A recipe for the HEAR

1. uwic.ac.uk/HEAR A recipe for the HEAR Dr Jon OwenAcademic Registrar University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Thursday 24th February 2011

2. Background • our VC was – and is – a member of the “Burgess group” • current student system: • CAMS from SITS: used for modules and assessments • home-grown CIMIS: information on programmes and students • UWIC has just purchased Agresso QLS • design and implementation over the next 18 months • UWIC already issues QAAHE / national transcript as a matter of course for all taught programmes (marks for all modules) • explanatory text available separately to support the transcript • good links with the Student Union

3. Initial implementation and issues decided at the start as a policy to have no hand-editing of the HEARs: always produced automatically from our student and academic information system(s) first job: repackage the existing transcript under the HEAR headings … … which gives pause for thought on 6.1 {the extra stuff}, 4.3 {marks and components}, 4.2 {prog specs} link to existing information on Web or include text explicitly? paper and/or electronic form? undergraduate, ostensibly

4. How to get to grips with 6.1 remember that the HEI owns the document and authorises the information in it [it is not a PDP portfolio or a cv or a reference] need an agreed set of rules approved by the HEI to govern what is included in 6.1 [Keele] start small, and grow generate rather than hand-craft approve precepts, and publish (on the Web) sabbatical officers (already captured for HESA) prizes

5. Prizes • UWIC now has an approved set of prizes, held in its student and academic information system • consistency of prize names • consistency of prize citations • students are “linked” to prizes as part of the processing that follows each examining board • advantages • easier for examining boards: prize list is available • generates information for the HEAR • generates information for the ceremony programme • generates information for Web pages • prizes and winners are now much more visible

6. What next for 6.1? • volunteering? • “additional” modules, so (hopefully) straightforward • student reps? • factual not evaluative; who provides this information? • final year project or dissertation titles? • when are they decided? who types them in? section 4? • societies? • are all posts included (students cannot “suppress” information)? • who authorises this? where is the information held? • representing UWIC? • at what level? sports? appearances? exhibitions? verification?

7. What next for 6.1? • graduate attributes? • “Easthampton award” • UWIC already has documents on “a UWIC graduate” but these need to be reviewed • other HEIs have good models for this • revisit “Graduate Standards Programme”? [HEQC, CVCP] • will become progressively richer over time • continue to remember that it is not • a PDP portfolio • student-writeable

8. 4.2 Programme requirements • UWIC’s programme specifications are not published on the Web (as allowed in Wales) • stage 1: publish, and point to materials • stage 2: include extracted information explicitly • “hard” information (award type, title, duration, PSRBs, UCAS codes, subject benchmarks) all available already • load programme-level learning outcomes into a new feature being developed by Agresso • investigating the use of XCRI – an emerging standard for eXchanging Course-Related Information to migrate information • will transfer from existing Word into a structured document

9. 4.3 Programme details, and the individual grades, marks and credits obtained drilling down to modules, then assessment components actually quite straightforward: information exists already for examining boards how best to present it? {who will actually look at this?} codes for assessment types or description of assessment? UWIC now has an approved taxonomy of assessment types links through to module descriptors on the web (for a given year)

10. The format of the HEAR • guidance document and template {hopefully finalised} • Welsh version of template • translated, and available on UWIC’s website • HEARs do look different, but contents and layout {mostly} conform • paper form: approve by Academic Board / Senate • order of (numbered) sections is not negotiable • “special” document for the student • fit onto 4 sides, with supplementary explanatory materials • electronic version to be made available {somehow} • “interim HEARs”

11. Guidance remember what it is for, and who signs it generate the HEAR rather than hand-craft it re-package your existing transcript decide whether to have paper or make the electronic form available {income stream for replacements?} approve precepts for including information into 6.1 work out what information can {easily} be included in 6.1, and what to do later do you have module component marks held centrally?

12. Conclusions • useful mechanism / catalyst for getting things done • precepts for including “additional information” • prizes • UWIC graduate • improvements in the information held in existing systems • requirements for system vendors • useful document for the individual students • self-assessment • employment • for distinctiveness • {do we want to produce these HEARs?}