Guidance for Tutors transcripts 2010 2011

							                How We Communicate Results to Students – 2010/2011 Academic Year



Summary

The final level one tutorial should provide explanation to students on key aspects of the assessment
process, key dates in the calendar and an overview of the student transcript.

Key dates:

Feedback on assignments                       Usually provided within 3 weeks of the assessment deadline.


Coursework collection                         Marked coursework must be collected within four months of
                                              its release


Notification of Personal Mitigating           5 days after the assessment – please refer to the UMF
Circumstances deadline                        regulations for more information http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/umf/


Summer online results release date            13th June 2011


Paper copy of transcript, details of          By 23rd June 2011 – contact Student Zone if not received.
progressions status and referral/deferral
information sent to HOME addresses
August resit/deferral examinations            Period commencing 15th August 2011 (timetable release
                                              four weeks prior to this date)


Resit/deferral online results release date    12th September 2011


Key contacts:                                 Year Tutor: contact details in programme handbook/School
                                              web pages.

                                              Personal Tutor: contact details in programme
                                              handbook/School web pages.

                                              Student Zone:telephone: 0151 231 5805/ email:
                                              avrilrobartsstudentadmin@ljmu.ac.uk




Example documentation provided:

      Online student’s progress report
      Transcript annotated to explain the fields
      Glossary of all the grades used on the transcript
LJMU students following a taught programme will obtain information about their academic progress via a
variety of different ways:



   1. Courseworks/Practical Assignments

       Coursework feedback and marks: you will normally receive feedback and/or a mark for individual
       coursework/assignment items. We will give feedback via electronic means where possible and you
       will receive this via your student portal on the University’s Blackboard system. For paper based
       assignment submissions, we will inform you once feedback/marks are ready. You are encouraged
       to collect marked coursework as soon as it becomes available. We only keep coursework for a
       maximum of four months.

       Accessing Blackboard is straightforward: access the University’s website, click on Blackboard and
       then enter your username and password.

   2. Module Marks

       You will receive a ‘module mark’ (your overall mark for the module) online via the Blackboard portal.
       These results are published on Blackboard on the ‘results release deadline’ date, which is
       annotated on the University’s Calendar by ‘RD’ at
       http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/planning/planning_docs/ACADEMIC_CALENDAR_10-11.pdf. For the
       2010/2011 academic year, the results release deadline date for our undergraduate programmes is
       Monday 13th June 2011.

       You will also receive a paper based transcript and this is sent to you from your School. If you are
       unsuccessful in any modules with a mark below the pass mark, and you are not awarded
       compensation (which is annotated by CF), you will receive instructions on what referral and/or
       deferral work that you need to complete over the Summer. This will be accompanied by the
       deadline dates for this work, or instructions about how to access this information online. You will
       also receive information about whether or not you have resit/deferred examinations to take.
       Resit/deferred examinations will take place during the week commencing 15th August 2011 and the
       release of results deadline for August assessments is the 12th September 2011.

        It is your responsibility to ensure that the University is provided with your most current personal
       details i.e. address and telephone numbers. We will always send your paper based transcript to
       your home address unless the Student Zone are told otherwise.

       If you do not receive your paper copy of your transcript, or any referral/deferral requirements that
       you need within ten days of your results being published on-line, then you must contact the Student
       Zone. Having not received the information is not an excuse for not completing work in time for the
       set deadlines. Deadlines for submission of referral/deferral work are normally set for the beginning
       of August – the exact deadline dates will be specified with the referral/deferral work requirements
       that you will receive along with your transcript.

   3. August Resits (Referrals and Deferrals)


       The time period between the August examination boards and re-enrolment is quite tight and we will
       endeavour to inform you whether or not you are able to progress onto the next level as quickly as
       possible. The online results release day is scheduled for 12th September 2011. Further academic
       advice will be available during enrolment week. You should be mindful of your academic progress
       when renewing accommodation contracts. Progression is determined by academic achievement
       within programme regulations.
   In some cases, you will be required to re-attend or repeat the module. This may impact on your
   ability to progress onto the next level of the programme. In such cases you should seek academic
   advice from the appropriate academic tutor. You will still need to re-enrol in the September and
   ensure that you are registered for those modules that you are re-taking. It is normally Level Tutors
   or Personal Tutors who are able to give advice on your academic progress; your Personal Tutor will
   inform you of who is responsible in your School.

4. How we make decisions about your results

   We moderate and approve your module mark via a mixture of means – firstly, any coursework or
   practical assessments that contribute to the module mark are recorded. Where there is a formal
   examination, these are marked and second marked in accordance with the regulations. All marks
   contributing to the module are then weighted appropriately (e.g. coursework 40%/exam 60%)
   depending on what is published on the module proforma.

