Assessment Handbook Taught Higher Degree courses

This handbook is available online at www.open.ac.uk/students

December 2009

This document has been produced by the Student Services Communications Team of The Open University.

While we have done everything possible to ensure accuracy, the information in this publication may change in the light of altered regulations or policy or because of financial or other constraints.

We may record our phone calls with you to make sure that we have carried out your instructions correctly and to help us improve our services through staff training.

The Open University Student Services

The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England and ales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302). W

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Contents SECTION 1 Introduction 1.1 Types of assessment 4 1.2 Your StudentHome pages 4 1.3 At the end of the course 5 1.4 Additional needs 5 1.5 Abbreviations 5

SECTION 2 Assignments 2.1 To pass the course 6 2.2 Continuous assessment 6 2.3 Assignment scores 7 2.4 Preparing assignments 7 2.5 Submitting TMAs 8 2.6 Marking TMAs 12 2.7 Submitting CMAs 14 2.8 Marking CMAs 15 2.9 Substitution 16 2.10 Special circumstances affecting continuous assessment 19 2.11 Posting assignments on websites 20

SECTION 3 Examined work 3.1 Examinable components 20 3.2 Examination arrangements 20 3.3 Absence from examinations 22 3.4 Special circumstances affecting examined work 22

SECTION 4 Course results 4.1 Assessment strategies 24 4.2 Determining results 24 4.3 Examination and Assessment Boards 24 4.4 Your result 25 4.5 Result grades 26 4.6 Getting your result 29 4.7 Resits and resubmissions 29 4.8 Viva voce examinations 30 4.9 Queries 30 4.10 Formal appeals 31 4.11 Aegrotat credit 31

APPENDIX 1 Plagiarism 32 APPENDIX 2 Submitting assignments online 33

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Examination periods There are four examination periods a year.

The dates in 2010 are:

19–23 April 2010

14–17 June 2010

14 July 2010

11–20 October 2010

Refer to your course calendar to find out the appropriate examination period for your course. If you are studying outside the UK please see Section 3.2.

Section 1 Introduction This Assessment Handbook is for you to use during your course or programme of study. It outlines the University’s policy relating to the different elements of assessment you may have to complete for your course or programme and explains the outcomes and/or course result you will receive at the end of each course. You'll find our formal Code of practice for student assessment (along with our other student regulations and formal policies) on our website at www.open.ac.uk/our-student-policies or in the Conditions of registration booklet sent to you when you registered.

This Handbook tells you the general rules and regulations for completing and submitting your work and explains the result grades we use, while course information such as your Course Guide, Study Calendar and Assignment Booklet will tell you about the individual elements of assessment in your course.

Most courses have assessment throughout the course rather than just at the end. You should check your Course Guide, Study Calendar and Assignment Booklet for details. Remember that assessment during the course often aims at consolidating what you have learned, improving your understanding of the subject and your skills as a student.

You may also find it helpful to look at our assessment website (www.open.ac.uk/assessment) where you'll find more information about assessment, for example, a glossary of some of the phrases and terms used in assessment, a selection of forms and information sheets and even a short movie about a typical OU examination. The site also includes assessment-related questions and answers as well as some links to other useful websites.

1.1 Types of assessment The University has some standard types of assessment that we may use in your course: assignments, oral or practical assessments, projects, examinations, dissertations and portfolios. There are many others, but these are the most common.

Most courses usually contain at least two types of assessment: assignments completed during the course known as continuous assessment (see Section 2), and an examination or project at the end (see Section 3). Assessment methods are always being developed and refined within each academic subject, so if the assessment used in your course is not included in this Handbook, you should read all your course information very carefully.

1.2 Your StudentHome pages We strongly advise you to make sure that you are able to sign on to StudentHome – www.open.ac.uk/students – at the start of your course (using the user name and password we sent you when we confirmed your registration). If you have any problems

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signing in, you’ll find some instructions on the screen to help you or you can contact our Computing Helpdesk (email ou-computing-helpdesk@open.ac.uk).

As well as a wealth of valuable study resources, you should be able to quickly access:

• your assignment scores for your current course

• your examination date and time, and how to ask for an examination at a non-established centre outside the UK. (These are centres we don’t use regularly for examinations, but which we may use if necessary.)

• your examination centre address

• results for previous courses

• the result of your current course, once it is available

• your course website

• the online version of this assessment handbook

• information about our courses and qualifications

• and much more………...

1.3 At the end of the course You will receive a course result letter giving you the outcome for your course. Your result will also be displayed in the courses page of StudentHome. If your course contributes to an award, you will receive an award result when you have completed the required study.

1.4 Additional needs Further information for students with additional needs can be found in the booklet Meeting your needs, which is available from your regional or national centre.

1.5 Abbreviations CMA Computer-marked assignment

E39 The form used for telling the Examination and Assessment Board about anything that may have adversely affected your performance in the examination

E39L The form used for telling the Examination and Assessment Board about anything that may have adversely affected your performance in your end-of-course assessment (on a Certificate language course)

E39P The form used for telling the Examination and Assessment Board about anything that may have adversely affected your performance in your end-of-course assessment (on a non-examined course)

ECA

End-of-course assessment

eECA End-of-course assessment submitting using the University’s electronic submission system

ET3 Cover sheet for submitting an ECA (project or equivalent)

eTMA Tutor-marked assignment submitted using the University’s electronic submission system

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eTMA

F10

Tutor-marked assignment submitted using the University’s electronic submission system

Form for delayed placements

OAS Overall assessment score

OCAS Overall continuous assessment score

OES Overall examinable component score

PA39 Form used for work-based learning courses for telling us about practice-related issues

PT3 Cover sheet for submissions of TMAs, and for your tutor’s marks and comments

PT39 The form used for telling the Examination and Assessment Board about anything that may have adversely affected your performance during your course work

RS39 The form used for telling the Examination and Assessment Board about anything that may have adversely affected your performance at residential school, on a residential school course (identified by the inclusion of XR in the course code)

TMA Tutor-marked assignment

Section 2 Assignments Open University courses usually have two assessment components: continuous assessment (discussed in this section) and an examinable component (explained in Section 3, ‘Examined work’).

2.1 To pass the course or programme To pass the course, or to achieve a particular grade of pass, you must achieve the minimum scores on both the continuous assessment and the examinable component as set by the Examination and Assessment Board for your course. Your result is not determined by an averaging of the two components. See Section 4, ‘Course results’, for an explanation of how results are determined.

2.2 Continuous assessment Your continuous assessment is made up of tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) and possibly computer-marked assignments (CMAs or iCMAs – the ‘i’ standing for ‘interactive’). TMAs are usually essay or short-answer questions, although some courses also require extended essays, dissertations or projects or oral assignments submitted on tape. CMAs and iCMAs are made up of a series of questions and you choose the answers from a given selection.

You must submit your assignments by the cut-off dates given in the Study Calendar for your course unless you have been granted an extension before the cut-off date.

Formative and summative assignments

‘Formative’ assignments are set for teaching purposes only and the scores you get for them don’t count towards your course result. However, most of your assignments will be ‘summative’, and the scores for these assignments are combined to make up your overall continuous assessment score.

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Keeping your assignments

You should keep a copy of each assignment you submit along with proof of posting (see ‘Sending in your TMAs’ in Section 2.5), as things sometimes go astray in the post. If you submit electronically you must wait until you get the on-screen receipt to be sure that it has been accepted by the system. You should make a note of the receipt number as proof of your successful submission. We can’t accept any responsibility for assignments that don’t reach your tutor or the appropriate office by the due date.

Most students keep their marked assignments until the end of the course or programme, largely because they’re an invaluable aid to revision. We strongly advise you to keep your marked assignments, along with your proof of posting or submission, until you have your course or programme result.

2.3 Assignment scores Calculating continuous assessment scores

Individual assignments may be weighted to reflect their relative importance. In working out your course result, the assignment score your tutor gives is multiplied by the assignment weighting to produce the score that will count towards your continuous assessment. You’ll be given a zero score for any summative assignment you don’t submit, unless your course allows ‘substitution’ (explained in Section 2.9, ‘Substitution’).

Your course may have a ‘threshold’ for one or more of the elements of continuous assessment. This is a minimum score on that element that you must reach in order to pass the course.

The assessment strategy for each course, which will include all the information of this kind, is explained in course materials and confirmed in the Study Calendar for your course.

On the majority of courses your performance in all forms of assessment is recorded and reported back to you in line with the following numerical University Scale.

