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1. What should I expect? 2. What is expected of you? 3. Completing and submitting assignments 4. Plagiarism 5. Marking of assignments 6. Formatting of assignments 7. Recommended study time 8. Who to contact • The course is comprised of six core units. Each unit contains three outcomes. • Your course materials and resources are stored and distributed via our online learning platform Moodle. • One unit will be made available to you every nine weeks. o The week prior will be a reading week to familiarise yourself or get an early start if you wish  • Each outcome includes an open learning assignment comprised of short answer questions which should be completed and submitted within the listed 9-week period. o Your completed assignments should then be uploaded for your tutor to review and mark • The assignments are formative and comprised of short answer questions. They are purposely quite loosely worded in order to promote learning and encourage you to “think around the question”. o Students will be able to find the information within the unit content but will also be required to undertake further reading and study and show evidence of this in their work. o Your tutor will expect to see evidence of this so they can fully assess your knowledge and understanding of the subject.

• There is a word count guide for all the assignment submissions. This is listed on the top of each assignment question document. o You should endeavour to adhere to the listed word count for each question. o It is important you try to make your answers as concise and succinct as possible. Remember the assignments are preparation for the final assessment where you will be timed. So, although you will not be penalised for exceeding the top word range limit, we would ask that you try not to. • The assignments will assess the practical activities and the underpinning knowledge of the units to help prepare you for the final assessment exams. Back to top • Students are required to complete all units and submit all outcome assignments in order to be eligible to sit the final assessments. • The assignment questions are in the same format (scenario-based short answer questions) as the final assessments, therefore are good preparation for the exams. o Completing the assignment questions ensures you receive appropriate guidance and feedback from your tutor as you progress through the course, thus preparing you for the exams. • It is expected that students will access Moodle regularly to; o view their units o upload their assignments o download their marked assignments and review tutor comments and feedback. o check the announcements forum for any important postings o Take part in discussion forums and access the available resources.  (For guidelines on how to do these activities please see relevant “Using Moodle Guidelines”)

• The assignments are not case studies. But you are expected to undertake further reading or study in order to gain the most benefit from your learning as well as demonstrating your knowledge and understanding. o Evidence of further reading/research and practical learning should be demonstrated by proper use of referencing in your assignment submission. This will be considered in the marking. • Bear in mind that although the Certificate is primarily about ECC, it is a further education course, therefore you are required to present and reference your work appropriately o If you are not sure how to do this please see section 6. Formatting of Assignments Back to top • All three open learning outcome assignments should be completed and submitted as individual documents via the relevant outcome upload activity. • There will be a 3-week “submission window” for each unit from the beginning of week 7 until the end of week 9 during which you are able to submit your work. o please see the assignment calendar for dates for your intake o Submission will be accepted up to 23:59 on the final listed due date • If uploaded during the “submission window” you should expect your work to be marked within 10 working days of submission. Early submissions • It is possible to submit your assignments prior to the submission window. If you do so you should message your tutor via Moodle to advise them of this. However, you should not expect to receive marked work back prior to Week 8. Late submissions • If you submit your assignments after the end of week 9 then you must message your tutor via Moodle to let them know you have submitted your assignments. If you do not do this, they may not be marked as your tutor will not be notified of your submission any other way.

• Tutors will aim to get late submission work marked within 10 working days of your notification, but this is not guaranteed. • Please note: to see if your work has been marked you need to go back into the assignment upload to check this. Back to top Vets Now operate a very strict policy on plagiarism; • Turnitin checks your work against millions of resources including those online and of other Cert VN students. • A report will be produced for your tutor to determine if there is any plagiarism present in your work. • We recommend students attempt to paraphrase any sources/content used in their work in the first instance, as this demonstrates a better understanding of the content. However, if this is not possible, then they must ensure their work is appropriately referenced and any sources used acknowledged. o Your similarity score should be as low as possible, but not over 30%. o Information on how to paraphrase and reference is contained within the Referencing Guidelines. • Students must verify that the work is entirely their own and indicate the same in the appropriate tick box when submitting their assignments. Back to top

• Assignments should be submitted for marking during the three-week submission window (between weeks 7 & 9) o It is possible to submit assignments earlier than this if you wish but bear in mind you should not expect feedback until Week 8. • The grades for the open learning assignments are given a numerical value of 1 – 4. o This number equates to a grade of pass+, pass, resubmit or unsuccessful as listed below Grade Pass + (4) Level of Assignment Example of an outstanding piece of work. Clear evidence of extensive research, excellent use of references. Well written in good academic style. Questions all clearly and succinctly answered, with excellent level of detail, demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding. Must be submitted within the listed submission window. What happens next Superior submission awarded distinction pass + grade. Assignment returned to the student with appropriate comments and feedback. No further action is required from the student. Grade Pass (3) Level of Assignment Example of a good submission. Good use of references and well written in an academic style. Questions well answered, exhibiting good/sufficient level of knowledge and understanding. What happens next Assignment returned to student with appropriate comments and feedback. No further action required from student.

