Role of Module Co-ordinator

Module Co-ordinators are responsible for the delivery of the teaching in individual modules and the accompanying administration.  The duties of the module co-ordinator can be divided into a number of topic headings and the expectations of what is required of module co-ordinators in relation to each of these areas are explained further below.

Teaching Team Managment

The number of staff involved in teaching a specific module depends on the size of the module and the enrolment and it is a matter for the module co-ordinator to assess how the teaching team is to be managed.  Smaller modules may be managed quite informally but those with several lecturing staff and additional tutors may require a more structured approach.  The following points provide a general guide.

  1. The module co-ordinator should ensure that members of the teaching team, including the seminar tutors, are fully briefed about the objectives of the module and the objectives of particular seminars; this is particularly important if the seminar tutors are not part of the lecturing staff.  Ideally this might also involve informing them of how issues have been approached in lectures, any problems they foresee and common problems that students may encounter.  When new staff are involved in teaching the module provide them with appropriate induction as necessary.
  2. Modules with larger teaching teams may require more regular meetings but, for all modules, teaching team meetings should be held before the module is delivered in order to discuss the overall content of the module, the ethos and objectives behind it, how it is going to be taught, whether or not Blackboard is going to be used, the expectations of both staff and students and what is expected of each group.
  3. In addition, a teaching team meeting should be held on each occasion a module is audited in order to disseminate and discuss the results and to decide upon any necessary action to be taken in response to the results.
  4. Module co-ordinators, in conjunction with the teaching team as appropriate, are responsible for providing annual updates for the modules database when requested and, if Blackboard is used, for updating it for each session.
  5. Module co-ordinators should advise both library and bookshops about recommended texts in good time for the start of teaching.

Distribution of teaching materials

  1. Module co-ordinators have a primary responsibility to communicate clearly with the students about what they can expect from the module and its teachers and what is expected of them.  This could include providing a module handout at the start of the module outlining the module, providing reading lists, information about how the methods of assessment and the assessment criteria, what is expected of students and what they can expect from the teaching team.  Module co-ordinators should then co-ordinate the distribution of subsequent information whether lecture handouts, seminar sheets, information about examinations etc to ensure that there is a high standard of communication throughout the module.  In particular, students should be advised electronic information will be made available via Blackboard or some other means.
  2. Module co-ordinators should also ensure seminar sheets have been set and distributed to all staff and students on the module, together with a copy for the General Office, in time for the seminar.  At the latest these should be made available by the Friday 10 days before the week in which the seminars will take place.
  3. When module co-ordinators find it necessary to send out email messages to students on the module, the message should also be copied to the General Office (law@aber.ac.uk).

Assessment matters

  1. Module co-ordinators are responsible for ensuring that all examination papers and assignments are set by the relevant deadlines and should ensure that they have checked the final version for errors before submission to the Examinations' Secretary.
  2. Module co-ordinators are responsible for ensuring that the units of assessment are allocated appropriately between members of the teaching team and reminding them of the times when essay and examination marking will happen.  They should also ensure that there will be sufficient members of the teaching team available for marking the supplementary examinations and assessments.
  3. On the day of the examination, module co-ordinators should ensure that one member of the teaching team is available at the beginning of the examination to answer any questions which may arise from the examination question papers and that one member of the teaching team is available at the end of the examination to collect examination papers.
  4. Prior to the marking period, module co-ordinators should ensure that all examination markers are fully briefed about their role and the expectations for the questions they will be marking.  Where members of the teaching team are marking questions which they have not set this should involve ensuring that they are briefed appropriately as to what is required.
  5. Following the marking process, module co-ordinators should ensure that appropriate moderation occurs.
  6. Module co-ordinators should, with the assistance of the Examinations' Secretary, prepare the mark sheets and write a letter to the External Examiner (copy to the Examinations' Secretary) directing his/her attention to any problem cases etc.
  7. Once the marks have been confirmed, module co-ordinators should prepare generic feedback about student performance on the module for dissemination to the students on the module by the Examinations' Secretary.