching and/or assessment mentor is prescribed this function is taken up by an experienced member of the academic team. They are responsible for ensuring that newly approved staff members are familiar with the modules they are teaching and their integration into the programme, with all DBS polices and regulations, with the Principles of Assessment and other academic guidelines. They provide support in setting assignments, writing examination papers and grading. The academic is supported for at least one academic year and this is in addition to the normal process of moderation etc. Further information is held with the AASC, managed by the Registrar’s Office.
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8.
Assessment Policy
8.1 Introduction
The DBS Assessment Policies, Procedures and Regulations are designed to cover the administration and regulation of the assessment and examination of students on all programmes delivered by the College in accordance with the requirements of section 9 of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act, 2012.
The DBS Assessment Regulations meet the requirements of the awarding body (QQI) of programmes delivered by the academic schools, additional assessment processes/procedures are employed for programmes offered by the Professional School. Those regulations are available to students via the DBS student website. Printed copies are also available in the DBS libraries.
8.1.1 Assessment and Standards QQI 2013
Assessment can be defined as any process that appraises an individual's knowledge, understanding,
abilities or skills. Assessment can be diagnostic, formative or summative. Formative assessment is
supported by timely feedback to help improve performance.
Policy Title Assessment Policy
Date Approved March 2015
Effective From September 2015
Date for Review
September 2018 or as requested by Academic Board
Summary This chapter considers all polices relating to assessment including: assessment standards, submission of assignments, examinations, marking and moderation, external examiners, examination boards, progression and classification of awards, academic appeals and complaints. Note, the Assessment Regulations for Joint Awards are published separately and can be found on the Examinations Office page of the DBS website. These regulations apply to all single QQI awards including transnational collaborative awards.
Supplemental Policies
8.13.1 Policy on Word Count Limit
Amendment History
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The assessment regulations govern written and oral examinations, coursework assignments, project- work, theses, dissertations, viva voce, and such other forms of assessment of student performance as may have been approved or prescribed in any programme or course of study. Assessment procedures are based on clearly expressed intended learning outcomes. Refer to DBS Principles of
Assessment (Appendix 8.1) which provide overarching principles to inform the development of
programme and module assessment strategies.
The broad objective of the learner assessment process in DBS is to establish the extent to which each student has achieved the intended learning outcomes of the modules they have undertaken and of their overall programme. In assessing achievement of programme learning outcomes, examiners focus on the range of assessable qualities developed by the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI):
• Knowledge
• Know-how and skill • Competence
8.2 Assessment Policy
DBS is committed to ensuring that
• Learners have the opportunity to demonstrate their learning achievement. • Assessment opportunities support standards based on learning outcomes. • Assessment opportunities promote and support effective learning and teaching. • Assessment procedures are credible, i.e. fair, consistent, valid and reliable.
• Assessment methods are monitored and reviewed as necessary to adapt to evolving requirements.
• Assessment requirements are explicit and accessible to learners at the commencement of the programme.
8.3 Assessment Objectives
DBS has endorsed and implemented the following underpinning principles for the assessment process:
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(i) Assessment is an integral part of the programme design process and is constructively aligned with the programme/module intended learning outcomes.
(ii) There are clear and consistent assessment criteria prepared by the examiner and these are provided to the learner at the time of assignment.
(iii) Assessment is transparent.
(iv) Assessment is valid, reliable and free from bias.
(v) The assessment framework facilitates student learning and informs and supports student
progression, particularly in the early stages of programmes.
(vi) Students are provided with feedback on assessment that is timely and promotes learning and facilitates improvement.
(vii) The management of assessment is efficient, especially regarding the amount and timing of assessment, staff and student workloads; and to allow time for student reflection.
(viii)Standards at examinations offered by the College are maintained and appropriate standards with regard to the award, are applied.
(ix) The staff development policy and strategy supports the College’s policy to ensure that all staff involved in the assessment of students are competent to undertake their responsibilities.
Best practice and developments in assessment are also included as topics for staff development workshops to support a quality assessment process.
The range of knowledge, skills and competences assessed can vary across modules and programmes, in accordance with the levels of the National Framework of Qualifications, and vary also with the type of the assessment method deployed.
