law school assessment policies ... for...1 last updated 30/05/2014 law school assessment policies...

1 Last updated 30/05/2014

Law School Assessment Policies May 2014

1. Introduction These policies apply to students enrolled in topics with codes beginning CRIM, JUSS, LEGL, LLAW

and LLIR. It also applies to BUSN1019 and BUSN 2042.

Flinders University has a number of policies and procedures on assessment and related matters.

These are collected in the annually released versions of the Student Related Policies &

Procedures Manual. Students should refer to that publication, available online

www.flinders.edu.au/ppmanual/student.html for information concerning the University’s

policies and procedures.

In addition, the School of Law has adopted its own policies and procedures on assessment and

related matters which seek to clarify, elaborate or add to those of the University. These are

collected in this document and also accessible via the Law School’s website. Every effort has

been made to ensure that the School’s policies and procedures are consistent with the

University’s, but in cases of inconsistency, the University’s policies and procedures will prevail.

It is a feature of University life that policies and procedures, at School, Faculty and University

levels, are constantly kept under review. Changes therefore occur regularly and as a consequence,

some of the information contained in this publication may become outdated during the course

of the year. We will endeavour to keep the web version of this document current.

2. Methods of assessment Each form of assessment should assess different learning outcomes and graduate qualities. So

far as practically and administratively reasonable, students will be provided some measure of

choice in the assessment or other means of recognising academic strengths or interests.

Students should note that such flexibility is more appropriate for elective topics than for

compulsory topics.

With the exception of research thesis topics, each assessment scheme will involve more

than one method of assessment, and in particular no topic will be assessed by a single final

examination. The policy against 100% exams means that there must be at least one other

assessment item with graded passes.

All assessment requirements in a topic must be completed by the end of the examination

period in semester 1 in the case of semester 1 topics, or the examination period in semester 2

in the case of all other topics, unless there are special reasons for setting a later date.

3. Resubmission to meet criteria for successful completion Where an interim assessment exercise is subject to a minimum level of achievement for

successful completion of the topic and a student does not meet that minimum, the student

must be given the opportunity to achieve that minimum by attempting the exercise a

second time.

http://www.flinders.edu.au/ppmanual/student.html


In some cases the second attempt will consist of a revised version of the same piece of work (eg

an assignment); in others it will consist of a fresh attempt at an equivalent piece of work. In

such circumstances the maximum mark achievable will be the minimum mark for passing the

topic.

Where a final assessment exercise is subject to a minimum level of achievement for

successful completion of the topic, students who fail to reach that minimum standard will only

be granted supplementary assessment if they meet the requirements for academic

supplementary assessment under the University’s policy.

4. Approval and publication of assessment schemes

4.1 General

The assessment scheme for each topic will be included in or with the relevant topic outline,

which will normally be made available to students at the beginning of the week prior to

teaching commencing in the topic, and discussed at the first class, which may be a preliminary

lecture held in Orientation Week.

The scheme (including details as to penalties for late submission of work or contravention of

word limits) must be summarised or included in a Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM) form

distributed to students at the start of teaching.

The Law School’s SAM form includes all matters that are mandated within these policies.

Topic Co-ordinators should ensure that they complete the most recent version of the Law

School SAM form.

Any further matters that are mandated under these policies from time to time will also be

included in the Law School SAM form (subject to the approval of the Deputy Vice Chancellor

(Academic).

At every topic offering, the Topic Co-ordinator must provide a statement of how the proposed

assessment scheme relates to the topic’s expected learning outcomes and those graduate

qualities that the Topic Proposal Form indicated would be achieved.

Apart from the use of the standard SAM form, there is no strict template for topic outlines.

Each assessment scheme is scrutinised by the Teaching and Learning Committee, which holds

delegated authority from the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law to decide whether

schemes should be approved.

The deadline for SAMs to be submitted to the Teaching and Learning Committee is the same

as that for paid materials. This is to give the Committee on Teaching and Learning time to

meet and review the SAMs before they are printed.

Changes to a SAM after its initial settlement with students and the Teaching and Learning

Committee should be made only on the basis of a significant need and student consensus.

