These are the FAQs for the Third Term Assessment, which will be updated regularly. This should be your first port of call if you have any questions about the assessment. If your question is not answered here please post a question in the Q&A thread on the forum.
Putting your Portfolio Together
If you are eligible for 30 credits, you need to produce a portfolio of around 4500 words (or equivalent) covering all of the Learning Outcomes. If you are eligible for 15 credits, you need to produce a portfolio of 2500 words (or equivalent) covering Learning Outcomes 1-3.
This is a reflective, personal portfolio so is likely to be less formal than other essays you have written. We also encourage you to use creative means so parts of your portfolio may not be in a written format at all. The key thing is that you use communication techniques that are appropriate for what you are trying to convey.
We have an open definition of ‘creativity’, so don’t feel you have to use techniques that you do not want to get your message across. The key thing is creativity with purpose, so make sure that you think carefully about the best way to convey your message. Creativity might mean using audio and video, or it might mean using different ways of writing reflectively.
Our suggested structure breaks the portfolio down into 750 word sections, so if you use a video or podcast to replace one of these you should reduce your overall word count accordingly. As a rough guide, we’d anticipate that a three minute video is roughly the equivalent of 1000 words, but bear in mind that if you are mixing media you may need additional explanatory text to justify your decisions.
Absolutely! This is a reflective piece so you should write about yourself and your achievements from your own perspective.
You can include examples of your work in your portfolio, including images and weblinks. Bear in mind that you need to justify their inclusion. It’s not enough to put them in; you need to explain why they are there and what they contribute to your story.
This is a personal, reflective piece, but it’s likely that you will use idea and theories from others. Where you do this, it is appropriate to reference. If you’re writing academically, you should use academic referencing. If your writing is less academic, you should consider your audience and find a way to acknowledge you references in an appropriate way.
There is no ‘correct’ number of references; you just need to make sure you acknowledge where you have drawn upon other people’s ideas. Similarly, not all of your references need to be academic, but you should use these where required.
Preparing for Assessment
Over the summer we will be releasing a series of sprints that will guide you through the process of putting the portfolio together. Check back here each Monday to find the next sprint.
If you have any questions about the assessment that aren’t answered here, your first port of call should be the forum. We’ll be monitoring these closely and will try to respond to questions as they arise.
Beyond this, we’ll also be running a series of online workshops on Thursdays over the summer. These will revisit some of the ideas on the course, but will also provide a space for your to share your ideas for us as you put your assessed piece together. You can find the Eventbrite page to sign up for these workshops here.
As this is a new assessment we do not have previous examples to share. However each week we’ll be releasing examples of work from other areas that demonstrates the kind of work we are looking for.
The supporting programme will run over the summer week-by-week to give students plenty of time and space to put their portfolio together gradually. Because of this, we won’t read any drafts in August as we want to make sure everyone has been through all of the guidance before they complete a first draft.
From September, our Thursday workshops will pivot to be more about tuning the work that you have produced. These will be the best means of getting your work looked at, so sign up for a September workshop if you would like someone to look over a draft.
Submission
The assessment deadline in Monday 28th September.
If you are enrolled on this intensive, we will contact you towards the end of the summer to make sure that you plan to submit an assessed piece. You will then be enrolled on a Moodle unit in September that will provide a space for you to submit your assessed piece as you would with any other coursework.
We recommend that you write your summary introduction in a Word or PDF document and then include links to your creative responses, which need to be made accessible online. It is worth thinking about the logistics of this as you start to develop your ideas.
Credits
This is explained in the overview video on the Claim Credits step of the student journey.
You can use this link to check if you are eligible for credits. This, and other information related to it, is covered on the claim credits page.
Then you complete everything in the pathway other than the ‘Claim Credits’ stage. Your end point will be the submission of a response to a project challenge which we will exhibit as part of a public facing portfolio of our students work.