Sub-doctoral research examination (30-80 point)

Source: https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz/assessment/marking-grading/grading-sub-doctoral-research-projects/ Parent: https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz/

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Sub-doctoral research examination (30-80 point)

This guide describes the setup procedure for participants in the examination of sub-doctoral 30-80 point research components.

Setup procedure

Student assignment submission

Grading

On this page

1. Key data collection
2. Canvas course and assignment creation
3. Extension—how to adjust the due date
4. Nomination of examiner/assessor—if not already provided in ‘key data collection (step 1)’

5. Academic head—approval of examiner and assessor

6. Support

7. See also

This document describes the examination process (replacing AS-512T) that has been adopted by:

• Faculty of Arts and Education
• Faculty of Engineering and Design

Others may follow. Please check with the Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) for the process observed by your faculty.

This process involves:

• Identifying the data of students who are ready to submit their research assignment
• Nominating the examiner and assessor
• Student submission of research
• Examining/assessing the research
• Recommending a mark
• Approving the mark
• Adding the final grade to the student record in Student Services Online (SSO)

Note: It is critical for strict adherence to the process to comply with regulations and guidelines set by the University.

IMPORTANT: The following procedure runs via automations. Adding or editing people into Canvas manually (such as students, supervisors, examiners, assessors, graduate advisors, or associate deans or their nominees) means that the automations will NOT run as expected. If you have any questions or need to assign someone else to a previously assigned role, please submit a support ticket with the Digital Services team.

Canvas course set-up procedure

1

Key data collection

Six weeks prior to end of semester the research assessment is due. Administrators: Group Services administrators (GSAs), sub-doctoral research coordinators (SDRCs), or their equivalent need to provide a spreadsheet to the Digital Services team with the required data to allow for course and assignment setup in Canvas.

• Student name and ID – required
• Associated Canvas course number – required
• Assignment due date – required
• Supervisor name, email and UPI – required
• Graduate advisor (GA) name, email and username/UPI* – required
• Administrator name, email and username/UPI* – required
• Examiner name, email and username/UPI* – if known
• Assessor name, email and username/UPI* – if known

* UPI means Unique Personal Identifier, e.g., (jsmi123).

This example template shows data that must be provided in the correct format and order:

Download the Excel spreadsheet

Submit it to Digital Services

2

Canvas course and assignment creation

1. The automation creates one Canvas course section per student (maintaining a student’s privacy) in each designated Canvas course (as provided in ‘key data collection (step 1)’), and each section will include one student and one assignment called Final Research Assessment-UPI:

2. The assignment set-up automatically creates a ‘To do’ item in Canvas for each student. Administrators may choose to send an email to students indicating that the course is on their Canvas Dashboard and will be used for their final research assessment submission.

3. The main supervisor is also enrolled in the Canvas course automatically, along with the graduate advisor (GA), associate dean postgraduate taught (ADPGT) and designated administrator:

4. If the Canvas course has not previously been published, a generic research course template will be used to populate the course and it will be published and visible to students, along with their assignments:

5. The automation also publishes the data provided (via ‘key data collection (step 1)’) into a SharePoint list called ‘Examinations Sub-Doctoral Research – 512T_courses – All Items‘. This list allows administrators to view all students and their status in the sub-doctoral research examination process.

3

Extension—how to adjust the due date

1. If an extension is approved, the administrator can go to ‘Assignments‘ [1] and the select ‘Edit‘ [2]:

2. In the ‘Assign Access‘ section, enter the new ‘Until‘ date and ‘Time‘ [1]:

3. The administrator must then submit a support ticket with the Digital Services team to apply the change in SharePoint.

4

Nomination of examiner/assessor—if not already provided in ‘key data collection (step 1)’

If the examiner and/or assessor have NOT been provided in the ‘key data collection (step 1)’, the supervisor (nominator) receives an automated email with a link to the ‘Academic Heads Approval Form’.

4a. Email invitation

For the purposes of this guide the “nominator” is the person requested to select the examiner and assessor for the examination of the research.

The nominator is sent an email and should click on the link provided to access the online form (Academic Heads Approval Form). They log in using their University of Auckland credentials (UPI and password) and should select ‘Allow when prompted‘ [1].

4b. Selecting your student

1. In the left-hand panel, you will see a list of your students [1]. Click ‘Assigned to You‘ [2].\ Note: student names are redacted in the screenshot.

2. Once selected, in the right-hand panel you will see the student details and the ‘Examination Panel‘ [1].

4c. Nominating the examiner and assessor

1. Click the ‘Add‘ button to add members to the ‘Examination Panel‘ [1].

2. Select ‘Examiner‘ from the ‘Role‘ field [1] and search for the examiner’s email address in the ‘Search by Email‘ field [2].

3. Select ‘Assessor‘ from the ‘Role‘ field [1] and search for the assessor’s email address in the ‘Search by Email‘ field [2] and select ‘Save‘ [3]:

4d. Requesting Canvas access for an external examiner or assessor

Some assessments require someone external to the University to be used for one or more steps in the assessment process. External users are not automatically added to Canvas.

To allow an external user to access Canvas, follow these steps:

1. Have the external participant register with University of Auckland to obtain a username/UPI (Unique Personal Identifier).
2. Once the user has confirmed they have completed and received confirmation of their registration and a UPI, submit a Canvas Assistance for Teaching request through the IT Service Portal and fill out the fields as shown in the screenshot below:
3. Add the ‘alphanumeric course code‘
4. Add the ‘year that the course started‘
5. Add the ‘term that the course started‘
6. Select ‘Other (please describe below)‘
7. Add the following text to the box: “Please add the following external user(s) to the Canvas Ad Hoc user group: [add their UPI/s]“
8. Select the ‘I have reviewed the Canvas FAQ page mentioned in the description before submitting this request‘ checkbox
9. Click ‘Submit‘

Note: You can request multiple UPIs for external participants in one request.

5

Academic head—approval of examiner and assessor

1. The academic head will receive an approval request via email with an ‘Approve‘ button:

2. Once approved this will change the status of the ‘Examinations Sub-Doctoral Research’ list in SharePoint from ‘Waiting for Examination Details‘ to ‘Waiting for Student Submission‘:

3. Once approved by the academic head, the examiner will be automatically enrolled in the Canvas course section associated with the student.

Note: If the academic head does not approve of the examiner or assessor selection, they will need to communicate this to their faculty administrator by email. Once a new selection is approved, the administrator will need to submit a support ticket with the Digital Services team to apply the change.

Next step: Student assignment submission

Support

If you have any questions, please raise a ticket with the team at Digital Services.

On this page

1. Key data collection
2. Canvas course and assignment creation
3. Extension—how to adjust the due date
4. Nomination of examiner/assessor—if not already provided in ‘key data collection (step 1)’

5. Academic head—approval of examiner and assessor

6. Support

See also…

• Final results and grades for taught courses

Document management and control

• Owner: Learning & Teaching Enterprise
• Date approved: 18/11/25
• Date last amended: 20/11/25
• Next review date: 18/2/26

Page updated 20/11/2025 (page added)