Assessment and feedback
The University has an Assessment Framework which sets out the principles, practice, and conduct of assessment and gives information on reaching decisions from an assessment. The separate sections of the framework can be looked at individually on the Teaching, Learning and Delivery page or as a full document below.
- Assessment Framework (full PDF version)
The Faculty of Humanities has a document which sets out the expectations in terms of assessment within taught programmes at an undergraduate and postgraduate taught level in the Faculty to ensure rigorous assessment practices that achieve and maintain appropriate standards and parity of practice across all programmes.
Too much assessment may lead to superficial approaches to learning. The number of assessment tasks should provide a reliable and valid profile of achievement without overloading students or staff. The Assessment Procedure and Practice document details the Faculty’s Maximum Summative Assessment requirements.
As part of the Faculty’s NSS action plan (October 2024) all units (UG & PGT) must have an 'Assessment and Feedback' folder in their Blackboard space and the marking criteria must be clearly signposted within this. The submission date and expected feedback date must be included as standard.
Details of summative assessment tasks must be made available to students by the end of week 2 (2024/25) and marking criteria/rubrics must be made available via Blackboard and be clearly signposted. Assessment tasks and criteria should also be introduced in lectures/seminars and opportunities provided for students to ask questions.
During semester 1 (2024/25) colleagues are also encouraged to produce assessment screencasts or every course unit and make these available in Blackboard. NB. Assessment screencasts will be required for all course units in semester 2 (2024/25). Guidance can be found here https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/humteachlearn/assessment-screencasts/
All course units should have a discussion board (e.g. in Blackboard, Piazza, Padlet) with a clear “Assessment and Feedback” topic area for students to ask questions before, during and after the assessment.
Students should be specifically encouraged to use consultation times before and after assessments. For large cohorts, staff may need to provide additional availability at peak times.
Developed as part of the Flexible Learning Programme, this iterative and always-evolving online hub provides expert advice, policy, and guidance for student Assessment & Feedback, including designing and guiding assessment. It is for all staff and students at the University of Manchester.
The Faculty of Humanities eLearning Team also have a series of resources on designing assessment and selecting methods of online assessment.
Alternative assessments
Alternative assessments are available only for students in approved categories where the need is foreseeable. At present, the categories approved are students on a recognised exchange or collaborative programmes including Erasmus; and students who hold an approved sports scholarship. Students on programmes which are not recognised under this policy are not permitted to sit an examination outside of the University of Manchester.
- Policy on Alternative Assessment
- Guidance on alternative assessment for study abroad, exchange and Erasmus students
Assessment for students with disabilities
The University has responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act to make reasonable adjustments to its provision, including methods of assessment, to ensure that students with disabilities are not disadvantaged for reasons relating to their disability. A guidance document is available within the Assessment Framework above, along with the Attendance and Participation Policy.
Additional support needs
Staff in the Disability Advisory and Support Service are available to assist students with additional support needs arising from:
- An unseen medical condition
- A physical or sensory disability
- A specific learning difficulty e.g. dyslexia/dyspraxia etc.
- A mental health difficulty
The University's 'Policy on Additional Costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes' states that ' a student is required to pay a £100 contribution towards a diagnostic assessment for specific learning difficulties, with the University meeting the rest of the cost.
Ethical approval
The University has a Policy on the ethical approval of research that is carried out as part of a taught programme. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that a consistent approach is applied when dealing with the ethical approval of research in a taught programme.
Framework for the design and use of grade descriptors
The University’s Framework for the Design and Use of Grade Descriptors sets out the principles for designing and using grade descriptors in order to facilitate the award of appropriate and consistent marks.
By the academic year 2017/18 Schools must have adopted the spirit of the University’s Guidance and principles on grade descriptors and have developed/refined and implemented discipline grade descriptors which use the key terms (i.e. sufficient, good etc.) as specified in the Framework.
Moderation
The University’s Guidance on Moderation, Fairness and Consistency in Marking sets out the minimum level of moderation activity in the assessment process that must be undertaken for taught programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate taught level. Moderation applies to all summative first sit assessment at all levels (i.e. 4, 5, 6 and 7), and to CPD activity that leads to an award, distance and blended learning, collaborative provision, and assessment set for students with a University Support Plan and placement learning.
In the Faculty of Humanities it is expected that the overall mean mark for a course unit will normally be in the range 60%-70%.
In 2016/17 the Faculty determined that a Moderators form should be completed for all stages of the moderation procedure and introduced an Internal Examiner’s and Internal Moderator’s Report form (one for UG level and one for PGT level) which can be used to record the steps taken in the moderation process or Schools can choose to develop their own form which records the same steps of the assessment process.
Good practice on providing feedback to students
The Faculty has produced the following documents which identify and recommend good practice on providing feedback to students and supporting their understanding of the ways in which feedback can drive their learning:-
- Feedback to students annotated policy
- Giving effective feedback to students style 1
- Giving effective feedback to students style 2
- Giving effective feedback to students style 3
Reduced scale step marking
Implementation of the Faculty’s Reduced Scale Step Marking scheme is voluntary and can be adopted on some units, across all units, by programme, by discipline or across a School. Where Reduced Scale Step Marking is introduced it must follow the Faculty’s model; the actual descriptors can be tailored to better suit your requirements, however, the possible marks and the key terms must remain as prescribed in the Faculty’s scheme.
- Faculty reduced scale step marking (UG)
- Faculty reduced scale step marking (PGT)
- Staff FAQs reduced scale stepped marking
- Reduced scale stepped marking FAQs for UG students
- Reduced scale stepped marking FAQs for PGT students
Any areas adopting the Faculty's Reduced Scale Step Marking scheme should inform the Faculty's Student Service, Support and Development Manager (lmcaleese@manchester.ac.uk)
Temporary injuries
Students may sustain a temporary injury during the revision or exam periods, which may impair their performance, there are a number of options available to Schools: offer alternative arrangements, including the use of a scribe, use of a computer or similar (check with the Disability Support Office what is most appropriate); additional time; defer the exam / assessment; consider mitigating circumstances if the student has sat the exam / undertaken the assessment.
Timetabling teaching activities
Teaching activities should normally be scheduled for the first 12 weeks of each semester. Teaching activities are booked in slots of one hour or multiples thereof. Activities normally start on the hour and finish at 10 minutes to the hour, allowing 10 minutes to move from one activity to the next. The standard day for booking rooms is taken to be 9am to 6pm. Wednesday afternoons from 1pm onwards should normally be kept free to allow undergraduate students to participate in sport and other activities. Teaching outside normal hours is permitted, subject to a number of conditions.
Work and attendance of students
Schools determine the requirements for the work and attendance of students on the programme to be judged satisfactory. A clear statement of the specific and compulsory requirements for satisfactory work and attendance on the programme must appear in the Programme Handbook for students, accompanied by a statement of the consequences of failing to meet such requirements.
Throughout the academic year, the Programme Committee keeps under continuous review the work and attendance of students for whom it has responsibility under Regulation XX - Monitoring Attendance and Wellbeing of Students. The Regulation details the processes by which Schools must inform students of their unsatisfactory work and attendance i.e. a formal written warning, and the consequences of failure to comply with the requirements as set out by the School.
Group working
The University has produced Guidance on Assessed Group Work, which has been supplemented by Faculty Guidance on Group Work and Assessment.