School of Education Assessment Information
Assessment Information
Contents
Assessment submission method
Assessment tasks for units are submitted via the University’s electronic submission system, contained within your online unit, in a Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Moodle. Your online units are accessible through the myUNE student portal https://my.une.edu.au/.
Once your assignment has been electronically submitted for marking, it will be submitted to TurnItIn for final checking by UNE. This will generate a report for the unit coordinator. Assignments must be submitted by 23.59. Your assignment’s receipt date/time is recorded automatically. You must take into account time zone differences to avoid penalties for late submission.
If you require assistance with the e-submission of your assignment, contact the IT Service Desk on 02 6773 5000 or email servicedesk@une.edu.au.
TurnItIn
UNE uses a software application to determine the originality of assessable work submitted by its students. This software is called TurnItIn and it is part of the electronic submission process.
In order that you may use TurnItIn as an educative tool, the electronic submission process allows you to submit your assignment to TurnItIn for checking before you submit it for marking. This is an optional step and can occur as many times as you require in order to receive a satisfactory report. Once you are satisfied with your report, you will then submit your assignment for marking.
When a file is submitted to TurnItIn, the software compares the text in the submitted files with text from a range of electronic sources including online journals, online databases, the Internet and the TurnItIn database. Any strings of text that occur in both the submitted document and in one or more of the electronic sources are identified by the software with a unique number and colour in what TurnItIn calls the 'originality report'.
More information about electronic submission and TurnItIn can be found at:
http://moodle.une.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=79705 (electronic submission)
http://moodle.une.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=64673 (TurnItIn)
If you require further clarification regarding electronic submission or TurnItIn, you can browse the frequently asked questions or ask a question of your own at AskUNE.
Plagiarism declaration
When you submit an assignment electronically, you will be deemed, in effect, to have agreed to the UNE plagiarism policy. Assignments submitted in hard copy must include a signed plagiarism declaration form, which is included on the assignment cover sheet.
Assignment cover sheets
Electronically submitted assignments do not require assignment cover sheets as these are generated automatically by the electronic submission system when you submit your assignment.
All assignments that are submitted in hard copy must have an assignment cover sheet attached. These can be accessed from within your online unit, in an LMS such as Moodle. If you have received an exemption from the requirement to have computer access, you will receive your assignment cover sheets in the mail.
Assignments that are being submitted in hard copy should be mailed to:
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Assignment Section |
Marking Policy
Word limits
You are required to comply with word/page or other stipulated limitations that may apply to assignments. These limitations play a number of roles. They encourage conciseness, a hallmark of good academic writing, provide a good indicator of the depth to which you are expected to go and, importantly, apply an equity issue related to these limitations. A student who exceeds word/page or any other stipulated limitation has a greater opportunity to convey more information or deeper understandings compared to a student who has kept within the stated guidelines and not exceeded the limits. To avoid such inequities and in accordance with equity of opportunity, you are asked to comply with all limitations. You are, of course, not expected to achieve exactly the required length and a 10% leeway on either side is acceptable. However, deviations beyond that 10% may be penalised at the discretion of the Unit Coordinator. Any penalty imposed for exceeding the word/page or other limits will be in the order of one mark per hundred words, or equivalent page length of excess, or shortfall, as the case may be.
Presentation
For written essays and reports and other assessment tasks where formal guidelines are not specifically given in the assignment description (eg, audio recording, pamphlet, newsletter, policy statement, electronic poster, PowerPoint presentation, journal, text or image construction etc), assignments should comply with the following format:
- a margin of at least 4 cm on the left hand side
- double spaced in 12 point type
- A4 paper.
Referencing
You should use the APA style as shown in the UNE Referencing Guide UNE Referencing Guide.
Plagiarism
You must comply with the University’s policy on Plagiarism (failure to acknowledge the work of others) and Academic Misconduct. Please refer to UNE's Avoiding Plagiarism—Advice for Students.
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking and using as one's own the thoughts or writings of another without acknowledgment. The following practices constitute acts of plagiarism and are a major infringement of UNE's academic values:
- where paragraphs, sentences, a single sentence or significant parts of a sentence are copied directly, are not enclosed in quotation marks and appropriately referenced;
- where direct quotations are not used, but are paraphrased or summarised, and the source of the material is not referenced within the text of the paper; and
- where an idea which appears elsewhere in any form* is used or developed without reference being made to the author or the source of that idea.
