ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

The briefing you receive for all assessed tasks, should always be accompanied by a set of criteria against which your work will be marked. This helps to give you a clear idea of what the assignment requires, and what the tutor is looking for in your work and therefore where the marks will come from! Any judgement we make in life is always against a set of criteria, but frequently these are implicit, or personal like whether that was a good film, or whether he or she is good looking. In formal work we must work with formal and explicit criteria, which are transparent. All markers of your work will be marking against explicit, transparent and objective criteria. This ensures consistent standards, reliability in the marking and hence fairness to all students. Read these carefully to understand what is being asked of you and the time you spend on your work will be more focused and effective. All assessment criteria should align with the ILOs.

FEEDBACK

Feedback allows you to understand yourself and your actions and how you relate to the world around you as others see you. This should always be compared to your own assessment and the objective comparison between the two gives you the knowledge and understanding of where you stand. Secure feedback from as many people as possible. An important source for your academic work will be your tutors, but do not overlook your colleagues and peers. Family and friends are always useful for an opinion, particularly when it relates to skills development, personality, attitudes etc. Think about asking someone you trust to be honest and objective to become 'a critical friend' to help your personal development.
Some of your academic work will involve feedback from external clients or prospective employers. You will get feedback from tutors, coaches or trainers in other activities you engage in. In the workplace you will get formal feedback as part of a Performance Appraisal, and informal feedback from mentors and colleagues.
What can you learn about yourself?
Do you know about Johari's Window?
See http://www.augsburg.edu/education/edc210/johari.html

FORMAL ASSIGNMENT

This is work that you do which carries a mark contributing to your final mark for a unit. There may be one or more pieces of work to be completed for the unit, which may include an end of year examination. Your student handbook and unit guide will give you those details. Make sure you understand the weighting of each piece of formally assessed work you do and therefore how many marks it contributes to your final mark. Marks are finally confirmed at the end of Level examination board and may change before this time, depending on internal and external moderation processes.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

This is work that you may be asked to do during the year which enables both you and your tutor to assess your understanding of the subject and how your learning is progressing. Formative assessment may or may not carry a formal mark, but if it does the weighting will be small. The purpose here is to give you feedback to enable you to understand how you are progressing so that you can identify those areas where more work is needed in time for your formal assessment, which will carry most or all of the marks. If formative assessment does carry marks it is usually to motivate the students to participate for their own good!!

IN CLASS WORK

This includes work you are asked to do in preparation for, for example, seminars, tutorials, field work, practical workshops etc. In other words it is any small group class activity which is facilitated by the tutor. These sessions often relate to a lecture which has been given, and small group sessions are normally used to develop and assess students understanding of the relevant topic or material. Tutors will often construct appropriate tasks and exercises which will allow you, and them, to assess your level of understanding within a small group situation. You are therefore normally asked to prepare work for this interaction. Only by taking the time to prepare for the task will you develop your understanding and know the extent to which this has occurred. If you do not prepare and/or do not attend your classes, you will never know what you don't know!!!

INDEPENDENT STUDY

Only a small percentage of the total learning hours you are expected to spend on a subject, (200 learning hours for a 20 credit unit), will be spent in lectures and/or other timetabled classes. As a higher education student you are expected to develop quickly the capability to study independently and manage your own learning. Some of this time will be spent preparing directly for assessed work, but within the learning hours, you should be spending time doing what you know is needed to enable you keep up with your learning within each subject. Some tutors will direct this independent learning by giving you specific reading or tasks to complete. However, if a tutor does not do this on a regular basis, it does not mean you do not need to put in additional study time outside of timetabled sessions in order to develop your understanding to the level required.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILOs)

These should be clearly and formally expressed in terms of what you are expected to be able to do on completion of the subject or topic. They are expressed in such a way to allow you to understand how you will be expected to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding, eg. To explain the advantages and disadvantages of….., to critically evaluate the theory of….., to build a data base…….
In this way, you are more easily able to self-assess your level of understanding against the ILOs.

There are ILO's for your programme as a whole, so you can clearly see what you will know when you successfully graduate in your subject. This also helps employers to know and understand your knowledge base and skills when you start a graduate job and the levels of responsibility you are capable of.

There are ILO's for each Level of your programme, each unit within each Level and each topic or session within your unit of study. This provides you with a check on what you are expected to be learning at every step and stage of your course. As you fulfil the requirements of each session's ILOs this contributes to your unit ILOs and the unit ILOs contribute towards the Level ILOs and so on, until you reach the top, and master the whole programme!

All your assessment will be designed to allow you to demonstrate you have achieved the learning objectives within that unit and the mark you receive will indicate the extent to which you have done this.

