Welcome to the ARODS assignment module. In this video, you will learn how to manage assignments.
A coach’s primary responsibility is to capture evidence and map it to one or more outcomes for an apprenticeship standard.
A coach must create an assignment to do this within the ARODS environment. An assignment in ARODS terminology is setting your Learner a task to produce evidence. The assignment can be to write a personal statement, record a video recording, take a photograph or anything you like.
For this overview, I will select Learner Bob Johnson.
TRAINING PLANS & OUTCOMES
A training plan is like a task or to-do List. A training plan lists all the outcomes that need evidence.
The ARODS system comes preloaded with Standards KSBs, and your administration team uses these templates to create a basic training plan.
You’ll notice that in this apprenticeship, the training plan includes KSBs, projects, knowledge modules, functional skills, and EPA processes. If you’d like these extra outcomes added, please ask your administration team to add them.
Some standards have different pathways, and occasionally, you will need a training plan specifically for one Learner. ARODS caters for both of these scenarios. All you need to do is work with your administration team to create a training plan to meet each scenario.
The Coach is the expert in the delivery of an apprenticeship. The coach is responsible for ensuring that the training plan meets their needs and that the correct training plan is added to the Learner.
Please note: You can only map uploaded evidence if an outcome is in the training plan.
ASSIGNMENTS SCREEN WALKTHROUGH
OK, let’s begin our walkthrough of the assignment screen.
The ‘open and close all’ feature will open or close the outcomes groups of the apprenticeship.
We have added a filter dropdown. Here, you can select to display only the outcome statuses you are interested in. After selecting a filter, I can click the Export button and output a PDF of the filtered items. The PDF can be distributed to whoever you want.
There is an export to zip file option. This enables you to download the evidence files for offline viewing.
This dropdown lets you quickly navigate to the assignment screen of other learners assigned to you and completing the same apprenticeship.
For each outcome group, we have added a progress bar. Hover over the colours to see the progress percentage for that specific group of outcomes. Blue is evidence awaiting assessment, Green is outcomes completed, amber is outcomes in progress, red is overdue outcomes, and clear is outcomes yet to be evidenced. This colour coding is used throughout the assignments module.
To the right of the progress bar is another breakdown of the outcomes within an outcome group.
CREATING AN ASSIGNMENT
Assignments aim to task your Learners to produce evidence that meets one or more outcome criteria.
To create an assignment, the first thing to do is select the outcomes. After selecting one or more outcomes, click the Create Assignment button. Then, enter the target completion date and instructions and add links or upload any resources. Then click Save to create the assignment.
We have added the assignment number to the end of each outcome. These assignment numbers are colour-coded, as explained earlier. To navigate easily around the screen, click on the assignment number, and the screen will scroll down to the assignment details.
Occasionally, you may have more than one piece of evidence suitable for an outcome, and you may want to keep that evidence and decide later which evidence is best used for EPA.
Given this scenario, you must create another assignment mapped to the outcome. Then, immediately upload the second file to the assignment.
Please note: ARODS allows you to create up to 3 assignments for each outcome. Once three assignments have been created for an outcome, ARODS will prevent you from creating more assignments.
Also, two of these assignments must be removed from an outcome before EPA processing. To remove an assignment from an outcome, delete it if it contains only one outcome. If it contains multiple outcomes, delete the outcome from the assignment.
MANAGING ASSIGNMENTS
So, let’s look at the assignments area of the screen.
If you want to pass the assignment to other learners in your group, select the assignment, select one or more learners from this dropdown and then click Assign To Learner.
Please note. Only the assignment target date, description, outcomes and any attached uploads will be copied to the selected Learners. Evidence will not be copied over.
There may be occasions when you have evidence that you want to map to multiple assignments. To do this, select one or more assignments and click Map Evidence. Enter the evidence description, web link, or evidence files. Then click Save. The evidence will appear within each of the selected assignments.
Select one or more assignments and click Delete Assignment to delete one or multiple assignments.
You can sort the assignment list by date.
You can display assignments by status.
You can display assignments for a specific Coach.
