PROCEDURES
MODERATION OF ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES
PURPOSE
Moderation is a quality assurance process that aims to ensure the appropriate quality of (i) assessment
tasks and (ii) assessment outcomes, with valid and consistent judgement of student performance in
terms of standards of achievement. Standards-based assessment (criterion-referenced) aims to achieve
comparability of results between students, and this is further enhanced by collaboration between
assessors and reviewers, so that the marks/grades awarded to individual students are academically
defensible.
Moderation involves collaboration between academic staff, with the aim of reviewing assessment tasks
and assessment criteria before a course begins and then reviewing judgements of student performance
(marks/grades) on completion of the assessment tasks, to ensure that:
Assessment tasks are appropriate, in terms of their alignment with learning outcomes (pre-
assessment).
Assessment criteria are appropriate, in terms of the characteristics against which assessments are
measured (pre-assessment).
Marks/grades are appropriate, in terms of the standards of performance achieved against the
assessment criteria. This is particularly important where more than one person is involved in
assessing student performance, to ensure equity and consistency in assessment.
These procedures have been developed to define the processes required for moderation of assessment
across all courses at CQUniversity.
PROCEDURES
1 Moderation of assessment tasks (pre-assessment)
1.1 The Course Coordinator is responsible for the academic leadership and oversight of all aspects of
CQUniversity courses allocated to them, as set out in the Course Coordinator Duty Statement. This
includes the setting and review of assessment tasks.
1.2 Course Coordinators will prepare draft assessment tasks in Nexus, with sufficient descriptive detail of
the task and its assessment criteria to enable a reviewer to assess whether it aligns with the learning
outcomes being assessed, in a timeline that enables the publication of these details in the course
profile. If other staff are involved in teaching the course in addition to the Course Coordinator, they
should be included in the preparatory stages (pre-assessment discussions), to provide peer feedback
on the assessment tasks as part of a process of consensus moderation (see also 2.2, below).
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1.3 Each course will be assigned a Reviewer, whose role is to confirm the suitability of the assessment
tasks described in the draft course profile, working collaboratively with the course coordinator to
resolve any issues raised during the review process and thereby ensure that assessments are well
designed and that their requirements are clearly explained to students.
1.4 The Course Coordinator will confirm publication of the course profile only after the Reviewer has
agreed that no further changes are required to the assessment task description and associated
assessment criteria.
2 Moderation of marks/grades (post-assessment)
2.1 The Course Coordinator is responsible for the academic leadership and oversight of all aspects of
CQUniversity courses allocated to them, as set out in the Course Coordinator Duty Statement. This
includes the management of marking/grading, including the collation, moderation and submission of
results and finalisation of grades.
2.2 Moderation of marks/grades may take place by one of two alternative processes, either (i)
consensus moderation (sometimes termed ‘social moderation’), involving all assessors in a course,
or (ii) expert moderation, where the course coordinator acts as moderator of marks/grades for all
other markers.
2.3 Where moderation of marks/grades occurs through consensus moderation, all assessors including
the Course Coordinator will be involved in the marking/grading process. This approach aims to reach
agreement of all assessors, in terms of a shared understanding of the measurement and standards
of student performance. Consensus moderation of coursework assignment or examination scripts,
involves one or more moderation meetings (face-to-face or virtual) and discussion between the
assessors, sharing their judgements on examples of students’ work in order to reach agreement
about the marks/grades awarded to work of a particular standard of performance. It is best
conducted during the early stages of marking, by the circulation of representative examples of
student work together with assessment criteria and any marking guidelines/standards rubrics,
followed by individual marking across all assessors, with subsequent discussion and agreement on
the appropriate mark to be awarded against each of the assessment criteria, and for the overall
assessment at the moderation meeting. The process should facilitate the resolution of any issues
raised across the team of assessors, resulting in agreement on the appropriate marks/grades to be
awarded across the cohort and thereby confirming the appropriateness of the outcomes of the
assessment process.
2.4 Alternatively, where moderation of marks/grades occurs through a process of ‘expert moderation’,
the Course Coordinator acts as the moderator for all other assessors in the course, taking sole
responsibility for confirming that appropriate marks/grades have been awarded. Under this
procedure, Course Coordinators must:
2.4.1 Contact teaching staff including tutors, assessors and lecturing staff associated with the course
prior to the start of term to discuss details of assessment tasks, assessment criteria, marking and
moderation procedures prior to the start of term.
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2.4.2 Provide assessment criteria and marking guidelines to assessors no later than the assessment
submission date. Assessors should be instructed to begin their marking as soon as possible after
the submission/examination date, in order to facilitate moderation by the Course Coordinator.
2.4.3 For coursework assessments other than exams:
2.4.3.1 Select and moderate at least five examples of students’ work, ranging from fail, pass, credit,
distinction and high distinction from each assessor, within five working days of the submission
date. If enrolments in a course are over 50, up to 10% of students’ work may be moderated, as
deemed appropriate by the Course Coordinator. With online submission in Moodle, the selection
and moderation process should be relatively straightforward, since Course Coordinators will be
able to access students’ work. For other assessments, Course Coordinators should arrange for
submission of relevant materials by alternative means.
