Assessment Committee

  To set out policies and procedures for assessment committees.

• NZQA Consent and Moderation Requirements

1.         Each College / Programme will have an assessment committee which is responsible for monitoring and implementing Otago Polytechnic Limited (Ltd) assessment policies. These include but are not restricted to:

• Assessment and Moderation
• Recognition of Prior Learning
• Learner Results
• Academic Appeal Process for Students
• Grade tables

2.         Membership of the assessment committee will comprise:

• Chairperson
• Deputy chairperson
• Student representatives (one or one from each year of degree programme) involved in post moderation issues in all papers and pre moderation of student information and assessments for those papers in which the student is not enrolled only.
• Lecturers from within the college/school (ranging from 2 - 5)
• Lecturer from another college/school/programme
• Administrator – minute secretary

The assessment committee will:

3.         Monitor/moderate each assessment to ensure that it reflects the outcomes of the course and the appropriate criteria including marking schedule and model answers are in place to enable consistent application of the assessment.

4.         Consult with the course coordinators to ensure that a moderation process is in place for each assessment.

5.         Ensure that moderation processes are established which can ensure that the assessment processes are valid, reliable, and fair.

6.         Ensure external moderation requirements are met.

7.         Monitor the quality and congruence of assessment processes within courses to ensure:

• Validity, reliability, and usability of assessments
• Compatibility with philosophical intent of the curricula,
• Range of assessment minimizes opportunities for cheating.

8.         Manage appeals and unusual situations by considering and deciding on applications for:

• Aegrotat pass or impaired performance.
• Extra time during examinations and variations to conditions for examinations or assessment .
• Sitting examinations/assessments at an alternative site.

9.         Provide feedback and advice to course coordinators when assessments are found to produce unfair or inconsistent results or to disadvantage students. Provide feedback and advice to lecturers or lecturers’ supervisors in the event of a student appeal against assessment results or processes.

10.     Manage assessment and results by:

• ensuring that student and staff workload for assessment events is manageable.
• monitoring that assessment processes presented reflect the outcomes of the course as a whole.
• monitoring that criteria applied to the assessment is consistent with the content and outcomes of the course.
• ensuring that course assessment information is in a consistent format.
• ensuring that students receive marking criteria for assessment events prior to the assessment event.
• receiving and reviewing the results of each piece of assessment prior to results being made available to students and  final results for each paper.
• ensuring students receive general feedback identifying common themes, strengths, and weakness.

11.     Recommend all progressions and participate in the identification of college/school/programme student awards, which includes distinction, and merits as well as prizes and trophies.

12.     Report to and be monitored by:

• Members to ensure internal consistency of decision making
• Head of College/ Programme

Policies

• Recognition of Prior Learning
• Academic Appeal Process for Learners
• Learner Discipline
• Academic Integrity
• Moderation and Assessment
• Grade Tables, Honours, Distinctions and Merit
• Presentation and Submission of Postgraduate Research Thesis or Dissertation
• Impaired Performance/Aegrotat
• Results process for Consultancy/Workplace Assessment
• Learner Results
• Information Management
• Intellectual Property