Title: Online submission of student
assessments: student procedures
Document Type: Procedure
Location: Academic Handbook Section 4O
Version: 2.0
Publication date: September 2015
Author: Academic Services
Approved by: Dean of Academic Services
Last updated: September 2015
Section 4O: Online submission of student
assessments: Student procedures
Introduction
1. These procedures supplement the University’s policy regarding ‘The online
submission of student assessments’ and provide guidance to students for the submission of
assessments (generally termed ‘Assignments’) via myCourse and the TurnitinUK software
facility.
Online submission
2. Where they meet the criteria all text based summative assessments, including
PowerPoint presentations, must be submitted online. This means that the work should be
uploaded online to myCourse/Turnitin by the deadline date for submission. Student work
can be accepted in the following file types:
MS Word (.doc and .docx), WordPerfect (.wpd), PostScript (.eps), Portable Document
Format (.pdf), HTML (.htm or .html), Rich Text (.rtf) and Plain Text (.txt) and
PowerPoint (.ppt or .pptx).
The file size must not exceed 40MB; this is appropriate capacity for text alone but any
extensive incorporation of images may prove challenging. As part of their normal support
processes the Learning and Information Service (LIS) will offer advice and guidance to
students on the electronic compression of embedded images and attachments. Files larger
than 40MB but less than 250MB can be submitted via the myCourse assignment upload tool.
3. Not all text based assessments will be suitable for processing in electronic format and
some work will have to be handed in to the assessment drop point instead. Unit Leaders
will state on the Assessment Brief whether submission is online or in hard copy via the
drop point. Students are advised to contact the relevant tutor if they have any questions
about the method of submission for any of their Assessments.
4. Where an Assessment is designated for online processing, students must submit their
Assessments electronically via the University’s virtual learning environment, myCourse;
students cannot choose to hand in a hard copy of the Assessment instead.
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5. Where they meet the criteria for electronic submission video and audio-based
summative assessments can be submitted via the myCourse assignment upload tool using
the video option where the file size does not exceed 250MB. (Staff should contact Learning
Technologies to enable this feature). Supported file types include:
Video (.mp4, .m4v, .avi. .wmv, .mov, .mpeg)
Audio (.mp3, .WAV, .wma)
6. Where they meet the criteria for electronic submission other digital file types that
are not text, audio or video-based can be submitted via the myCourse assignment upload
tool using the ‘file upload’ option where the file size does not exceed 250MB. Examples
could include software project files, design files, zipped folders.
Deadline for submission
7. The deadline date for submission will be specified in the assessment brief.
Assessments must be submitted to myCourse/Turnitin by 2200 hours on the due date.
Assessments submitted online must be fully uploaded before 2200 hours on the deadline
date set, assessments uploaded after 2200 hours will be marked as late even if the student
started the upload before 2200 hours. Students are advised to submit in advance of the
final deadline whenever possible and are expected to submit work on time.
8.
All time deadlines are British local time.
9. Any Assessment submitted after the deadline will be regarded as ‘late’ and subject to
academic penalties in accordance with the University’s Assessment Policy regarding the
late submission of coursework. For first assessment attempts, work that is submitted
within 5 working days of the deadline will be marked and an academic penalty applied. If
an extension request has been submitted and is accepted by the Extenuating
Circumstances Panel then the full mark received will be awarded. If no extension request
is submitted, or it is not accepted, then an academic penalty will be applied, which will
mean that the mark will be capped at 40% if a pass mark is achieved. Referred
assessments must be submitted on time; resit work cannot be submitted late.
10. Work that is submitted beyond 5 working days of the deadline submission date for
first attempts or by the deadline date for refer work will not be marked and will be
regarded as a non-submission.
Submission process
11. Links to guidance on the uploading of Assessments are available within the individual
unit site on ‘myCourse’. Online submission will involve the use of the TurnitinUK plagiarism
detection software. Turnitin provides an originality report on work submitted which
highlights text that may be plagiarised. Students are permitted to submit their work via
myCourse as many times as they wish before the Assessment due date, with each submission
over-writing the previous version. At the deadline date the version that is in Turnitin will
be taken as the student’s final submission.