Assignments tab bars are colour-coded, as explained earlier.
Up to three coaches can be assigned to a learner. Each of the three coaches can create assignments and view all assignments for a learner. However, a coach can not modify another coach’s assignments.
You may have seen a situation where a coach has managed to get a learner through an 18-month apprenticeship, only to find out that the Functional skills coach still needs to do their job!
The primary coach is responsible for ensuring this scenario does not happen. If another coach created an assignment that is ‘long’ overdue, as a primary coach, you are expected to contact the coach or Learner and figure out the reason.
Use the alt, and n keys, to display the notes popup and note your conversation with the Coach, Learner or line manager and what was agreed about resolving the overdue status. Click Email All Notes or Email This Note to send all or one note directly to the coach, Learner or line manager.
ARODS provides one place to communicate with key players in a Learners apprenticeship journey.. This will be very useful if things go wrong, and you are asked to explain why.
MANAGING EVIDENCE
Typically, your Learners will upload evidence to an assignment you created mapped to one or more outcomes. However, there will be occasions when a learner produces evidence and wants to send it to the coach for assessment. A Learner is not a qualified Assessor and may not know which specific outcome the evidence can be mapped to. For this reason, ARODS allows a Learner to create an assignment without first selecting outcomes. When the evidence is uploaded, coaches will be notified by email. Assignments containing uploaded evidence that has not been assessed will be coloured blue.
Note: A coach can not change the evidence status or upload evidence to assignments created by another coach. A coach can not change the status of or upload evidence to assignments created by a Learner for another coach.
Uploading Evidence
In this example, we will upload evidence to an assignment mapped to an outcome.
To upload evidence, click on the assignment bar to expand it.
Click on the Add Evidence icon and enter the evidence description. This description must make sense to you and the EPA at the end of the apprenticeship. So write as much detail as you can.
Add the evidence URL or upload the evidence file. You can upload more than one URL and evidence file. Now, click Save, and the evidence is uploaded. The evidence status is automatically set to ‘Awaiting Assessment’, and the assignment bar turns blue.
Please Note: There are file type and size limitations to uploads. Speak to your administration team if you reach limits. We recommend you store large files in Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud or similar free services. Then, add the URL as a link to ARODS.
Assessing Evidence
If you want to assess the evidence you upload later, there is nothing more to do. However, you may have already assessed the evidence. So, set the evidence status as required and provide the Learner with the appropriate feedback.
In this example, the Learner uploaded evidence to an assignment a coach created. The assignment was mapped to an Outcome, so all the coach needs to do is check the evidence to see if it meets the outcome criteria.
In this example, the Learner uploaded evidence to an assignment they created, and they did not map it to any outcomes. The coach must assess the evidence and decide which outcomes should be mapped.
To add outcomes, click the Add Outcomes icon. Select one or more outcomes from the popup and click Save. Then, the coach must set the appropriate evidence status and send feedback to the Learner.
In addition to improving the Learner’s understanding of their performance, providing feedback is mandatory. OFSTED will look for this during an inspection, so never forget to do it.
Please Note: ARODS has an automated solution
Assessing Evidence
If you want to assess the evidence you upload later, there is nothing more to do. However, you may have already assessed the evidence. So, set the evidence status as required and provide the Learner with the appropriate feedback.
In this example, the Learner uploaded evidence to an assignment a coach created. The assignment was mapped to an Outcome, so all the coach needs to do is check the evidence to see if it meets the outcome criteria.
In this example, the Learner uploaded evidence to an assignment they created, and they did not map it to any outcomes. The coach must assess the evidence and decide which outcomes should be mapped.
To add outcomes, click the Add Outcomes icon. Select one or more outcomes from the popup and click Save. Then, set the appropriate evidence status and send feedback to the Learner.
In addition to improving the Learner’s understanding of their performance, providing feedback is mandatory. OFSTED will look for this during an inspection, so never forget to do it.
Please Note: ARODS has an automated solution for extracting evidence for EPA. You must make sure you mark evidence with the correct status.