- Some examples of this are books, journals, WWW material, theses, computer stored data and software, lecture notes or tapes.
Your responsibility
It is your responsibility to:
- read, understand and comply with the policy on Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct found at the website above;
- familiarise yourself with the conventions of referencing for your discipline(s);
- avoid all acts which could be considered plagiarism or academic misconduct;
- seek assistance from appropriate sources if you become aware that you need more knowledge and skills in relation to academic writing;
- be aware that when you submit an assignment through the University’s e-Submission system, you are deemed to have signed the plagiarism declaration form;
- submit a separate signed and dated plagiarism declaration form with every task, report, dissertation or thesis submitted in hard copy for assessment or examination.
Allowing another to copy work
The School very seriously views instances where students allow others to copy their academic work. Where it can be established that students intentionally allowed another to copy their work and use it as their own, the work students have allowed to be copied will also be awarded a 'Fail' grade. In such cases, students have the right to appeal against the decision, provided they do so in writing to the Head of School within fourteen (14) days.
Cooperative preparation of assigned work
In some instances a Unit Coordinator may indicate in a question or task set that cooperative preparation for that question/task is acceptable. In such instances the usual expectation is that each individual student will submit their own answer/response, using the jointly prepared material, and not just a common copy used by all those cooperating. In some circumstances, joint submission of work for all or part of an assignment may be acceptable but if so this will be clearly indicated in the assignment details.
If a group of students think that cooperative preparation is the appropriate way to answer or respond to a question or task, the group should approach the Unit Coordinator concerned who will either allow or disallow such cooperation.
Where cooperative work has been allowed the names of all those cooperating must be listed on the assignment/task for which the cooperation occurred.
Assessment preview
Asking Unit Coordinators for preliminary review of any assessment tasks prior to formal submission is inappropriate and unfair to other students without that opportunity.
Casual markers and moderation process
Unit Coordinators may enlist, with the approval of the Head of School, competent casual support for marking assignments/assessment tasks as required to cope with the marking load for a unit.
Extensions and Late Submissions
The granting of an extension is not automatic.
Where a student has good grounds for an extension of a submission date, they should apply in writing, with supporting evidence (preferably by email) to the Unit Coordinator (NOT to the Student Centre). The Unit Coordinator may grant an extension on the basis of each student's stated reason(s) and supporting evidence (such as from a doctor/counsellor/health service or an accident report).
The Unit Coordinator must receive written requests for an extension BEFORE the due date.
If the Unit Coordinator approves the request, students must then attach the approval confirmation (clearly indicating the approved final date for submission) and supporting evidence, to their assignment. An extension will not be granted without these attachments.
If students do not include this written approval with their assignment, it will be marked according to the Late Submission policy (see below), with the due date deemed to be that stated as the due date for submission of the assignment.
According to UNE regulations, extensions cannot be given beyond the day before the beginning of the University examination period of the trimester in which the unit ends. The last date an extension may be granted until is:
Trimester One 2012 - Sunday, 27 May 2012.
Trimester Two 2012 - Monday, 01 October 2012.
Trimester Three 2012 - Sunday, 27 January 2013.
Subject to the requirement that assignments must be received no later than the day before the beginning of the university examination period of the trimester in which the unit ends (see above for dates):
- Assignments received up to 14 days after the due date without approval, will be marked but only on a Pass/Fail basis (0-49—Fail; 50—Pass).
- Assignments received up to 14 days after an approved revised new due date will be marked but only on a Pass/Fail basis (0-49—Fail; 50—Pass).
- Assignments received more than 14 days after the due date or the revised new due date without approval will be returned unmarked and the Unit Coordinator will record a mark of zero, unless additional information with supporting documentation can be supplied for consideration.
Special extension of time (SET)
Special Extensions of Time apply to assignments that are unable to be submitted prior to the commencement of the examination period.
A student who is enrolled in a unit which is not subject to formal examination, or for which the formal examination forms only part of the total assessment, and who has been prevented through illness or other unavoidable circumstances from completing required work by the specified date, may apply for a Special Extension of Time to complete the work.
Approval for a Special Extension of Time is not normally granted to students who have not completed any work for the unit throughout the trimester.
