Assessment of Coursework Procedures

Please note that these procedures have not yet been revised or converted to the new format .

Dissemination of Information to Students

All descriptions of units in the faculty handbooks shall contain a statement of assessment requirements, in the form of a list of items and their percentage weightings. In unit booklets and/or handouts, students shall be informed in writing of other details including topics, submission dates, word limits where applicable and duration of examinations and requirement for presentation. If there is provision for some negotiation of assessment tasks (for example, allowing students to nominate topics), the procedures for this negotiation must be clearly stated.

Beyond the formal requirements relating to length, weighting, submission dates, presentation etc, academic staff shall provide students with clear indications of what is expected of them in assessment tasks and the criteria by which performance will be judged.

The Marking Process

The process of assigning marks or grades based on specified levels of performance is commonly referred to as "criterion based assessment". The specification of these levels of performance has two aspects:

• specification of dimensions upon which performance may vary and
• the more specific description of actual levels of performance within each dimension.

After marks or grades have been assigned it is reasonable to take account of the performance of other students over previous periods and within the current cohort as a check on the appropriateness of the specific levels of performance used in assigning those marks or grades. In the case of unexpected result distributions, the specifications of the levels of performance may need to be modified for future assessment. While ranking will not be the initial basis upon which marks or grades are assigned to individual student performances, ranking will typically result as a natural consequence of differences between those performances.

Assessment of Oral Communication Tasks

For units in which oral communication is assessed, and in which this assessment is worth more than 10% of the total mark:

• a process for verifying fail marks must be established,
• verification or re-marking of work may be provided for with the adoption of measures such sound and or video recording or independent examination of a repeat performance of the oral communication task and
• alternatively, initial assessment may involve more than one examiner.

Assessment of Performance Based Tasks

Assessment for students in performance based units should, where appropriate, include a written component as well as a performance component. In the case of a disputed result, the written component must be marked by another qualified member of the department; and the performance component should be assessed by more than one examiner at the time of the performance. The respective "weighting" of each examiner’s assessment should be determined by the head of the department and advertised in the unit handbook.

Providing Feedback to Students

If students submit work by the due date, they shall receive feedback on their work in time for them to benefit in preparing for the next task. Consonant with this general principle, individual faculties (or, where more appropriate, departments) shall nominate a period of time within which work is normally returned to students, and inform students of this commitment in unit outlines. Feedback to students shall be constructive, focused on assisting them to understand how they can improve the quality of their work (This requirement does not apply to final examinations).

Scope

These procedures apply to assessments conducted for coursework units and degrees.

Definitions

Chief Examiner:

The chief examiner for each unit will be the chairman of the department concerned or such other person as shall be appointed by the unit faculty board on the nomination of the chairman.

Responsibilities for Implementation

• University wide – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education)
• Faculty wide – Associate Deans (Teaching), Heads of Departments, Chief Examiners

Related Documents

• Assessment of Coursework Policy
• Graduate/Postgraduate Assessment Policy
• Special Consideration Policy and Procedures
• ExaminationsPolicy and Procedures
• Alternative Arrangements for Assessment Policy and Procedures
• Grading Scale Policy and Procedures
• Plagiarism and Cheating Policy and Procedures

Governing Documents

• Monash University Act 1958
• Statute 6.1.2 Courses and Degrees

Review

These procedures will be re- considered conjointly with the review of relevant policies.

Change to "Responsibilities for Implementation" made by Education Committee Meeting 6/2005, 26 October 2005.