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External Examiners’ Briefing Day

This briefing provides an overview of the role and responsibilities of external examiners, as well as an introduction to Brunel University's regulations. The briefing covers pre-assessment, during assessment, and after assessment duties, as well as external moderation arrangements and the role of panels and boards of examiners.

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External Examiners’ Briefing Day

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  1. External Examiners’ Briefing Day 7 March 2019

  2. Presenters • Professor Mariann Rand-Weaver, Vice-Provost (Education) • Steve Ward, Head of Quality Assurance • Plus: • Mr Justin Parsler, Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), CBASS • Dr Andrew Parton, Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), CHLS • Kate Harvey, Assistant Director (Academic Services) • Bernice Rogers, Quality Assurance Manager • James Parfree, Quality Assurance Manager • Rowena Chalmers, Quality Assurance Manager

  3. Briefing outline • Welcome from Vice-Provost (Education) and overview of External Examiner role • The role of the External Examiner: • Pre-assessment • During assessment • After assessment • Overview of Programme and Award Regulations • Troubleshooting

  4. Welcome

  5. Brunel academic structure • Three large Colleges, each led by a Dean, supported by Deputy Deans (Academic Affairs), Vice Deans (Education) and Associate Deans (Quality Assurance) • Business, Arts and Social Sciences (CBASS) • Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences (CEDPS) • Health and Life Sciences (CHLS) • Larger Departments have ‘Divisions’ for different subject areas – your appointment as an External Examiner will be at the subject level.

  6. Role overview

  7. Appointment • Senate Regulation 4 governs the appointment of and role of External Examiners • External Examiners are nominated by Heads of Department and appointed by Senate • At least 1 External Examiner per award bearing Programme • Appointment normally for • 4 years (UG) • 4 years 4 months (PGT) • may be extended by one further year

  8. Main functions • External scrutiny of assessment tasks • External moderation of summative assessments • Attendance at Panels and Boards of Examiners which confirm grades and awards • Other meetings with staff/students as agreed (e.g. project presentations, placement visits) • Annual report on: • academic standards and comparability with other UK HEIs; • assessment processes; • student performance; • good practice and enhancement.

  9. Brunel’s Regulations • All published at www.brunel.ac.uk/about/administration/senate-regulations • SR2 – Undergraduate programmes/awards (FHEQ Levels 4, 5, 6 and integrated masters) • SR3 – Postgraduate Taught programmes/awards (FHEQ Level 7) • SR4 – Assessment, Extenuating Circumstances, Panels & Boards of Examiners

  10. The Role of the External Examiner

  11. External Examining Duties • Pre-assessment: Comment on examination papers and other assessment tasks in light of assessment criteria, marking schemes, and/or indicative answers • During assessment: Attend live assessments, and observe students on placements if required • After assessment: • Review samples of assessed work • Attend and contribute to Panels/Boards of Examiners • Contribute to the enhancement of the University’s provision by identifying issues and opportunities • Submit completed report form

  12. External Moderation Arrangements • Arrangements for moderation of student work will be made by the Department. • Samples of assessments will be: • available electronically or sent by hard copy and/or • available for scrutiny at Brunel • External Examiners have access to all assessed material

  13. External Moderation Arrangements • Assessment samples will be in accordance with Senate Regulations 4.83 to 4.90m including: • External Examiners are not required to study each piece of work in detail, but are required to satisfy themselves in regard to standards, comparability and adherence to marking processes • The total number of sample pieces of assessed work sent to an External Examiner in each academic year should not exceed 320 individual pieces • The External Examiner(s) should review no less than 20% of the postgraduate taught dissertations or undergraduate final year project reports, unless the cohort size is 10 or fewer, in which case all assessments should be made available.

  14. Panels and Boards of Examiners – overall role • Common purpose is to ensure: • Fairness to all students and each student • Rigour of assessment • Robustness of the results and decisions • Maintenance of academic standards

  15. Panels of Examiners – purpose • Panels of Examiners are where collective academic judgement is employed and EEs have a vital role to play. Therefore, if you can only attend one meeting, we would encourage attendance at the Panel of Examiners rather than the Board of Examiners. • Key role: to verify and confirm the marks/grades for each module/block • Do not look at individual students (unless error or additional information is presented) • May make specific recommendations to Boards concerning particular assessments • See Senate Regulations 4.52 to 4.56

  16. Issues for Panels of Examiners • Potential assessment design errors • Appropriateness of marking • Internal moderation effectiveness • Extraordinary factors/events • Re-marking/adjustment of results (see next slide) • Justification of actions

  17. If a Panel identifies a problem • If the Panel is not satisfied with the fairness or integrity of assessments/marking, it should not confirm grades/marks • Appropriate action is normally for assessors to reconsider grade/marks for an entire module • Only in very exceptional circumstances may the Panel scale grades/marks for a particular assessment; if so it must record the justification • Grades/marks may not be adjusted for individual students (unless wrongly recorded, or additional information is presented) • [SR4.55]

  18. Boards of Examiners (BoE) – purpose • Receive confirmed marks/grades from Panels of Examiners • Consider individual student profile of achievement • Take into account extenuating circumstances and determine appropriate actions • Decide on progression and re-assessment • Recommend appropriate awards and prizes • External Examiners • Assure that due process has been followed and appropriate consideration and decisions have been made • Are invited to provide verbal feedback to the Board

  19. Vice-Chancellor’s Representative (VCR) • Award Boards must have a VCR present in order to make awards • VCR is an experienced member of University professional staff with a good understanding of the Regulations • VCR has authority to stop the Board should any irregularities come to light, and reports back to the VC on any issues • VCR (and Deputy VCR, where present) take formal record of BoE decisions – which must be signed by the EE – for release to students