   Where the result contributes to the final award (e.g. Foundation year, levels 2, 3 and M) samples of
   assessed work, and all results are moderated by an External Examiner. An External Examiner is
   usually an academic from another University, and/or is someone who is suitably qualified. External
   Examiners are required to be impartial in their judgement. An External Examiner appointment is
   required for all or part of each programme of study, which leads to a University Award.

   We then moderate the module marks at a Module Assessment Board (MAB) – which is a committee
   where the academic staff within your Programme sit and consider the module results, along with
   any claims of personal mitigating circumstances or proven cases of academic misconduct. The
   MAB will determine whether or not you have passed the module and set referral/deferral work and
   deadline dates if applicable. After the Module Assessment Board, the Programme Assessment
   Board (PAB) meets. This is the committee where the academic staff within your Programme sit and
   consider the individual progress of each student – they look at the profile to determine whether or
   not you are making good progress and are able to proceed to the next stage or year of the
   programme. The PAB also makes recommendations on final awards e.g. 2.2, 2.1, 1st but all
   University awards are subject to final ratification by the Academic Board.

5. Further information, guidance and advice

   The University's Modular Framework regulations set out the various assessment policies and
   procedures that help to determine the character of our assessment activities. An online copy of
   these regulations is available on line at http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/umf/. Some regulations are however,
   programme specific and you should familiarise yourself with these by reading your programme
   handbook. If you do not understand anything within the University or Programme Regulations then
   it is your responsibility to seek clarification from a member of University staff e.g. the Student Zone,
   your Personal Tutor or your Year Tutor, etc.
An example of the online Progress Report (accessed via the Blackboard portal) – released 13th June 2011




The On-line Progress Report includes the following information:

      mark(s) you have received for the assessment item(s) you have completed so far for that module
      where there is more than one assessment item, marks will show as a proportion for the module e.g. if there were two assessment items
       each worth 50% of the total for the module and you received 80% for the first item, this would show as ‘40’ on the On-line Progress Report
Grade Codes (used on transcripts)

C = Core (core to the programme – a student cannot pass the programme without the correct core
modules.

O = Option (optional to the programme as defined in the programme specification. Students will be
informed what options (if any) are available and may only pick an option from the defined choice).

E = Elective (students will be informed if there is an elective choice available).

P          Pass usually 40% - Module Leaders will inform you if a module pass mark is higher than 40%)
F          Fail
CF         Compensated fail compensated fail (award of credit following narrow failure within a level in the light
           of overall performance at that level). All module credits suffixed by a ‘c’ are awarded by
           compensation.
P_AS       Pass via Advanced Standing
DF         Deferral of assessment to the next appropriate opportunity, but only when        a pass mark or grade
           for the module overall has not been achieved (your previous attempt is nulled; you may take the
           assessment and gain full marks)
NCF        No assessment attempted, module failed and no PMC
NCDF       Assessment attempted, deferral attempt following valid PMC claim
NFORC      Module studied on a not-for-credit basis
OG         On-going assessment - this usually means that the deadline for the work in the next University
           calendar period – we use this grade for internal reporting purposes.
XF         Exceptional fail; will override the percentage mark. XF normally signifies that you have not passed a
           compulsory core component and have therefore failed the module despite having achieved a mark
           within the passable range. XF has the same outcome as the F – fail grade.

Personal Mitigating Circumstances Claim Codes (these appear in the DC/PMC Ind column of the
transcript)

A PMC form should be submitted where you wish to request consideration of timely, severe, acute and unexpected
circumstances which have significantly affected your performance in module assessment(s).

PMC        Personal Mitigating Circumstances Claim Made
INV        PMC claim invalid
NFA        PMC claim valid but no further action required (e.g. module was passed, coursework extension
           given, etc).
DEF        PMC claim valid and assessment deferred
PAB        PMC claim valid and referred to PAB

Deferred Consideration Claim Codes

Exceptionally, if a scheduled event will prevent you from attempting a module assessment event, you may request
that consideration of your performance is deferred until the subsequent assessment opportunity.

ADC          Application for deferred consideration made
DC           Deferred consideration granted
NDC          Deferred consideration request not granted

Expired unit replaced as noted on transcript: – we are not always able to offer reassessments in a module
because that module is no longer running. We will however do our best to offer a suitable alternative. It is
important for us that your attempts in these circumstances are appropriately recorded and you are only entitled
to the specified number of attempts. Failures in these replaced modules will be logged as:

  F_RP1 – fail
A sample student transcript – with fields annotated.