Mark Entry is now open!

In order to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak on student attainment, changes to the way UCL manages assessment have been introduced for this academic year, along with changes to the way marks are entered and recorded in Portico.  These changes are now complete so therefore marks can be entered onto the system. 
This article will summarise the key differences this year. For comprehensive guidance on how to enter marks at UCL please read here. 

• Earlier deadline for deferrals
• Changes to assessments on Portico
• New grade – CX
• Capstone modules

What has changed?

Deferred Assessment 

In order to process the large numbers of deferrals and organise the LSA period, the deadline for deferrals to be entered into Portico is in advance of other marks and no later than 6th July. Deferrals should be entered on Portico using grade 0 DA. If the deferral is for a finalist a new expected end date will need to be entered on the Portico examboard task in order to extend the student record, more guidance will follow on how to do this.  

Changes to assessments

For Undergraduate, affiliate and Postgraduate Taught students, written examinations have been replaced by alternative assessments in many cases.  Following the data collection earlier in the year, the component descriptions have been modified in Portico with the following suffixes:  
Covid-19 - Alternative – Coursework 
Or
Covid-19 – Alternative - Online timed exam.

In some cases the components have been excluded. These exclusions have now been updated on Portico. Portico will automatically recalculate the weighting and the component will appear as Covid-19 – component excluded. 

For example if a module has two components of 50%, and one is excluded, any mark entered would be calculated as 100% of the module. 

Departments do not need to enter any mark in Portico for these excluded components, Portico will automatically redistribute the percentage weighting for the excluded components proportionately across the other weighted components.

New Grade – CX 

The new grade 0 CX (result not expected Covid-19) has been introduced for Undergraduate mark schemes this year for transparency, due to the number of components and sometimes modules that have been excluded. This will be used to close any first year records where modules have now been replaced by the capstone module but can also be entered by departments for modules that have been excluded due to Covid.

For non first years it will ensure that the credit for the module is counted but the mark will not be included in the classification calculation. 

First year students 

Capstone modules

A single, synoptic capstone module will replace all Year 1 modules. The module is worth 120 credits and will be marked on a Pass or Fail basis. The deadline for Submission of the capstone module is 29 and 30 June depending on your Faculty to ensure Moodle can manage the load. 

A module code has been created for each UG examboard.  Administrators have been given access to their appropriate module and a full list of module codes can be found on the relevant Student Records Teams site. 

Students repeating their first year will also be required to attempt the capstone module, and any previously acquired marks will no longer count towards their qualification. 

What happens to the module selections on the students’ record?

The initial module selections will remain on the students’ record. Any marks that have been attained should be entered onto Portico. After the exchange of marks deadline a script will be run to populate any components that are empty with 0 CX, the script will also confirm the overall module grade as 0 CX. These modules will also have their credit values updated to zero. The capstone module will appear on students’ transcripts and students will be sent an additional email giving component level results on results day.

General other questions 

Does Grade EX still exist?

Yes  0 EX (module mark excluded from classification) may still be used in those exceptional cases where modules have been excluded for other reasons such as a material irregularity.    

Will I have to enter condoned failures onto the system?

Condonement will be calculated via Portico and modules where failure is to be condoned will be updated with FC once the results are confirmed following the examboard.  There are some programmes with PSRB requirements that mean certain modules will remain non condonable. The details of these are still being finalised. Once these are all confirmed the records will be updated and the Portico will recognise that these cannot be condoned. 

Contact details for further information: academicregulations@ucl.ac.uk