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3. Assessment Protocols
3.1 Assessment Review Committees
3.2 Assessment tasks
3.3 Assessment schedules
3.4 Unit outlines
3.5 Minimum essential requirements in a unit
3.6 Group work and collaborative assessment
3.7 Personal circumstances affecting assessment
3.8 Submission, collection and retention of assessment tasks
3.9 Resubmission of assessment tasks
3.1 Assessment Review Committees
An Assessment Review Committee will be established by a Head of School to review assessment outcomes for the School. The role and responsibilities of the Assessment Review Committee will be specified by the Head of School at the time of its establishment and should be reviewed annually. Responsibilities so delegated by the Head of School may include the following:
- review the performance of students undertaking units offered by the School, paying particular attention to results that are borderline between grades;
- monitor the appropriateness of allocation of final result grades in accordance with the Academic Regulations. Evidence to substantiate recommendations regarding grades may be requested from Lecturers-in-Charge;
- advise the Head of School, who ratifies the final result grades prior to submission;
- monitor the effectiveness of assessment practices in units offered by the School using, amongst other means, statistics on grade distribution;
- make recommendations to the Head of School regarding assessment policy, procedures and outcomes.
3.2 Assessment tasks
Assessment tasks are the single components of an assessment schedule and should be of different types to address students’ differing learning styles. Within any one assessment task, there may be several aspects of assessment.
Assessment should be both formative and summative. The assessment tasks should be appropriate to the discipline and explicitly reflect the learning outcomes for the unit, including graduate attributes (, ) and marking criteria. Assessment tasks should be designed to minimise the risk of plagiarism.
Assessment tasks in all units will be developed so that, typically the following proportions of students will achieve the stated final grades:
| Distinction (DI) or better | 20% |
| Credit (CR) | 30% |
| Fail (NN) | no more than 10% |
Where the final grades significantly deviate from these standards, the Lecturer-in-Charge will provide to the School Assessment Review Committee relevant evidence to substantiate the decision. Assessment tasks in a unit will be moderated by an independent moderator (external to the unit) prior to implementation with students [refer: Principles for moderation of assessment (, ).
Assessment and/or other learning tasks in coursework units that involve students and/or lecturers in projects with human participants require ethics clearance in advance. The Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans application form and guidelines are available on the Research Services website.
3.3 Assessment schedules
The learning outcomes in a unit should be assessed through a variety of tasks so students have a number of opportunities to demonstrate their learning. A recommended assessment schedule for any one unit would include two or three assessment tasks, none of which is worth more than 65 percent of the total marks: for example, an essay, seminar and formal examination each worth between 30-40 percent. Learning contracts, projects or similar assessment tasks may in total be worth more than 65 percent but, in these instances, it is recommended that the assessment task be managed so that students receive feedback on successive stages of the task. The number of unweighted assessment tasks (hurdle requirements) for a unit must be taken into account in relation to assessment load for the unit.
For units with a final examination in the central examination period, assessments should not be due in study week or at any time during the central examination period1. The scope of in-class tests or School examinations should be related to the scheduling of the assessment. Class time used for in-class tests or examinations should be justified in relation to pedagogy not on scheduling issues.
3.4 Unit outlines
A unit outline is an official document that represents the formal understanding between the University and the students in relation to the unit in that study period. It is based on the original Academic Board approved unit outline and prepared by the Lecturer-in-Charge of the unit. Teaching and assessment tasks in the unit must be conducted as specified in the unit outline provided to students.
The assessment schedule may not normally be changed after distribution to students, except under exceptional circumstances as approved by the Head of School. A written revised schedule should then be made available to students either in class, via an online noticeboard or by mail, according to the mode of delivery of the unit.
Based on the Academic Board-approved requirements, the unit outline provided to students contains relevant information as per the University approved Unit Outline template.
3.5 Minimum essential requirements in a unit
3.5.1 Attendance requirements
Marks are not to be awarded for attendance.
If there are specific attendance requirements for a unit, such requirements must be clearly stated in the unit outline, along with consequences for not meeting the requirements.
Thus, students cannot be failed for non-attendance unless the unit outline clearly stipulates that failure is the consequence of not meeting specified minimum attendance requirements and/or attending particular compulsory classes.
The Lecturer-in-Charge must keep attendance records for all classes in units with a minimum attendance requirement or for specified compulsory classes.
3.5.2 Assessment tasks
Students are not usually required to pass individual assessment tasks in a unit unless the task is related to required discipline specific competency standards. The weighting of such tasks must reflect their significance.
3.6 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 cases, 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.
3.7 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 no later than five calendar days after the relevant assignment submission date or prior to the commencement of the relevant examination period.
Examples of exceptional and unforeseen circumstances which may constitute grounds for such consideration are provided in the Assessment Guidelines.
Possible outcomes and associated application procedures are set out in Table 1. 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 1 – 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 | Application assessment and recommendation by the Disability Adviser Forms:
| ”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 Coordinator |
| Undertake alternative assessment | Application for Special Consideration form with Professional Authority or Disability Adviser recommendation | Lecturer-in-Charge or Course Coordinator 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.
3.8 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;
- whether faxed, emailed or posted assignments are acceptable;
- collection of assignments, eg during class, from a secure location such as the School Office, by email or other specified arrangements.
Prior to submitting assessments, students are required to sign a statement that the work is original. This may be on the official University Assignment Coversheet or electronically in the case of a fully online unit.
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 (eg 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.
3.9 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.
1This includes an extension of time granted for submission of assessment tasks.