Table 1 The University Scale

Band University Scale score

Performance standard

A 85–100 Pass 1

B 70–84 Pass 2

C 55–69 Pass 3

D 40–54 Pass 4

E 30–39 Bare fail

F 15–29 Fail

G 0–14 Bad fail

Some courses use other scales for marking individual assignments, and those will be explained in your assignment material, but the overall score for an assignment will be recorded and reported using the University Scale.

2.4 Preparing assignments Your assignments serve two main purposes. They help you to learn and they enable the University to judge the standard you’ve achieved. The preparatory work you do for an

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assignment and the process of writing it should help you to concentrate on particular aspects of the course and to consolidate what you’ve learned so far.

The nature of assignments will obviously vary from course to course. Most course teams offer advice and suggestions in the assignment notes about the scope of the question and what’s expected of you.

We expect that you’ll want to draw on a wide range of sources as you prepare your assignments. As well as learning from the course materials and set books, you’ll benefit from wider reading and from discussion with others who are interested in the same subjects.

Should you discuss your assignments with other students?

Although some students find that they work best on their own, many learn a great deal from discussing aspects of the course with others. The opinions and insights that you form while discussing a question are no less valuable than those you form while reading books or listening to lectures. We assure you that there’s nothing wrong in discussing assignment questions with fellow students, or other people, before you begin your work. But when you sit down to write your assignment you are expected to work alone and not to use other people’s work (in its entirety or in part) as if it is your own.

Plagiarism and cheating

You’ll find some advice about plagiarism in Appendix 1 to this Handbook. Please note that we are currently using plagiarism detection software.

You should note that it is a disciplinary offence to sell, distribute or advertise for sale or distribution, student assignments – whether or not the assignments include tutor comments or marks.

Confidentiality of assignments

All information you give in assignments is regarded as confidential to you, your tutor or practice assessor, and the University, and won’t be divulged to anyone outside the University.

In your assignments and elsewhere in your course you may be encouraged to apply the course content to your own work. This sometimes means that you may need to give information about and occasionally to pass judgement on the company or organisation for which you might work. The University treats such information with complete confidentiality. Tutors may use it only for purposes directly connected with the teaching of the course, and may not divulge it for any other purpose during or after their service with the University.

Processing personal data as part of your studies

Students aren’t usually expected to process personal data as part of their Open University studies, but if you do need to do so (perhaps for the purposes of a project) you must obtain the agreement of your tutor or supervisor that the processing is necessary and immediately inform the Data Protection Coordinator. The address is at the end of this Handbook.

The Data Protection Coordinator will advise you about the requirements and implications of the Data Protection Act, including the security arrangements appropriate to your set of personal data. The Data Protection Coordinator will also be responsible for dealing with subject-access requests related to personal data you hold.

2.5 Submitting TMAs There are two different methods of submitting TMAs, either on paper, or online via a link on your StudentHome page. Your course materials will tell you which of these methods

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you should use, or whether you can choose which to use. For some courses the nature of the TMAs means that it isn’t possible to submit online for all of the TMAs, so you may find that you use paper for some TMAs and submit others online.

If your TMA is not received by the cut off date, it will not be marked and you will not get a score for it unless you have already had an extension to the cut off date agreed. For the last TMA on your course, your tutor cannot agree an extension beyond the first day of the month in which the course ends.

If you are submitting your assignment online, you should ensure that you submit well before midday (UK local time) on the cut off date in case you experience technical problems, and ideally at least three days before the cut off date. However, there is a 12-hour grace period so any TMAs received by midnight on the cut-off date will still be accepted.

If you are submitting on paper, you should allow at least three days for delivery and ensure you obtain proof of posting. Don’t use any form of delivery which requires a signature, and do ensure that you put sufficient postage on the envelope.

If you have difficulties submitting your assignment online using the link on your StudentHome page, you can submit by email directly to the University (not to your tutor). However, submission via StudentHome is always preferable because it guides you through the process and receipt by the system is quicker.

For more detailed information about submitting assignments online, see Appendix 2.

Submitting TMAs online You should note that you can only submit one file for each TMA (if you submit a second file it will overwrite the first one). This may mean that you need to zip files together. You must ensure that your submission contains all of your TMA, that you are submitting the correct version of your TMA, and that it is in the right file format. If you submit a wrong file, or an unreadable file, you will not be allowed to submit another version.

Unless your course materials tell you otherwise, your file must be no bigger than 2MB in size. If it exceeds this size, you will not be able to submit it. You can either zip the file to reduce its size, or reduce the size by, for example, converting image files to a different format.

The cut-off date given in your Study Calendar is the last date by which each assignment should arrive. We strongly advise you not to leave submission of your TMAs until the last minute, and preferably to submit at least three days before the cut-off date. You should keep a copy of each assignment you submit, and also keep the submission receipt that will be sent to you when your TMA has reached the eTMA system.

Remember that electronic submission is not immediate and it is your responsibility to make sure that your TMA arrives at the University on or before the cut-off date. You must make sure that your assignment is submitted, and arrives, before midday (UK local time) on the cut-off date. This means starting the submission process well before that time. However, there is a 12-hour grace period so any TMAs received by midnight on the cut-off date will still be accepted.

Submitting TMAs by email You should not send your TMA by email directly to your tutor. If you have problems accessing StudentHome or with the link to submit from StudentHome, you can email your assignment to the University. Your submission must follow all of the guidelines for eTMAs relating file size, being free of viruses, and only submitting one file.

Address your email to etma@open.ac.uk, then attach your eTMA file. Don’t copy your email to anyone except yourself – you may need to do this if your email system doesn’t automatically save a copy of sent mail.

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In the subject line put your personal identifier, your course code and your TMA number. Each of these should be separated by single spaces, commas or slashes. Don’t put anything else in the subject line or your email will be rejected.

The subject line should look something like this: A1234567/A111/01

Don’t put anything else in the email because it will not be read. You should also make sure that there is no formatting or signature in the email.

You will receive an acknowledgement email from the system when the eTMA has been accepted. This can take up to twelve hours. You can only be sure that your submission has been received if you receive an acknowledgement. Do not resubmit your eTMA unless you get an error message that tells you why your submission has failed. The error message comes in the form of an email from a different address, so don’t reply to this email in resending your eTMA. The error message will clarify why your TMA has not been accepted, you should correct the error and try again. You may need to check that you have typed your personal identifier and course code correctly – check the format of the subject line you have typed with the format shown above.

Submitting TMAs on paper If you are submitting your TMAs on paper, use A4 paper and leave wide margins, about two centimetres, on both sides for your tutor’s comments. Put your name, personal identifier, course code and assignment number at the top of every sheet.

TMA forms (PT3s)

TMA forms are only needed for paper TMAs. You’ll receive one TMA form (PT3) to send in with your TMA. When your marked TMA is returned to you, another TMA form will be enclosed for your next TMA. You must attach a TMA form to each tutor-marked assignment that you submit on paper. If you need an additional form, go to ‘contact us’ on StudentHome to request one.

Check your form very carefully and fully. Above all, make sure that you’ve completed Section 1 by entering your personal identifier, assignment number and course code, and that these are all correct. You must also sign the form to confirm that you are submitting your own work (see the Appendix on plagiarism). Errors or omissions in completing the form will cause considerable delay in recording your assignment score. Be sure that your address is written clearly and fully, and that it is clear on all copies of the form, so that your assignment can be posted back to you.

Sending in your paper TMAs

Send your TMAs direct to your tutor unless told otherwise in your course materials. The cut-off date given in the Study Calendar for your course is the last date by which the TMA should arrive. It’s to your advantage and ours that you submit assignments by the cut-off date. It will help you to keep up to date with the course, and it’s also important that you don’t get an unfair advantage by taking more time over your work, or from seeing other people’s marked assignments.

Post your TMAs in time to reach your tutor by the cut-off date. Check the postage is sufficient obtain proof of posting and keep a copy of the assignment.

You are strongly advised to:

• use first-class post (not recorded delivery or registered post (as your tutor may not be in to receive it)

• make sure that the postage on the envelope is sufficient (tutors are not obliged to collect or pay for TMAs with insufficient postage),

• allow at least three days for delivery

• where possible obtain proof of posting (available free from post offices in the UK)

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• keep a copy of each assignment you submit.

Partly completed TMAs Unless you’re told otherwise, you must send in all parts of an assignment together. A part-assignment sent as a second instalment will not be marked. Your tutor will return it to you with a note to say that it can’t be accepted. If you have difficulty in completing all the parts of an assignment on time, you should ask your tutor, before the cut-off date, for permission to submit the whole assignment late. You must check your assignment before sending, either on paper or electronically, as if it turns out that you have sent the wrong file, or an earlier draft, or just missed something out, you will not be allowed to resubmit.

