Read our latest news bulletin
See in Microsoft Sway
1. Common Awards Team
Please note that the Common Awards administrative team may be less responsive than usual from 29th June – 6th July. During this period members of the team will be involved in marshalling at the University congregation ceremonies (which run for two weeks this year) and helping to run the Theological Educator’s Conference in Hoddesdon. Please bear with us and we will respond to queries as soon as we are able to.
Professor Mike Higton will be on research leave from August 2023 and Professor Pete Ward will be providing cover. We look forward to welcoming Professor Ward to the team.
2. Upcoming Deadlines
3rd - 5th July - The Annual Conference for Theological Educators
14th July – Deadline for CIS account holders to complete extension request
4th August - Deadline: TEIs to submit Common Awards Management Committee membership lists and quoracy arrangements, as well as dates for upcoming CAMCs
4th August - Deadline: TEIs to submit T9 (Staffing List) for 2023/24 academic year
4th August - Deadline: TEIs to submit Common Awards policies, to include the following:
3. Board of Examiners (Overarching)
In preparation for upcoming TEI Boards of Examiners meetings, please see below for the list of documentation/data reports required by the University following each Board:
Confirmed module marks for continuing students (Moodle report V4 January marks ALL Boards) should be returned in January 2024, following all TEI Boards.
4. Conversion of Marks
Ahead of the Board of Examiners, we would like to remind TEIs of the principles surrounding the conversion of marks.
Some assignments, like language tests, might produce quantitative scores. Those scores are not the marks for that assignment. In principle, they will always need to go through some process of conversion – where conversion involves making qualitative judgments about what is meant by different levels of achievement in a quantitatively scored test, and then translating those qualitative judgments into numerical marks in the normal way.
Further information on Converting Test Scores into Marks is available on our website.
5. Moodle Administration Update: Training Sessions
TEI administrative staff involved in Moodle student record processes, from new student registration to Exam Board processes, are invited to attend a training session to demonstrate a series of new features being added to Moodle marks processing reports.
Sessions will take place online on the following dates and times (staff members will only need to attend one session):
Wednesday 28th June – 10:00-12:00
Thursday 13th July – 14:00-16:00
Tuesday 25th July – 10:00-12:00
Please use the online form to register your place.
6. Common Awards Student Survey 2023
We are pleased to report that the overall satisfaction rate for Common Awards students remains very high, with 88% of students agreeing that they are satisfied with the quality of their course - an increase in approximately 2% from 2022. Raw survey data has been shared with TEIs, and further analysis will follow this month.
7. 2022/23 Annual Self Evaluation reports
TEIs undertake a single process for reviewing, reflecting and reporting on their provision which covers both the requirements for Durham and the Ministry Development Team. This process is undertaken annually and is known as ‘Annual Self Evaluation’ or ‘ASE’. Further information on Annual Self Evaluations is available here.
The ASE form is in two inter-related parts; please see our Templates and Forms page to download the 2022/23 form. Please ensure you are using the 2022/23 form downloaded from this page and not earlier versions which you may have on file.
Following the receipt of submissions, a virtual meeting between TEIs and their University Liaison Officer (ULO) or a members of the academic Common Awards team will be organised to discuss their content. These discussions form the basis of the annual reports authored by the Common Awards team.
8. ZendTo file sharing software
TEIs are reminded that ZendTo (the University’s file sharing software) is available to facilitate file sharing with the Common Awards Team. This is particularly useful for file types that cannot be password-protected, such as HTML files.
To use ZendTo visit https://zendto.dur.ac.uk/, select Drop Off and follow the instructions to send files to the Common Awards Team. Files can be encrypted within ZendTo with your usual password for added security.
Please do contact the Team if you have any questions.
9. 2023/24 Calendar
The Common Awards calendar for the academic year 2023/24 is now available here.
With thanks,
The Common Awards Team
