TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT POLICY


Date approved	19 November 2003	Date Policy will take effect	1 January 2004	Date of Next Review	1 January 2007
Approved by	Academic Senate
Custodian title & e-mail address	Senior Manager, Policy and Governance governance@uow.edu.au
Author
Responsible Faculty/ Division & Unit	Policy and Governance Unit, Academic Registrar’s Division
Supporting documents, procedures & forms of this policy	Not applicable
References & Legislation	University of Wollongong Act 1989 UOW Strategic Plan Code of Practice – Teaching and Assessment Code of Practice – Honours Code of Practice – Students Code of Practice – Supervision Code of Practice – Practical Placements Student Academic Consideration Policy Acknowledgement Practice / Plagiarism Policy Academic Grievance Policy (Coursework and Honours Students) Graduate Qualities Policy Assessment Committee Standards Assessment Guidelines – Scaling Good Practice Assessment Guidelines
Audience	Public – accessible to anyone
Expiry Date of Policy	Not applicable

1 Purpose of Policy

1. This Policy sets out the University of Wollongong’s approach to effective learning, teaching and assessment and the principles underlying teaching and assessment practice. The Code of Practice – Teaching and Assessment is critical to the implementation of this Policy. The Code includes the specific responsibilities of parties affected in relation to learning, teaching and assessment, as well as procedures for academic teaching staff.
2. The University’s principal functions in relation to teaching and learning are set out in section 6 of the University of Wollongong Act 1989 and include “the encouragement of the dissemination, advancement, development and application of knowledge informed by free inquiry” and “the provision of teaching and learning that engage with advanced knowledge and inquiry”. The University’s overarching learning and teaching objectives and strategies to fulfil these principal functions are set out in the UOW Strategic Plan 2008-2010.

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1. The University values good teaching and assessment practice and is committed to providing an effective learning environment for its students. To this end, the University has in place quality assurance processes and procedures to support effective teaching and fair assessment practices. Underlying these processes and procedures are the principles of equity, consistency, transparency and collegiality.
2. The University sustains an effective learning and teaching environment by meeting the needs of students and staff through:

a. creating and sustaining an effective environment for learning and teaching;
b. making reasonable accommodation for student diversity and varied learning styles;
c. providing appropriate information to students on learning outcomes, subject content and assessment;
d. requiring congruence between stated learning outcomes, content and assessment methods;
e. implementing uniform procedures for the development, approval and review of subjects;
f. supporting the sharing of information on best practice in teaching and assessment among colleagues;
g. supporting the professional development of its teaching staff;
h. providing fair, critical, helpful and timely feedback on assessment;
i. ensuring student have access to teaching staff;
j. investing responsibility for and authority of decisions, and action arising from those decisions, collectively among colleagues;
k. implementing uniform procedures for the determination and declaration of results by assessment committees;
l. providing clearly outlined mechanisms for appeal against decisions.

1. The University has policies, codes and guidelines that set out the requirements that both staff and students must observe to ensure the learning, teaching and assessment process is equitable, consistent, transparent and collegial. This Policy should be read in conjunction with the following further documents:

a. Student Academic Consideration Policy, setting out the procedures, criteria and results in handling special consideration requests for all forms of assessment
b. Acknowledgement Practice / Plagiarism Policy, providing a rationale for prohibiting plagiarism and examples of how to acknowledge sources
c. Academic Grievance Policy (Coursework and Honours Students), setting out the University’s general approach to resolving academic grievances and procedures that may be followed where a student wishes to pursue such a grievance
d. Graduate Qualities Policy
e. Assessment Committee Standards setting out uniform procedures for determining and declaring results

f. Code of Practice – Teaching and Assessment, specifying the specific responsibilities of parties affected in relation to learning, teaching and assessment, as well as procedures for academic staff
g. Code of Practice – Honours, governing the supervision and assessment of a research or creative project within an Honours program or a course of study leading to an Honours award
h. Code of Practice – Students, outlining the rights and responsibilities of students at the University
i. Code of Practice – Supervision, governing the supervision and assessment of research students
j. Code of Practice – Practical Placements, setting out policies and practices regarding workplace experience and other practical training requirements

k. Good Practice Assessment Guidelines , providing academic staff with guidance on a range of assessment issues
l. Assessment Guidelines - Scaling, providing academic staff with guidance in deciding when it is appropriate to scale marks and, if so, what method of scaling might be employed

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Version Control	Date Effective	Approved By	Amendment
1	1 January 2004	Academic Senate	New Policy
2	5 February 2009	Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)	Migrated to UOW Policy Template as per Policy Directory Refresh

Last reviewed: 14 May, 2009

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