Changes that create a departure from the School’s assessment guidelines may be made only in


consultation with the Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee. Information about the

change should be announced in an appropriate teaching session, an email to all students in the

topic, and an announcement on FLO.

Topic Co-ordinators offering topics over the summer will be requested to submit their topic

assessment schemes for approval to the final Teaching and Learning Committee meeting of the

year (preceding the summer offering). If practicable, discussion beforehand with the Associate

Dean (Teaching and Learning) is encouraged. Any approval of the assessment scheme by the

Committee will be made conditional upon any changes proposed as a consequence of

discussions with students enrolled in the summer topic being ratified by the Associate Dean

(Teaching and Learning) or other designated member of the Teaching and Learning Committee.

4.2 Assessment of skills components in the LLBLP

All square brackets components must be assessed by a ‘must-pass’ item. That is, it should not be

possible to pass the topic without passing the item that assesses the square brackets component.

This will be monitored and checked by the TLC as part of the process of approving Statements of

Assessment Methods.

The TLC Chair will engage in a rolling programme of review to discuss with topic co-ordinators

how they teach and assess the square brackets components. The Chair will report back to the TLC

on the outcomes of these discussions, and the TLC will determine what, if any, action should be

recommended or required. Where necessary, the TLC will make recommendations to the School

Board and/or the Dean.

If the TLC Chair is not a member of staff who teaches in the LLBLP, this role may be delegated to

another member of the TLC who does teach in that program.

4.3 Guidelines to achieve parity of student and staff workload

The Law School Board has adopted a number of guidelines to assist the Teaching and Learning

Committee in making its decisions as to the approval of assessment schemes. They are

applied in a flexible manner and it is always open for the teachers in a topic to argue that a

particular scheme should be approved for special reasons.

These guidelines do not apply to practice-oriented exercises embedded in academic topics,

subject to an overriding expectation that the staff and student workloads associated with them

will be reasonable in the circumstances.

4.3.1 Written assignments

The word length guidelines for 4.5 unit topics are as reflected in the following table:

FIRST YEAR TOPICS UPPER YEAR TOPICS

Reflective reports etc (little or no research)

% weighting X 60 % weighting X 75


Problem-based questions (limited research)


Research essays (substantial research)


Skills/practice oriented

exercises See ‘practice and skills

components’ below

All of these guidelines are subject to rounding to the nearest 500 OR a tolerance of +/- 10%, whichever is the greater.

The SAM form includes the following default exclusions from the word count: citations, headings of one line or less and block quotations. Substantive discussion in the footnotes is counted. Topic co-ordinators are free to vary these.

4.3.2 Oral assessment

For oral assessment (presentations, advocacy exercises etc) there are no guidelines as to

length. However staff are referred to the policy on moderation of marks, which requires

that oral exercises of 30% or higher weighting must be recorded.

4.3.3 NGP Items

In LLAW and CRIM topics, other than those which integrate non-practice components with one

or more practice components that is or are summatively assessed in the topic to certify

achievement of a Practical Legal Training competency, the following policy applies to ensure

that any assessment item graded on a pass/fail basis be accounted for in the workload

calculation for the topic.

A weighting is used for each such item, based on proportion of overall assessment time

expected to be needed for it. This will reduce the proportion of assessment workload of other

items accordingly, and therefore the relevant word length.

However the proportion of total marks used in the working-out of the final grade will be based

on relativities between the graded components.

For the purposes of this policy, exam lengths are based on proportion of total marks, not

proportion of assessment workload.

For example, in an upper year topic:


ASSESSMENT TYPE PROPORTION OF ASSESSMENT

WORKLOAD

WORD LENGTH ETC

PROPORTION OF TOTAL MARKS

Written skills exercise (NGP)

15% 630 words 0%

Problem-based

assignment 30% 1620 45%

Exam 35% 2 hrs + 30 mins

55%

4.3.4 Practice and skills components

In a wholly practice topic (ie Legal Practice Management, Transactional Legal Practice, Criminal

Practice & Advocacy) students must be advised of the specific competencies required, and the

method of assessment for each competency. Each competency will be assessed as NGP or Fail

only. It is not necessary to specify the proportion of student workload allocated to the

assessment of each competency. Word limits and examination times do not apply to practice

topics, subject to an overriding expectation that student and staff workloads will be reasonable

in the circumstances.

