What are concessions, extensions and alternative assessment methods?
As an inclusive learning environment, it is important that individual student needs are met. Some students will be granted concessions such as extra time in exams, others may request a short term extension, for example they are ill, whereas others may ask for a longer term extension, particularly for part-time, distance learners whose personal circumstances may be more complex.
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Concessions
Concessions such as extra time will be confirmed by the Disability Support Team once a student has been assessed. This will be included within the Disability Support Team’s PowerBI interface as well as the student’s Disability Support Plan (DSP) sent to each department. Although extra time usually applies to exams which are managed by the exam team, you may wish to give the students this extra time in timed in-course assessments too, such as a multiple choice test or timed written work. Typically, these extra time recommendations will be 25%, 50% or 100%.
Short-term Extensions
Students now have an app where they can apply for a short-term extension. When this request is received by the department, there will be a recommendation for the extension which is generated by the app. This could be 0, 3 or 5 days as there are currently 114 reasons.
- Bereavement (e.g. general, funeral, making arrangements for a funeral).
- Illness (e.g. accident, bacterial infection, gastro-intestinal, disease, heart and circulatory, mental health).
- Housing (e.g. burglary, internet outage, flood, victim of crime).
- Others (e.g. misconduct, strikes, caring responsibility, cultural, travel/transport issues).
- Examples of extensions include: time-management (0 days, auto-reject) or assistance animals is ill (3 days).
This suggestion is then approved by the department staff and the student notified or referred to the Student Support Officer (SSO) if there are concerns about a student. It is possible to add these extensions within some of assessment software.
Further information on the university policy on extensions can be found on SharePoint and in the Teaching and Learning Handbook.
Alternative Assessment
Many departments now offer this as standard, for example the Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) led by DCAD offers both a written and dialogical route for students, other examples include the choice of either a written essay or formal presentation or video presentation. Where a choice of assessment options are offered to all students, these should be clearly outlined in assignment brief with a single submission point for all forms of assessment.
There may a times when a student feels unable to complete a particular type of assessment, for example a student is extremely stressed at the though of giving a formal presentation to a group may be offered an alternative form of assessment. The alternative assessment options outlined in the university guidance and should only be used in specific circumstances These must be agreed by the department and the Student Support Officer.
Why do we need concessions, extensions and alternative assessment?
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Tool/Software Options
The university guidance on alternative assessment can be found on SharePoint.
Tool/Software Comparison
| Option | Blackboard | Turnitin | Gradescope | Feedback Fruits | Encore (Student Submission Tool) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of assessment | Written assessment, tests, video submissions via Encore. | Written assessments where similarity reports are the priority. | Handwritten, numerical and formula type questions, suitable for maths and science. Programming assessment. | Specifically designed for peer feedback for both individual and group assessment, accessed through Blackboard. | Video and podcasting submissions, accessed through Blackboard. |
| Similarity reports | Yes if Turnitin option is turned on. | Yes | Yes, submissions can be compared for similarity, this is not automatic as with Turnitin | No | No |
| Peer assessment | Yes but limited | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Late submission | Yes | Yes | Yes, a Late Due Date can be added which goes beyond the Due Date | Yes | Refer to Blackboard Settings. |
| Hand in on behalf of | No | Yes | Yes, but not with anonymous marking. | No | No |
| Extensions | Yes via exceptions, but these are not available in LTIs such as Turnitin. | No | Yes | Yes | Refer to Blackboard Settings. |
| Extra time for timed work | Yes via accommodations | No | No | N/A | N/A |
| Anonymous marking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Refer to Blackboard Settings. |
| Double marking | Yes | Yes | No | Yes for peer assessment. | Refer to Blackboard Settings. |
| Rubric | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Refer to Blackboard Settings. |
| Multiple submissions | Yes | Yes but this must be turned on and new submissions overwrite previous submissions. | Yes, assignments and timed test responses submitted can be replaced. | Yes – before the deadline, submitted work can be deleted and replace. | Refer to Blackboard Settings. |
| Multiple file upload, e.g. PowerPoint and supporting notes in another document | Yes | No, only one file submission | No, option for a template or a multipage document is available in assignment settings. | Yes – the number and type of documents can be selected in the settings. | No – but these can be uploaded through the Blackboard Assignment. |
Practical tips and considerations
The following sections contain more details to assist in selecting the correct assignment options for your subject.
Blackboard
Blackboard
Blackboard provides opportunities in both tests and standard assignments for adding concessions (accommodations) and extensions (exceptions).
Accommodations (extra time)
Accommodations include extra time, these are added at the Class Register level for a module and therefore only needed to be added to those modules which include timed in-course assessment or formative tests and this can be done at any point in the year to allow for late disclosures to the Disability Support Team. Remember that extra time for exams is handled by the Exams Department.
There is a second option available in accommodations ensures that no submissions for the student are marked as late, even if the student does not submit their assessment on time, however this is not used as this option is not available.
Exceptions (extensions)
Exceptions are used for individual assignments where a student has been granted a 3 or 5 day extension through the extension request app. Blackboard enables a submission deadline to be changed for one student from the gradebook. This does not affect any of the other students unless the student is part of a group.
Guidance on how to set up accommodations and exceptions can be found on our Blackboard help pages.
Submitting on behalf of a student
There is no facility to submit a piece of work on behalf of a student. This typically happens when a student misses a deadline, for example if they have requested an extension. There is a common practice throughout the university to either create a late submission folder or send the submission to an administrator who will upload the work on the behalf of the student. This is not necessary when adding an exception as outlined above as the student will simply upload to the standard submission folder by their new deadline.
It is also possible, when setting up the assignment to set the number of attempts. For example if a student has submitted a draft, then been granted an extension, they can then upload a second attempt during the extension period if this has been set in the assignment settings.
As the maximum extension for a standard assignment submission is 5 days, then this should fall within the allocated marking window. Markers should check for any late submissions before marks are posted.
Turnitin
Turnitin
Turnitin assignments are used when a similarity report is required. This is now a feature of Blackboard assignments and therefore these can be used instead of Turnitin assignments as the similarity report is used. Turnitin assignments have been traditionally used across the university as this was the only way of checking for plagiarism.
Extra Time
Link here
Submitting on behalf of a student
Turnitin has a facility for submitting on behalf of a student. If a student has difficulty in submitting or has missed the deadline, an administrator can submit on their behalf. If a student has submitted already before being granted an extension and subsequently wishes to resubmit, the first submission will be overwritten when the second submission is uploaded either by the student or member of staff on their behalf.
Further information on submitting on behalf of a student can be found on our Turnitin help page
Gradescope
Gradescope
Gradescope is used widely in science subjects where handwritten numerical calculations are used in assessment
Late Due Date
When creating an assignment, a due date will be added in the settings. A Late Due Date can also be set. This is the absolute last date a student can submit. Students submitting between the Due Date and Late Due Date can be marked down if the settings have been set.
Extensions can be added to Gradescope if they have been granted via the Extension Request App. More information can be found on our Gradescope specific help pages.
Submitting on behalf of a student/Resubmitting
It is possible for staff to scan in handwritten student work and upload it on their behalf. Specific help on handing in on behalf of a student can be found on our Gradescope specific web pages.
Work can be deleted and resubmitted, for example if the student has uploaded the wrong piece of work. Instructions on how to do this can be found in Gradescope Help.
Feedback Fruits
Feedback Fruits info here
Feedback Fruits
Panopto
Panopto here
Panopto
link here
Tips for accessibility and inclusion
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Further information
How-to guide
How-to guide
Resources
References
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