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Annual Monitoring: Frequently Asked Questions
What is
annual monitoring?
Annual
monitoring is a report, produced once a year by the department, which draws together in one place a concise summary of all developmental
activity undertaken in relation to a course/group of courses. It includes a
summary action plan of all the major tasks the department needs to undertake in
relation its courses over the following year.
Annual monitoring reports are required for all
undergraduate and taught postgraduate awards.
For further information see
why do we do it?
Do we need a separate
report for every course?
No. All undergraduate courses should
normally be considered in one report, which is submitted at the end of the
Autumn term. All postgraduate courses should normally be considered in one
report, submitted at the end of the Spring term. Exceptions to this rule
may apply where it conflicts with the requirements of a professional, statutory
or regulatory body.
For further information see
how do we do it?
How do we know what to
write in the report?
The previous year's action plan is a good place
to start. The annual monitoring report should indicate clearly what
progress has been made on the action identified in the last report, and indicate
any further action that is still required.
Some departments have found it helpful to
create a box file for annual monitoring, into which relevant information is
placed during the year. This means that when the report comes to be
written, most of the information needed to complete it is readily to hand.
The Annual Monitoring report should always
include an update on action taken in
response to Periodic Review. In the first year after a review the
department should provide a comprehensive update on action taken to address any
issues and/or disseminate good practice. In subsequent years an update on
ongoing action should be provided.
It should be noted that the department is
responsible for actioning all recommendations arising from Periodic Review and
detailing the outcome of these actions as part of annual monitoring - this
includes University level recommendations. In the case of University level
recommendations the department should raise these with their link PVC and
include the outcome of these discussions in the next annual monitoring report
(for more detail about responding to Periodic Review recommendations see
Responding to Validation or Periodic
Review conditions and recommendations).
What should we attach to the
report?
It should not be necessary to attach much to
the report. As a guide, nothing should be attached which is not vital to
the understanding of the main body of the report.
You should attach:
- Statistics
- New or amended programme specifications
You should not attach routinely:
- Unchanged programme specifications
- External examiner reports
- Copies of departmental committee minutes
What should we include on
the action plan?
The action plan should summarise all the things
the department needs to do, over the coming year, to respond to any weaknesses
identified in the report.
The action plan should also detail how good
practice will be built upon and disseminated.
How do we address issues of
disability?
The University has an obligation to make ‘reasonable
adjustment’ in order to ensure courses are accessible. When determining
what adjustments might be possible you may wish to consider:
-
Do you make
supporting materials eg handouts, lecture notes, visual display
materials available to students? Is this in electronic format
(students can use electronic materials with software to read text to
them)? Is this in advance (this can aid note taking)?
-
Are a variety of
teaching and learning methods to be used, supported by accessible
written and visual material, e.g.:
-
positive
communication e.g., by facing the student group when speaking
-
whiteboards
-
OHP
transparencies/electronic presentation packages
-
audio-visuals, etc
-
invitations for
student input?
-
Is the material
displayed on electronic presentation packages, OHP transparencies and
whiteboards, etc., including graphs and charts, explained orally? Are
they available in written form for transcribing purposes?
-
Is complex
information summarised through bullet-pointed summaries?
-
Will plain language
be used when speaking and to explain specialist terminology, thus
avoiding jargon and colloquialisms?
-
Have you made any
adjustments for individuals or changes to the way field work or labs
are conducted? Eg, will students have access to assistive technology
or human support if required
-
Are varied forms of
assessment used?
-
Are students given as
many opportunities to declare disability as possible whilst ensuring
an individuals confidentiality is maintained?
There are audit tools available to help you assess the
issues above:
SWANDS
This document has a series of checklists to assist
tutors with preparing accessible module materials, the teaching
environment and assessment.
http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/view.asp?page=3243
Teachability
The
Teachability project at the University of Strathclyde promotes the
creation of an Accessible Curriculum For Students With Disabilities
through making freely available informative publications for academic
staff.
http://www.teachability.strath.ac.uk/
If you
are uncertain about how issues of disability may effect your students,
you should contact the Disability
Team
in the Student Support Office to discuss the issues further.
We are supposed to include statistics - where do we get these from?
Departments are asked to
reflect on statistics under the Student Recruitment, Progression and Support
section of the annual monitoring report.
