Past students’ marks used to modify grades

Open University admits data from previous years was used for assignments cancelled due to pandemic

STUDENTS at the Open University are complaining at having received grades based on the results of former students after the institution used a statistical model to calculate scores for cancelled assignments.

The institution cancelled half of all final assignments during lockdown – even if they were contact-free. One student said that classmates had received “sudden” downward adjustments to their marks for “opaque” reasons. She called the situation a “disgrace”.

The OU said it analysed data from undergraduates with comparable scores who had sat the modules in the previous three years, alongside the current students’ existing grades.

Those who have received lower grades than their previous modules should have averaged said they would now find it harder to achieve the degree classifications they were expecting.

One student received a final grade of 77 per cent, after previous assessments had ranged between 84 and 92 per cent. He said: “It just doesn’t make sense to use statistics to grade someone if it’s not their work they’re being graded against.”

Dr Liz Marr, pro vice-chancellor of the university, said that where the endof-module assessment had been cancelled due to Covid-19, there had been an “exceptional process” for calculating a score and said she believed this was the “fairest way” to maintain the value of the establishment’s degrees.

She added: “It minimises the risk of grade inflation and protects the value of qualifications with employers.”

She said the university had followed guidance from regulatory bodies.

One student, who is undertaking a degree for pleasure and who until retirement worked as a senior academic, said: “As an external examiner at another university, I can see that the OU has not acted as kindly and supportively in its overall approach.”

Speaking of how his final assignments, meant to take place online, were cancelled, he said: “It begs the question as to their motives for doing this. Was it a cost-saving exercise or to reduce the work that staff had to do?”

The OU said staff workload increased as a result of the process and it had not been about saving money.

The former academic also said that it had been difficult to contact staff at the university: “I tried to use a chat line this week and it is now no longer available. I have emailed and tried telephoning. It’s my view that, because it rarely has to confront the students personally or vocally, it feels it can hide behind either blanking them or just obfuscating. I complained about the cancelling of the end-of-year assessments and the responses were woefully inadequate.”

A petition has been set up on 38 Degrees by students asking the OU to reevaluate the process and “not use previous students’ results to overlay an average reduction in overall score”.

In May, The Daily Telegraph reported that half of all Open University final assignments were cancelled, even if they were contact-free. Students were offered the option to end the course with a grade calculated on previous assignments or to submit work in a year’s time. The OU did not provide the option to opt in or out of their final assignments, and said the decision had been made to “ease the burden” on students.

Dr Marr said all students had been treated as having special circumstances, and individual circumstances were also taken into account. “We have closely scrutinised any borderline results and careful checks have been made at every stage of the process including review and approval by external examiners,” she said.

“Results are final and we believe they have been determined fairly and consistently.”