Frequently Asked Questions

2. Assignments

Working on Your Assignment?

 

A few questions have come up about the ILM assignments several times, so I thought I’d answer them here to ensure everyone has the information. 

Q. What’s the pass mark?

A. there isn’t a set numerical pass mark; you will receive a pass or a referral for amendments for each of the assessment criteria and when you have a pass for all of them, you have passed the assignment. The marks mentioned on the assignment sheet are just to give you an idea of how much to write for each section. If you get a referral for amendments, you should make the changes and re-submit. There is no limit to the number of resubmissions you can make on an assignment.

Q. I can’t see the assignment submission point on QMplus. How can I submit my assignment?

A. Check in the coursework section. If you can see the assignment documents there to be downloaded but you can’t see the assignment submission point, you probably still need to log in to QMplus (top right of page). Then when you click on the assignment submission point you’ll be able to upload it by browsing for the file or (in Chrome and Firefox only) dragging and dropping it to the indicated area 

Q. Can you give me feedback on a draft?

A. We could look at a brief, bullet point type essay plan to see if you’re on the right lines during the drop-in sessions or if you email them to j.fowler@qmul.ac.uk but we do not mark the assignments in draft form.

Q. Is there any other way I can check if my assignment is ok before I hand it in for marking?

A. The mark scheme is on QMplus in the coursework section. This describes what a typical referral, pass and good pass will look like. You should check your assignment against this before handing it in. You could even swap assignments with someone else on the course and check each other’s.

Q. What happens to my assignment after I have submitted it?

A. It will be marked and each of the criteria will be recorded as having been passed or referred back to the candidate for amendments or additions to ensure all criteria are fully met. A number of the assignments will also be sampled by another marker to ensure consistency across the team.

Q. How should I approach these assignments?

A. Ensure you relate your assignment to your current role and include plenty of real examples to show how you apply your knowledge in practice. Use the descriptions in the mark scheme of what constitutes a pass or referral to evaluate your assignment and decide whether further work is needed.

Q. You’ve referred my assignment for some additions or amendments. How should I do that?

A. If there is nothing in your assignment that has been marked as incorrect, only information we are missing, you should make the corrections by adding and not removing any content, as sometimes people take out something that contributed towards a pass and then we have to refer it again. Some candidates make the additions on the same document in a different font colour or in bold/italic which makes re-marking easier and quicker. Alternatively it is fine to write a separate supplement to the original containing just the extra information. You can then resubmit using QMplus in the same way as for your first attempt.

Q. How strict are the word counts mentioned on the assignments?

A. The word count is nominal, so it’s just there as a guideline to help candidates understand the amount that would typically cover the topics thoroughly. It is not a problem to exceed the word count but it may mean you have added a lot of unnecessary information and this could make it difficult for those marking to identify the important points you are making. It is good practice to try to cover all the information needed in a clear concise manner as this is usually what would be expected when writing reports in the workplace and we would encourage you to approach your assignment in a similar manner to creating a report in the course of your work

Q. The terminology in the assignments and mark scheme is a bit confusing. What exactly do they mean by list/describe/explain/evaluate?

A. Misunderstanding this terminology is the main reason we’re referring assignments back to candidates for additional work at the moment, so it’s important that you understand them and ask us if you’re not sure.

• List - give several of these but not in any detail unless that is mentioned in the criteria,
  • e.g. if I were asked to list what I’ve done today, I’d say that I held a drop in session, met a new colleague, answered emails and wrote the newsletter
• Describe - give enough detail about the subject that the reader has a very clear picture of it
  • e.g. if I were asked to describe what happened in the drop in session today, I’d say that five colleagues attended and the last three turned up at about the same time so two had to wait. Two of them just came to register for level five awards and set their target dates for completion whilst another needed help choosing the most suitable courses for a new senior role he had just taken on and the two of them had some questions about how best to cover some of the criteria on assignments that are due next week
• Explain - provide information on why or how
  • e.g. if I were asked to explain how the drop in session helped some of those attending today, I’d say that one colleague arrived feeling confused about which would be the most suitable courses to take and after some discussion was able to select the courses that will be most useful to him in his role and to prioritise them so he could spread them out over a couple of years so he isn’t overburdened with work as he starts a new role. Another colleague was stuck on one section of her assignment because she didn’t understand the criteria and how to cover them but after receiving some advice on the assignment, she will be able to complete it on time as she knows what is required and where she will be able to find the information she requires to complete it.
• Apply -  show how you use your knowledge and not just that you know about it
• Evaluate - When asked to evaluate rather than explain, it is important to provide an indication of a value assigned to the subject of the evaluation, e.g. how important it is or how well it is done. It can often be helpful to make comparisons when doing this
  • e.g. if I were asked to evaluate  today’s drop in session, I’d want to consider how well it went compared to how well it could have gone an I’d say that it went very well as all of the people attending had their needs met and seemed to be happy with the help they’d received as I asked them if there was anything else I could help with and they said there wasn’t, however it was not ideal because busy colleagues had to wait to be seen and may therefore have felt unable to ask for more help as they could see other people were waiting and because it is a shared session, it may have been difficult for people to discuss something they would like to keep confidential, e.g. reasons for extending a deadline.
• Assess - you should state how closely something matches a set of criteria and where any gaps are, just like when we assess your assignment against the criteria in the mark scheme and provide feedback. Sometimes these criteria are supplied; otherwise you will need to devise or find suitable criteria
  • e.g. if I were asked to explain how suitable the CAPD is to be an ILM centre, I’d look at the ILM requirements and say how we meet them and identify any areas we don’t meet. One example might be that the ILM require centres to evaluate their programme of provision and we meet this well by having observation of teaching and learning during some sessions, and meet regularly to review our records of assessment decisions and candidate feedback (formal & informal) on both the sessions and the programme.

An extra hint when reading criteria is that if they use a plural you must supply evidence of more than one and that if they ask you to write about two different things, e.g. culture and ethics or stress and conflict you must write about both showing you understand the difference and not write about just one or as if you see them as the same thing.

Did you notice that we supplied some examples here? Make sure you do that throughout your work, showing how you apply what you’ve learnt on the courses to your current job role.