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Please continue to check the FAQs, which outlines the advice and guidance from the Common Awards Team, as often as you are able. Please keep the Common Awards Team, and the National Ministry Team, up to date with your delivery plans for 2020/21. If you need to notify us of any changes please use the forms you originally submitted and indicate any updates using tracked changes.
All communications, updates and changes regarding Covid-19 will be communicated on this FAQ section and through emails to TEI Key Contacts and Principals. Please remember that the best way to contact the team is via the common.awards@durham.ac.uk email address. We continue to work from home and do not have access to the office phones.
Please note that the Common Awards No Detriment Policy is only approved for 2019-20 modules affected by Covid-19. It is hoped that the changes TEIs have made to delivery for 2020-21 will mitigate, proactively, for any future or continued effects of Covid-19. Students who were affected by the effects of Covid-19 in 2019-20 but who are not yet due to complete their programme will still be considered for their award under the No Detriment Policy.
1st November: Deadline - TEIs to submit APL Credits and supporting documentation
1st November: Deadline - TEIs to submit Module Registration Data
27th November: Deadline - TEIs to submit Annual Self-Evaluation Documentation
1st December: Census Date
3rd December: DU Overarching Board of Examiners (Winter)
Early December: TEIs asked to circulate information on the Common Awards Management Board (CAMB) Student Representative nomination/election process.
TEIs are reminded to submit concession requests and change of registration forms on an ongoing basis.
At the start of October, TEIs were asked to submit all data regarding New Student Registrations.
Unfortunately, due to a series of technical issues with Banner, the University's student records system, this process did not run as planned. Those TEIs that have been affected have been contacted.
Unfortunately, we are still not able to provide all students with Banner IDs. CIS are treating this as a high priority, but it has taken longer than anticipated to find a resolution to the issues we have faced.
Please accept our apologies for the ongoing inconvenience, and we will be in touch as soon as we know more.
TEIs are reminded to please send us the additional reports from Moodle for Module Registration. These reports are entitled, ‘V4 – Module Enrolment (programme name) all’ and should be downloaded and sent to us as .html files. Please use ‘ZendTo’ to share these documents securely with the Common Awards Team.
When submitting APL credits, TEIs are also asked to submit approval documentation relating to the APL application. Please do this for approvals at TEI and University level. Please be advised that this request is not adding an additional approval process where TEIs have already approved APL claims within the parameters set. Further information on the process for submitting this data is available on the APL registration page and Module Registration page.
The next Durham University Overarching Board of Examiners meeting will take place on 3rd December 2020. TEIs are reminded that the following information is required to be sent to the University as normal following their Board of Examiners meeting:
TEI Boards of Examiners, for modules taken in 2019/20, will also be required to provide the following reports available to download from Moodle (noting that some may be required prior to Exam Boards but ratified during the meeting):
At meetings of the Board of Examiners, TEIs will be required to explicitly confirm:
Due to the added complexity involved in the preparation of 2019/20 student profiles for consideration by the Overarching Board of Examiners, and the significant number of students we are expecting to consider at the meeting, we would be grateful for timely responses from TEI staff to any queries raised during the preparation period.
TEIs are advised to submit any Curriculum Development requests for January entry programmes as soon as possible. Please note, the level of approval and timescale for each change depends upon the complexity of the proposals under consideration.
TEI programme changes: Proposals from a TEI to make any changes to its programme regulations for programmes starting in January 2020 only (including, but not limited to: deleting a module, adding a module, restructuring module lists, and rewording the rubrics within the programme regulations).
TEI module changes: Proposals from a TEI (or one or more of its constituent centres) to change their selection of the module assessment details, contact hours, and/or learning and teaching methods for programmes starting in January 2020 only.
The deadline for the submissions of Annual Self Evaluation forms is 30th November. Please note that the form remains unchanged apart from updating references to the academic year under consideration. Please submit sections A and B to David Hanson of the National Ministry Team.
Following positive feedback from the recent TEI Forum, the Common Awards Team will be trialling an alternative approach to responding to ASE submissions. It is our intention to schedule individual virtual meetings with TEIs to discuss the information provided in ASE submissions. In these meetings there will be opportunity for TEIs and University Liaison Officers to offer their reflections on the academic year. This meeting will then inform the drafting of TEIs ULO reports. The Common Awards Team will be in touch to organise a convenient time for these meetings following TEIs submissions of ASEs.
Following a consultation process and feedback from TEI staff, the Academic Progress policy has been updated, and implemented from 2020/21. TEIs are reminded to set the academic commitments which students are required to meet. The new guidance for TEIs and templates are available on the Common Awards website.
TEIs are reminded to forward dates of their TEI Management Committees and Boards of Examiners meetings for 2020-21 to the Common Awards Team at their earliest convenience.
Thank you to TEIs who have already provided details of their student representatives. We are looking to put the new Common Awards Management Board student representatives in touch with TEI student representatives to share good practice and look at how best feedback can be shared between students in TEIs and the Management Board.
If you have now elected your TEI student representatives, we would be grateful if you could send us the names and email addresses of those elected for the 2020/21 academic year (with their permission), and any information on your student representation structure that can be shared with the CAMB representatives.
We are pleased to announce that the University’s Staff Development Programme will be available to Common Awards Staff in 2020/21. The programme has been renamed as ‘University Teaching: Core Skills’ but will be familiar to TEIs as ‘DULTA’ or ‘DELTA’.
The new programme will commence in the spring of 2021 and provide participants with the opportunity to work through interactive online content in their own time, to discuss their learning with colleagues across the UK and with facilitators from DCAD, and to submit an Account of Professional Practice for the award of Associate Fellow of the HEA.
Registrations for the programme will close on 27th November 2020.
The programme will launch with a virtual introduction session on 4 December 2020, 14.00-15.15. Further details will be shared in due course.
Durham University’s Organisation Development Team has developed an e-learning course designed to raise awareness and develop understanding of Unconscious or Implicit Bias. Those TEI staff members with a Durham IT account should be able to access the course via DUO. It will take around 60 to 75 minutes to complete.
TEIs are reminded that they can provide feedback on two proposed revisions to Common Awards’ handling of TEI Research Ethics policies via the consultation form, which is available until 6th November 2020.
We are in the process of producing the minutes from the 27th October meeting of the Management Board. Some discussions are ongoing, so we plan to circulate a ‘Report to TEI Management Committees’ within the next couple of weeks; this report will highlight key points for TEIs to consider from the minutes of the meeting. Members of staff in TEIs are welcome to contact the Common Awards Team if they have any questions about the minutes or the meeting of the Management Board.
The TEI Forum, scheduled for 7th October, went ahead online. Thank you to all that were able to attend. Notes of the discussions at the TEI Forum will be circulated to TEI Forum Members when available.
With thanks,
Mike, Frances, Eve, Alyson, Emma, Rhianne, Deborah and Adam
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