5. Completion of Assessment Tasks
5.1 Group Work and Collaborative Assessment
5.2 Personal Circumstances Affecting Assessment
5.3 Submission, Collection and Retention of Assessment Tasks
5.4 Resubmission of Assessment Tasks
5.1 Group Work and Collaborative Assessment
Group and/or collaborative work should account for no more than 30 percent of the total assessment in a unit, unless specific learning outcomes for the unit require collaborative work; in such case, no more than 50 percent is permissible unless justified and approved by the Dean or nominee.
The responsibilities of each individual group member in completing each such assessment task and the degree of collaboration required should be clearly stated in the unit outline.
The assessment task should allow for the recognition of individual contribution (such as learning journals).
Students should notify the Lecturer-in-Charge in a timely manner and provide substantiating documentation of any problems in relation to group work. Students should not be penalised or disadvantaged by the actions of other group members over whom they have no control.
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5.2 Personal Circumstances Affecting Assessment
Students may apply for consideration of circumstances, which significantly hamper their participation or performance in an assessment. These circumstances include temporary or permanent disability or exceptional and unforeseen circumstances.
Students are required to follow prescribed procedures in applying for such consideration. Students with a disability are required to consult a Disability Adviser.
Students may also be required to provide documentary evidence of their circumstances in a report, using the appropriate application form and prepared by a healthcare or other appropriate professional able to comment on the circumstances and their impact.
Applications for consideration should be submitted before the due date for the assessment task but will normally be accepted no more than five calendar days after the relevant assignment submission date or examination date for the unit for which consideration is sought.
Examples of exceptional and unforeseen circumstances which may constitute grounds for such consideration include:
- a serious illness or psychological condition, such as hospital admission, serious injury or illness, severe anxiety or depression;
- ongoing life threatening illness of a close family member or partner;
- loss or bereavement, such as death of a close family member, or family/relationship breakdown;
- hardship/trauma, such as being a victim of crime, sudden loss of income or employment, or severe disruption to domestic arrangements;
- an unforseen event that prevents a student from sitting an exam or seriously hampers their preparation for examination or submitting assignments;
- a combination of less severe circumstances (e.g. mild medical condition plus death of relative outside immediate family).
Possible outcomes and associated application procedures are set out in Table 3. It is the student's responsibility to contact the relevant person to find out what action has been taken and to obtain details of any required or special arrangements made for learning and assessment.
Table 3 – Applications relating to Special Circumstances
Possible Outcomes |
Application |
Submit request to/ Approved by |
Extension of the submission or completion date for the assessment |
Application for an Extension form, Application for Special Consideration form with Professional Authority, if needed |
Lecturer-in-Charge |
Deferred Central Examination |
Deferred Examination Form with Professional Authority |
Student Administration |
Deferred School-based Examination |
Application for Special Consideration form with Professional Authority |
Lecturer-in-Charge |
Adjustments to examination procedures |
Assessed and recommended by the Disability Adviser |
”Permanent” adjustments (for students with long-term conditions) approved by the Head of School or delegate. |
Adjustments to a grade for a unit |
Application for Special Consideration form with Professional Authority |
Head of School |
Withdraw from a unit without academic penalty |
Application for Special Consideration form with Professional Authority |
Course Co-ordinator |
Undertake alternative assessment |
Application for Special Consideration form with Professional Authority or Disability Adviser recommendation |
Lecturer-in-Charge or Course Co-ordinator or Head of School (for permanent recommendation regarding disability) |
Undertake additional assessment |
Application for Special Consideration form with Professional Authority |
Lecturer-in-Charge in consultation with the Head of School |
Applications will be assessed taking into account a student’s individual circumstances and how they may affect academic progress.
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5.3 Submission, Collection and Retention of Assessment Tasks
Unit outlines should include a statement regarding students’ responsibility for submission and collection of assessment tasks, including instructions on how, where, when and to whom tasks are to be submitted and whether faxed, emailed or posted assignments are acceptable; and collection of assignments, e.g. during class, from a secure location such as the School Office, by email or other specified arrangements.
Students are required to use the ACU National coversheet when submitting assessments, ensuring they have signed the statement that the work is original.
Students are required to retain both hard and electronic copies (where appropriate) of all work submitted for assessment, except in the case of tests and/or examinations.
On-campus students are normally expected to collect their assignments but, in exceptional circumstances, can delegate such authority to another person, provided that they give that person written authority to do so. Schools should keep a copy of any authority submitted.
Under no circumstances should marked assessments be left at an unsupervised collection point as the confidentiality of results and the security of the assignments may be compromised.
Assessment tasks that are not normally returned to students (e.g. examination scripts, multiple-choice answer sheets) and marked tasks that students have failed to retrieve are retained by the School for at least one standard semester after release of final results.
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5.4 Resubmission of Assessment Tasks
Submission of work in progress in order to gain feedback to improve that work is acceptable and appropriate when that process is clearly provided for in the description of an assessment task in a unit outline and is equally available to all students in that unit.
In other instances, after an assessment task is submitted, there will be no provision for a student to improve his or her standing in the unit by attempting to improve the quality of the work and then resubmitting it, unless allowed by other policies.
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Page last updated: 2017-06-29
Short url: https://handbook.acu.edu.au/53926
Page last updated: 2017-06-29
Short url: https://handbook.acu.edu.au/53926