Applications for Special Extension of Time must be made directly to the UNE Student Centre and be received within five (5) working days after the commencement of the examination period in a given trimester. Application forms and guidelines are available at: www.une.edu.au/for/current-students/forms/special-ext-time-assign.pdf. Further information is available at: www.une.edu.au/studentcentre/.
Special Examinations and Special Consideration
Students who are unable to sit an examination or whose performance in an examination was severely affected, may apply for a Special Examination. Where a student's circumstances do not merit a Special Examination, they may apply for Special Consideration so that the Unit Coordinator can apply some discretion when marking examination papers.
Applications for Special Examination or Special Consideration must be made directly to the UNE Student Centre and be received within five (5) working days after the end of the relevant examination period in a given trimester.
Application forms for Special Examination
Application forms for Special Consideration
Return of assessments
School of Education staff will try to ensure that the turn-around time for assignments will normally be no more than 30 days from the date the assignment is received by the Unit Coordinator.
Re-marking of assessments tasks
Students may request that an assessment task be re-marked, in its original form, in circumstances where the student presents a strong case arguing that the original marking was unfair or inconsistent with marking guidelines.
Requests must be made directly to the Unit Coordinator within ten (10) working days of receipt of the original marked assessment task. A clean copy of the assignment, together with the original marked assignment, must accompany the request to the Unit Coordinator for a re-mark.
A copy of the request for a re-mark (clearly marked as a copy) must also be either emailed to the Head of School or posted to “The Head, School of Education, University of New England, ARMIDALE NSW 2351.”
The Unit Coordinator is responsible for arranging the re-marking of the assessment task.
Only a single re-mark will be permitted and the result of the re-mark will be recorded as the final mark for that assessment task, irrespective of its position relative to the original mark.
Partial credit
Partial credit may be given for assessment tasks completed in a previous enrolment in that unit where the previous assessment task is comparable to the present assessment task, subject to the conditions set out below.
- Partial credit is not granted automatically. An application for partial credit in any particular unit may only be submitted once. Partial Credit will only apply in the year approved.
- Unit Coordinators should ensure that the necessary support for student learning is available for those assessment tasks that the student failed on their earlier attempt.
- Partial credit for work completed in a unit will normally be considered only for work previously assessed at Credit (65% or above) or higher level. Pass level achievement in an assessment or examination will not normally be considered for partial credit.
- Partial credit will not be given for components of the unit that, in the opinion of the Unit Coordinator, support an assessment task. Components for which partial credit will not normally be allowed for this reason could include, for example, credit for attendance at lectures, workshops etc. Similarly, credit will not be given for a practicum component of a unit if the practicum is required to support another assignment.
- Practicum/Internship
Partial credit with respect to practicum:
- Subject to consideration of point 4 above, credit for a practicum component which has an allocation of two (2) or more credit points within a unit will normally be granted if the practicum has been assessed as'satisfactory' without significant areas of concern being identified;
- Students repeating more than one unit, each of which has a credit point allocation to practicum in any one year, will normally not be granted partial credit for the practicum component within those units; and all other cases of partial credit will be assessed by the Head of School.
- Partial credit may be requested for attendance at a mandatory or compulsory residential school where it has been attended in its entirety in a previous year. Partial credit may be granted if, in the opinion of the Unit Coordinator, the content of the residential school has not changed significantly since the student last attended. Partial credit will not be given if the Unit Coordinator considered that the student would be disadvantaged in a related assessment tasks by not attending.
- Students requesting partial credit will normally need to submit the relevant application form to the Unit Coordinator no later than seven (7) days after the commencement of the trimester for which credit is being sought. The Unit Coordinator will rule on the request, where necessary, in consultation with the Head of School.
Partial Credit forms are available to download here.
Grievances
Where a student wishes to raise a grievance, available options are listed below.
Normally, it is expected that grievances will be addressed to the Unit Coordinator in the first instance.
- Lodge an informal or written request to the Unit Coordinator (usually in relation to an assessment issue) who will have the complaint addressed.
- Lodge a written request to the Head of School – if related to assessment, the item of assessment can be allocated to another member of Academic staff for remarking. This request must be either emailed to hosedu@une.edu.au or posted to “The Head, School of Education, University of New England, ARMIDALE NSW 2351”.
- Contact the relevant Course Coordinator.
