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School of Science and Technology

COURSEWORK ASSESSMENT SPECIFICATION

Details of module and team

What learning outcomes are assessed?
What are my deadlines and how much does this assessment
contribute to my module grade?
What am I required to do in the assessment?
What are my assessment criteria? (What do I have to achieve
for each grade?)
Can I get formative feedback before submitting? If so, how?
How and when do I submit this assessment?
How and when will I get summative feedback?
What skills might this work evidence to employers?
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MODULE CODE ISYS10301

MODULE TITLE Essential Skills

MODULE LEADER Matthew Bates

TUTOR Wendy Triffitt

COURSEWORK TITLE Professional Development Assignment

LEARNING OUTCOMES K1. Understand the significance of key skills for

becoming a successful independent learner
ASSESSED
S1. Plan and organise your work effectively
S2. Perform basic analysis of qualitative and/or
quantitative data
S3. Apply effective learning strategies to cope
with the demands of learning in Higher
Education
S4. Present information effectively

CONTRIBUTION TO ELEMENT 1 of 3 (40% of module grade)

DATE SET Thursday 10th October 2019

DATE OF SUBMISSION 9amMonday 2nd December 2019

METHOD OF SUBMISSION Dual submission.

Submit final report to module dropbox
Sign-off progress review with personal tutor

DATE OF FEEDBACK Monday 13th January 2019

METHOD OF FEEDBACK Via Dropbox (on NOW)

The usual University penalties apply for late submission and plagiarism. Please consult your
student handbook for further details.
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Assessment Requirements

Task 1: Research Report

Select a theme from the Computing & Technology 'research flyers' on NOW which is of
interest to you and perform wider reading into your selected topic to answer the following:

1. Describe this research area/ technology and illustrate examples of its application.
Think about: communications, education, healthcare, security, engineering, industry
2. Evaluate the impact of this research area/ technology and summarise your findings.
Think about: globalisation, assisted living, traffic management, rehabilitation etc.

Guidance:
- You must express your findings in the form of a written report with a suitable title, section
headings and references to your wider reading materials.
- You must think carefully about what you are being asked to do for each question (see
highlighted words) and the style of writing expected as part of your responses.
- You must make suitable reference to your wider reading in answering the above questions
which must be formatted using Harvard notation (see Library guide).
- You should attempt to write the report as an account of your findings using third-person
pronouns (such as they, them or their) rather than the first-person (such as I, me or my)
when expressing your findings.
- You are permitted to use visual imagery (tables, graphs, diagrams etc.) which you have
sourced as part of your research but all sources must be suitably accredited within the
report.
- The report has a word limit of 1500 words (excluding references). You should state your
final word count at the end of the report. There is no page limit or other formatting
requirements.
- You must upload your completed report to the Prof Dev Dropbox (as a .doc or .pdf file) by
the advertised deadline.
- You will have an opportunity to submit a draft version of the report before this deadline in
order to familiarise yourself with plagiarism detection software. The result of this activity
must be discussed with your personal tutor.
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Task 2. CPD and Progress Review

As a student at Nottingham Trent University, you have access to a variety of extracurricular
activities. These include student societies, extra skills support, volunteering, course
representation responsibilities and many others. Your personal tutor will schedule one-to-
one sessions twice this term to discuss your Continued Professional Development (CPD).

By engaging with the offered CPD support and coaching sessions, you will be able to
demonstrate that you are an active learner. Suggestions for many different types of CPD
activities are available on NOW as part of a separate document, which you are required to
review and maintain. You are encouraged to participate in your chosen areas of interest and
will be required to participate in at least two different types of activity to pass this task.

A separate document (CPD Progress Review) is available on NOW which summarises this
task and associated deliverables. You should bring your completed Progress Review to your
scheduled one-to-one tutorial sessions, as prompted by your tutor, for review and grading.
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III. Assessment Criteria

Task First Upper second Lower second Third Fail
(weighting)
Grade 1EXC 1HIGH 1MID 1LOW 21HIGH 21MID 21LOW 22HIGH 22MID 22LOW 3HIGH 3MID 3LOW FMARG FMID FLOW ZERO
GPA 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
1.Report An excellent report demonstrating A very good report which is A detailed report, but aspects Report is mainly descriptive Poor/ minimal attempt to write the
a strong understanding of the easy to understand with may be left underdeveloped. and lacks sufficient evidence report. It is likely to be lacking in
(60%) topic. High level of research minimum errors in formatting. Your writing may be lacking in of wider reading to content, poor in style and contains
expressed, making use of several A wide range of sources are detail or evidence of wider adequately document and limited/ no evidence of
sources and examples/ evidence consulted and documented reading. References are critique selected topic. referencing.
of findings. Sources are academic with minimal errors in included although the sources Sources are mainly obvious in
in nature and are clearly and formatting and presentation. may not be academic in nature (unoriginal).
accurately referenced using the Good attempt to critique nature and/or the formatting Presentation and level of
Harvard system. Findings use sources (critical evaluation) may contain some errors. English have clear room for
critical evaluation to express and although some evidence may Some attempt made to improvement.
critique sources.Work is original be outdated. Presentation analyse, compare and critique
and expressed in the required could be improved in areas. sources.
format, and conforms to the
specification throughout.

Grade 1EXC 21HIGH 3LOW ZERO

GPA 16 12 4 0
2.CPD Review Excellent engagement with several Very good engagement with No associated grading. Some engagement with the Poor/ little engagement with this
CPD activities. A full 30 hours of several CPD activities. suggested activities. process. No evidence of CPD
(40%) activity can be documented and Minimum of 20 hours of Minimum (10 hours) of CPD engagement and/or student absent
evidenced via an accessible diary activity demonstratedusing an activity can be discussed with from one-to-one tutorial sessions.
of events (ideally using your appropriate format (e.g. a personal tutor as part of the
output from the WEB assignment) paper sheets). Good final one-to-one tutorial
and associated reflection. Full engagement with all one-to- session.
engagement with all one-to-one one tutorial sessions.
tutorial sessions.
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III. Feedback Opportunities

Formative (whilst you are working on the coursework)
You will have an opportunity to submit a draft version of the report before this deadline to
familiarise yourself with plagiarism detection software. The result of this activity should be
discussed with your personal tutor as part of a tutorial exercise.
Summative (after you have submitted the coursework)
You will receive written feedback and a grade for your submission.

IV. Resources that may be useful

Please refer to tutorial resources available on NOW and support materials from the library.

V. Moderation
The Moderation Process
A moderation meeting will take place for staff to review and discuss a sample of submissions
prior to the return of individual grades for this assignment.

VI. Aspects for Professional Development

This task will allow you to practice your academic writing and will encourage you to perform
wider reading into a topic of interest to answer questions and locate examples/ evidence.
This task will also introduce you to the wider applications of Computing and other
technologies which you are studying as part of your degree course.
This task will also introduce you to some academic keywords associated with essay/ report
writing which indicate the approach or style of writing expected for an assignment.
Finally, this task will introduce you to important topics such as plagiarism and referencing
and will enable you to familiarise yourself with these important topics via the completion of
associated worksheets.