Early submission of TMAs The Assignment Handling Office normally returns marked assignments to students within twenty four hours. If you submit your TMA early, however, your tutor will not send it to the Assignment Handling Office until after the cut-off date.

Late submission of TMAs Illness or some other good reason may leave you unable to submit a TMA to arrive by the cut-off date. Please remember that late submission is not a right; you must obtain permission in advance. For some assignments late submission is not permitted at all. If there are good reasons why you can’t meet a TMA cut-off date, take the appropriate action as explained in the following list.

• If you decide not to submit the assignment at all, warn your tutor, before the cut-off date, not to expect it from you.

• If you want permission to submit the assignment late, explain your reasons to your tutor before the cut-off date. Late submission will be allowed only if your tutor agrees that you have a genuine reason, that it’s in your interest to submit late rather than get on with current work, and that it’s still acceptable to record a score for your work. An extension of more than seven days will be authorised only in exceptional circumstances, and your tutor will not agree to an extension of more than twenty-one days.

• If you want to submit an assignment more than twenty-one days late, you must obtain permission through Learner Support in your regional or national centre, having first discussed the situation with your tutor.

Occasionally, when it’s too late to record a score that can contribute to your continuous assessment score, your tutor may still think it useful for your assignment to be marked so that you have the benefit of teaching comments.

Permission to submit a TMA more than seven days after the cut-off date will not usually be granted for more than two TMAs in a 60-point course or one TMA in a 30-point (or shorter) course.

The final TMA So that scores can be recorded and documentation prepared at the end of each course, no extension to the cut-off date will normally be allowed for a course’s final assignment. In exceptional circumstances, and depending on the last cut-off date, an extension may be possible, though discretion for permitting it is much more limited than for other TMAs. If you think that your circumstances are exceptional, ask your tutor as soon as possible whether an extension can be granted. Any extensions to a final TMA cannot be given beyond the absolute cut-off dates given below. The absolute cut-off dates for final assignments for courses ending in each of these months are:

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Course ends Absolute cut-off date for extensions • January 1 January

• April 1 April

• June 1 June

• July 1 July

• October 1 October

If the final TMA cut-off date for your course falls a few days beyond the dates above, no extension can be granted in any circumstances.

2.6 Marking TMAs TMAs submitted online

If you have submitted your TMA online, you will receive an email to your preferred email address to let you know when it has been marked and is available for you to collect. When you download your eTMA, you will also have a separate Assessment Summary (PT3) file which will contain your tutor’s overall comments on the TMA. Your tutor will have added comments to your eTMA as well. You may need to change the settings on your word processing program in order to see these comments. You are likely to get your eTMA back more quickly than if you are submitting paper TMAs.

TMAs submitted on paper

Your tutor will write comments on your script and on the accompanying TMA form (PT3) and send both script and form to Walton Hall. Your score is then recorded on the computer file, and your script and one copy of the TMA form (PT3) are returned to you. All this can take up to three weeks from the time you post your assignment.

Your marked TMA

When you get your work back you should check the scores awarded and read your tutor’s comments carefully, taking note (for future assignments) of what seem to be your strengths and weaknesses. There may be comments that you don’t understand, or don’t agree with. Your tutor will be ready to discuss these with you.

Monitoring

Assignments marked by course tutors are monitored to ensure a reasonable uniformity of marking standards and an adequate level of teaching comments. Throughout the year some of the assignments marked by each tutor are checked by the course team. If you are submitting online this doesn’t cause any delay in returning your marked TMA. However, if you submit on paper and your assignment is selected for monitoring, it will need to be photocopied to be checked by the course team, and its return may be delayed by up to two days. The Assignment Handling Office (contact details are at the end of this Handbook) will be able to tell you if this has happened. If you need your tutor’s comments on it to enable you to begin your next TMA, ask your tutor to send a copy of them direct to you.

These photocopies are treated as confidential and are destroyed at the end of each year.

Late return of marked TMAs

If you don’t get your TMA back within four weeks, ask your tutor about it. If your tutor hasn’t replied within the next ten days, tell your regional or national centre.

Queries and appeals against TMA scores

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If you want to query the score awarded for a TMA, you must return the assignment to your tutor, stating the grounds on which you’re querying the score, within twenty-eight days of the date the tutor sent it to Walton Hall. That date is shown on the TMA form (PT3). If you don’t do this, the assignment can’t be sent on appeal for re-marking. The query should always be sent to the tutor who marked the assignment, not to the regional or national centre, the Assignments Section, course team chair or anyone else.

To query your TMA score, return your marked TMA to your tutor, with your reasons, within 28 days of the date entered by your tutor on the PT3.

If you’re not satisfied with your tutor’s response, you have the right to appeal. You should forward the assignment to the Complaints and Appeals Office (address at the end of this Handbook), together with the related correspondence from your tutor, the grounds for your appeal and any other relevant information, to arrive within twenty-eight days of the date of notification of your course tutor’s decision. The Complaints and Appeals Office will acknowledge receipt of your documents within three days of their arrival, telling you which delegate authority of the University has been asked to reply direct to you.

Don’t assume that a query or the subsequent appeal will result in an increase to your original score. Scores often remain unchanged, and they can be reduced. You may not resubmit a revised assignment to try to improve the score.

Querying the final TMA score

If you want to query the score for your course’s final TMA, you must raise the matter with your tutor within fourteen days of the Assignment Handling Office date shown on your TMA form (PT3). If you’re not satisfied with your tutor’s response to your query about your final TMA, send your assignment, grounds for appeal and related correspondence to the Complaints and Appeals Office within fourteen days of the date of notification of your tutor’s decision. This is to make sure that all scores are processed in time for course results to be awarded.

If your course does not have an examinable component and your final TMA has been marked by someone other than your tutor, to appeal against the score you should send your appeal directly to the Complaints and Appeals Office with a letter outlining the grounds for your appeal. You must do this within fourteen days of the return of your assignment.

Courses without tutors

A small number of courses do not allocate personal tutors, but provide support through study advisers or online conferencing. If you are studying this type of course and you want to query a TMA score, you should forward the assignment to the Complaints and Appeals Office (address at the end of this handbook), together with: a note saying that your course does not provide a personal tutor; the grounds for your appeal; and any other relevant information; to arrive within twenty eight days of the date of notification of your TMA score. The Complaints and Appeals Office will acknowledge receipt of your documents within three days of their arrival, telling you which delegate authority of the University has been asked to reply direct to you.

Keeping copies of your TMAs

You are advised to keep a copy of your TMAs until after you receive your course result. If you have submitted your TMAs online, these will be available to you to download until 30 days after your course has finished. At this point, your access to your TMAs will be removed. Therefore, you should ensure that you download them before the end of the 30-day period. You should also consider backing up your files in case of PC failure or file corruption. As the system is regularly cleared down due to the volume of submissions, University policy does not permit the retrieval of TMAs on your behalf.

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2.7 Submitting CMAs It is important to remember that a CMA must be your own work just as a TMA must be (see the Appendix on plagiarism at the end of this Handbook). Your course may require you to submit CMAs using a CMA form, or give you the option of completing the CMA online (referred to as eCMAs’). Some courses use interactive CMAs (referred to as ‘iCMAs’). You should read your course materials carefully to make sure you know which type of CMAs are used by your course.

eCMAs

If you submit your CMA online, you must make sure you have completed it by midday (UK local time) on the cut-off date given in your Study Calendar. However, there is a 12-hour grace period so any CMAs received up to midnight on the cut-off date will still be accepted but we strongly recommend that you do not leave electronic submission of your CMA to the last minute as network traffic may be heavy and may delay receipt of your work by the University. We also recommend that you keep all submission receipts.

iCMAs

You access iCMAs for your course through a link on your course website. iCMAs can be set up in a number of different ways and will either give feedback after you answer each question or provide feedback for all questions after the cut-off date. Some iCMAs let you have more than one attempt at a question but give you a lower score for second and subsequent attempts. Most iCMAs will not give you a score on completion but you will be given your score and feedback on the iCMA after the closing date. You must make sure you have completed your iCMA before midday (UK local time) on the cut off date, and that you have clicked the ‘submit’ button. If you don’t do this, you risk your iCMA not being accepted by the University. However, there is a 12-hour grace period so any iCMAs received up to midnight on the cut-off date will still be accepted.

You will not be given exactly the same questions as other students or as your tutor, so if you want to query a point with your tutor remember to make a note of the question you were asked.

CMA forms

Before the first computer-marked assignment is due you’ll receive a supply of CMA forms and envelopes that must be used when answering and submitting the assignments if you are submitting on paper.