8.3.1 Role of Internal Examiners
A member of DBS staff allocated responsibility for assessing students shall be deemed to be an Internal Examiner. The role of an Internal Examiner is to:
• Prepare assessments in consultation with the Internal Moderator, in accordance with the approved module descriptor;
• Submit examination papers, solutions and marking schemes, in consultation with the Internal Moderator, to the Examinations Office where they are forwarded to the External Examiner(s); • Take account of suggestions, deletions, additions or amendments proposed by the External
Examiner (s)
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• Submit marks to the Examinations Office via the Data Management System (Agresso) or via Moodle;
• Prepare a sample of marked Continuous Assessment for the External Examiner and return to Examinations Office;
• Return scripts and any associated forms to the Examinations Office;
• Receive feedback from the External Examiner(s) and to agree the grades/marks proposed to be awarded to each candidate (prior to the meeting of the Board of Examiners); and
• Attend meetings of the Examination Board, to verify marks and contribute to the deliberation of grades and awards.
8.3.2 Role of Internal Moderator
An Internal Moderator is appointed for each module by the Head of School or designated PL. The appointment is made on the basis of experience as an educator in the particular subject or a related area, including at least 2 years teaching and assessment or other curriculum-related experience within the last 5 years at the same level on the framework as the subject which is being moderated. The internal moderation process can be defined as:
'a process undertaken within DBS in which assessment practices and decisions are regularly sampled and evaluated, and findings are acted upon to ensure consistency and fairness'.
The Internal Moderator works closely with the Internal Examiner in a monitoring/advisory role to ensure:
• Assessment is appropriate, consistent, fair and transparent and does not unintentionally discriminate against any candidate;
• Provide a check that assessment has been set in line with learning outcomes of the assignment/examination;
• Provide a check that an assessment has been marked in line with the expressed aims and learning outcomes of the assignment/examination, and in terms of marking criteria;
• Provide assurance for students of fairness of marking and hence the equality of treatment of each student;
• Assure internal consistency of assessment within a module;
• Provide an approach to the comparability of standards across modules within a subject area; • Provide assurance that the assessment is appropriate to the level at which it is taught; and • Check that marks have been correctly uploaded to the Data Management System, Agresso.
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8.3.3 Role of External Examiner
External Examiners are appointed to a particular programme, subject or module. Their role is to provide independent quality assurance for the assessment process. Their function is to determine if standards appropriate to the award level are maintained and that standards at DBS are consistent with national standards and comparable to other institutions.
8.4 Continuous Assessment
The majority of academic programmes offered by DBS feature some element of continuous assessment (CA). Continuous assessment is used to provide insight into the students’ knowledge, skills and competences in areas that are not normally assessed in written examinations, for example: • Primary and secondary research
• Literature review
• Essay and report preparation skills • Practical project work
• Time management
• Group/team work and interpersonal skills • Oral presentation skills
Continuous assessment can provide formative as well as summative assessment to support learning as it is an opportunity to provide feedback to students on their understanding of the module material and their effectiveness of demonstrating that understanding.
Internal Examiners are required to ensure that they are fully aware of the weightings attached to the continuous assessment elements in each module or subject they deliver. The definitive source is the current Approved Programme Schedule and module descriptor. The module descriptor also provides the necessary information on the nature/type of continuous assessment to be used. Internal Examiners must adhere to the descriptor requirements in terms both of CA weightings and types of CA to be used.
There are many possible formats for continuous assessment and they should remain consistent with the requirements of the approved module descriptor. Internal Examiners are encouraged to be flexible when deciding what format to use. Some typical examples are as follows:
151 • an essay in response to an exam-type question
• an essay in response to a question or statement not normally seen in examinations • a critical review of a text (e.g. a newspaper article or book) or a case study
• a summary of a text (e.g. a book chapter)
• an in-class test, similar in scope to an end-of-stage examination • an in-class Short-Answer Question (SAQ) examination
• an in-class Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) examination • an oral presentation based on a prescribed topic
• literature review • case studies
• a group-oriented task, requiring the production of a document or oral presentation by a small group of students
• the completion of a short work-package relevant to the academic discipline (e.g. the writing of a computer program or the designing of a website, etc.).
When selecting and developing the type of continuous assessment to use, Internal Examiners are required to align to the intended learning outcomes of the assignment to the programme level and stage, i.e. the task set for students should enable them to demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes at the appropriate academic level - e.g. the outcomes demonstrated by a postgraduate degree student are considerably higher than that expected of a first year certificate student and align with the learning outcomes set out in the award-type descriptors determined by the National Framework of Qualifications.
All items of continuous assessment drafted by each Internal Examiner are reviewed by the Internal Moderator to ensure they are appropriate to the programme level and that they relate to identifiable learning outcomes of the relevant module. The Internal Moderator must also be satisfied that the student workload involved is commensurate with the assessment weighting, and is not excessive at any particular time within the academic year (through reference to the assessment schedule for the programme).
