Semester one assessment update

^{17 April 2020}

Dear Student,

We understand this is a difficult time for our students. Making sure you are supported to continue your education and have access to high-quality learning, teaching, assessment, student support and services remains our top priority. 

It’s our education and research quality which attracts our students to study with us. We are working hard to ensure your degree is still delivered to the highest standard of academic integrity and that all of our education and research activity continues to maintain Monash’s position as a top 100 global university.

We have decided to make some changes to our assessment and exam processes in response to COVID-19. We believe these adjustments will support you in your studies, while also maintaining the University's high standard of academic integrity.

Withdrawal

We previously advised you that you could withdraw from a unit up until 12 June. This withdrawal meant that the unit was not recorded on your transcript. Following a discussion at Academic Board we have made a further modification to this process. Students will now be able to withdraw from the unit without academic penalty after they receive their results.

Therefore, in semester one 2020, fail grades will not be recorded on academic transcripts nor count towards the Grade Point Average (GPA) or Weighted Average Mark (WAM).

Assessment

Assessments in semester one 2020 have been modified to take into account the many changes in the way learning is delivered, with different ways to test learning outcomes. This means Monash will not conduct invigilated exams unless the faculty or an external accrediting body has determined it is necessary to ensure academic integrity, but will use alternative and comparably rigorous assessments.

We are creating an Academic Safety Net working group made up of staff and students to make recommendations to the Academic Board about grading matters for semester one 2020. You will hear more about this shortly.

Exam supervision

We know there have been some concerns about external providers supervising exams.

Some units will still need to conduct exams remotely in semester one 2020, in order to meet the requirements of external accrediting bodies. Instead of exams for these units being supervised by an external body, Monash is developing its own platform for exam supervision which will be managed by Monash staff.

The below measures will also be followed:

• all student details and exam recordings will be kept entirely within Monash, using our strict privacy and security criteria
• there will be no sharing of any identifying details with a third party
• toilet breaks are allowed - students will be asked to leave their phone visible in front of the camera
• any student who does not have an appropriately quiet place to sit an exam is able to register to complete it on campus in a suitable venue such as the library. Details about this option will be available shortly.

Your lecturers and tutors are here to support you and I encourage you to reach out to them directly with any questions you may have.

We are all in this together.

Warm regards,
Susan Elliott
Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Vice President (Education)