2.4.3.2 Moderate grades and provide feedback to assessors within five working days of the submission
date. The Course Coordinator will provide feedback and advise the assessor directly of any
required adjustments to their marking. This may necessitate the assessor adjusting previous
marks awarded to conform to the moderated sample (no marks must be released to students
during this period).
2.4.3.3 Require acknowledgement of feedback from the assessor and confirmation that feedback is
being acted on by assessors within two working days of moderation feedback being provided.
2.4.4 For examinations:
2.4.4.1 Receive and moderate copies of at least five exam papers, ranging from fail, pass, credit,
distinction and high distinction from each assessor, within five working days of the date of
receipt. If enrolments in a course are over 50, up to 10% of exams may be moderated, as
deemed appropriate by the Course Coordinator, Course Coordinators should liaise with other
assessors to agree on the best means of providing copies of marked exam papers.
2.4.4.2 Moderate grades and provide feedback to assessors within five working days of the date of
receipt of exam papers. The Course Coordinator will provide feedback and advise the assessor
directly of any required adjustments to their exam marking. This may necessitate the assessor
adjusting previous exam marks awarded to conform to the moderated sample (no marks must
be released to students during this period).
2.4.4.3 Require acknowledgement of feedback from the assessor and confirmation that feedback is
being acted on by assessors within two working days of moderation feedback being provided.
2.4.4.4 Receive a list of all assignment marks from the assessor on completion of marking and within 10
working days of the assignment due date.
2.5 Irrespective of the approach taken, marks/grades must only be released to students once the
moderation process is complete, in line with the requirements of the Assessment of Coursework
Procedures.
2.6 It is the responsibility of all assessors, including the Course Coordinator, to ensure that assessment
items returned to students contain only one substantiated moderated mark, and that any
adjustments to marks that have occurred as a result of the moderation process have been made
prior to the return of work to students.
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2.7 It is the responsibility of all assessors to meet the timeframes for marking and moderation as
outlined in these procedures. Any delay in provision of assessment marks may put at risk the timely
provision of results and feedback to students. Where submission of marks, or the moderation
process itself is delayed without prior negotiation, the appropriate academic supervisor (Dean of
School/Head of Program, or nominee) must be advised by the Course Coordinator.
2.8 Course Coordinators are responsible for maintaining regular contact with assessors throughout the
term, during the moderation processes for each marked piece of assessment and as part of the
moderation of overall results before presentation to the appropriate Program Committee.
2.9 Course Coordinators are responsible for preparing an assessment report, to confirm that
appropriate moderation procedures have been followed during the course, as well as course
assessment breakdowns, results and grade distributions at the conclusion of each term. These will
be presented to the appropriate Program Committee, and to the Divisional Assessment Committee.
2.10 Course Coordinators will attend a Program Committee meeting where course assessment
breakdowns, results and grade distributions, moderation and status report are prepared for the
relevant Division Coursework Committee Assessment meeting either in person, via a proxy
(nominated staff member), videoconference or telephone link-up. Alternatively, Course
Coordinators will provide full written comments for the marks for their course. If the Course
Coordinator does not attend in person, they must be contactable readily or have fully briefed the
Dean of School or proxy to answer course result queries from the assessment meeting.
2.11 Assessors are responsible for ensuring that assessment items and examinations from his/her
group are marked fairly and consistently when compared with others in the course. This will require
regular ongoing reciprocal communication with the Course Coordinator. Assessors will:
2.11.1 Ensure that no marks are returned to students until the moderation process is completed.
2.11.2 Ensure that assessment criteria sheets and/or marks returned to students with an assessment
item include only the one substantiated moderated mark. Under no circumstances should a
student receive both an original and a moderated mark.
2.1 Provide Course Coordinators with sample copies of marked assessment items for moderation
which span the range of grades, if assessment items are not submitted online. The original must
remain secure. Five marked papers, including marks and comments, are to be provided to Course
Coordinator. The samples are to cover the range of grades including pass, credit, distinction, high
distinction and fail, where possible. Course Coordinators may request up to 10% of assessment
items prior to assessment due date if the course on a campus has more than 50 students.
2.2 Communicate with Course Coordinators, who will provide feedback and advise of required
adjustments to their marking. This may necessitate the assessor adjusting previous marks
awarded to conform to the moderated sample.
2.3 Ensure that component changes that constitute the moderated mark must be made on the
assessment item feedback before they are returned to students.
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2.4 Ensure that no assignment items or results are released until the Course Coordinator has
completed the moderation process. The Course Coordinator shall formally communicate the
date of completion of moderation to all assessors.
2.5 Ensure that all students receive timely and constructive feedback on their assessment items, in
line with the Assessment of Coursework Procedures.
2.6 Provide the Course Coordinator with a full listing of marks for each student and assessment item
when marking and moderation has been completed, as described in these procedures, and
submit the list by the date specified by the Course Coordinator.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Division), Dean of School, Head of Program, Course Coordinator and all
assessors are responsible for ensuring these procedures are followed.
RECORDS
All records relevant to these procedures are to be maintained in a recognised University recordkeeping
system.
Approval Authority Academic Board
Administrator Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching)
Original Approval Date
Amendment History
Date of Next Review
Related Documents
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