Statistics for annual monitoring are produced
centrally and are posted on the
Planning Office's web
pages. The Head of Department will be notified by email when the
latest statistics
become available.
Statistics for UG annual monitoring are
available from mid November.
Statistics for PGT annual monitoring are
available from mid January.
The statistics give a snap
shot for the academic year under review, in terms of applications, entrants,
withdrawal, failure and achievement. The statistics also provide
information on academic background, fee status, age, ethnicity and gender.
How do we consider
SAMT results in annual monitoring?
Authors of annual monitoring reports should have access
to SAMT result summaries and use these to inform their report where appropriate.
Alternatively, the annual monitoring committee (AMC) could also receive the SAMT results and determine what generic or
specific action needs to be added to the action plans or text of the report.
Whatever approach you adopt, it is good practice for the
annual monitoring committee to receive the SAMT results in order to determine
whether all the pertinent issues have been considered and appropriate action
identified.
How do we consider
SSS and NSS results in annual monitoring?
SSS results and, for UG courses, NSS results should be considered under section 1.3 of
the AMR, unless the issues raised fit more logically elsewhere, in which case you should cross reference
in section 1.3 to the relevant later sections of the report.
More detail about what should be considered in section
1.3 can be found on the SSS pages.
What if there are no
students on a course?
A course's failure to recruit should be
considered under part 2 of the AMR proforma. You should include a few paragraphs
about the course under the recruitment, progression and support and in the
action plan (you may, for example, wish to change the course's title, modify its
content or withdraw the course from the departments portfolio).
What if we are discontinuing a
course?
If you are discontinuing a course, but there
are still students on it, then you will need to include consideration of it
within the AMR. Consideration is likely to concentrate on issues in relation to the
student experience.
What do we do for joint courses?
Joint
courses should be considered under section 3 of the AMR.
The lead
department should, in negotiation with the other departments involved, determine
how the annual monitoring report is produced. As with single honours
courses,
the department may want a committee to prepare the report or may ask an
individual Course Director to take responsibility for preparing an annual
monitoring report on the courses for which he/she is responsible.
Where
there are 10 or more students registered on a joint course a meeting of the
Management Committee must consider the annual monitoring report. Where there
are less than 10 students a meeting of the Management Committee is not
compulsory although it would represent good practice.
As far as is practicably possible, at least
one student representative for each course should be included in the
constituency of the Management
Committee and should be given an opportunity to submit comments by
correspondence if the meeting is held at a time of year which makes it
inconvenient for him/her to attend. The student representative(s) should
normally be the Students' Union Departmental Representative(s) and the total
number of student representatives should not outnumber academic staff
representatives.
Do students need to
be involved in the process?
Yes. Annual monitoring reports should be
considered by an annual monitoring committee before they are submitted to the
Dean. At least one student representative for each
course should normally be included in the constituency of the annual monitoring committee
and should be given an opportunity to submit comments by correspondence if the
meeting is held at a time of year which makes it inconvenient for him/her to
attend.
The student representative(s) should normally be the Students' Union
Departmental Representative(s) and the total number of student representatives
should not outnumber academic staff representatives.
If it is not practical to involve students
before the report is submitted, the outcomes of annual monitoring should be
reported to the first available meeting of the SSLC.
What is an annual monitoring
committee?
Before the annual monitoring report is
submitted to the Dean, it should be
considered formally by the department, at an annual monitoring committee.
The
department can designate an existing committee within the department to act as
an annual monitoring committee or set up a committee especially for this
purpose.
When are the
reports due?
Undergraduate courses: End of
the Autumn Term
Taught
postgraduate courses: End of
the Spring Term
Who
do we send the reports to?
All reports
should be signed by the appropriate Head of Department, collected together and
submitted to the Dean, via the Academic Standards and Partnerships Office
(email: acstand) by the relevant
deadline. The report should be sent electronically, however, if
electronic signatures have not been attached a hard copy should also be
supplied.
What happens after
we have submitted the reports?
The annual monitoring reports are considered by the appropriate Dean. The
Dean completes a coversheet for each report. This coversheet allows the
Dean to give specific feedback to the department, to ask for additional
information and to refer issues or good practice to a Committee as appropriate.
Part 1 of the annual monitoring report is received
by the appropriate Faculty Board.
For further information see
how do we do it?
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