Grade Resubmit (2) Level of Assignment Satisfactory assignment but requires some additional material to meet the assessment criteria. Your tutor would advise what additional material is required. Comments detailing the required amendments would be added to the original assignment in red. Student would be expected to re-submit within 2 weeks and alert their tutor when they do so. What happens next Some aspects of your work require further information. Your tutor will return graded work to the student with comments regarding which areas/questions are to be resubmitted. Student should then re-draft their answer as directed and re-upload for further marking. Resubmission documents should be uploaded within 14 working days of graded assignments being returned. Technical resubmission = formatting or referencing of submitted work is not appropriate. Returned to student to correct before work graded. Resubmission documents should be uploaded within 14 working days of graded assignments being returned. Grade Unsuccessful (1) Level of Assignment Serious misconduct e.g. cheating, plagiarism, unprofessional behaviour. If the quality is poor, guidance would be provided, with the intention to improve future assignments. What happens next If your tutor feels the submission still does not merit a pass after resubmission, then it will be graded as unsuccessful and returned to the student. * *Please note assignment marks do not count towards the final award of the Certificate. Therefore, a mark of unsuccessful will not prevent you from sitting the final assessment. However, you must complete all assignments to be allowed entry to the exam. • If you are required to resubmit any assignments, you will have 14 working days from the date the marked units were returned to you to amend & re-upload to your tutor for marking. • Please ensure you download the marked version of your work to save your tutor’s comments, as any further upload will override your original document. Note: Students should be aware that a numerical grade must be entered onto the Turnitin software to generate a grade. However, the numerical grade does not relate to the level of your work and is used purely to produce a grading via Moodle (i.e. "pass+” “pass", "resubmit" or "unsuccessful") Back to top

• Assignments MUST be word-processed (handwritten documents will not be accepted) • Your submissions should be formatted in report style (see example submission formatting doc for more details) • All questions for each individual outcome must be completed on ONE document only and then submitted using the relevant Turnitin upload. Font size and line spacing • Preferred font is Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman. Font size 12pt and 1.5 line spacing • Assignments MUST be spell checked prior to submission. o It is not appropriate to submit work that has not been checked. • The pages should be numbered – either in the footer or at the bottom right hand side of the page. Headers and Footers • The Students name, as well as the Unit and outcome details should be written in the page header or at the top left hand of each page. o Examples of preferred layout are included in Assignment Submission Guidelines in the Welcome & Introduction section Referencing • It is recommended that students paraphrase any sources or content used within their assignments as this better demonstrates knowledge and understanding. • However, if not possible to paraphrase then it is expected that any sources used or quoted must be clearly referenced in the body of the text and then listed in a bibliography o The preferred method of referencing is the Harvard system o For more information please see Referencing guide Please note if your work is not appropriately referenced then it will be returned to you to correct before your tutor grades it. This will be counted as one attempt. Back to top

• Feedback from previous students has suggested that the average study time is around 15 - 20 hours per week. However, this varies from student to student and unit to unit. It is not a requirement; it is entirely dependent on how you work best. • Approximate length of completion for the course is 18 months, including revision time and the final assessments (if completed to listed timescales). • The course is equivalent to 54 hours CPD credits + additional hours can be claimed for webinars. o 9 hours CPD per unit o Official certification will only be issued upon successful completion of the Certificate o You may complete more than 9 hours CPD per unit including your research and additional reading, therefore you should ensure you keep a note of any additional hours for your own CPD records. Back to top

If you do have any problems or queries regarding your assignments or any part of the course, there are plenty of places you can turn  these include: Extensions, general course queries, applications, payments etc Course Administrators Linda Grant / Carol O’Neill vncertecc@vets-now.com 01383 627624 Course Operations Manager Clare Maddy vncertecc@vets-now.com 01383 628721 Help with coursework or feedback Your tutor Remember your tutors are there to help you through the course & are happy to answer any questions you might have. You can message your tutor directly via Moodle, or raise a query in one of the discussion forums. General help or a chat with other students Discussion Forums Discussion forums are part of Moodle course and you would be expected to take part in these. You can raise queries or questions via the forums which will be visible to your tutors as well as other students on the intake. Head of Centre Clare Maddy Vets Now Ltd, Penguin House, Castle Riggs, Dunfermline, Fife, KY11 8SG Remember we are here to help, so however big or small, if you have a problem with any part of the course, please don’t struggle with it yourself just ask one of us and we will do our best to sort it out for you. Good luck and remember if you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to contact us  Back to top