Supporting Information: Digital Education Service

This is version 1.0 of the Supporting Information for Digital Education Service, which applies from the 2026/27 academic year onwards. This supporting information is owned by the Digital Education Service. Please contact [email protected] for any matters related to this supporting information.

Contents

1. Purpose and Scope
2. Supplementary Information - Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes
3. Supplementary Information - Assessment Policy and Procedures
4. Other Supplementary Information
5. Students awarded according to the Rules for Award

1. Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this supporting information is to set out principles and procedures which relate to assessment in the Digital Education Service.

The supporting information underpins and should be read alongside the Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes and the Assessment Policy & Procedures.

 

2. Supplementary Information - Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes

The Digital Education Service has no information that is supplementary and complementary to the Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes. 

 

3. Supplementary Information – Assessment Policy and Procedures

This section contains information supplementary to the Assessment Policy & Procedures (AP&P) where Schools are required to develop and define their approach. 

3.1 Setting and Approval of Assessment Methods (AP&P section 4)

The process of approving programme and module specifications, including assessment design, is the responsibility of the formal Student Education Committees and School Taught Student Education Committees. 

The process for checking and approving assessment briefs is as follows: 

• All completely new assessments are checked by an independent member of academic staff.  

• The check includes consideration of the marking scheme and alignment with learning outcomes.  

• Where there are new questions in an assessment, for example in an MCQ, these will be checked by an independent member of academic staff to verify that they are appropriate for the learning outcomes they are intended to assess. 

• Assessments that are not substantially new are not routinely rechecked unless there have been recent concerns raised with regards to the appropriateness of the assessment.

3.2 Registration for Assessments (AP&P section 5) 

Information relating to reassessment opportunities and registration requirements is provided within the Digital Education Service Resit Policy.

3.3 Submission of Coursework (AP&P section 6)

Students are responsible for submitting the correct and complete version of their coursework by the deadline. If a student accidentally submits the wrong file or an incomplete draft, the Digital Education Service will treat the version submitted by the deadline as the final submission. Unless stated otherwise in the assessment brief, coursework is submitted electronically via Minerva or Coursera. Submission links are given in module assessment areas.  Deadlines are 2pm UK time on the specified day, as defined in section 6.3.2 of the Assessment Policy & Procedures. Work should be submitted in sufficient time to allow the submission process to be completed. Responsibility for accounting for time-zone differences rests with the student. Submitted files must be in a format accepted by the electronic submission system.  

Students will be informed of any assessments which have a different submission time in the assessment brief. These will have been agreed by the relevant Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor. 

If an alternative deadline is approved by the relevant Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor within the academic year, students will be informed via Minerva. 

Under some circumstances, an extension will not be available. This may be due to the nature of the assessment, for example where the assessed learning outcomes relate to activities that must be completed in a specific environment, such as a laboratory, fieldwork, or other practical setting, or where providing an extension would compromise the integrity of the assessment process, including the timely release of feedback to other students. Extensions cannot be granted for short-duration coursework, such as in-class tests, or for assessments undertaken during a formal examination. 

Where an extension is not available, this will be clearly stated in the relevant assessment brief. 

3.4 Late Submission of Coursework (AP&P section 6.4)

Some Digital Education Service assessments do not permit late submission; this will be stated in the assessment brief.  

Work covered by an approved extension or approved late submission should be submitted via the designated 'Extensions and Late Submissions Area'. Penalties for late submission apply from the new deadline (if permitted). 

Technical issues are not normally grounds for exemption from penalties unless there is evidence of a university system failure.  

3.5 Resubmission of Own Work (AP&P section 6.5)

For 30 and 45 credit Project modules, students may be offered an opportunity to revise and resubmit their work. If a student does not achieve the pass mark of 50, but the markers determine that the original submission is sufficiently researched and developed to be improved to a pass standard, they will recommend a Revise and Resubmit resit. The student will be informed of this outcome following the marking process and will receive details of the resubmission requirements and deadline through the relevant module assessment area. 

For any other modules where reworking or reuse of previously submitted work is permitted this will be detailed in the Assessment Brief. 

3.6 Use of Systems to Identify Academic Integrity (AP&P section 7.2)

During the Pathways to Success Induction module, students will be informed about the introduction to Turnitin Similarity Reports and the Academic Integrity Tutorial and Test to support their understanding of academic integrity. Students are not routinely permitted to view Turnitin reports on drafts of their own work, but all students will be shown an example of a similarity report as part of the introduction to Turnitin Similarity Reports.  

 3.7 Referencing (AP&P section 7.4)

The approved referencing style for all Digital Education Service programmes is the University of Leeds Harvard referencing style.  

3.8 Assessment Marking and Marks (AP&P section 8.1.3)

Students who believe they may require consideration for evidenced difficulties (e.g. Specific Learning Difficulties) in relation to the submission of written work must register with Disability Services. 

Where appropriate, work submitted by these students will be flagged to markers through the inclusion of a Feedback Consideration Form. This form is provided by School Student Education and Experience (SEE) teams on the recommendation of Disability Services. Students are responsible for ensuring that the form is included as the first page of any submission requiring such consideration. 