In a topic which integrates non-practice components with one or more practice components

that is or are summatively assessed in the topic to certify achievement of a Practical Legal

Training competency (ie Civil Litigation 1 [Advocacy], Civil Litigation 2 [Negotiation]) students

must be advised of the proportion of student workload required to complete each of the non-

practice topic component(s) and the skills component(s).

In relation to the non-practice component, the policy as to word limits etc will apply to the

extent of student workload (eg if the non-practice component is 60% of the total workload, then

the total available words, times, etc should be 60% of a full assessment workload). Within that

limit, the available marks will be 100% for grading purposes.

In relation to the practice component(s), students must be advised of the specific competencies

required, and the method of assessment for each competency. Each competency will be

assessed as NGP or Fail only. It is not necessary to specify the proportion of student workload

allocated to the assessment of each competency. Word limits and examination times do not

apply, subject to an overriding expectation that student and staff workloads will be reasonable

in the circumstances.

No deduction may be made to other assessment components because of late submission of

a PLT competency component.

In a non-practice topic that includes a practice or skills component which is not summatively

assessed at a practice topic level in the topic to certify achievement of a Practical Legal Training


competency (ie Torts 2 [Interviewing], Corporate Law 1 [Drafting]), the practice component

forms part of the whole assessment scheme and should not be treated differently from

other forms of assessment in that topic. The practice or skills component may be subject to

a ‘must pass’ criterion but should be graded in the same way as the rest of the topic. If a

‘must pass’ criterion is applied, resubmission should be permitted for those students who do

not meet the pass standard.

4.3.5 In-class assessment

The School does not favour attendance-only assessment, preferring to assess contribution to the

tutorial/workshop program including but not limited to attendance, preparation and

participation. Where contribution marks are utilised, they should constitute no more than 10%,

increasing to 20% where special circumstances are made out.

The criteria forming the basis of the contribution mark should be clearly stated in Topic

Outlines and in cases where the topic co-ordinator proposes to assess class participation in a

class group of more than 30 students, the procedure for doing so is to be included in SAM.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is appropriate to have minimum attendance requirements as part

of the Criteria for Successful Completion of a topic.

4.3.6 Quizzes

a) Quizzes should count for no more than 20% of the grade in any topic; and no individual quiz

should count for more than 10%.

b) All assessment quizzes should use a question bank, where every question answered is from a

category of at least 3 times the number being used for that purpose. For example, if a student

has to answer 15 questions, there should be at least 45 in the question bank from which they

are drawn.

c) Any staff member wishing to use quizzes for assessment should attend training on FLO quizzes

run by CEdICT before using a quiz for assessment purposes.

d) Where using a series of quizzes, it is recommended to base the mark on a smaller number

than the total. For example, if there are 5 quizzes, the mark could be based on the best 4. This

is to reduce the stress associated with technology failure.

e) It is recommended that, when composing questions, academic staff trial the questions on a

colleague to ensure the wording is sufficiently clear.

f) Any topic including a quiz should state, in the SAM, the opening and closing time of the quiz,

and the number of attempts allowed.

g) Every assessment quiz should include a question requiring every student to make a

declaration that he or she completed the quiz alone.

4.3.7 Take-home exams

A ‘take-home exam’ is defined as a piece of written assessment with a lead-time of one week

or less.

No piece of written assessment, other than in a PLT topic, should have a lead time of less than

48 hours.


Extensions (or substitute assessment for students who are unable to undertake the exam for

medical or compassionate reasons) must be available for take-home exams.Where extensions

are provided for, late work must be accepted. However it is appropriate to provide for

extensions (and penalties) counted in hours rather than days.

It is also appropriate to provide that no extensions will be granted of longer than the original

lead time and that late work will not be accepted after the expiry of that amount of time.

