How do I prepare my marks spreadsheet for submission to Academic Administration?

Policy

Module Leaders must collate all marks for their module and clearly indicate the marks for each task identifying the tasks and the weightings as per the module descriptor. All task marks must be submitted out of 100 and not pre-weighted according to the task weighting.

Complete sets of internally moderated marks must be submitted on a spreadsheet to Academic Administration by the marks submission deadline. The spreadsheet must be in Excel format, and it is recommended that the spreadsheet is downloaded from the Grade Centre in Blackboard (as per instructions below). Grade Centre support can be accessed via Faculty E-Learning Support Teams. Excel support can be provided via IT Help on x3333 or by emailing ithelp@shu.ac.uk.

If assessment marks are not received by the deadline, Academic Administration are unable to undertake any processes relating to progression or awards for students on any course where the marks are outstanding. This may impact on Course Leaders and External Examiners where reports cannot be produced and on students as assessment results cannot be confirmed by the DAB. Students are dependent on results being confirmed on time so that they can undertake reassessment where necessary or re-enrol for the next year of study. 

The University uses whole task marks to calculate the overall module mark. Where task marks are submitted with decimal points, the mark will be rounded up or down in SITS in line with normal rounding conventions, i.e. marks with .49 and below are rounded down and marks with .5 and above are rounded up. It should be noted that decimal places for task marks can be entered into Grade Centre (or a task mark calculated in Grade Centre from a number of sub-tasks can generate a task mark with a decimal place) which can mean that the module overall mark calculated in Grade Centre can differ slightly to that calculated in SITS. It is stipulated in Grade Centre that the marks published there are provisional marks only. The marks generated via SITS and published to students via My Student Record are provisional until the date of “final publication” has been reached. The final publication of results dates are published to students on SHUspace. 

Note for users of Blackboard generated grading schemas (e.g. Grade Based Assessment): SITS requires numerical marks. Grades should be converted back into their numerical equivalent before being returned to Academic Administration.

Help and guidance

There are two guides available:

• Full marks transfer guidance  - includes steps for preparing and downloading the Grade Centre, guidance to support the conversion of grades into their numerical equivalent, and the detailed procedure for formatting the marks spreadsheet in readiness for emailing Academic Administration
• Brief marks transfer guidance - a summary of the information required in the marks spreadsheet by Academic Administration

More information about Departmental Assessment Board (DAB) policy is available.