Automated Extensions on Moodle

Extension types include Reasonable Academic Adjustments, Extenuating Circumstances and Delayed Assessment Permits.

Firstly, you should check the assessment type is eligible for extensions in Portico. Please note oral presentations are not currently eligible for automated extensions due to departments having differing processes for assessing these on Moodle – we will review this in due course.

In addition, standard adjustments are not provided for groupwork due to the complexities in implementing individual adjustments to a collective assessment.

You can generate a report to show students on a module with approved Reasonable Academic Adjustments, DAPs and EC mitigations. The report shows on screen and can also be exported to excel using the Export to Excel button. Once you feel confident with Moodle extension imports, this will no longer be necessary.

If the assessment type is eligible and there are students with approved extensions on the module, you will need to create a mapping with the “import extensions” checkbox ticked on the Moodle SITS Marks Transfer page. The extensions integration currently works with Moodle assignment, quiz, Lesson or Coursework.

Step 1 – go to “SITS Marks Transfer”  

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Screen shot of link to SITS Marks Transfer

 Step 2 – choose “Select source” next to the relevant SITS assessment  

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Screen shot of ‘Select source’ button

Step 3 – select the relevant Moodle assignment, quiz, lesson or coursework plugin. 

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Screen shot for selecting relevant Moodle activity

Step 4 – tick the checkbox “Import extensions” in the Map SITS assessment able then click the “Confirm” button. 

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Screen shot for ticking the ‘Import extensions’ checkbox

Step 5 - Once the mapping has been confirmed, a link to view the generated extensions will appear for direct access to the relevant assessment overrides. Click this “View extensions” link. 

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Screen shot of link to ‘View extensions’

We usually recommend assessment mappings are set up in SITS Marks Transfer when a Moodle assessment activity is added to a Moodle course at the start of the year, so if you have already set up a mapping to the SITS assessment and the Moodle activity is not yet marked, you will need to go into SITS Mark Transfer again, remove and then re-add the source, with the “import extensions” checkbox ticked, to import the extensions.

Automated extensions now also incorporate the option for a Moodle assignment “cut-off” date in addition to “due date”. If you have already added the assignment, you can re-sync it by going to the setting page of that moodle assignment then simply click “Save and return to course” or “Save and display” without changing any settings.

For Reasonable Academic Adjustments, once the mapping has been created, any extension data will appear within a few minutes in a group in the “Group overrides” page for the relevant assessment activity. 

This will appear in the following format: RAA-Activity-<Activity-ID>-Extension-<number>day(s)<number>hr(s)<number>min(s) 

To see which students have been given this group override, simply click the group name. 

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Moodle Group Overrides page for Reasonable Academic Adjustments 

For DAPs and ECs, once the mapping has been created, any extension data will appear within a few minutes on the “User overrides page” for the relevant activity. 

A table of student names with their override type and new assignment due date or new quiz closing time will appear. 

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Moodle user overrides page for DAPs and ECs  

A scheduled task will run to check for any updates on Portico. Any updates should be reflected in Moodle within 5 mins.  

RAA extensions can be updated up to five minutes before the assignment due date and time, or quiz closing time. If a student has a RAA approved after the deadline, their extension will need to be set up manually. 

ECs extensions can be updated after the assignment due date and time, or quiz closing time. 

For ECs and DAPs, if the main assessment deadline is updated on Portico, the Moodle activity will not be updated with the new deadline +EC/DAP extension. It remains on the old deadline +EC/DAP extension.

Once overrides have been generated, students will see their new submission date/time or quiz closing date/time.  

Course administrators will be able to use marks transfer for these students in the same way as for standard submissions. 

Please be aware that if a RAA extension and a EC or DAP extension exists for the same student, the EC or DAP extension will take precedence.

If you wish to use automated extensions on a Moodle course, we recommend deleting any manual overrides you have created already since Portico should be the source of truth and is continually updated anyway. 

However, if your existing manual overrides are overwritten by imported extensions and you realise you want to revert to them, you can simply remove the mapping in the marks transfer wizard and then re-map without choosing to import extensions. The automated extensions would be deleted and manual overrides would be restored. 

If you experience any issues, please check the details are correct on Portico in the first instance. If Portico data is as expected and imported data is inaccurate, please report this to Digital Education Support via My Services so we can investigate as a special case.

The DLE team will look into: 

• Providing guidance on when to use what extension type and how to change extensions for individuals or groups during an assessment.

• A flag of some kind when a student has an approved DAP and the type of extension this will be e.g. short-term extension, late summer assessment or deferral.

• Removing formative assessments or moving lower down “Select source” page

• Reassessments.

• Grade book items and category requirements for importing extensions.

• How to handle non-conventional programmes where two cohorts overlap (e.g. those that can’t be mapped to Portico in the standard way).