There are two types of extensions for assessed work (not including examinations).
Self-Certification Extension (SCE): A request to extend deadlines by 5-working days for all eligible assessments falling within a 5-working day window (the self-certification period).
An automatic 5-working day extension to deadline(s), requested by the student and automatically accepted on eligible assignments without the need for academic judgment and independent evidence. This is managed through the self-certification portal in Tabula or through myWBS.
Specific Extension (SE): A request to extend a deadline of an individual assignment by any length but which may be more than 5-working days (OR less if the student has used up all their self-certification requests to date).
This specific extension is determined by academic judgment and individual student circumstances, normally with the requirement of independent evidence. For clarity, this is the ‘normal’ departmental extension procedure (normally managed through Tabula, or other local solutions e.g. myWBS, Mitigating Circumstances Portal). During the Covid-19 restrictions (from 13/3/20-present), it may be difficult for students to provide independent evidence to support extension requests and departments will be able to relax these requirements as appropriate.
Self-Certification Extensions
From the 15 February 2021, self-certification extension requests and the management of them will be administered by the self-certification function within the Personal Circumstances tab in Tabula (or in myWBS).
Academic departments will need to switch on self-certification managementLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window for their department within Tabula, in doing this, they will need to confirm the role of “extension managers” who will administer self-certification. Departments need to ‘turn on’ the self-certification portal by Friday 19th February 2021 (see later), if they do not, then their students will not be able to self-certify for modules outside of the home department (e.g. IATL modules) and an accurate record of the number of self-certifications requested across departments will not be possible. When departments switch on the portal they can also control, (a) turning on a free text box where students may provide an explanation of why they need to self-certify and (b) a deadline within the year (e.g. near examinations or examination boards) where self-certification will no longer be accepted, see later.
Departments decide which assessments are self-certifiable and record this on the MA1 form. It is important to keep this information up to date because the self-certification portal derives its decisions on which modules are eligible for self-certification from the MA1 catalogue database.
Most assessments should be eligible (e.g. essays, reports, dissertations), however, there will be valid pedagogic reasons why certain assessments should be excluded. These include, but are not restricted to, time-sensitive assessments such as weekly homework (where answers are posted weekly and a 5-working day extension would therefore preclude answers being shared with the cohort), timed tests, examinations, performances, or other in-person or group presentations.
It is important that students are informed which assessments are self-certifiable and understand why some are exempt. Helping students understand the reasons why certain work is not eligible is of particular importance to ensure student satisfaction.
Where departments believe self-certification requests could impact adversely on the student learning experience (e.g., knock-on effects for students into revision and examination periods) or where a self-certification extension would cause a problem for marking to be completed in time for an exam board, the department can stipulate ‘a latest date’ within the academic year for which students can submit self-certification requests and this information can be captured within the self-certification portal.
There will always be students who face difficulties around revision and examination periods where extension requests are appropriate, but these should be handled via the ‘normal’ specific extension processes (SE) for academic oversight and advice.
During the Covid-19 restrictions (from 13/3/20-present), students do not need to provide an explanation for why they are requesting a self-certification extension. However, individual academic departments can decide that a short explanation may help identify if further student support is appropriate. Therefore, departments (after consultation with SSLC’s) may turn on a free text box within the self-certification portal using their administration privileges, (the default position is it is disabled) to allow students to provide further information on why they need to self-certify. Nevertheless, the free text box will instruct students that it is not mandatory to provide this information and will not stop them from submitting a self-certification extension, it will also signpost them to Wellbeing Services if they have a specific need for further support. The text shown below (in italics) is the narrative that students will see when the free text box is enabled.
“This text box is not mandatory, and you will still receive the extension if it is left blank. However, you may wish to provide further information on why you need to self-certify if you think you might benefit from additional support for the reason the extension is needed. Alternatively, you may want to get in touch with your personal or senior tutors to discuss your situation or seek support from Wellbeing Support Services - https://warwick.ac.uk/services/wss/students/. If you are having ongoing or long-term problems, it may be more appropriate to use your department's regular extension policy or mitigating circumstances portal. Your personal or senior tutors can provide support and guidance on this.”
