Assessment of SSCs
a) Instruments Tools
As all SSCs are assessed and this process is scrutinised by the External Examiners, a particularly important issue is how the module is assessed. This is a crucial part of the SSC as it provides the only means by which the External Examiners can assess the academic rigour of students’ work. Assessment instruments are very variable between SSCs but in all instances at least 60% (80% in the case of those SSCs undertaken outwith Glasgow) must be in a form accessible to the External Examiners (a written report or other piece of work e.g. production of a DVD, development of a web page etc).
Ideally, the main assessment instrument should consist of a properly referenced report/dissertation/essay (3,000 to 4,000 depending on other weightings) on some aspect of the area of study. This should be the main outcome measure and have the largest weighting. Other assessment techniques that could be used to assess knowledge and skills include poster/web/oral presentation, practical skill (e.g. laboratory, clinical), debate, literature review and reflective portfolios. Scientific rigour is expected and case reports (i.e. clerking of patients) are not acceptable unless accompanied by a reflective commentary of some 500 words, which should also include references. This commentary can cover aspects such as pathophysiology/management/ epidemiology etc. with the patient’s history and findings being illustrative. If only this type of case report is to be presented for assessment, a minimum of three are expected, to give reflective commentaries totalling about 1,500 words. The learning outcomes of the work (i.e. the educational objectives and the extent to which these have been achieved) should be clearly stated, preferably in a separate section in advance of the SSC.
Note: If a case report is included, it must be written in such a way that the patient should not be identifiable. Terms such as Mr X and the age of the patient should be used instead of initials and date of birth.
b) Format of Written Work
To improve clarity, reports/dissertations/essays must include a cover page with a title of the work as well as the student’s registration number and contain relevant subsections e.g. introduction and conclusions. If appropriate, written work may be in the form of a scientific paper and should have the following subsections: introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions and references.
c) Submission Process
On completion of the module students will be required to submit their SSC work (e.g. essays, report, dissertations, etc) including bibliography and any figures/tables to the Urkund plagiarism detection software available via Moodle. This is the same as the students have been asked to do for coursework submissions in Years 1 and 2. Students will have two revision version submissions available to check their work if needed before submission to the Final Version. Students are also asked to compile all their work into a single document for submission (maximum file size is 20MB).
IN ADDITION students are also required to submit an electronic version for MARKING on VALE (via Moodle and logging on to the MBChB 2 Student Support site to access the SSC website as normal). This is important as it is needed for the supervisor/marker to mark, External Examiners to review and it is also “date stamped”. Penalties will be incurred for late submissions (click here for more information). Students may also wish to, if appropriate, provide the supervisor with a hard copy of their written work.
d) Code of Assessment
All work produced by students is assessed using the University of Glasgow code of assessment, as outlined here and detailed on the University of Glasgow website. This involves using an A to G grading system which employs descriptors of student performance based on learning outcomes – in effect, the extent to which the learning objectives of the module have been achieved. For each relevant assessment instrument, a grade with secondary band will be awarded (e.g. A3, C2 etc). These will be summed subsequently to calculate the overall grade which will also be sub-banded. Please note that, in keeping with assessments in other parts of the course, there is no formal mechanism for challenging the grade awarded.
Any student awarded E to G grades should be offered the opportunity of remediation, unless the reason for failure relates to non-submission of work. Students are expected to submit their work by the end of the SSC block but may ask their SSC Supervisor for an extension to a maximum of 3 working days from the end of the block if there is a minor problem with submission. If there is a major problem with submission, students may apply to the SSC Director or Deputy for a longer extension, but must submit appropriate documentary evidence to the SSC Office in advance. Failure to submit work by the deadline will result in deduction of two sub-bands per day. Click here to see a flow diagram of the procedure for submission and applying penalties.
Once all the students’ work has been assessed, they should be informed about the grades awarded or at minimum whether they have passed. Grades awarded are provisional until approved by the External Examiners. Assessments should be completed online via the SSC website, but if internet access is not available then a hard copy of the assessment proforma should be returned to the SSC Office, Room 332, Wolfson Medical School Building, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ within 30 days of receipt of the students’ work.
More subjective forms of student assessment are permissible but assessors should follow the guidelines for oral presentations and Supervisor's assessment.
e) Penalties for Late Submission
Students are expected to complete all written work by the end of the SSC block and submit this via a website to a secure server. This allows storage and “date stamping” of submitted work. Failure to do so will incur a penalty of reduction of the grade awarded by two secondary bands for each working day (or part of a working day) the work was submitted late. In circumstances where due to a minor problem a student is unable to submit coursework by this deadline, or who anticipates being unable to so submit, he/she may ask the SSC Supervisor for a deferral of the deadline, subject to a limit of three days.
Where a student experiences a major problem with submission e.g. due to illness or other adverse personal circumstances, he/she must make the circumstances known to the SSC Director or Deputy, and provide appropriate written evidence such as:
Medical documentation e.g. a medical certificate, a medical report or a note from a hospital
or
Other types of documentation e.g. a note from an independent responsible person who can vouch for the event(s) which led to difficulties; evidence from a member of staff who was alerted to the circumstances at the time (e.g. Advisor of Studies); a letter from a student counsellor or other professional that the student actually consulted during the period when the difficulties were occurring, or a note from the police.
Notification should normally be made before the end of the SSC block but not later than one week after the date at which submission of the work for assessment was due, otherwise this shall not be taken into account unless circumstances have prevented the student from notifying the SSC Director or Deputy within this time. If the documentary evidence presented is accepted, a new deadline will be set to which the student must adhere, otherwise the late submission penalty described above will apply.
Click here to see a flow diagram of the procedure for applying penalties.
IMPORTANT: The work submitted to the Supervisor for marking will be accepted as the final version. Any subsequent versions (electronic or hard) will not be accepted.
Although the final grade cannot be confirmed until approved by the External Examiners, SSC Supervisors can indicate the provisional grade, or at least the Pass/Fail divide. Students who fail the SSC should be informed by the Supervisor and offered the opportunity of remediation, unless the reason for failure is non-submission of requested assessments or non-attendance. In addition, Supervisors are encouraged to offer feedback to students, both verbal and written.
An important point to bear in mind is that if one of the major assessment instruments is a group report or some other form of group activity (e.g. multimedia presentation) then some means of assessing individual student contribution or performance must be included e.g. a summary or reflective commentary of the report of 500 words. In particular, ‘A’ grades cannot be awarded on the basis of group assessments alone. The assessment proforma should be completed by the supervisor for each student in the module, although this may not be necessary for course-based modules with large student numbers. If fail grades are awarded then the assessment proforma must be completed, as the External Examiners will inspect these.
To comply with Medical School regulations, students must pass ALL SSC blocks. To comply with the Data Protection Act, students’ written work (electronic or otherwise) will be kept for 6 months after publication of the SSC grades for that block and thereafter destroyed, these grades becoming immutable thereafter.