FORM
3
1.
November 2013
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR COMPLETING SECTION B OF FORM 1
(A Proposal for Introducing a New Qualification, Major Subject,
Endorsement, or Minor where there is no existing Major)
AND FOR COMPLETING FORM 3: PROPOSAL FOR NEW PAPER
Staff introducing a new paper are encouraged to consult the Assessment of Student Performance
Policy and the Teaching and Learning Action Plan.
Hardcopies of both are available from the Academic Committees Office, or are available online at:
Assessment of Student Performance Policy:
http://www.otago.ac.nz/administration/policies/assessmentpolicy/
Teaching and Learning Action Plan: http://www.otago.ac.nz/staff/
2.
Because of the limitation of resources, there is a general expectation that new papers will be introduced
to replace existing papers that will consequently be deleted. If a new paper is being introduced in
addition to the existing offerings in a department, careful consideration should be given to the resources
that will be necessary to develop and sustain the new paper including library resources, teaching
facilities, equipment and staff time (see Part (iii) of Form 3).
If new staff are required, please provide the details and costs. If no new staff are required you will be
expected to provide an explanation of the current spare capacity in the department to cover the
additional responsibility of the new paper.
A departmental workload model may be required which demonstrates how the added responsibilities of
the new paper will be managed. You should also be prepared to provide information about the impact
the new paper will have on the Performance Based Research Funding (PBRF) of the department.
Should you require any advice regarding Government funding, please contact the Senior Analyst,
Planning and Reporting at the Planning and Funding Office (479 5620 or email
david.geraghty@otago.ac.nz).
3.
The full title of the paper must not be longer than 50 characters, including the spaces between words.
The full title of the paper will appear in the Calendar and the Guide to Enrolment. This is a structural
limitation and therefore there are no exceptions.
4.
The short title of the paper should be no longer than 25 characters including spaces.
The short title of the paper will appear on the student’s academic record and transcripts. Again this is a
structural limitation.
5.
Prescriptions should not normally be longer than 30 words. The prescription should be a concise
summary of the topic areas in the paper. Sentences need not be complete and phrases such as “this
paper deals with” or “topics covered are” are not needed.
6.
Ensure that ALL Calendar references to the paper are addressed as consequential amendments.
 Do programme regulations need to be amended?
 Are there any changes necessary to the Schedules including Schedule A, Schedule B and Schedule
C?
 Are any General Regulations affected?
 Will a paper be deleted as a consequence of the introduction of the paper?
 If so, have the consequential amendments as a result of the deletion(s) been addressed?
Please note that if new papers are being introduced as part of a new programme (i.e., new qualification,
new major subject, new endorsement or new minor subject) and Form 3 is accompanying Form 1
(Section B of Form 1) it does not have to repeat changes to regulations, Schedules A, B and C etc. as
these have already been provided in Form 1 under Proposed Regulations.
Please also note that you do not need to provide changes to the Programme Information in the Guide
to Enrolment. These will be updated editorially.
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November 2013
7.
8.
Check your addition and multiplication when calculating the Workload Expectations of the paper to
ensure the internal consistencies of the figures.
Make sure when introducing papers or amending prerequisites, corequisites and restrictions that you
are aware of and adhere to the principles related to the use of paper codes and the types of rules which
may be attached to papers which will allow electronic course checking and online registration. These
principles, approved by the Senate on 26 June 2002, are:
(a)
easily measurable academic rules will be stored as rules and will be checked electronically;
(b)
other valid academic requirements such as “evidence of compositional ability” or “requirement for
a Scuba diving licence” will be stored in the database and displayed via the web and the Guide
to Enrolment as notes only, but the Papers concerned will be tagged as DIR (i.e. I Initials
Required) which will ensure that students who register for such Papers will be required to see an
appropriate Adviser within the department concerned who can determine whether or not this
other requirement has been met;
(c)
pre- and co-requisite rules should not be combined or linked together. E.g. MANT 343
Prerequisite: MANT 213 or
Prerequisite or Corequisite: LAWS 313
Should be expressed as:
Prerequisite: MANT 213 or LAWS 313
Any student who ‘fails’ this simpler rule could then be permitted by a Management Adviser to
take LAWS 313 concurrently with MANT 343 in applicable cases.
(d)
that the use of parentheses and ‘&’ in publications such as the Calendar and the Guide to
Enrolment, and on the web, be adopted to make rules less ambiguous to students (and staff)
especially when “and”, “or’ etc. are involved in combination.
Example current wording of a Prerequisite:
THEA 212, 213 or THEA 202
Alternative wording:
(THEA 212 & 213) or (THEA 202)
(e)
that the rules stored in the database will not attempt to differentiate between ‘Recommended’,
‘Strongly Recommended’ and ‘Highly Recommended’ Papers. They will all be stored, and
displayed via the web and in publications, as ‘Recommended Papers’
(f)
that the following rules be followed:
i.
that a Paper Code (e.g. ECON 101) should be unique to one discrete body of learning.
Within this principle pairs of Papers of the following types (actual historical examples of
incorrect coding) would be deemed to be different ‘bodies of learning’ and should have had
different Codes:
MAOR 202 He Tikanga (Semester 1 version, taught in English)
MAOR 202 He Tikanga (Semester 2 version, taught in Maori) and has different prerequisite
rule from Semester 1 version
ii.
that, with the exception of Special Topic Papers, if the content of a Paper changes to the
extent that those who have passed the earlier version are permitted to also enrol in the new
version, then a new Paper Code must be used;
iii.
that one discrete body of learning cannot have more than one Paper Code except in cases
where an ‘X’ is used to differentiate between internally and distance-taught versions e.g.
GEOL 112 and GEOX 112
iv.
For new distance taught papers: while we are in the transition period, please use both the
current “X” code to denote a distance paper, as well as the intended standardised paper
code name.)
(Please note that the Senate at its meeting held on 27 June 2007 reaffirmed the single coding policy and approved the
following motion: That a single paper code should be used for papers where there is identity of content, delivery,
assessment, and student tuition fees and Government funding; only where there are clearly identifiable significant
differences in one or more of these areas should they be considered separate papers, and have separate codes.)
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November 2013
9.
Form 3 asks for a Course Outline. For the purposes of the approval of the development of the new
paper, this outline can be brief but should include an outline of the content of lectures, laboratories and
tutorials. It is expected however, that a more detailed course outline will be developed prior to the
course being offered. The detailed outline should be prepared for students who are taking the paper.
For suggested headings of a complete course outline please see Appendix A.
Appendix A
COURSE OUTLINE
Please note that a working group has formed to develop a Course Outline template. This template will assist
departments to create Course Outlines that can be placed on their departmental websites. This is useful for
both international and domestic students trying to determine which papers to enrol in. Consultation is currently
underway and information will be provided to Divisions before the end of 2013.
A Course Outline should detail important information relevant to the paper and serves as an informal contract
between the department and the student. It is therefore essential that care and certainty be applied in its
development.
The Course Outline might include the following components:

Lecturers teaching the paper and their contact details, office hours etc.

Textbooks/Readings/Resources

Schedule of lecture topics. These might be presented in a table with headings of Week/Topic/Reading

Assessment. Information on assessment should include clear information about what is required of
students to pass the paper or to attain a higher grade. Information should include details about the timing
(due dates), percentage weight and focus of assignments (see Guideline 1.3 of the Assessment of Student
Performance Policy set out below).

A statement about Plagiarism/Dishonest Practice. In terms of the approved policy on plagiarism, Senate
encourages all staff to give consideration to placing the statement below (or something similar) in all
Course Outlines / Course Profiles.
“Students should make sure that all submitted work is their own. Plagiarism is a form of dishonest practice. Plagiarism is
defined as copying or paraphrasing another's work, whether intentionally or otherwise, and presenting it as one's own
(approved University Council, December 2005). In practice this means plagiarism includes any attempt in any piece of
submitted work (e.g. an assignment or test) to present as one's own work the work of another (whether of another student or a
published authority). Any student found responsible for plagiarism in any piece of work submitted for assessment shall be
subject to the University's dishonest practice regulations which may result in various penalties, including forfeiture of marks for
the piece of work submitted, a zero grade for the paper, or in extreme cases exclusion from the University.”

Reference citing protocols. If the department has requirements for citing references, these should be made
clear in the Course Outline.

Information on Class Representation (if appropriate)

The Assessment of Student Performance Policy should be consulted when preparing a proposal for a new
paper. With respect to the Course Outline please be mindful of Guidelines 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5, namely:
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November 2013
1.3
1.4
1.5
In each paper, students
should receive specific, clear,
and early information about
what they need to do to pass
the paper or to obtain a higher
grade. The information should
include details about the
timing, percentage weight and
focus of each assessment.
Where an internal assessment
test will be held outside the
scheduled meeting times for a
paper (for instance, a single
evening test for two or more
lecture streams), the date,
starting time and duration of
the test should be announced
at the first class and in the
paper outline.
Announced assessment
arrangements in each paper
should not be changed without
consultation with students and
approval by the head of
department.
This information should
normally be included in a
paper outline available at the
first class, but may be delayed
until the second or third class
if the teacher believes it is
appropriate to negotiate some
aspects of the assessment
programme with students
before announcing details.
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