REFLECTIVE SKILLS

The ability to reflect and to write reflectively is an essential skill to develop while you are in higher education. Throughout this website you are expected to develop and demonstrate your ability to reflect on your learning about yourself. Access these guidance notes to help you develop the skills of reflection.

Click here to access a separate set of guidance notes on Reflection, what it means, why we ask you to develop these skills, what the benefits are, how to think reflectively and write reflectively

RESOURCES

Your Library Service

The library at Bournemouth University is of primary importance as an information resource whilst you are a student here. Access http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/ for full details on the services provided. Induction sessions on the library are arranged for you at the beginning of each academic year and your tutors will frequently arrange additional sessions to support a specific project or assignment you may be working towards. These are frequently conducted by your subject librarian, who has specialist knowledge of the information resources available in your subject area and who is there to be of help and assistance to you throughout the year. Find out who this is for your School at http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/using/subteam.html
The Subject Librarian's weekly availability is notified to students, and they are available for help by email, or use the ASK a question service http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/ask/

Other Resources

A definitive list of learning resources is not possible, but remember, as well as the content of the library and the Internet, it includes the following;

• Your Tutors, academic and pastoral.
• Other specialist and support staff at the University
• Organisations, eg. Employers, industry, professions and their representatives, Government agencies
• Your own past experience
• Your peers
• Time
• Equipment and materials

SELF ASSESSMENT

The ability to self-monitor is a vital aspect of the successful independent learner. This extends to all aspects of your life and in that respect is a life-skill. Your ability to evaluate your performance development is a crucial aspect of learning in life. This allows you to compare your judgements with those of others and understand the reasons for any differences that occur. This knowledge allows you to make your own subsequent decisions about yourself, your work, your future. The ability to make a reasoned self-assessment reflects a growing self-awareness and develops self-confidence and self-esteem. It empowers you to take control of yourself and your actions so you are not reliant on others to tell you what you should be doing, or what the value of your work is.

SMART GOALS

S Objectives should be SPECIFIC or well defined, eg. I intend to lose 3 lbs in weight, not, I want to lose some weight.
M Objectives should be MEASURABLE, use numbers, dates and times to represent clear objectives. I have already stated that I want to lose 3 lbs in weight.
A Objectives should be ACHIEVABLE or ACTIONNABLE. Do I have the resources to achieve this objective? Eg. Time, money, access to other people, information etc. This could then be expressed accordingly, eg. To swim 20 lengths twice a week this term. I can action this, I have the resources, (access to a swimming pool and the entry fee) and it is measurable.
R Objectives should be RELEVANT or REALISTIC. Ask yourself how important this goal is, or how urgent it is. Can you ensure it is achievable in the time, given the resources, or do you need to re-frame it to make it more realistic. Do you need to 'chunk' your goal, ie. Take one step at a time, break the big goal up into smaller steps over time.
Eg. Only drink alcohol at weekends for 2 months, instead of, give up drinking all alcohol.
T Objectives should be TRACKABLE or TIME BOUND, eg. I intend to lose 3lbs by the end of this year, or compile a CV by the end of Easter and set up an interview with the Careers Service before the end of May.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

A skill is the ability to be able to do something, so you are marked on your level of ability or degree of competence in a particular skill. Skills can be improved and developed through practice, training and experience.

Transferable skills is a skills set that is different to, but related to your academic skills. The term is used to refer to skills which are regarded as transferable either from one course to another, or between academic study and the world beyond. Other descriptions that are often used for this skills set are; core skills, key skills, or personal skills. The word 'skills' implies that these abilities can be learnt and/or developed and therefore are not part of your personality although your approach to using these skills may have a lot to do with your personality. Your personal motivation, commitment and awareness have a lot to do with successful development.
A list of these skills commonly includes the following although this is not exhaustive

• Communication skills, written and verbal
• Working with others
• Numeracy
• Self management, including emotional resilience and time management
• Management of learning - taking responsibility for ones own learning and performance, including the skills of self-appraisal and reflection.
• Problem solving
• IT skills
• Information management including, information searching and data handling.

THE ROLE OF TUTOR

The role of the tutor in higher education is to support and guide you in your studies, not to hold you by the hand and lead you, or to give you the answers. Your tutor will encourage you to think independently and to come up with your own solutions or conclusions. There is rarely one right and wrong answer and being a university student means you are expected to manage your own learning and to make your own sense of the world around you. The role of the tutor is to ensure you stay on the right track, that you gain a good understanding of concepts and principles and that you are able to apply these to develop innovative outcomes and solutions.

TRANSCRIPT

This is the official record of your confirmed marks for credits gained throughout your programme of study. It is the breakdown of your degree award and shows any interested party how your degree classification was reached. Marks are only finally confirmed at the end of Level examination board meeting.

Eventually the PDP website will allow you to view your confirmed marks that Registry holds.