The form has two parts, with instructions telling you how to fill in each. Complete both parts as instructed, using an HB pencil. Follow the printed instructions carefully for each question. Be sure to draw a firm horizontal line through the character in a cell, without going outside the boundary. If you want to change an entry, pencil in the coloured part of the cell. If you damage the surface of the form, start afresh with a new form. Don’t skip a question – if you can’t answer it, leave its answer cells blank and pencil through the ‘?’ cell.

Before sending in your CMA form, check carefully that:

• you haven’t made an error in transferring your answers from the assignment booklet to the CMA form;

• you’ve completed all of Part 1 of the form correctly by writing your name, assignment number etc. in the left-hand box, and that you’ve correctly recorded your personal identifier and assignment number by pencilling through the cells in the other two sections in Part 1. Errors there will make the document reader reject your form, causing delay in recording your assignment score and sending it to you.

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Carefully fold the form inward, along the dotted line, put it in the envelope provided, and write your name and personal identifier on the flap of the envelope.

Sending in your CMAs

You should send your CMAs to the Assignments Section at Walton Hall, not to your tutor. Use the envelopes provided. The cut-off date given in the Study Calendar for your course is the last date by which your CMA must reach the Assignment Records Office. It will not be marked if it arrives after this date. No extensions are allowed for CMAs so please don’t ask your tutor for an extension. Don’t send in a CMA to arrive earlier than two weeks before the cut-off date, because (a) the computer won’t be set up to mark it, and (b) there may be an amendment to the assignment published in a Stop Press notice.

You are strongly advised to: Post your CMAs at least three days before the cut-off date and obtain proof of posting.

• post your CMA at least three days before the cut-off date

• use first-class post

• where possible, obtain proof of posting (available free from post offices in the UK)

• keep a copy of your CMA.

If you are studying outside the UK, you should consider sending your CMA by registered post or include a statement of the date sent so that, if necessary, it can be checked against the postmark. For technical reasons we can’t accept faxed CMAs for marking.

Late submission or late receipt of CMAs

CMAs that reach the University after the cut-off date will not be marked, both for technical reasons and because model answers or other information about the CMA may have already been sent out to other students.

If you have proof that you sent it by first-class post before the cut-off date, or if you have your submission receipt showing that your eCMA was submitted before midnight (UK time), you should write to the Manager (Assignment Records), Assignment Records Office and ask for it to be marked. (The address is at the end of this Handbook.) Enclose your proof of posting keeping a copy for yourself. If we do not already hold your completed CMA, you will need to complete a new form containing your original responses.

2.8 Marking CMAs If you submitted your CMA on paper, you will be sent a computer-generated feedback letter once it has been marked. For a summative assignment the letter will be produced after the cut-off date; for a formative assignment, it will be produced as soon as possible after the CMA reaches the University. You should receive it within ten days of the CMA’s cut-off date. The letter will show the score recorded for you and a table giving the distribution of scores for all the students who submitted the assignment. At the discretion of the course team there may also be information about individual questions, such as how many correct, partially correct or incorrect answers you gave, and a table of correct responses for all questions, showing which you got wrong.

If you submitted your CMA electronically, your score and feedback should be available on StudentHome (unless it forms part of the end-of-course assessment in which case feedback will be provided on paper only). For iCMAs any feedback is given on completion of each question.

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Non-receipt of CMA scores

If you don’t receive your CMA score within ten days of the cut-off date, or if you want to query your score, you should email the Manager (Assignment Records) at the Assignment Records Office or, if you prefer, you may write to or telephone the CMA Team (contact addresses and phone numbers can be found at the end of this Handbook). If you want to clarify any academic aspect of your CMA, ask your tutor.

2.9 Substitution All your summative assignments are used for assessment, so you get credit for each one you submit and it’s in your interest to send in work for every assignment. But you may not be able to complete them all to your usual standard, perhaps because of illness or some other good reason. So as to partly compensate for a dip in assignment scores and to encourage you to attempt all the assignments, some courses allow your original score for a set number (published in advance) of their summative assignments to be replaced (or ‘substituted’) by a higher score derived from your assessment scores throughout the course.

Certain assignments that are considered especially important are not eligible for substitution. Not all courses allow substitution. Your Study Calendar will tell you whether your course allows it or not, and to which assignments it can apply. Substitution only takes place if it’s to your advantage and is applied automatically if your course allows it. There’s no need to ask to have scores substituted.

How it works Substitution involves up to three stages:

A check is made to see whether any of your assignment scores are eligible for substitution. This is done by finding which substitutable assignments (if any) have a score lower than a representative score calculated from your scores across the assessment. If none of your assignment scores are lower than the representative score, there is no need to progress to stages and : substitution will not take place because it will not benefit you.

A decision is made on which of the assignments identified by the check in Stage 1 should be substituted. It isn’t always simply a case of picking the one(s) with the lowest score.

For each assignment chosen in Stage 2, the original score is replaced by a higher one calculated from your scores across the assessment.

If you want to see how substitution affects your overall continuous assessment score (OCAS), you can use the Assessment Calculator (if it’s available for your course) on the courses page of your StudentHome site at www.open.ac.uk/students

If you want to go through the detailed calculations for yourself, there are detailed worksheets on the Assessment Website at www.open.ac.uk/assessment to help you.

The University has changed some of the details of how substitution operates. If your course started before February 2009, substitution will operate using the ‘old’ method (see section A in the example below). If your course starts in February 2009 or at any point after this date, substitution will operate using the ‘new’ method (see section B). The differences between the two methods are summarised in Table 2.

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Table 2 Differences between new and old substitution rule

Rule for courses starting before Feb 2009

Rule for Feb 2009 onwards

Representative score used for checking which assignments are eligible for substitution

The Substitution score (S): the weighted average of your overall continuous assessment score (derived from your actual assignment scores*) and your overall examinable component score (OES).*

The preliminary overall continuous assessment score (P): your overall continuous assessment score derived from your actual assignment scores*.

Identification of which assignment(s) to substitute first

The assignment with the lowest weighted score.

The assignment that would give the largest increase in OCAS if substituted.

Assignment score after substitution

S The average of P and the original assignment score.

* Each of these scores is weighted in accordance with the course’s assessment strategy as detailed in your Study Calendar or Course Guide.

Example

Here, we show the effect of substitution under both old and new substitution rules for the same example.

Our example is for a student on a course whose continuous assessment consists of eight tutor-marked assignments, all equally weighted, and whose examinable component is an examination. The examination and the continuous assessment carry equal weight. Substitution is allowed for two assignments excluding TMA 03.

The weighted average of the student’s assignment scores is 61.25%. The score for the examination is 50%.

Table 3 Scores before substitution

Preliminary overall continuous assessment score (%)

Examination score (%)

Substitution score (%)

TMA no. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Max. mark 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Student’s scores

80 55 50 75 90 0 60 80 61.25 50 55.63

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Section A: Courses with a start date prior to February 2009 Following the 3-stages described in the ‘How it works’ section:

Here, the representative score (also known in this case as the substitution score S) is calculated from (61.25% + 50%) ÷ 2 = 55.63%. Comparing this score with all of the TMA scores shows that TMAs 02 & 06 are eligible for substitution (remembering that, although the score for TMA 03 is lower than the substitution score, this assignment is non-substitutable).

Because two substitutions are allowed and only two assignments were identified in Stage 1, we don’t need to make any decisions about which assignments to substitute.

The substitution score replaces the score for TMA 06, which wasn’t submitted, and TMA 02 which has the next lowest score.

Table 4 Scores after substitution (pre-Feb 2009 course start)

Final overall continuous assessment score (%)

Examination score (%)

TMA no. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Max. mark 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Revised scores

80 55.63* 50 75 90 55.63*

60 80 69 50

*Substituted scores

The overall effect of substitution in this case is to raise the overall continuous assessment score from 61.25% to 69%.

Section B: Courses with a start date of February 2009 or later Again, following the 3-stages described in the ‘How it works’ section:

Here, the representative score is 61.25% (i.e. the overall continuous assessment score calculated from the original set of assignment scores). Comparing this score with all of the TMA scores shows that TMAs 02, 06 & 07 are eligible for substitution (again, remembering that TMA 03 is non-substitutable).

Unlike the situation in Section A, we now have three candidate assignments for substitution and have to decide which two to use. It turns out that substituting the same two TMAs (02 & 06) maximises the benefit to the student’s OCAS.

The original zero score for TMA 06 is replaced by 30.63 (= (61.25 + 0) ÷ 2) and the score for TMA 02 is replaced by 58.13 (= (61.25 + 55) ÷ 2).

Table 5 Scores after substitution (course starting Feb 2009 onwards)

Final overall continuous assessment score (%)

TMA no. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Max. mark 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Revised scores

80 58.13* 50 75 90 30.63*

60 80 65.47

*Substituted scores

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The overall effect of substitution in this case is to raise the overall continuous assessment score from 61.25% to 65%.