Late submission of take-home exams is an exception to the policy against email/fax

submission.

4.3.8 Examinations

For LLAW topics, the following guidelines apply to length and weightings of examinations:

PROPORTION OF TOPIC

COVERED WEIGHTING LENGTH

Whole topic 40-60% 2 hours + 30 mins reading

Half of topic or more, but less than whole topic

30-40% 1.5 hours + 30 mins

Less than half of topic 20-30% 1 hour + 30 mins

For the purpose of these guidelines, ‘whole topic’ means all material covered in the topic, apart from material that students have independently researched for

assessment in an item other than the exam. Normally this will be the material covered in face-to-face teaching. If there is material to be assessed twice (eg both in an assignment and in the exam), this still counts towards the

‘proportion of topic’ calculation.

‘Half of topic’, ‘less than half of topic’ etc take their meanings accordingly.

The question of whether material is ‘covered’ in the exam depends on whether students are required to prepare that material for the exam. Students do not necessarily have to write on all the material for it to be ‘covered’.

If the exam is maximisable against another piece of assessment, the weighting can go up to 10 percentage points higher than the upper limit. For example, if a whole- topic exam is maximisable against an assignment, such that the assignment will count for more if the student achieves a higher mark in it than in the exam, the exam can count for up to 70%.

The SAM requires topic co-ordinators to indicate the materials, if any, that can be taken into the exam. However in no case should students be permitted to take completed exam scripts from previous attempts into the exam. This includes their own attempts or those of other students.


Unless provision is made to the contrary, reading time of 30 minutes will be provided to students at the commencement of any Law examination.

In CRIM topics, the guidelines are as for LLAW topics, but 15 minutes will be the standard reading time.

PROPORTION OF TOPIC COVERED WEIGHTING LENGTH

Whole topic 40-60% 2 hours + 15 mins reading Half of topic or more, but less than

whole topic

30-40% 1.5 hours + 15 mins

Less than half of topic 20-30% 1 hour + 15 mins

5. Extensions The Law School has adopted the following policies and procedures in relation to the granting

of extensions of time for the submission of assessment:

A student who wishes to obtain an extension of time for an assignment must make an electronic application which is submitted to Law Extensions. The application must be made before the assignment’s due date. The forms are available on the Law School website. All fields within the application form should be completed, and any supporting evidence, such as medical certificates, should

be scanned and forwarded as an attachment.

Law Extensions must then respond to the request electronically (Email) as soon as possible, indicating whether the extension has been granted or denied; if granted, the revised due date; and any special conditions or agreements. The topic coordinator receives a copy of the response.

The length of an extension should generally be proportionate to the delay or impairment caused by the circumstances on which the application is based.

Where an extension has been granted, the student must attach the approval to

the assignment when it is submitted.

Extensions will only be granted in compelling circumstances which make it necessary for the student to be given more time to complete the assignment.

Applications for extension on pregnancy-related grounds should be considered in

light of the particular policy on the accommodation of pregnant students.

Where a student is dissatisfied with the outcome of a request for an extension, any appeal should be sought under the University’s policy on appeal against assessment generally.

The principles and procedures for the granting of extensions must be stated in writing as part of the assessment scheme at the beginning of the topic. Extensions are referenced in each topic’s Statement of Assessment Methods.


6. Submission of assignments All assignments must bear the appropriate assignment cover sheet that can be obtained from the

Student Services Area or on FLO for the topic concerned.

Assignments must not be submitted inside folders, envelopes or plastic coverings. Sheets should

be firmly fastened together, preferably by staple.

Unless a topic requires electronic submission, assignments must be put in the Law chute at

the Student Services Area by 4.00 pm on the due date, or by such other time as has been

specified in writing by the topic coordinator.

Staff proposing to use a time other than 4.00 pm must discuss the proposal in advance with the

Student Services Manager.

Assignments will not be accepted at any office (including those of lecturers). Students are

strongly advised to keep a copy of their assignment and to note the time and

circumstances of its delivery to the assignment bin. Although all care is taken by the School

with assignments submitted, the onus remains with each student to produce a copy of any

submitted assignment in the event that it cannot be located by the School.

