Supplementary Assessment Week(s)

If students have either not been able to do an assessment during the academic year, or they haven't passed enough modules to proceed to the next year or graduate (but not by too much), they get a chance in July remediate that. Students that have missed an assessment for unavoidable reasons like health issues just get another chance, and get the full mark for their work. Students who have failed a module in such a way they can’t progress get offered an alternative assessment; this replaces all the assessments of the module, but the mark is capped. So in summer we were expected to get all these first sits and supplementary assessments ready on our module websites. There were so many this year!

Really close to the time, the university also decided that this year it shouldn't be a supplementary assessment week, but the period of two weeks. So we changed our assessments accordingly.

That period has now ended. So what is the teaching burden? Well! It is quite a mixed bag. The good and the bad news is that not all students who were eligible to do assessments did it. I had more students who hadn't than students who had. And students not taking this opportunity doesn't have to be a bad thing; some may get the chance to do an assessment in several modules, and might just choose strategically which module they tackle. And that might not be mine. But there are undoubtedly students among them who didn't submit who now won't be able to progress, and that is sad.

There was also a bit more confusion then I had anticipated! I had several assessments by students who weren't eligible to do them in the first place. All these folders on our module websites specifically state that only those who have been personally contacted to say they are eligible to do them should do them. But not everybody paid attention to that, obviously. And there were some assessments to that were in the wrong folder. And there were students who were eligible but whom we hadn't been told about.

One thing that affects me is that there were several students eligible to submit their dissertation as a first sit. And then the idea is that I don't have to mark them; all dissertations have a dedicated first and second marker. The problem is, though, that we only get a week to mark this work, and a lot of people are on holiday in this time of year. So now I have been running around looking for people who might be willing to step in. I myself will do a fair few. But given that they are all double marked, I can't, by definition, do all this work!

On my module website

There is even a sort of supplementary supplementary assessment week, for students who don't come through this. That is in August. And the academic staff is getting cranky, because that sort of implies that we can't go on holiday during SAW and SAW2 (in case there are questions) nor in the weeks afterwards, as that is when we have to mark this work. Clearly, not everyone is sticking to this. But it is a concern. We need to be able to switch off a little bit in summer. And this steadily growing burden of additional assessing is not helping with that!