Assignment Submission Final Checklist
1. Have you filled in your personal details on Page 1 of the workbook? If this is missing your paper won't pass External Verification by the Awarding Body, SFJ Awards, when externally moderated prior to Diploma issue. You must include your given name and surname.
2. Is the document less than the maximum permitted size of 5MB? If not, please refer to /resources/learning-zone/hints-on-how-to-reduce-the-file-size-of-a-workbook.aspx
3. Ensure only one attachment, the Workbook as a .doc or .docx is submitted. Formats such as .pdfs, .odts, .zips etc., can’t be accepted. The submission must be in the form of an email attachment. For security reasons no hyperlinks to download Cloud documents can be accepted. Likewise, students must present no hyperlinks in the document to assessed work that is stored elsewhere.
4. Is it addressed to the correct address? Drafts direct to your coach (no cc’s to other ISMI® addresses please). Finals direct to certification@ismi.org.uk (no cc’s to other ISMI® addresses).
5. Are the email subject line and filename correct? E.g. 1234YourNameU1Final. Omissions here could impede external verifiction by the external Awarding Body and delay issue of your Diploma. The name must comprise both your given name and surname.
Please don't add any appendages to the filename (e.g. a date, word "submission" etc., as the space after "Final" is used by the assessors to annotate as your assignment passes through the stages of assessment.
Also, please don't add version nrs to the end of the filename.
6. Have you retained the landscape aspect of the workbook? Please don’t change to portrait as this slows down assessment. Also, have you used a standard font of no less than 10 points and no more than 12 points? This should be borne in mind especially when presenting/inserting tables. Make sure, also, that you don't use any highlighted text other than for source page referencing.
7. Have you produced a response to each task that evidences effort? If there is effort but you haven’t quite met the assessment criteria the assessors will give you the opportunity to resubmit via the referral process (Units 1-10 only). If the assessors conclude that there is insuffcienct content (i.e. an incomlete task response) they will award a fail grade.
8. Do your responses reflect a thorough understanding of the textbook? You have given an undertaking in the workbook that you have read it cover to cover.
9. Have your responses picked up on the guidance in the Indicative Content/Common Mistakes and Chatroom Transcript documents? This is essential in formulating responses that meet the assessment criteria and these documents are not only essential study aids but also a great final cross check. In some cases the answers have almost been provided through the chatroom interaction with participants and this is in the transcript.
10. Are the answers correctly referenced? See Indicative Content and Student Handbook for guidance. Take care not to include any text or images that are not referenced to source. Some students fall foul of the plagiarism rules. Have you read the Academic Discipline Policy transmitted with each assignment? In submitting your assignment you give an implicit undertaking that you are in compliance.
11. If you have included diagrams:
a. Have you constructed them so that they don’t fall apart when opened on another computer? (see www.ismi.org.uk/resources/learning-zone/creating-composite-images-that-dont-lose-formatting.aspx )
b. Have you ensured that they are professionally presented? Computer drawings are best; hand drawings are acceptable as long as they have been scanned to good quality. Obliquely-photographed hand drawings using a cellphone are not acceptable.
12. If you have embedded documents within your workbook (not recommended) please first test-transmit the workbook to another email address on another computer to ensure it opens correctly; in the past some embedded documents have not opened after transmission or have been embedded incorrectly.
13. If a draft review was applicable have you acted on every feedback point? The draft reviewers are expert at identifying areas that the assessors will focus on.
14. If a draft review was applicable have you ensured that you have deleted the draft reviewer’s feedback comments or highlighting before final submission? Failure to do so could skew the assessment and cause delays to graduation as the paper may flag up advdersely on External Verification.
15. Is there sufficient analytical depth to your answers? Page-referenced theory sets the scene for a response but it is through analysis and application to context that you achieve the “marks”. The assessors will be looking to see how well you think rather than how much you can regurgitate or how much you can find on the internet. Assessors are very experienced at identifying quality from quantity (see www.ismi.org.uk/resources/learning-zone/description,-theory,-application-and-analysis-–-how-to-develop-strong-answers.aspx )
16. If you are going to add value from other sources have you made sure in the answer that you have a solid unit textbook understanding base to build on?
17. In cases where you have been asked to provide your own case study setting have you ensured that your case studies are authentic. The assessors, from 10 different countries, are vastly experienced and will challenge a case study setting they consider may not be authentic. You can anonymise if you make this point clear in the covering email.
18. Have you answered every part of every answer? Sometimes there are up to three required elements in each task and the best way to ensure that all the requirements have been met is to:
a. Double check your work before submission. (Leave a “brain decompression break” between when you finish the assignment and double check).
b. Ensure you leave any provided tables or boxes in the answer box. If you delete these in favour of a bespoke layout you could miss essential points.
19. Have you removed any "track changes" or other editing annotations. As we employ two assessors to mark each of your assignments independently, leaving in editing marks may be misinterpreted as an assessor annotations. Please ensure they are removed prior to submission.
20. Does your writing communicate well? Long paragraphs obscure the message (see: www.ismi.org.uk/resources/learning-zone/writing-a-standard-paragraph.aspx ). Breaking up responses with bullets, tables, diagrams etc. enhances communication (www.ismi.org.uk/resources/learning-zone/presenting-tidy-answers.aspx ) .
21. Does your assignment open OK and is all the content visible? About 2% of all submitted assignments each month can't be assessed as they are transmitted with corruptions, the content is not fully visible, they are blank or the wrong version has been submitted. Frequently, we receive emails in the final minutes before the deadline (which we are unable to respond to) from students who haven't checked this sufficiently early in the month and run into last-minute problems.
22. Have you attached the assignment to the email? About 5% of students forget to! If you are using Outlook and you include the word "attachment" in the body of text, Outlook will prompt you if there is no workbook attached.
23. If you submitted an assignment and want to replace it with an amended version (permitted if before the deadline) please send the replacement with exactly the same filename so that it overwrites the previous. If you fail to do this the wrong version may be assessed. We always process for marking the latest version of your assignment received before the deadline.
24. Did you get an auto-receipt from ISMI® when you submitted the assignment? The ISMI® auto-receipt is switched on at month-end. Make sure the assignment isn’t stuck in your outbox. To be sure, always cc or bcc yourself or if using Outlook you can create an automatic cc rule by following the advice at https://www.lifewire.com/auto-cc-all-mail-outlook-1173769
25. If you make a mistake with your email and want to resend, please don't use the Outlook Recall function as this doesn't work and may lead to confusion. Instead, send a corrected version with the subject line prefaced with the word "CORRECTION".
26. If you have a message that requires action from us, please don't send this in the body of your assignment email as it can be missed. Instead, please send your message in a separate email with a subject line that matches the content.
However, if your message relates directly to the assignment (e.g. "this replaces an earlier submission", then it is right to incude it in the assignment email.
27. Have you included the correct date of submission on page 1? This is important as it is used by the Awarding Body to detertmine validity of assignments.