Week Three 7 October 2019

Heads Up for Week 3

Thank you to staff who continue to work hard to get students set up for the year. In particular shout out to our Student Support Coordinators - Catherine, Emma, Marta and Sam, for helping students sort out their programmes and timetables.

Here’s this week’s quick round up of information that might be useful as we go into Week 3 – short points with links to detail where possible. Please use comments section at the end if you want to follow up.

NOW CLOSED Modules with Assessment Details Missing - are any of them yours? LAST CALL

The first run of assessment information has been loaded into Banner. Some modules failed to load - mostly because the assessment doesn't add up to 100% - so there are details missing. Check whether any of the modules are yours on this spreadsheet. (NOW CLOSED)
Use the following procedure for any amendments on each line please:

• the assessment type eg. "Written assignment (Individual)". Use the drop-down list to select from.
• the assessment name identifier for Banner eg. CWS2WEEK07 means that line is the second coursework and is due for submission in Week 7. Use the drop-down list to select from
• the assessment weighting. The combination of all of the components must add up to 100%
• please highlight your changes in yellow so they are visible - otherwise they won't get changed

Exceptional Circumstances - How will it work this semester?

Unfortunately the Exceptional Circumstances portal is not quite ready yet. Students have assessments due so the Student Investigation and Resolution Team (SIRT) have an alternative method they can use until the portal is working.
Students will need to complete a Google Form.

Here is the link: https://forms.gle/MwFmbw4bpNVrLYK8A

The SIRT will consider coursework extension requests and if successful will email the module leader and student with the outcome.

If the student is using the grace period or self-certifying for an in-class assessment this will be granted and recorded, but students will be asked to let their module leader know directly (by forwarding the google form receipt.) This is so that module leaders can mark appropriately, or rearrange the in-class assessment as necessary.

Information and the link to the form will be available on the webpage very soon (scheduled for mid week). In the meantime individual students who have enquired have been directed to contact their SSC if they need any information.

Annual Reviews (UG/PG and Collaborative)

This is the time of year when subject co-ordinators and programme leads are gathering their information to bring together their annual review reports and to hold meetings to discuss those reports. 

This year is slightly different than in previous years due to the reporting system, APTT, no longer being able to produce those reports as downloadable documents. In light of this there has been a new report template produced by APQO for teams to complete which focuses more on the narrative of the programme rather than the discussion on data and graphs. This is an opportunity to focus more on the student experience and quality of the teaching and learning on the programme and to celebrate the strengths of innovation and good practice. It also allows the team to think more collaboratively about how they may want to enhance their programme to become more inclusive with a focus on diversity.

Data is still available from APTT and from NSS, BSS and module evaluations and can be used to support the narrative and information presented in the review. In addition, the external examiner report should be acknowledged and any points raised addressed. Please note that responses to external examiners should have been sent in by now and these should have been copied to Henry Swift, our Faculty Quality Administrator. Please forward your response to external examiners as soon as possible if you haven’t done so already.

Help and guidance for the completion of the annual reviews can be found here on the Quality googlesite which was been updated on 8 October https://sites.google.com/brookes.ac.uk/quality-in-tde/annual-reviews?authuser=0

There are additional pages for collaborative provision, data and templates so please explore the site and read the guidance. If you have any questions about the annual reviews then please email Lucy Turner – lturner@brookes.ac.uk.


Have a great week!