The inclusion of a Feedback Consideration Form enables markers to tailor their feedback appropriately. Where a disability is flagged, markers will follow the relevant guidance on marking and feedback provided by Disability Services.  

3.9 Moderation: Check Marking and Double Marking (AP&P section 8.2)

All module assignments contributing 30% or more of the final module grade are subject to a process of check marking. A sample of at least 15% (or 15 submissions, whichever is lower) is reviewed and includes the highest and lowest marks, all failures and all resits. 

Forty-five credit project submissions are independently double marked. The rationale for this is based on typically larger credit value, the student-led or independent nature of the topic, and one-to-one supervision conventions (typically supervisors support and mark some students on the module and double marking ensures that one or more of the markers is independent). Marks must be discussed and reconciled between both markers for all submissions. Evidence of this will be provided for the External Examiner. 

3.10 Marks Return (AP&P section 8.3)

Marks for 45 credit project modules will normally be returned no later than 20 days after the published deadline.   

The Digital Education Service does not operate within the University’s formal examination periods because its programmes follow a different academic calendar. Consequently, the arrangements for returning marks for assessments taken during formal examination periods do not apply. 

3.11 Penalties for Not Meeting Assessment Requirements (AP&P section 8.4)

Where an assessment requirement (e.g., the assignment length/size) is specified in an assessment brief, compliance with the requirement is expected. Assessment length can relate to a word count, page limit etc., for written work, or a duration or file size etc. for assessments submitted via other formats.  

It is a student’s responsibility to ensure their submission meets the assessment requirements regarding length/size. An accurate word count or duration must be stated on the cover page of the assignment. An incorrect declaration of a word count or duration is regarded by the University as making a fraudulent statement and constitutes academic misconduct.  

If a submission exceeds the assessment requirements, the allocated mark will be penalised according to the details provided in the assessment brief. 

The word limit is an important aspect of good academic practice and must be adhered to. Unless stated specifically otherwise in the relevant assessment brief, the word count includes the following:  

• All text in the main body of the assignment including summaries
• Subtitles;  
• Contents pages;  
• Tables;  
• Supportive material whether in footnotes or in-text references.  

It does not include:  

• The main title;  
• Reference list and/or bibliography; 
• Appendices. It is not acceptable to present matters of substance, which should be included in the main body of the text, in the appendices (“appendix abuse”).  

It is not acceptable to attempt to hide words in graphs and diagrams; only text which is strictly necessary should be included in graphs and diagrams.

3.12 Feedback to Students (AP&P section 9)

Feedback may be provided in written, verbal, group, or digital forms. There are many types of feedback at the University – formal and informal – and Schools, markers and tutors will use different ways to help guide students to improve their work. Feedback may be verbal in tutorials, seminars or lectures, or it could be delivered to a whole group by email, through Minerva or Coursera, or using model answers. Students are expected to actively engage with feedback.

Where possible, feedback is returned before the next assessment is due.

Students are informed of how and when they will receive feedback through a combination of module assessment briefs and Minerva/Coursera. The standard approach is that feedback is released via Minerva/Coursera within 15 working days, along with provisional marks. For final project 45-credit modules, feedback will usually be returned within 20 working days, along with provisional marks.

Occasionally, an exception to the feedback timeline guidance might need to be made. The most common reasons for this are late changes outside of the School’s control, such as staff illness. Any change to the feedback returns date will be communicated via a platform announcement; a revised feedback return date will be provided.

3.13 Timings of Assessment Committees (AP&P section 11.4)

The Digital Education Service holds Assessment Boards in October, February/March and June. The dates will be communicated annually to students via the Digital Education Service website.

3.14 Publication of Module Marks and Classifications (AP&P section 12)

Provisional component marks for assessment will be released as soon as they become available.

All marks remain provisional until the University publishes final confirmed marks following a Digital Education Service Assessment Board. Students can request additional feedback and discussion of provisional marks with markers/module leaders, but students can not formally appeal provisional marks.

 

4: Other Supplementary Information

The Digital Education Service has no further supplementary information.

 

5: Students awarded according to the Rules for Award

The Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes superseded the Rules for Award following the 2023/24 academic year. Awards for students who commenced their current programme at Leeds before the 2022/23 academic year or commenced their final year of study before 2024/25 academic year will be determined using the degree classification algorithm from the Rules for Award (iteration A), which includes provision for academic discretion.

Academic discretion, as described in the Rules for Award, applies to students being awarded under these circumstances:

Any student with a Classification Average falling within the discretionary band should be selected for consideration. The discretionary band is 0.05 below a classification threshold for Bachelor's Degrees with Classified Honours and 0.10 below a classification threshold for Foundation Degrees, Undergraduate Diplomas, Graduate Diplomas and Certificates, and Taught Postgraduate Awards

In the Digital Education Service, the following criteria for academic discretion apply:

For taught postgraduate programmes, if the candidate has achieved marks in the higher mark band in at least 50% of the M-level credits used for classification purposes.