12. Students are encouraged to use Turnitin to support good academic practice in ensuring
that all work is appropriately referenced and acknowledged. Guidance on obtaining and
interpreting Turnitin originality reports that indicate any potentially plagiarised work is also
available on the myCourse upload page and on the succeed@solent web site within
myCourse.
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13. An Assessment can only be submitted for marking once. Students cannot hand in a
piece of work electronically or as a hard copy and then decide to submit a different version
by the deadline date or within the 5 working day ‘late’ period. A second submission will not
be marked.
Group work
14. Where students are submitting a joint Assessment as part of a piece of group work,
the student number for each member of the group must be stated on the first page of the
submitted assignment. One member of the group should then submit the Assessment on
behalf of the group. The Assessment will then be marked as a piece of group work.
15. Students are advised that where a piece of group work has been submitted by a
single member, the Turnitin originality report and the marked work can only be accessed
and returned electronically to that individual student. It is therefore important that the
nominated member of the group is available within the feedback timescale.
Guidance on use of Turnitin reports
16. Students are reminded that Turnitin is not a plagiarism detection service; it is a text
matching facility. It compares work submitted with a document database drawn from a
wide range of resources and produces ‘matched text reports’ that highlight areas of text
that match work available elsewhere. These reports still require interpretation regarding
any content that may be plagiarised, either accidentally or intentionally.
Areas
highlighted may already be referenced, or the report may act as a useful reminder of
areas where the author has overlooked appropriate acknowledgement of other people’s
work. Students are reminded that when a batch of Assessments is submitted on the same
topic it is likely that there will be an increase in matched text identified since a number
of students will have added work with the same title and probably similar phraseology.
17. Turnitin is currently utilised as part of the online submission process in order to
support students in developing good academic practice.
Where student work is
subsequently identified as potentially being plagiarised then students are subject to the
processes outlined in the University policy on student academic misconduct. Full guidance
on interpreting Turnitin reports and academic misconduct is accessible within ‘MyCourse’ at
the unit submission point.
18. Further information on the Turnitin product is available at: http://www.submit.ac.uk.
Receipt
19. Students who submit work online will receive a digital email receipt and can see their
submission on screen, confirming that it has successfully uploaded. Students who are in
any way concerned about the completeness of the submission process may wish to forward
a final version of their Assessment to their student e-mail account as additional evidence
of the work being completed by the deadline date.
IT Difficulties
20. Personal IT difficulties are not accepted as extenuating circumstances. Students are
therefore advised to plan to submit their Assessments online in advance of the deadline
date. This will allow time to pursue any queries or problems arising as a result of
submission.
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21. Students experiencing problems with online submission can get assistance from a
Learning Resource Centre Helpdesk; opening hours will be available on the student portal.
22. In the event that there is any significant issue with University IT systems at the point
of submission the University will inform students of alternative arrangements. Students
will be alerted to these via appropriate communication channels (e-mail, text message or
messages on the myCourse home screen and portal). Solutions will normally involve a
delayed deadline and not hard copy submission.
Disabled students
23. If a disabled student considers they do not have equality of opportunity as the result
of a personal disability issue that impacts on their ability to submit assessments online
then they must contact Students 1st as soon as possible so that appropriate support
requirements can be addressed.
Late work
24. Where students are processing assessments after the deadline date, the electronic
Assessment Cover Sheet must be completed with the work and submitted through the
additional ‘late’ assessment facility on the unit site. All late work submitted online
remains subject to academic penalties in accordance with the University’s assessment
regulations. Assessments submitted as for the first time more than five working days after
the deadline will not be downloaded and assessed. Referred assessments submitted after
the deadline will not be downloaded and assessed.
Assessment marking and feedback
25. Academic staff will select to mark student assessments online or they may choose to
mark using downloaded hard copy. Work will therefore be returned to students either
electronically or in the normal way, having been assessed in accordance with the
University’s Assessment Practice policy.
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