Notwithstanding any arrangement that might be introduced for electronic submission,

submission by post, fax or email is permissible only when needed because of extraordinary

individual circumstances, and by prior arrangement with the topic coordinator and only

after the student has telephoned first to inform the administrative staff.. (Take-home exams

being submitted late may be counted as extraordinary circumstances, at least where electronic

submission is not being used.) Where an assignment is faxed, it must include the standard

cover sheet, and a hard copy must also be submitted as soon as possible.

Assignments must not be e-mailed unless special circumstances exist and permission has been

obtained, in advance, from the topic coordinator. If permission is granted the e-mail must be

addressed to the topic coordinator and must comply with any conditions imposed (for

instance format of the attachment or subsequent submission of a paper copy).

7. Penalties Although there are no mandated standard penalties, groups of co-ordinators are free to adopt

uniform penalties for their topics.

7.1 Word length of assignments

Unless the topic co-ordinator informs students in writing to the contrary, 5% of the total

mark possible for a piece of work will be deducted for each 10% of the total word limit or

part thereof by which the assignment exceeds that limit. This means that the penalty applies as

soon as the student passes the word limit.

This is the minimum penalty. Topic Co-ordinators may set a higher penalty but there is no

discretion to add in a tolerance for overlength work.


The standard cover sheet for written assignments includes a space, just below the

plagiarism statement, for students to write in the word count of the paper. It is up to the

Topic Co-ordinator to indicate what tolerances will be allowed, if any; and the consequences

if there is a substantial divergence between the stated word count and the actual count.

7.2 Late submission of assignments

Unless the topic co-ordinator informs students in writing to the contrary, and in the absence

of an extension, 5% of the total mark possible for a piece of work will be deducted for every

day or part thereof by which the assignment is late.

8. Examinations off campus or other than as scheduled The dates for the examination periods are stated in the student handbook and the

University Calendar each year. Students should be aware of these dates and should avoid

making travel or other personal or work commitments during this time.

A student who wishes to sit an exam at other than the scheduled time or off campus may

only do so by application via the medical/compassionate supplementary assessment system. If

the application is granted, the usual arrangements for supplementary assessment will apply.

In rare circumstances, the University will arrange remote exams in accordance with its own

guidelines, and this policy does not affect a student’s ability to apply directly to the University.

9. Double-marking of fails and moderation of marks (a) Subject to paragraphs (b)-(e) below, all assessment (including examination papers)

carrying a weighting of 30% or more for which a fail grade is given will be automatically re-marked by another member of the academic staff involved in that topic. It is the responsibility of the topic co-ordinator to ensure that a failed exercise is re-marked.

(b) For the avoidance of doubt, paragraph (a) does not apply in situations where there is only one member of academic staff involved in marking in a topic.

(c) In the case of assessment items with multiple components that are marked

separately (such as exams with multiple questions), paragraph (a) applies only to

items that fail overall, not to individual components that fail.

(d) Paragraph (a) does not apply if the assessment item is redeemable by resubmission, or if the mark for the assessment item is completely discounted

against another assessment item of equal or greater value.

(e) Paragraph (a) does not apply if the assessment item has been subject to criterion-referenced assessment. This means a scheme where students are informed in detail of the criteria by which the work is to be assessed, including a description of the standard expected to be achieved under each criterion for each grade range (Fail,

Pass, Credit, Distinction and High Distinction). (It is recommended that such schemes also contain descriptions of the standard for at least two Fail levels, eg Low Fail (0-24%) and High Fail (25-49%).) Students are then provided with

information on the level they achieved on each criterion.


(f) In every Topic where the academic staff propose to rely on paragraph (e), the Topic Guide (or similar document) must contain a statement that criterion- referenced assessment will be used, and a description of the system proposed.