  20. Issues for Boards • Decisions on extenuating circumstances and exercise of discretion • Progression and re-assessment • Extraordinary decisions – discretion • Justification of decisions

  21. The Role of the External Examiner: Reporting

  22. Report submission • All External Examiners submit a report by the 31st of July each academic year • Request for reports and reminders are sent out by the Quality Assurance Office • Pro-forma/web form provided for the report • External Examiners may also write in confidence to the Vice-Chancellor at any time during their period of appointment about any matter relating to their duties

  23. Reporting System • External Examiner reports are submitted via an online form: • https://intra.brunel.ac.uk/s/QSO/EE/Pages/default.aspx • Best to use Internet Explorer • Reports are published so please keep them anonymous • Fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory and the form will not submit if they are empty • You can save your report and return to it later, we recommend saving on a regular basis to avoid losing work • We may return a report if more information is required

  24. Scrutiny of Reports and Responses • Colleges are required to respond to External Examiners’ comments: • Directly to the External Examiner • In their annual monitoring reports • External Examiner Reports and the responses provided to them are scrutinised by: • The College’s Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) • The Colleges Quality Assurance Manager • The Head of Quality Assurance • The Vice Provost (Education) – when deemed appropriate • The purpose of this scrutiny is to: • Ensure that programmes/departments respond appropriately • Identify any themes that require further investigation

  25. Response and publication • University will provide a central response to broader issues, particularly regarding regulations • External Examiner reports and University responses are published to current students and staff. This Web page also available to External Examiners. • Fees are paid once EE reports are received

  26. A Year in the Life of a Brunel External Examiner • Indicative timetable of activities • Sept – receive assessment questions (either for term 1 or the whole year) to approve • End Sept/Oct – receive PGT Dissertation samples (PGT EEs only) • Oct/Nov – receive panel and board calendar invites • Nov – attend PGT panels and Boards (PGT EEs only)

  27. A year in the life of a Brunel External Examiner • Nov to June –samples of work are sent (hardcopy, electronically) or are available via the University’s VLE • Jan – receive assessment questions (for term 2) to approve • May/June -attend panels and boards (which may involve scrutiny of work on-site) • July – complete and submit report • Late Aug / Early Sept – receive reassessment samples and attend re-sit Board

  28. Overview of Programme and Award Regulations

  29. Programme and Award Regulations (SR2 and SR3) • Principles – • Transparency of standards of awards • Equity of treatment • Facilitates “Integrated Programme Assessment” (separation of Study Blocks and Assessment Blocks)

  30. Grading and marking at point of assessment • Departments choose whether they are using marks or grades • University Grade Descriptors (see here) are the primary reference for academic standards • Grade points are used to calculate the awards

  31. Progression and Award rules • Minimum credit and grade profile requirements for progression and final awards • Award classification determined by credit profile and Grade Point Average (GPA) • Outcomes for “Borderline” students are determined by an algorithm (no BoE discretion) – see SR2, A6; SR3 A5

  32. Progression and Award rules • No compensation/condonation mechanisms • Standard reassessment rules across University, unless specified within a programme specification • “Core” assessments (must be passed at threshold level) are defined in the Programme Specification

  33. UG Final Awards – Honours Bachelors(Senate Regulation 2) Weighting = L5 assessment 1/3, and L6 assessment 2/3

  34. PGT Final Awards – Masters(Senate Regulation 3)

  35. Brunel Levels • Level 1 = first year of UG programme, FHEQ level 4 • Level 2 = second year of UG programme, FHEQ level 5 • Level 3 = third year of UG programme, FHEQ level 6 • Level 5 = master’s level, FHEQ level 7 • NB. Integrated masters programmes are considered undergraduate programmes and therefore UG award and progression rules apply.

  36. Modules/Blocks • In addition to using modular blocks (modules), Brunel programmes can incorporate “study” and “assessment” blocks. • Study block – This refers to the study undertaken by the student. It will include information on the aims of the study block and what the student will have learnt/shall be able to do after undertaking the study • Assessment block – This refers to the assessment to be undertaken by the student and holds the HE credit and has a grade attached to. • Combined study and assessment form a module (modular block); separated they allow for innovations in programme design. • External Examiners will only be provided with work from assessment and modular blocks.

  37. Entitlements to reassessment • Where a student fails to achieve at threshold, the following volume of reassessment is normally permitted: • First year/FHEQ 4 = 60 credits • Second and Third year/FHEQ 5, 6 and Integrated Masters = 40 credits • Masters/FHEQ 7 = 60 credits from taught element, plus dissertation (if student achieves E- or above at first attempt) • Reassessments are normally capped at threshold (unless Extenuating Circumstances are accepted) • NB. If a year 1 student meets the requirements for progression on to year 2, they are not entitled to any reassessment.

  38. Extenuating Circumstances • The board has the option to deal with ECs in the following ways: • Reassessment at the same attempt (e.g. uncapped if it was a first attempt) • Waiving the affected assessment • Raising the degree classification (if justified) • Assigning a grade • More detail can be found in Senate Regulations 4.40 to 4.42

  39. Troubleshooting/Q & A

  40. Further support resources • Guidance and resources about all aspects of these processes are available at • www.brunel.ac.uk/about/quality-assurance/external-examiners • and • www.brunel.ac.uk/about/quality-assurance/assessment • Senate Regulations are published at • www.brunel.ac.uk/about/administration/senate-regulations • Programme specifications and module outlines are available at https://intra.brunel.ac.uk/s/DocumentArchive/Pages/Programme-Documentation-Repository.aspx

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