2.10 Special circumstances affecting continuous assessment If any special circumstance has seriously affected your performance in continuous assessment (including residential school work if your course has any), you can ask for the Examination and Assessment Board to be told about it.

This arrangement is intended to make Boards aware of matters of a serious nature that interfered with your ability to study over a total period of four weeks or more. The three main categories of special circumstance information are:

• serious disruption of studies caused by the University (such as continual delay in receiving course materials, exceptionally late return of tutor-marked assignments)

• serious and prolonged illness (yourself or a member of your immediate family)

• serious disruption of personal life (such as bereavement).

The Examination and Assessment Board will use the information only to your benefit, usually if your result is borderline. Only limited weight can be given to it. Boards have generally given no weight to such circumstances as moving house, pressure of work, change of employment or normal pregnancies. So before you decide to go ahead, please consider carefully how far your special circumstances really have affected your performance in continuous assessment.

To report special circumstances relating to continuous assessment

Write to Learner Support at your regional or national centre asking for form PT39 and enclosing a stamped self-addressed envelope, or download a form from our website at www.open.ac.uk/assessment. It’s your responsibility to ask for the form, and you must submit it yourself. Forms sent in by tutors won’t be accepted.

Complete the form and return it to Learner Support at your regional or national centre not later than two weeks after the cut-off date for your course’s last assignment (TMA or CMA, whichever is the later). Information received later than that will not be presented to the Examination and Assessment Board. If, exceptionally, you can’t comply with this ruling, contact your Regional Director, giving your reasons.

To inform the Examination and Assessment Board of matters that have affected your continuous assessment, complete form PT39 and send it to your regional or national centre no later than two weeks after your course’s last assignment cut-off date.

The information you put on form PT39 must be both brief and explicit. You should state clearly:

• the special circumstances you want to report

• when the circumstances occurred

• how long your studies were affected for

• which assignment scores you believe were adversely affected.

You should provide supporting documentary evidence (such as a medical certificate), and you must obtain proof of posting.

If you have a disability or additional requirements

If you think that your disability, specific learning difficulty or medical condition has seriously disadvantaged you in your continuous assessment, it’s in your own interest to ask for form PT39 and send it in. You should attach supporting documentary evidence, and you must obtain proof of posting.

Information about your condition that you’ve given the University will not be brought to the attention of the Examination and Assessment Board unless you submit form PT39.

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2.11 Posting assignments on websites Posting your own assignments and/or tutor comments on an Open University conference or on any other website is not allowed (unless you are required to do so as part of your assignment). Advertising assignments for sale is also not allowed (see section 2.4 on Plagiarism and cheating).

Section 3 Examined work

3.1 Examinable components The examinable component may be an examination, it may be a piece of work such as a dissertation, a project or portfolio, or it may include both an examination and other work. It may be written or oral.

Examinations

The examinable component for most Open University courses consists of a hand-written examination, usually lasting three hours. The question paper will almost always be an unseen one, but you’ll receive a specimen paper with your course materials so that you can familiarise yourself with the appearance of the question paper, what you’ll be asked to do and the kind of questions you’re likely to find. For some courses you may be able to buy copies of past examination papers from the Open University Students Association (OUSA) (contact details are at the end of this Handbook).

Other examined work

If your course requires you to submit a piece of examined work in place of or as well as an examination, it will have a published cut-off date by which it must reach the University. It’s likely to be a project, a report, a portfolio or an end-of-course assessment (ECA). You’ll be told the arrangements for submitting it, and a booklet of Information for Students Submitting Examinable Work will be sent to you about four to six weeks before your submission date. If your course requires you to submit your work electronically, you will instead receive an email reminding you of the cut-off date and giving you the weblink to the booklet. You should read the booklet carefully – it tells you how to submit your work, what to do if special circumstances have affected it, and how to ask permission to submit late. You should note that your tutor does not have the authority to allow a submission after the cut-off date.

Your tutor does not have the authority to allow a submission after the cut-off date.

To pass the course

To pass the course, or to achieve a particular grade of pass, you must attain a particular score on both the examinable component and the continuous assessment. Your result is not determined by an averaging of the two components (see Section 2.1 and Section 4).

3.2 Examination arrangements Provisional dates

Examination periods are shown at the beginning of this Handbook.

Most examinations on undergraduate courses are held in October. However, some courses offer them at different times of the year. You will be told the period applicable to your course in your course materials, and you will be sent an examination timetable about three months before your examination, giving you its exact date.

If you’re going on holiday during the examination period we advise you not to make a firm booking until you get the examination timetable (about three months before the examination period). It isn’t usually possible to arrange a deferred examination because of holiday commitments, but if you’re holidaying in the United Kingdom you can ask to

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change the examination centre you’ve been allocated to. It may be possible to transfer to an established centre in Europe (depending on the size of the examination centre).

Places

About two months before the examination period you’ll receive the Examination arrangements booklet and your allocation to an examination centre. If you want to change to another centre you should write to your regional or national centre as soon as you receive the allocation letter. If you’re changing your address, you must write and ask Learner Support at your regional or national centre immediately you know your new address.

To change your allocated examination centre, write to Learner Support at your regional or national centre as soon as you receive your allocation letter.

It’s your responsibility to make sure that you attend the right session and the right centre. Misreading your allocation won’t entitle you to another examination opportunity or to have extra time if you arrive late.

Examinations outside the UK

Examinations will usually be arranged in countries from which the University accepts registrations. The regional or national centres responsible for European schemes will tell you which cities have examination centres.

If you have paid the UK fee but want to take your examination at a centre in continental Europe or the Republic of Ireland, an additional charge will be made. Please ask the regional or national centre in Newcastle upon Tyne or Belfast for more information.

If you want to take an examination at a non-established centre outside the UK, please use the form sent to you with the Examination Timetable. You may also ask for an examination at a non-established centre outside

the UK, the Republic of Ireland and continental Europe if:

• you’re now living abroad and are continuing your OU studies, or

• you, or your partner, have been posted abroad by an employer. We’ll need confirmation of this from the employer.

If you want to take an examination at a non-established centre outside the UK, please use the form sent to you with the Examination Timetable. We will then do our best to arrange for a suitable organisation (such as the British Council) to conduct your examination on our behalf. Such arrangements aren’t always possible, and we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to provide an examination at a centre outside the UK for you.

You must ask for an examination at such a centre outside the UK in good time – you will be told the deadline in the mailing containing the Timetable booklet referred to above. We can’t deal with late requests because of the time it takes to make the arrangements. In exceptional circumstances, if you’re posted abroad at very short notice and can’t meet the date, you can apply to defer your examination to the next examination period. You’ll need to provide documentary evidence to support your request.

Even if you’ve taken such examinations before, you must make a fresh application for each examination period.

There is a non-refundable fee for each such examination arranged, payable when you make the request. Merchant navy and HM forces

If you’re in the merchant navy or are a member (or a dependant of a member) of HM forces serving with a British military unit, the examination fee may be waived as long as the examination can be arranged through the Marine Society or at a British forces base.

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If you’re ill or have additional requirements

If you’re ill at the time of the examination or you have additional requirements, it may be possible to take your examination at home or in hospital. If you have caring responsibilities (for example, breastfeeding a newborn baby) that make it difficult or impossible for you to take your examination at an examination centre, you may be able to take your examination at home. Please consult a student adviser at your regional or national centre to discuss whether or not alternative arrangements can be made for you.

If your personal circumstances (such as a medical condition) prevent you from taking the examination in ordinary conditions, we may be able to adapt aspects of it to suit your needs. The Learner Support Team at your regional or national centre can give you a Meeting your examination needs booklet and a facility request form (FRF3) to complete and return.

Examination rules

About two months before the examination you’ll receive your examination allocation letter along with an Examination Arrangements booklet that explains how the examination will be conducted and tells you what materials you’ll need and what you’ll be allowed to take into the examination room. You must read both the general and the course examination rules carefully and be sure to abide by them.

You’ll need to bring some identification with you to the examination centre. This identification must include your photograph and your usual signature - for example, your passport, a new-style driving licence or a student card. You can ask OUSA for a student card if you don't already have one. (The contact details are at the end of this Handbook.)

Examination scripts

Like many UK universities, The Open University presents examination scripts to scriptmarkers anonymously. Candidates’ names are removed from the scripts, which are then identified throughout the marking process by a barcode.

This doesn’t apply to projects, dissertations or other kinds of examined work, which have different marking arrangements.

3.3 Absence from examinations The Examination Arrangements booklet will tell you what to do if you can’t attend your examination.