(g) In the absence of such a statement, the following will be assumed:

i. the second marker will not have a clean copy, but rather will see the

original marker’s comments;

ii. the second marker will not be informed of the mark proposed by the original marker;

iii. in the event of a discrepancy of 5 percentage points or less between the two marks proposed that does not result in a difference in grade level, the original marker’s mark will stand;

iv. in the event of a discrepancy of 5 percentage points or less between the two marks proposed that does result in a difference in grade level the two

markers will discuss the mark and try to reach agreement;

v. if the discrepancy is more than 5 percentage points, the two markers will

discuss the mark and try to reach agreement;

vi. where agreement such as that referred to in sub-paras (iv) and (v) above cannot

be reached, the original marker’s mark will stand.

(h) For the avoidance of doubt, double-marking of fails is always encouraged, even where not compulsory.

(i) For the avoidance of doubt, students are always entitled to discuss their mark

with their marker, whether or not criterion-referenced assessment was used. To this end, all students should be provided with details on who marked their work, and when and where that person is available for consultation in the two weeks

following return of the work.

10. Return of assignments Once the assignments are marked, the topic co-ordinator will inform the students whether the

assignments will be returned in class or made available for collection from the Student

Services Area.

Students collecting assignments from the Student Services Area will be required to show

photo ID to collect their assignment. If they wish to collect another person’s assignment,

they will need a signed note to that effect and also the other person’s ID card.

All assessment exercises or examination scripts will be returned to students or made available

for collection as soon as possible, but in any event no later than three months after the final

results are published for the relevant topic. After that date, uncollected exercises may be

destroyed.


11. Interim assessment and feedback Where interim assessment is concerned (that is, any assessment other than the final

assessment for a topic), every effort will be made to provide feedback to students by way of

written comments and/or class discussion. Students are also encouraged to approach

individual staff members with any queries they may have regarding their progress.

Topic co-ordinators are to provide information in the Summary of Topic Assessment about the

process used for moderating marks, including the provision of feedback.

12. Distribution of grades Final grades in topics with an LLAW prefix should normally conform to the following

guidelines:

a) for compulsory topics, a minimum of 3% of the candidates should receive High

Distinction grades;

b) for elective topics, a minimum of 5% of the candidates should receive High

Distinction grades.

Topic coordinators shall have the authority to raise grades to achieve conformity with these

guidelines. When finalising mark sheets, topic coordinators should first take into account any

requests for Special Consideration, in the ordinary way. Following this, if the final overall grades

for the topic have fewer than the minimum High Distinctions, topic coordinators should increase

the marks of the minimum number of students needed to achieve the minimum percentage of

HD grades, in rank order by mark.

However, only students with marks of 80 or above may have their marks raised. If there are

several students on the same mark, either all students should have their marks raised or

none should, if raising all students would produce an unacceptably high percentage of HD

grades.

Topic coordinators whose grade distribution does not meet the minimum distribution

guidelines and topic coordinators who have made adjustments to achieve the guidelines

should inform the Board of Examiners of any changes which have been made to grades or

the reason why no changes have been made.

13. Publication of grades The only official grades are those released to students by the University. However for the

assistance of students, the School of Law may post grades for each assessment piece on

Flinders Learning Online (FLO). These are subject to change and in the case of a discrepancy,

the University’s official final results must prevail.

Results in assessment which has no written component such as tutorial participation may be

posted in the discretion of the topic coordinator.

Other than in connection with honours or prizes, no student's name will appear; instead student

record numbers will be used.


Except for the posting of the final mark sheet to non-written assessment, results in the various

components that are used to calculate the final grade will only be communicated or made

available to each student on an individual basis.

14. Glossary of terms Maximisation refers to an arrangement where the weightings placed on two or more

assessment items are flexible, depending whether a student performs better in one or the

other. For example, a maximisation scheme might provide that students will count the

assignment and the exam for 40 or 50% each: 40% on the piece where student achieves the

lower mark and 50% for the one with the higher mark.

Resubmit means a student, following feedback on a piece of work, submits a version of that

piece of work which has been revised with a view to improving it. It does not mean submitting

the precise same piece of work previously submitted for re-marking.

15. Administrative notes Friday deadlines are discouraged.

It is recommended that marks not be published unaccompanied by feedback.

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