The self-certification portal will count and keep track of the number of eligible self-certification extension requests (whether these cover assessments in the home or an external department) and signpost a student to ask for a departmental specific extension request if they have reached their annual allowance.
The web development team will share with academic departments by Friday 12th February 2021 a spreadsheet where you can record all your home students and the number of self-certifications they have already used within this current academic year. The department will then be able to upload this spreadsheet into Tabula and this will allow the system to automatically keep track of the number remaining for each student for the rest of this academic year. To do this your department will need to have enabled self-certification on Tabula. Please ensure that this is completed by Friday 19th February 2021, so that we can remove the occurrence of students receiving more self-certifications than they are entitled to.
How far in advance can a student apply?
Students often know in advance that they will need some extra time on an assessment and wish to apply for a self-certification extension period. The more advanced knowledge that markers have on the number of late submissions the better they can manage their time marking. This must be balanced against very early self-certification requests where other mitigations may be more appropriate. Consequently, students can self-certify up to 5-working days before before the start of the self-certification period. This will discourage students from submitting requests too early and then discovering they did not need the self-certification extension and asking for it to be rescinded by their home department.
Students can self-certify for all assessments within a 5-working day window from the day of application. This is called a self-certification period. For example, in scenario 1 & 2Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, if a student has deadlines on Wednesday 24th February, Friday 26th February, and Monday 1st March and they self-certified on the weekend of 20th February or Monday 22rd February, then the assessments due on those first two deadlines within that period (deadlines 1 and 2) will be extended by 5-working days but not deadline 3 on the 1st March.
The self-certification portal will automatically detect which assessments are eligible within the 5-working day self-certification period defined by the initial submission date of the self-certification request and automatically update deadlines (in Tabula) by 5-working days without the need for human intervention. If assignments are managed elsewhere (e.g. Moodle, QMP) then a nominated departmental contact (within Tabula -
settings will determine which self-certification notification types are enabled and which Tabula roles should receive them. Individuals assigned to the relevant Tabula roles can then choose whether eligible notifications are batched or not, and the period over which notifications are ‘queued’ before being sent. The department can determine the regularity/time scale of these notifications to manage email and administrative burden.
The short answer is yes. A self-certification request covers all assessments within a 5-working day period. Consequently, some of these assessments may be administered through different departments. All assessments covered, if they are administered in Tabula, will be automatically updated for all departments affected. If different departments use different systems to administer assessments, then those departments using systems outside of Tabula will be provided with a automatic email notification for all affected modules. The home department can see the number of self-certification requests by its students and filter information by course, cohort, module, or individual.
Yes, but it is anticipated that this will be rare. If a student is seriously incapacitated due to illness, then a short-term extension via a self-certification request is probably not appropriate and the department should be considering more longer-term adjustments (e.g. via the normal general extension system).
It is important to understand the differences between self-certification extension (SCE) requests and specific extension (SE) requests to provide insight into whether existing extensions etc can be self-certified. The principle is that self-certification extensions are short (5-working day) extensions to allow mitigation for relatively minor, acute issues, and specific extensions can be longer-term and mitigate more serious issues that the department should be informed about. Consequently, if further time is required in addition to existing extensions (whether these were initially self-certified extensions (SCE) or specific extensions (SE)) it is probable that the initial student personal circumstances have become more serious. Consequently, any further requests should be managed through the specific extension system currently used by the department.
Initial Self-certification → If Require a Further Extension this should be a Specific Extension.
Initial Specific Extension → If Require a Further Extension this should be a Specific Extension.
These are extensions, principally of any length, where the extension length is determined by academic judgment and individual student circumstances, normally with the requirement of independent evidence. Over the years, departments have developed their own general extensions policies and are administered through several systems (the majority in Tabula or myWBS). This will continue for the current year 2020-21. The principle and policies around specific extensions will be revisited in 2021-22 as part of the Review of Assessment and ultimately the personal circumstances portal of Tabula will be developed further to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for administering all self-certifications, extensions, deferrals, and mitigating circumstances in one place.