- Send a written request to the Pro Vice-Chancellor/Dean of the relevant Faculty.
- Contact the University Ombudsman to lodge a complaint. However, students should consult the UNE Governance in relation to the rules governing the UNE Ombudsman, particularly in relation to jurisdiction.
- Contact the University's Student Access and Equity Officer who is located in Student Assist.
- Approach the Service Quality Unit.
Examinations
The Examinations page at www.une.edu.au/exams/ has important information about examinations, including your responsibilities as a student in relation to exams, information about examination dates and special exams, and links to whom to contact if you have queries.
Appeals
Students wishing to lodge an appeal in relation to unit assessment; practical and/or professional experience assessment; the application of faculty policies; Special Examinations; and Special Extensions of Time, should consult the University's Student Appeals Policy at: www.une.edu.au/policies/pdf/studentappealspolicy.pdf
UNE Assessment Policy and grading system
Information regarding all aspects of assessment can be found at www.une.edu.au/secretariat/Academic-Board/policies/assessmentpolicy.pdf.
Information about special assessment (Special Examinations, Special Extension of Time) can be found at www.une.edu.au/policies/alphabetic.php#S.
UNE Grading System
| Grade (Code) | Explanation |
| HD High Distinction 85% and above |
Excellent performance indicating complete and comprehensive understanding and/or application of the subject matter; achieves all basic and higher-order intended unit objectives and graduate attributes linked to the assessment tasks; minimal or no errors of fact, omission and/or application present; clear and unambiguous evidence of possession of a very high level of required skills; demonstrated very high level of interpretive and/or analytical ability and intellectual initiative; very high level of competence. |
| D Distinction 75 to 84% |
Very good performance indicating reasonably complete and comprehensive understanding and/or application of the subject matter; achieves all basic and most higher-order unit objectives and graduate attributes linked to the assessment tasks; some minor flaws; clear and unambiguous evidence of possession of a high level of required skills; demonstrated high level of interpretive and/or analytical ability and intellectual initiative; high level of competence. |
| C Credit 65 to 74% |
Good performance indicating reasonable and well-rounded understanding and/or application of the subject matter; achieves all basic but only a few higher-order intended unit objectives and graduate attributes linked to the tasks; a few more serious flaws or several minor ones; clear and unambiguous evidence of possession of a reasonable level of most required skills; demonstrated reasonable level of interpretive and/or analytical ability and intellectual initiative; reasonable level of competence. |
| P Pass 50 to 64% |
Satisfactory performance indicating adequate but incomplete or less well-rounded understanding and/or application of the subject matter; achieves many basic but very few or none of the higher-order intended unit objectives and graduate attributes linked to the assessment tasks; several serious flaws or many minor ones; clear and unambiguous evidence of possession of an adequate level of an acceptable number of required skills; demonstrated adequate level of interpretive and/or analytical ability and intellectual initiative; adequate level of competence. |
| N Fail Less than 50% |
Unsatisfactory performance indicating inadequate and insufficient understanding and/or application of the subject matter; achieves few or none of the basic and higher-order intended unit objectives and graduate attributes linked to the assessment tasks; numerous substantive errors of fact, omission and/or application present; clear and unambiguous evidence of non-possession of most or all required skills; insufficiently demonstrated level of interpretive and/or analytical ability and intellectual initiative; fails to address the specific criteria; inadequate level of competence. |
| NC Compulsory Fail |
Failed an assessment component that must be passed in order to pass the unit. This grade is used when an assessment task, such as a final examination, that must be passed in order to pass the unit (as detailed in the Unit Requirements) has not been passed (resulting in a fail in the unit), but where the overall mark is 50% or higher. |
| NI Fail Incomplete |
Did not satisfy unit requirements. One or more mandatory requirements for the completion of the unit (as detailed in the Unit Requirements) were not fulfilled. |
| S or US Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory |
In some units, the grading system is organised on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory (pass/fail) basis. When this grading system is used the appropriate interpretive descriptors to apply will be those for the grade of at least Pass or Fail. |
| W Withdrawn |
The student withdrew from the unit without academic penalty. |
AskUNE
Go to AskUNE for assessment related questions not covered here. At AskUNE you can find answers to many common enquiries or submit an enquiry of your own by clicking on the 'Contact Us' tab.