If illness or some other special circumstance prevents you from attending an examination, you may be able to defer to the next examination period.

3.4 Special circumstances affecting examined work Special circumstances affecting examinations

If you believe that your examination performance was affected by a serious matter that occurred during the examination or in the twenty-one days immediately before it, you can ask us to take that into account.

You should report only circumstances of a serious nature, such as illness during the examination or bereavement in your immediate family close to the examination date. The information will be used only to your benefit, but the Examination and Assessment Board can give only limited weight to it.

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Reporting special circumstances

You should complete and submit form E39, which is included in the Examination Arrangements booklet. You must do this yourself – forms submitted by tutors or invigilators won’t be accepted. You’ll find advice about completing the E39 on the back of the form itself and in the Examination Arrangements booklet. Send two copies of the form and any continuation sheets to the University, to arrive not later than seven days after your examination.

To tell the University about matters that affected your examination performance, complete form E39 and send it, with documentary evidence, to arrive not later than seven days after your examination.

If serious circumstances (such as hospitalisation immediately after the examination) prevent you from submitting form E39 within the seven days, it may be accepted, at the University’s discretion, until seven weeks after the last session in the examination period, as long as you provide evidence of the reasons for the delay. Information received later than that will not be presented to the Examination and Assessment Board.

The information should be supported by evidence such as a medical certificate, otherwise it may not be considered. You must also keep proof of posting.

If you have a disability or additional requirements

If you think that extra time or other arrangements the University made for your examination haven’t adequately compensated for your disability, specific learning difficulty or medical condition, you should submit form E39. The Examination and Assessment Board will be informed of any special arrangements that have been made for you.

Special circumstances affecting other examined work

If your course’s examinable component includes (or consists of) work other than an examination and some serious circumstance affected you in the three weeks before the cut-off date, you can ask us to take it into account. You’ll find form E39P in the Information for Students Submitting Examinable Work booklet. Send it in to arrive no later than seven days after the cut-off date for submission of the final piece of work. You should attach supporting documentary evidence, and you must obtain proof of posting.

To tell the University about matters that affected the submission of examined work send form E39P or E39L (RS39 for residential school courses), with documentary evidence, to arrive no later than seven days after the cut-off date for your final piece of work. Form E39P must be sent to arrive no later than seven days after the cut-

off date for submission of the final piece of work. You should attach supporting documentary evidence and you must obtain proof of posting.

Postponing submission of examined work

In certain exceptional circumstances, if you can’t meet the submission date for your work, you may be able either to extend the date by three weeks or to defer submission until the next presentation of the course.

If you want permission to delay or defer your submission, you should ask the Learner Support Team at your regional or national centre for the Non-examined Courses Deferral Request Form or write to the Assessment Policy Office before the submission date and enclose third-party documentary evidence to support your application. (The address is at the end of this Handbook.)

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Section 4 Course results

4.1 Assessment strategies Open University courses usually have two assessment components – continuous assessment, discussed in Section 2, ‘Assignments’, and an examinable component, explained in Section 3, ‘Examined work’. These two components make up your overall result.

4.2 Determining results Courses with two components of assessment

Your course result is determined from your performance in both continuous assessment and the examinable component. To guarantee a pass grade for the course you must pass both of these: when all the calculations have been done, you must achieve a score of at least 40 for your overall continuous assessment and at least 40 for your examinable component. You must also pass any threshold your course sets (see ‘Thresholds’ in Section 4.4). Your result is not determined by an averaging of the two components.

To pass the course, you must pass both the continuous assessment and the examinable component.

Courses with one component of assessment

Results are determined from the (weighted) average of all the summatively assessed work, at least one part of which will be available for scrutiny by the Examination and Assessment Board at their awarding meeting. Some courses may require a minimum score in excess of 40. If this applies to you it will be explained in your course-specific material.

If no substitution has taken place, the preliminary and final overall continuous assessment scores will be the same.

4.3 Examination and Assessment Boards Each course has an Examination and Assessment Board that is responsible for determining course results. The Boards use their academic judgement to decide whether or not each student has reached the standard required to qualify for credit for the course.

Each Board comprises a chair (usually the chair of the course team), internal examiners (usually members of the course team) and at least one external examiner. External examiners are senior academics from outside the University, usually from another university or institute of higher education.

The Board will have each student’s:

• individual assignment scores

• overall continuous assessment score before and after substitution (explained in Section 2.9, ‘Substitution’)

• overall examinable component score, with individual question scores and project scores

• residential school attendance information, if the course has a school.

The Board will also have:

• all the examination scripts (or other examined work)

• information students have reported about special circumstances that affected their work

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• various statistical analyses

• information about any special arrangements made for the examination.

Examination and Assessment Boards work within policy approved by Senate (our authority for academic matters), which sets the upper and lower boundaries for each grade (see Section 4.5, ‘Result grades’). Boards have limited discretion to set the lower boundary for each grade of pass below that shown in the tables. This is entirely a matter for the Board, within the policy approved by Senate, and will remain confidential to it.

4.4 Your result Courses with two components of assessment

Your two scores – for continuous assessment and for examined work – will place you in one of the result areas shown in the tables in Section 4.5. If you’re close to a boundary or there’s a large difference between your scores, Boards have some limited discretion to award a higher result. In making these discretionary decisions Boards will take into account the overall weighted average of your two scores and any special circumstances that you’ve reported.

Whatever weighting your course gives to each assessment component, you must reach both the scores shown in Section 4.5 to guarantee a pass at each grade. Your result is not determined by an averaging of continuous assessment and examination scores.

Your result is not determined by an averaging of continuous assessment and examination scores.

Courses with one component of assessment

Your course result will be determined from the (weighted) average of all the summatively assessed work, as shown in Section 4.2.

Special circumstances

If your scores are lower than those shown for a grade in Section 4.5, ‘Result grades’, you might still be awarded the grade if you’ve given evidence of compelling special circumstances that significantly affected your performance (as explained in Sections 2.10, ‘Special circumstances affecting continuous assessment’ and 3.4, ‘Special circumstances affecting examined work’). But the Board can give only limited weight to special circumstances and you shouldn’t assume that your grade will be improved.

Thresholds

As well as the scores shown in Section 4.5, ‘Result grades’, some courses also require you to achieve a certain score (a ‘threshold’) for some element(s) of their assessment in order to achieve a pass. It is therefore possible to fail such courses even if your scores are above those shown on the table below. Your course material will tell you if thresholds apply to your course.

Residential school attendance

Some courses include satisfactory residential school participation among their requirements for a pass. The course material will tell you about this.

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4.5 Result grades2 If you mark where your overall continuous assessment score and your overall examination score cross on the following matrices, you should be able to see the result grade you will achieve.

Courses where pass results are not graded

The following courses receive only a pass grade: E831, E835, E(ZX)836, EE851, EE852, EE853, EE854, H812,

Overall score for examinable components

Final overall continuous assessment score

Pass 40 and 40

Fail, entitled to resit

15† and 40

†To obtain a resubmission, students on the following courses need to score at least 30, rather than 15, for the examinable component: E831, E835, E(ZX)836, EE851, EE852, EE853, EE854.

Courses with distinction and pass

The following courses award distinctions and pass grades: A811, A813, A817, A821, A822, A823, A824, A827, A837, A840, A841, A847, A850, A851, A857, A860, A861, A867, A870, A871, A877, AA810, AA820, D820, D830, D(XX)831, D(XX)832, D834, D836, D841, D842, D843, D844, D845, D850, D852, D853, D860, D863, D864, DS871, DT840, E801, E804, E841, E844, E845, E848, E849, E859, E891, H804, H805, H806, H807, H808, M820, M821, M823, M826, M827, M828, M829, M832, M833, M835, M836, M840, ME825.

2 The information in this section is correct as we produce this Handbook, but some of it may change during the life of this publication.

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Overall score for examinable component

Final overall continuous assessment score

1 (distinction) 85 and 85

Pass 40 and 40

Fail, entitled to resit

15† and 40

†To obtain a resubmission, students on the following courses need to score at least 30, rather than 15, for the examinable component: E801, E804, E841, E844, E845, E848, E849, E859, E891, ME825.

Courses with distinction, merit and pass

The following courses award distinction, merit and pass grades: B(XH)830, B(ZY)852, BS811, ED840, M865, M873, M876, M877, M879, M881, M882, M883, M885, M886, M887, S802, S804, S807, S809, S810, S819, SD805, SEH806, T822, T823, T834, T835, T837, T838, T839, T840, T842, T846, T850, T851, T852, T853, T(XX)861, T862, T863, T881, T882, T883, T884, T885, T889, T890, TU(XX)870, TU(XX)871, TU(XX)872, TU(XX)874, TU(XX)875.