8.4.1 Implementation of the Continuous Assessment Process
For each element of continuous assessment, each student must be given a clear and unambiguous written assessment specification. This specification must clearly state:
152 • The module name, code and contact details of assessor • The nature of the coursework in detail
• The specific deliverable(s) required from students, including format required (e.g. type written) and word-count, if specified
• Penalty accruing for not adhering to the required format or for not meeting, or exceeding the word-count (+/- 10%)
• The percentage of marks allocated for that assignment and for each component deliverable, where there is more than one
• The dates on which the assignment brief is given to students • Penalty accruing for late or non-submission
• The submission date for the assignment (or for each deliverable element where appropriate). • The date feedback and assignment results will be available
• The DBS Policy on Plagiarism (or a relevant link to facilitate students familiarising themselves with the contents of the policy).
8.4.1.1 Online Submission of Assignments
Assignments are submitted through the online portal Moodle. The following steps are completed in order to submit online.
(i) Students complete a cover sheet which is available on the Moodle home page.
(ii) The student then continues to the assignment submission area of the individual module
page.
(iii) The student uploads the file which contains their assignment.
(iv) Once the file has been uploaded the student clicks the ‘send for marking’ button.
(v) A message appears instantly which states the following: ‘By clicking on this button I am aware of the DBS policy regarding cheating, plagiarism and all other forms of academic impropriety. The coursework submitted is my own or my group’s work and all other sources consulted have been appropriately acknowledged. I am aware that in the case of doubt, an investigation will be held.’
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(vi) When the student agrees to the above, there is a final option to submit the assignment they have uploaded. They are also asked to check that they have completed the assignment cover sheet.
(vii) The student will then see that their assignment has been submitted with the date and time displaying at the top of the page.
8.4.1.2 Assignment Marking and Feedback
(i) Assignments are required to be collected and marked by the relevant examiner within a period of not more than four weeks from the submission deadline (some larger modules may require a longer time, by agreement with the Head of School). Marks awarded by the examiner are subject to verification by the Internal Moderator, who reviews a sample of student scripts for the purpose of assessing the marking standards applied by the examiner. Any issues noted are referred back to the examiner for action.
(ii) Where alleged academic impropriety may have occurred, the examiner is required to mark the assignment as normal; the examiner should then send the marked assignment, with a copy of the Academic Impropriety Form F9.2 to the Registrar’s Office along with any supporting documentation, such as the original source of material. This should be done as soon as the Academic Impropriety is suspected, in order to allow for an Academic Impropriety Hearing in advance of the examinations and/or Examination Boards. (Refer to Section 9.16)
(iii) Following the marking and moderation process, provisional results are communicated to students by posting them on Moodle. These results, clearly marked as provisional (as they are still subject to ratification by the relevant Examination Board), are communicated to students in a timely fashion to facilitate students having a clear understanding of their progress in the module.
(iv) A learner may apply for an extension to the submission deadline published on Moodle for an assignment where there are personal mitigating circumstances that impact on the student’s ability to complete the assignment by the date originally specified. An application for an extension must be made in writing to the PL using the Request for Assessment Extension Form, (F8.1). The application must be made before the original submission date and must be
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accompanied by written evidence of the circumstances surrounding the application. The granting of an extension is at the discretion of the PL in consultation with the ML. Where an extension is granted, a new submission date is specified and must be adhered to. The maximum extension that can be offered is seven days. Under no circumstances may an extension be granted after assessed work has been returned to the class. The assignment must then be submitted not later than the extended date, accompanied by the assignment extension form which was signed by the PL.
(v) Assignments submitted after the deadline published in the assessment specification, including any extension, are deemed to be ‘late’ and are penalised, as follows:
a. Where an assignment is submitted between 1 and 14 days late 2 marks a day are deducted.
b. Where an assessment is more than 14 days late it is annotated at the discretion of the lecturer but no marks can be awarded.
c. Where the assessment is undertaken in a group, the piece of work should be submitted in its complete entirety, and any penalty for late submission incurred applies to all group members.
(vi) Where two or more students present a joint assignment, then each student in the group is required to retain a copy of the entire assignment. Each member of the group will receive an individual grade for a group assignment. Refer to DBS Academic Guidelines on Assessing Group Work (Appendix 8.2)
(vii)The examiner is responsible for the safe-handling, storage and security of assignments or scripts. Examiners are required to take appropriate precautions to ensure that scripts/assignments should not be unnecessarily exposed to risk of access, loss, theft or destruction; for example, scripts should never be left unattended in a public area or in a vehicle. Refer to DBS Academic Guidelines on Good Practice in the Handling and Annotation