Assessment guidance and key dates for Autumn 2023
This email confirms the details for the online Autumn 2023 undergraduate assessment event and signposts you to the latest assessment guidance. This email was sent out at 4:20pm BST on Friday 22 September 2023 to all students but does not apply to postgraduate, foundations or personal development students, only undergraduate students who are eligible for invitation to the Autumn 2023 assessment event.
A reminder about institutional change
A reminder that in January 2024 OCA will no longer be affiliated with UCA. If you are aiming to graduate with an award from UCA as an OCA student, either a full degree or exit qualification (Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education), you need to be assessed at the Autumn 2023 assessment event. If you have not yet told OCA what you would like to do with your studies, please do so as soon as possible. For full details on the options available to you, please see our FAQs or email change@oca.ac.uk. If you wish to remain with OCA and transfer to The Open University, please complete this declaration form.
How does invitation to formal assessment work?
The completion date of your unit will determine which undergraduate assessment event you will be invited to submit work for. Completion of an undergraduate unit is defined as submission of all assignments to your tutor and receipt of their feedback.
What are the key dates for the online Autumn 2023 assessment event?
- All units that are completed by - 9 October 2023
- Will have an invitation to the event by - Midday 13 October 2023 (12pm BST)
- With a deadline for submission of work by - Midday 27 October 2023 (12pm BST)
How do the dates work?
The 9 October 2023 is the date by which your unit needs to be recorded as complete in order to be eligible for assessment at the online Autumn 2023 assessment event.
After this date, we will compile the list of eligible students and will use this information to create the required spaces for you to upload your submissions, via the GDrive or the OCA Learn VLE. Your invitation to submit will be sent to you by no later than Midday 13 October 2023 (12pm BST). Your invitation will take the form of an email, from the Assessment Team account - assessment@oca.ac.uk - and will confirm your method for submission - either the GDrive service or the OCA Learn VLE.
The latest date that work can be uploaded to these spaces (GDrive/OCA Learn) will be Midday 27 October 2023 (12pm BST), and any submissions sent to us/uploaded/edited beyond this date will not be accepted.
Please note that those with GDrive folders will retain ‘Viewer’ only access after the deadline for submission.
How do I submit for the online assessment event?
The majority of students will utilise the GDrive service to submit their work for assessment, except for Music students who will continue to utilise the OCA Learn VLE to submit. Your invitation email will confirm your method for submission.
What do I submit for the online assessment event?
The majority of units have similar assessment requirements, but you can check for discipline specific advice and guidance on what to submit for assessment here in the Learning outcomes and discipline specific guidance section on OCA Learn.
What if I am invited but cannot submit?
If you are invited to the online Autumn 2023 assessment event, but will be unable to submit due to extenuating circumstances, you will need to submit an application to defer to the Spring 2024 assessment event. Please check your Student Handbook for further information - you’ll find this on OCA Learn, listed under My Courses - and email the Assessment Team - assessment@oca.ac.uk - as soon as possible to let us know you will be making an application.
Should you need to request a deferral of assessment, the deadline to do so will be Midday 20 October 2023 (12pm BST). Requests to defer after this date other than in exceptional circumstances will be rejected. If you don’t submit your work for this assessment event, and don’t have a deferral of assessment confirmed, you will receive a 0% fail mark, as per Section 3.5 Failure and Reassessment in the Academic Regulations Framework, available here on the OCA website.
For any student experiencing difficulties in meeting assessment deadlines due to extenuating circumstances, please contact the Learner Support Team - learnersupport@oca.ac.uk - at the earliest opportunity.
Where can I find guidance on assessment?
Advice and guidance for assessment can be found in the Assessment Guidance resource here on OCA Learn. The resource is broken down into different sections:
- Introduction - This section holds an assessment questions forum where students can pose questions.
- Understanding assessment - This section provides information on how assessment works, along with the assessment criteria document, and a directory of learning outcomes and discipline specific guidance, for all OCA units.
- Assessment Schedule - This section confirms the key dates and deadlines for current and upcoming events.
- Preparing your submission - This section provides guidance and structured activities to help students prepare their submission, and links to WeAreOCA blog posts relating to digital assessment.
- Submitting your work - This section provides guidance on how to submit for assessment.
- Learning from assessment - This section holds a pre recorded webinar on interpreting assessment results, a survey for providing feedback on assessment, and information to help students understand their marksheets.
No fundamental changes to assessment requirements have been made for this academic year.
We have however made an alteration to our processes to make assessment easier for a lot of students, by removing the need to email documents directly to the Assessment Team for plagiarism checks. From now on, we will make use of your GDrive submission folders to carry out this check on your behalf. Music students will continue to have their work checked automatically through their OCA Learn assessment submissions.
Please access the assessment guidance resource to help you understand, prepare, submit, and reflect on assessment.
When will my summative mark and feedback be available?
Your marksheet, which contains your summative mark and feedback, will be sent to you in the week commencing 15 January 2024, and will be with you no later than 19 January 2024.
Who do I contact with any other questions about assessment?
If you have any queries, please contact the Assessment Team - assessment@oca.ac.uk.
We wish you all the best for your next assessment.
Kind regards
OCA Assessment Team