Adapting EUCLID assessment structures to support students’ extra time for learning adjustments

Adapting EUCLID assessment structures to support students’ extra time for learning adjustments 

The University’s student record system (EUCLID) has been enhanced to enable adding extra time learning adjustments for all coursework assessments, which greatly benefits students. The SSP (Student Systems Partnership) team was asked to address this gap in the system after a usage shift in the number of extension days granted, was discovered.  

Issue addressed 

Schools have been reducing the number of coursework extension days to less than 7 days, i.e., the agreed duration for extra time learning adjustments depending on the student’s eligibility. As a result, (1) students who were eligible for extra time learning adjustments were not receiving any extra time if they received the coursework extension, and (2) workarounds had to be managed by schools manually and off system.  

This was evidenced by over 1,000 courses in 2022/23 where students eligible for extra time learning adjustments could not receive extra time for learning adjustments along with coursework extensions. 

Change made  

Enhancements to EUCID and the Extra Time Adjustment (ETA) Tool were delivered on September 2023: with this update, students will now receive extra time for learning adjustments irrespective of the number of days available on coursework extensions via the existing Extra Time Adjustments (ETA) tool.  

Since the release of these enhancements, there has been a 43% increase in the number of extra time learning adjustments accessed by eligible students, with respect to those in previous years.  

Benefits realised 

• Student experience is consistent, and students eligible for extra time learning adjustments can easily access them thanks to the user-centered approach applied to the recent enhancements. This is evidenced by the 43% increase in the number of extra time learning adjustment applications so far this year 

• Staff experience is improved to set up flexible assessment structures in EUCLID, removing manual workarounds 

• All extensions and extra time learning adjustments can be taken through mainstream systems which can be tracked using the University BI Suite, reducing the local transfer of student data 

• Saved over 50 days per academic year for the ESC (Extensions and Special Circumstances) service which would be required in setting up and maintaining extra time learning adjustment applications for the university 

“On the whole, from a staff perspective the move to all extensions going through the mainstream system has been very positive. We can work with greater confidence that all extensions are captured and to have them all within a single BI report is a step forward.  Now we do not have to wait for the few key persons who had access to the data on the students who received the extra time and can easily pull this data through the BI reports.”

“The enhancements to the Extra Time Adjustment system have had a significant impact on the productivity of the ESC Team. Previously, we were processing Extra Time Adjustments manually: students would apply on a Microsoft Form, and on receipt of a notification from the form, one of the team would then check the deadline, enter details of the ETA on a spreadsheet, and email the student. This took a significant amount of time – not just in processing the ETAs, but in setting up the forms and gathering data from Schools in the first place. The implementation of the ETA enhancements has freed up the team’s time, allowing us to focus on process improvement in other areas.”

Enabling flexibility in the design of assessment structures 

Assessment and Progression Tools (APT) within EUCLID were updated to allow schools to separately add the number of days for extra time for learning adjustments, in addition to coursework extensions. Having these fields separated will be a better user experience for schools because they will be able to see and cater for the number of days that students receive in extra time learning adjustments and extensions more transparently.  

Consistent student experience thanks to user-centered approach 

Students from all schools will now be able to access their extra time using the Extra Time Adjustments (ETA) tool which sits within their Student Self-Service portal, at any time.  

Moreover, these updates were made using a user-centered approach where the user interaction process was tested through usability tests with representative student users. It was noted that students would find it beneficial to learn the reasons for the reduced extra time for learning adjustments provided by schools along with the actual duration they would receive. This additional information was also added to the ETA tool within this update.  

Removing manual workarounds: 50 days school effort saved 

When schools started reducing the number of days in coursework extensions, two schools requested off-system forms for extra time application. The Extensions and Special Circumstances (ESC) Service had at the time created forms that were maintained separately to support the application of extra time. This was an overhead of approximately 14 days needed to manually add, verify, and approve applications of extra time for learning adjustments per academic year for just two schools. To cater to these needs for the entire university, the ESC service would have had to spend over 50 days setting up and maintaining these forms starting AY 2023/24. With these updates, not only is the response to ETA applications instant for these students but now the university will be able to save and re-channel these resources to improve the student experience in other ways.  

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