Curriculum Design & Assessment (CDA)

The University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a Russell Group University that prides itself on providing fantastic student experience, with exceptional learning facilities to provide our students with the best possible education.

The Service

Strategic Context

The University of Nottingham has bold ambitions to improve its curriculum design and assessment (CDA) and, in parallel with this, to develop its learning analytics capability. The ultimate goal of this work is to improve the student experience by enterprise-wide implementation of the institutional objectives for CDA, which in turn will support delivery of the new University Strategic Delivery Plan approved in April 2021. Our aim for the future is to nurture students who, through their curriculum, learning, and the ways they are assessed, are equipped for the world of work, as well as for life-long learning.

This project has full support and buy-in from the senior and executive leadership across the University, alongside the Careers and Employability Service and the University's Quality and Standards Committee and is a key enabler for our commitment as an organisation to reconceptualise and reconfigure our programme approval, programme design and programme review procedures.

In parallel to this, the enhancement of our assessment and feedback processes, incorporating cutting-edge pedagogy, is a further high priority. Our hope is that this project will put us in a good position to lead the sector by securing the right technologies, without which the full benefits of improved CDA will not be realised. Together, CDA and these enabling technologies will grow our capability to make a step change in our practice and also ensure that the digital solutions we design represent best value and future, rather than current practice.

Programme Overview

To assist with the phasing of procurement and implementation, our programme has 6 strands of delivery which are as follows:

1. Curriculum Design and Engagement - to provide pedagogically-led support for curriculum design and communication that enriches/transforms the learning journey for staff and students.
2. Electronic Examinations - to provide a leading-edge, formative and summative e-examination solution, that is flexible, inclusive, scalable and reliable, that empowers students across all disciplines to demonstrate their learning and supports staff to feedback and measure learners' achievements.
3. Bring Your Own Device - to enable student participation in secure assessments at different times, different locations, using varied devices.
4. ePortfolios - to enable a learner's ability to undertake creatively-constructed learning that can be securely shared as evidence of achievements with others, including external assessors.
5. Class-based Formative Assessment - to enable interactions and timely formative feedback, engaging students and staff in inclusive active teaching and learning, in physical and virtual classroom settings.

6 Supporting Coursework Assignments - to provide for coursework handling, that supports innovation in assessment, embeds evidence based constructive feedback, and supports diverse learner and staff needs.

E-Assessment at the University of Nottingham

We consider that the major purposes of assessment are threefold:

1. Student Learning: to promote effective learning in several ways:

• by motivating students to learn; by ensuring that doing or preparing for assessments requires good quality learning; by steering students' approach to learning, by helping students learn about assessment; by giving the lecturer useful information to inform changes in teaching strategies.

2. Quality Assurance: to provide evidence for internal and external stakeholders to judge the appropriateness of standards on a programme.
3. Certification: to identify and discriminate between different levels of achievement, generally associated with summative assessment; measuring and grading students' achievements.

We then consider that our assessment practice provides meaningful feedback that:

• helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, expected standards).
• facilitates the development of reflection and self-assessment in learning.
• delivers high-quality information to students about their learning.
• encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning.
• encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem.
• provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance.
• provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape the teaching.

Further detail on each strand is provided in each individual RFI Strand Response and information doc. Additional information: Instructions to Respond

To assist with the phasing of procurement and implementation, our programme has 6 strands of delivery. Suppliers have the option to provide information separately for these 6 strands as per RFI documentation below. Written responses should be submitted through the University of Nottingham's electronic tendering system below

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Full documentation and information can be downloaded via the electronic tendering system. Any information that suppliers wish to supply should be submitted via this system.

The University is looking for prompt responses from potential suppliers and therefore we ask that any RFI submissions can be submitted as soon as they have been completed to allow the University to process this information promptly.