The Combined Assessment is undertaken by both the First and Second Reviewer in an online meeting or face-to-face. In most cases, these meetings will be conducted online using separate workstations with both reviewers logged in to TELAS. As the lead reviewer, the First Reviewer is responsible for entering scores for the Combined Assessment in consultation with the Second Reviewer during the online meeting.
- Self-Assessment reports: You will be emailed a copy of the institution’s Self-Assessment report if one has been submitted. You are asked to comment on any significant differences between your combined assessment results and those of the institution. Be sure to review the report before completing your combined assessment. Note that the institution’s self-assessment will have been conducted using a hard copy of the TELAS Framework.
- First and Second Reviewer roles: As the lead reviewer, it is the First Reviewer’s responsibility to enter combined assessment scores in consultation with the Second Reviewer. For this reason, the Second Reviewer has read-only access to the form during the combined assessment.
- Combined Assessment Form Layout: The combined assessment form has a similar layout to individual assessment forms. For your convenience, the form is pre-populated with all scores from your individual assessments. These scores are displayed side by side next to a new combined score selector which the First Reviewer must enter in consultation with the Second Reviewer. In addition, you both must also select an Overall score for each performance criteria. Where the Admin Reviewer has selected certain scores in their review, these will also be displayed but cannot be edited. View this example to see the form layout.
- Suggested workflow: From your dashboard, select Combined Reviews -> Assigned -> Course Title -> Combined Assessment to commence your assessment. Combined reviews are likely to be conducted using zoom or some other online meeting tool where the lead reviewer (First Reviewer) shares their screen with the Second Reviewer and together they scroll through the assessment form to select a combined reviewer score for each success indicator and an Overall score for each performance criteria. The First Reviewer must also enter any comments agreed to by both reviewers. As with individual assessments, the progress bar is displayed as you progress through the assessment, alerting you to any success indicators you may have missed.
- Combined reviewer comments: The combined assessment form is pre-populated with Admin Reviewer, First Reviewer and Second Reviewer comments and a blank combined review comments section to be used in the combined review. Combined reviewer comments are provided to the institution in their assessment report while earlier individual assessment comments are excluded from these reports. Please reference your comments with the success indicator number on which you are commenting and close each comment by using [space + space + enter] to create a new line for your next comment.
- Closing an assessment: On the final page of the assessment form you will see three options:
– Pending is selected in the event that the First and Second Reviewers fail to agree on one or more success indicators. Refer to the additional instructions below if you need to use pending in your combined review.
– Save is selected if the assessment is incomplete and a subsequent meeting is required to continue with the assessment.
– Mark Complete indicates you have completed the assessment. This option will only be available if all scores have been selected. If this option is selected, a Combined Assessment Summary Report will be generated showing your combined assessment scores and the level of eligibility for course accreditation. - Additional instructions regarding pending assessments: The course assessment Pending option is selected when the assessment is intentionally incomplete and must be referred to the TELAS Administrator because the First and Second Reviewers have failed to agree on the scores for one or more success indicators. If this happens, the First Reviewer must do three things prior to saving the assessment:
(1) Select Unmark for the success indicator(s) in question.
(2) Add a comment below the relevant Performance Criteria describing each reviewer’s different positions on the indicator(s).
(3) Select Pending to save and close the assessment which will then be referred to a third reviewer to finalize the review. - Summary Reports: Once a Combined Assessment is completed and saved, the First and Second Reviewers will find a Combined Assessment Summary Report in their respective dashboards under Combined Reviews -> Course Title -> Completed. The Summary Report is also emailed to the institution’s Course Submitter and this report signals the end of the course assessment process, with the exception of a Course Accreditation Certificate being issued. View a sample of the report here.