Evidence Status Explanation
Approved:
When all evidence within an assignment is marked approved, all the outcomes will automatically be marked approved. The assignment will turn green.
Awaiting Assessment:
This means you or your Learner have uploaded evidence. The assignment will automatically turn blue when evidence is uploaded.
In Progress:
When creating an assignment, the status will automatically be set to ‘in progress.’ The assignment will be coloured amber.
Awaiting More Evidence:
The assignment will be coloured amber. This means you have assessed the evidence and asked the Learner to upload more evidence in your feedback. When the additional evidence is uploaded, and assuming it meets the criteria, you can mark it and this evidence as ‘Approved’.
Amendment Required:
This means that you have assessed the evidence and have asked the Learner to make amendments to the evidence. Perhaps the Learner uploaded a personal statement containing spelling or grammatical errors. So, given this scenario, you set the status to ‘amendment required’, and in your feedback, you ask the Learner to amend the evidence and explain why. If the assessed evidence contains annotation or feedback, you can upload it in your feedback.
Superseded Version:
The assignment will be coloured amber. In the scenario I described in the previous status, we asked for a new evidence version. When the Learner uploads the latest version, the original version is no longer required. However, when inspecting, OFSTED will want to see your feedback and proof that the Learner is improving their skills and being stretched. For this reason, you need to mark the old version of the evidence as ‘Superseded’. ARODS will now keep the old version but not select it for EPA.
The colour codes and status settings are a simple but effective way to work out precisely the status of a learner’s portfolio. It is essential that you fully understand how to use them. It will drastically reduce the administration effort required to monitor Learner progress.
Outcome Status
Now, let’s look at how the evidence status interacts with the outcome status. There are four possible scenarios when assessing and providing feedback.
Scenario one:
The evidence meets all the outcomes and the criteria listed in the assignment. In this scenario, you only need to mark the evidence as approved. Once all evidence is approved, all outcomes will automatically be marked as approved, and the assignment bar will turn green. Make sure you provide your Learner with feedback.
Scenario two:
The evidence meets all the outcome criteria listed in the assignment. It also meets the criteria of one or more outcomes not mapped to this assignment. In this scenario, you need to click the Add Outcomes icon, select one or more outcomes from the popup and click SAVE. The selected outcomes will be added to the assignment. Now mark the evidence as approved. The outcomes will automatically be marked as approved, and the assignment bar will turn green. Make sure you provide your Learner with feedback.
Scenario three:
The evidence meets only some of the listed outcomes’ criteria, and you want the Learner to upload more evidence. In this scenario, you have two options.
The first option is to delete the outstanding outcomes from this assignment and create a new assignment for them later.
A second option is to mark the completed outcomes as approved and mark the evidence record as ‘awaiting more evidence’. Then, send the learner feedback, asking them to upload evidence to meet the outcomes marked ‘in progress’.
Assuming the newly uploaded evidence is good, you can mark it and the previous evidence as ‘approved’. The assignment bar will turn green.
Scenario four:
The evidence meets the criteria of only some outcomes, but the existing evidence can be enhanced to meet all outcomes. In this scenario, mark those outcomes as approved and the evidence as ‘amendment required’. Then, send the learner feedback asking for the evidence to be enhanced to meet the outstanding outcomes. If the evidence contains feedback, for example, a Word document or annotated image, upload it in your feedback.
When the enhanced evidence is uploaded, you mark the status of the first version of the evidence as “superseded”, and assuming the new version meets all outcomes, you can mark it as approved, and the assignment bar will turn green.
FEEDBACK
The feedback module provides a fully loaded text editor. It has most of the Microsoft Word-like editing capabilities. You can insert images and links to video files. You can also upload files one at a time. If you have multiple files to upload, zip them first. There is another video that explains in detail how to use the text editor.
Please Note: There are file type and size limitations to uploads. Speak to your administration team if you reach limits. We recommend you store large files in Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud or similar free services. Then, add the URL as a link to the editor. If you choose this option, make sure the files are accessible to Learners, EPA or any other person who will want access to the files.