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Overall score for examinable components

Final overall continuous assessment score

1 (distinction) 85 and 85

M (merit) 70 and 70

P (pass) 40 and 40

Fail, entitled to resit†

15 and 40

†To obtain a resubmission, students on the following course need to score at least 30, rather than 15, for the examinable component: ED840.

The following courses are assessed solely by an examinable component (a project or dissertation), and their result grades are expressed as shown below. EEZL852, EEZL853, EEZL854, Pass Pending: minor corrections Fail D856, M801 Distinction Pass Resubmission with major corrections Fail T802 Distinction Merit Resubmission Fail

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To obtain a resubmission on T802, students need to score at least 30 rather than 15 for the examinable component.

4.6 Getting your result Result letters are usually sent out about two months after the examinations.You should also be able to view your result in your course records on your personalised StudentHome website (see Section 1.2) so please make sure that you know your password at least two weeks before your results are due as you can’t be issued with a new one over the phone.

For most courses, as well as the course result itself, you’ll be given your final overall continuous assessment and examinable component scores where appropriate, and your substitution score if there is one (see Section 2.9).

Performance profile

Many courses provide an online 'performance profile' which is a summary of performance on each assessment 'task'. When your course result is released, if a performance profile is available for you there will be a link to it displayed immediately below your course result on your course record page. Clicking on this link will take you to the performance profile system.

Normally, your performance profile will only be accessible for 56 days after your final course result has been released. So if you want to keep a copy, we suggest that you either print it off or save the web page.

No results will be given by telephone. Pending results

Occasionally a Board may not have enough evidence to reach a decision about the result. An assignment score or examination information delayed by script marking may be missing from your record, or the Board may want you to take a viva voce examination (see Section 4.8, ‘Viva voce examinations’). In these cases you’ll be given a ‘pending’ result, and we will take urgent action to provide the Board with the information it needs so that your final result can be sent to you as soon as possible.

4.7 Resits and resubmissions If your course allows resits or resubmissions – not all courses do – you’ll be offered only one opportunity to resit or resubmit. No resit examination or resubmission will be permitted more than twenty-four months after your course’s starting date.

Resits and resubmissions are not allowed if you’ve passed the course.

Resitting examinations

If you sit but fail the examination you may be permitted to resit it in the next examination period, provided that you have:

• an overall examinable component score of at least 15 on the University Scale,

• an overall pass (a score of 40 or more on the University Scale) in continuous assessment,

• satisfied any course-specific thresholds, and

• satisfied any residential school requirements your course has.

A few courses have different rules about resitting, and you’ll be told in your course materials what those are.

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Resubmitting examined work

If your course has no examination, you may be able to resubmit the examined work – not all courses allow resubmission.

If the examinable component includes both an examination and another piece of work and you fail either, you may be eligible to resit, but you’ll have to undertake both the examination and the other work again.

Registering for resits and resubmission

If appropriate, you’ll receive an offer of registration and a registration agreement in a mailing sent shortly after your course result letter.

Courses for which you’re resitting examinations or resubmitting are counted towards the total number of points (120) for which you may register in any one year.

4.8 Viva voce examinations Viva voce examinations are offered at the discretion of the Examination and Assessment Board – you can’t ask to be given one. They enable the Board to obtain additional information so that it can reach a decision about a candidate who, for example, is on a borderline between two results.

These examinations are conducted by a member of the University’s academic staff. Although they’re usually oral, occasionally a candidate may be required to undertake some written work. Arrangements to do with the examination will be sent to you separately from your course result letter.

4.9 Queries Since Examination and Assessment Boards are responsible, on behalf of the University Senate, for determining students’ results, their decisions are final. There’s no right of appeal to any other University body against the academic judgement of the Board. Careful checks are made at every stage of the award process to make sure that the Boards’ decisions rest on full and accurate information.

Please read the information in this handbook about how course results are determined before you query your course result. Your course result page on StudentHome will include a link to frequently asked questions about course results and you can also access these from the ‘question and answer’ section of our assessment website at:

www.open.ac.uk/assessment If you have evidence that an error has been made in determining your result, you can query it by completing a course result query form and sending it, along with the appropriate evidence, to arrive within four weeks of the date of your result letter. Course result queries can’t be dealt with by telephone. You can access a course result query form from your StudentHome page or at:

To query your course result, write to the Head of Examinations and Assessment within four weeks of the date of your result letter.

http://www.open.ac.uk/assessment/documents/CRQ-Form.pdf University regulations do not permit the following:

• the return of scripts to students

• remarking/reconsideration of the examinable component or the continuous assessment of a course

• acceptance of late TMAs

• challenges against academic judgements

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• an appeal made by another person on your behalf.

It is not possible to obtain more detailed information about your performance in the examinable component.

4.10 Formal appeals You can appeal your results if:

• you’ve queried your result as explained in Section 4.9, ‘Queries’, and

• you can show that some part of the process leading to the issue of the result has not been carried out properly, or has been carried out relying on information that did not accord fully with the University’s records at the time.

If there’s evidence that your result was awarded improperly, your case will be considered by the Director, Students who has powers to consider the case for an appeal but not to change the course result. Only if the Director, Students upholds the appeal will the Examination and Assessment Board be asked to reconsider your result.

To make an appeal

If you feel you have grounds for appeal, write to the Complaints and Appeals Office within twenty-one days of the date of the reply to your original query, stating the grounds for your appeal.

4.11 Aegrotat credit Exceptionally, if (for medical reasons) you’re unable to complete your course, the University may consider awarding aegrotat credit under a code of practice approved by the Senate. Such exceptions are limited to students who are unable to continue their studies for medical reasons, are registered for the last course that would qualify them for an award, and have been assessed on at least part of the course.

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Appendix 1 Plagiarism What constitutes plagiarism or cheating? If you submit an assignment that contains work that is not your own, without indicating this to the marker (acknowledging your sources), you are committing ‘plagiarism’ and this is an offence. This might occur in an assignment when • Using a choice phrase or sentence that you have come across. • Copying word-for-word directly from a text. • Paraphrasing the words from a text very closely. • Using text downloaded from the internet. • Borrowing statistics or assembled facts from another person or source. • Copying or downloading figures, photographs, pictures or diagrams without

acknowledging your sources. • Copying from the notes or essays of a fellow student. • Copying from your own notes, on a text, tutorial, video or lecture, that contain direct

quotations.

Although you are encouraged to show the results of your reading by referring to and quoting from works on your subject, copying from such sources without acknowledgement is deemed to be plagiarism and will not be accepted by the University.

Such poor academic practice may occur due to inexperience. So you should study the ‘Developing Good Academic Practices’ website http://learn.open.ac.uk/site/DGAP001. You should also read carefully all the course specific study advice that you receive in your mailings, especially statements concerning plagiarism and how to reference your sources. Where plagiarised material is included in assignments, tutors are likely to notice the shifts in style and may be aware of the source. Seek their advice on this early on in your study. The University also uses plagiarism detection software which it applies to electronic assignments as well as scanned or retyped assignments.

The temptation to plagiarise may arise from lack of self-confidence or from a lack of understanding about the aims of the assessment and about what is required of you. Assignments provide a vehicle for assessing your performance during your course and contribute to your overall course result. However they also assist you in understanding your subject and aid your learning on the course. When you attempt to use the ideas and terms of the course independently you learn more thoroughly and develop your own writing style. You are likely to perform better in examinations if you have learned how to write your own answers to questions in assignments. By submitting work that is not your own you are denying yourself the benefit of this valuable learning strategy. Copying the work of others would be counter-productive to your goal of understanding the course work and to real achievement. Most students will not wish to take such a negative approach to studying, and the University does not tolerate it.

You are encouraged to collaborate with others in studying, but submitted work copied from or written jointly with others is not acceptable, unless collaboration is required in the particular assignment. Therefore you will be asked to acknowledge a statement to confirm that all assessment work you have submitted is your own and that you have not cheated.

Submitting work that has been done by someone else and persistent borrowing of other people’s work without citation are obvious instances of plagiarism and are regarded as cheating. Copying answers from social networking sites is cheating. Paying for work from other sources and submitting it as your own is also cheating. It is intellectually dishonest to cheat and thus give one student an unfair advantage over others. Passing on your assignments to others, with the knowledge that another student may plagiarise the

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assignment will also lead to a penalty. If a case of plagiarism is proven, this is a serious offence and the Open University disciplinary procedures will be followed, as described under the Student Regulations SA 1.6 and SD 7.2.

