A point of clarification regarding 6C Assessment Equivalencies by: Anne Quinney, Theme Leader for Assessment & Feedback & Ann Luce, Theme Leader for Technology-Enhanced Learning

As you work on amending your assessments to align with the new Principles of Assessment Design Policy (6c) you may be wondering if BU has an equivalency table.

BU does not currently have an equivalency table. There is no equivalency table in the policy document, or in the guidance, though we are aware of examples from other institutions that are circulating around departments. These are potentially useful as a starting point for discussion about equivalencies but should not be mistaken for BU policy.

In the paper for Senate, where the new policy was ratified in June 2018, we have stated that, “Equivalencies should be interpreted flexibly for alternatives to essays and traditional exams (ie time-limited assessments under exam conditions), in order to encourage innovative, authentic and inclusive assessment practices”.

CEL is happy to create a table of examples from BU practice, developed by programme teams in the context of their discipline/ professional areas, and include this in the Assessment and Feedback Toolkit that will be launched next week. Information will go out on all faculty blogs.

Do send us examples of how you are interpreting the equivalence to 3,000 words written work in your programmes. We can be contacted at the e-mail addresses below.

We have been asked about exam length – we proposed at Senate that for a 50% weighting of a 20 credit unit an exam would be 90 minutes induration and that was agreed.

The new policy can be downloaded from https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/aboutbu/policiesprocedures/academicregulationspoliciesprocedures/

Anne Quinney: aquinney@bournemouth.ac.uk

Ann Luce: aluce@bournemouth.ac.uk