Appendix 2 – Submitting assignments online Online submission of TMAs is simple and quick, but you must ensure that

• you read each of the messages that appear on screen during the submission process. Don’t assume that you know what they say because you have used the system before. Some of the messages are specific to that particular submission. If you don’t read the messages you may be unaware of action that you need to take.

• you submit all of your work in one file. If you make more than one submission before the cut off date, and before your tutor has collected your TMA, each will overwrite the previous one so that the only one available for your tutor to collect will be the final version. So if your TMA consists of more than one file you must zip these together. You can use any compression software that creates a file with a .zip extension. How to zip your files together

• your file name is no more than 50 characters. You should put your course code and TMA number in your file name; this is an additional check that you are submitting the right file.

• you check that your submission is complete and you are submitting the right file and not a previous draft of your assignment. Save and close the file before submitting it. Once your tutor has returned your marked eTMA to the system, you will not be able to submit another version. You will not be allowed to resubmit a TMA even if you find that you originally submitted an incomplete or incorrect version.

• your file is 2 MB or less, unless your course materials say that there is a large file size permitted for your course. If your file is larger than 2 MB you can zip it to reduce the size. You can use any compression software that creates a file with a .zip extension. How to zip your file

• your submission is in an acceptable format. To be sure that your tutor and their monitor can read your submission you must make sure that your file is in a format readable by Microsoft Word – unless your course materials stipulate a different type of file. This means that it must have a file extension of .doc, or .rtf. If your word processing software creates a file with a different extension (eg. .docx or .odt) you should use ‘save as’ to save as either .doc or .rtf.

• If you have already submitted an assignment and your tutor has downloaded it for marking, the system will warn you that your tutor has already collected it and you should contact your tutor. You can still submit the assignment and it will be recorded as another version on the system, but your tutor will normally mark the first version unless they have agreed to accept another one. The system will hold up to five submissions.

We strongly advise using the dummy eTMA (TMA00) to try out the eTMA system before you have to submit your first TMA. You can send your dummy eTMA at any time once you have access to the system. Unless your assignment book, or your tutor tell you to do something else, just put a few lines of text into a document and submit it as TMA00. Do tell your tutor that you’re doing this so that they can put some comments in and return it to you.

You should note that your tutor can collect and mark your eTMA at any point from the time you submit it. They don’t have to wait until the cut-off date. Therefore you should be

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sure that the assignment you submit is your final version. If your course also has an eECA (end-of-course assessment), you may find you are advised that you can submit drafts to the system. This is because markers are not able to download eECAs until after the cut-off date.

If you submit a TMA after the cut-off date, the system will accept it, but this doesn’t mean that it will be marked or assessed. The system will warn you that the cut-off date has passed and you should contact your tutor to discuss the matter. If you have already arranged an extension with your tutor, you don’t need to do anything further.

You will have access to your TMAs on the system for up to 30 days after your course ends, so if you want to keep copies make sure you have downloaded them before this. The University can’t provide you with copies at a later date so you may want to make sure that you also have back-up copies in case of technical problems.

Where to go for help If you have technical problems submitting your assignments online you can contact the OU Computing Helpdesk. For some enquiries it may be necessary for the Helpdesk to refer you to other sources of expert help. For more complex queries, it may take more than one phone call to resolve the problem. The Helpdesk is open between 09:00 and 22:30 every day.

When contacting the Helpdesk regarding a problem with online submission, please note exactly what you were trying to do, the time the problem happened and the exact error message including error codes (take a screen print of the error code if you can).

You can contact the Helpdesk by email – OU-computing-helpdesk@open.ac.uk, or telephone – +44 (0)1908 653972, or by fax – +44 (0)1908 652193 (mark for the attention of the OU Computing Helpdesk).

If you have any other queries about online submission click here to check our FAQs on StudentHome, if your query isn’t covered then you can use the ‘contact us’ button to email your query.

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Addresses

National and regional centres The Open University in London (Region 01) 1–11 Hawley Crescent Camden Town LONDON NW1 8NP Phone +44(0)20 7485 6597 Email London@open.ac.uk

Area covered Greater London

The Open University in the South (Region 02) Foxcombe Hall Boars Hill OXFORD OX1 5HR Phone +44(0)1865 327000 Email south@open.ac.uk

Area covered Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Channel Islands, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, part of Wiltshire (including Salisbury)

The Open University in the South West (Region 03) 4 Portwall Lane BRISTOL BS1 6ND Phone. +44(0)117 929 9641 Email south-west@open.ac.uk

Area covered Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Scilly Isles, most of Wiltshire (excluding Salisbury)

The Open University in the West Midlands (Region 04) 66 High Street Harborne BIRMINGHAM B17 9NB Phone. +44(0)121 426 1661 Email west-midlands@open.ac.uk

Area covered Herefordshire, Shropshire, most of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire, British Forces Post Office (except Cyprus)

The Open University in the East Midlands (Region 05) Clarendon Park Clumber Avenue Sherwood Rise NOTTINGHAM NG5 1AH Phone +44(0)115 962 5451 Email east-midlands@open.ac.uk

Area covered Most of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, part of Staffordshire (Burton-on-Trent area)

The Open University in the East of England (Region 06) Cintra House 12 Hills Road CAMBRIDGE CB2 1PF Phone +44(0)1223 364721 Email east-of-england@open.ac.uk

Area covered Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk

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The Open University in Yorkshire (Region 07) 2 Trevelyan Square Boar Lane LEEDS LS1 6ED Phone +44(0)113 244 4431 Email yorkshire@open.ac.uk

Area covered North, South and East Riding of Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, British Forces Post Office (Cyprus)

The Open University in the North West (Region 08) 351 Altrincham Road Sharston MANCHESTER M22 4UN Phone +44(0)161 998 7272 Email north-west@open.ac.uk

Area covered Cheshire, part of Derbyshire, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside

The Open University in the North (Region 09) Abbots Hill Baltic Business Quarter GATESHEAD NE8 3DF Phone +44(0)191 477 6100 Email north@open.ac.uk

For emails from Europe (not including the UK and the Republic of Ireland) please use Email Europe@open.ac.uk

Area covered Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Teesside, Tyne and Wear, European Union (except the Republic of Ireland) Switzerland

The Open University in Wales (Region 10) 18 Custom House Street CARDIFF CF10 1AP Phone +44(0)29 2047 1019 Email Wales@open.ac.uk Contact with this office can be in either English or Welsh Gallwch gysylltu â'r swyddfa hon yn Gymraeg neu Saesneg

Area covered Wales

The Open University in Scotland (Region 11) 10 Drumsheugh Gardens EDINBURGH EH3 7QJ Phone +44(0)131 226 3851 Email Scotland@open.ac.uk

Area covered Scotland

The Open University in Ireland (Region 12) 110 Victoria Street BELFAST BT1 4NL Phone+44( 0)28 9032 3722 Email Ireland@open.ac.uk

Area covered Ireland

The Open University in the South East (Region 13) St James’s House 150 London Road EAST GRINSTEAD RH19 1HG Phone +44(0)1342 327821 Email south-east@open.ac.uk

Area covered Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex

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Central offices and departments The address for mail that is not directed to a particular office or department is:

The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA Phone +44(0)1908 274066 Fax 01908 653744 Website www.open.ac.uk Evening advice line 0870 333 1444

Assignment Handling Office The Open University PO Box 722 Milton Keynes MK7 6AP Phone +44(0)1908 653051 Email assignments@open.ac.uk

Assessment Policy Office The Open University PO Box 83 Milton Keynes MK7 6BF Email apo@open.ac.uk

Assignment Records Office The Open University PO Box 723 Milton Keynes MK7 6ZR Phone +44(0)1908 653702 Email assignments@open.ac.uk

CMA Team Phone +44(0)1908 653702

Complaints and Appeals Office The Open University PO Box 5155 Milton Keynes MK7 6YJ Phone +44(0)1908 659535 Email complaints-appeals@open.ac.uk

Data Protection Coordinator The Open University PO Box 497 Milton Keynes MK7 6AT Email Data-Protection@open.ac.uk

Examinations Office The Open University PO Box 720 Milton Keynes MK7 6ZQ Phone +44(0)1908 858312 Email examinations@open.ac.uk

Disability Resources Team The Open University Hammerwood Gate Kents Hill Milton Keynes MK7 6BR Phone +44(0)1908 653745 Email disabled-student-resources@open.ac.uk

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Open University Students Association (OUSA)

The Open University PO Box 397 Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6BE Phone +44(0)1908 652026 Fax 01908 654326 Email ousa@student.open.ac.uk Website www.open.ac.uk/ousa

Student Registration & Enquiry Service

The Open University PO Box 197 Milton Keynes MK7 6BJ Phone +44(0)845 300 60 90 Fax 01908 654914 Email General-enquiries@open.ac.uk

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