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Staff Guidance

The purpose of this module is to allow students to be able to submit feedback in relation to their university course to their Student Union and Reps. This could include feedback on lectures, concerns over a lack of resources or requests for additional support.

Feedback can be submitted by Students via their Student Dashboard and the SU App. All feedback is submitted for staff to review and approve initially, which can then be assigned to i.e. a School Rep (Rep 1).

From here, Rep 1 can then comment on the feedback and also reassign the feedback to i.e. a Course Rep (Rep 2) if they wish via the Rep Dashboard.

This document provides guidance on how Staff can use this module to review, approve and assign submissions.

Please Note: Coursemate must be turned on via ‘Settings’ to ensure it is available to members via the Student Dashboard. See the ‘System Configuration and Permissions’ guide for further guidance.

Coursemate Dashboard

Within the ‘Coursemate’ module you will have a main Dashboard from which you can access all Coursemate feedback, and view how many submissions are sat within each stage of the process:

  • New – brand-new feedback that has been submitted and not yet reviewed.
  • In Progress – feedback that has been approved.
  • Complete – feedback that has been marked as complete by staff.

More…

  • Outstanding Comments – feedback where a Rep has submitted a new comment for review.
  • Pending Action – feedback that has been assigned to Rep 1 but not yet commented on and/or assigned to Rep 2, or feedback that have been assigned to Rep 2 and not yet commented on.
  • Declined – all feedback that has been declined.
  • All – all feedback at all stages.
  • Archived – all archived feedback.

The ‘Moderation’ section will show additional information regarding:

  • Comments to Approve – a list of feedback for which new comments have been submitted and by which Rep;
  • Pending Actions – a list of feedback that has been assigned to a Rep and not yet been commented on and/or reassigned.

You will also be shown several statistics reporting on the number of submissions you have within each stage:

  • New Submissions;
  • Submissions in progress;
  • Completed submissions;
  • Declined submissions;
  • Archived submissions;
  • Total submissions this year.

‘New’ Coursemate Feedback

To access new Coursemate submissions, select the ‘New’ section within the Coursemate Dashboard. All new feedback and their details will be listed, including:

  • Title of the feedback;
  • Student name;
  • Student ID;
  • Date of submission;
  • Year of study;
  • School name.

How do I review a new Coursemate submission?

  1. Click the ‘View’ button to view the feedback – at the top of the page you will see:
    1. The title of the feedback;
    2. The status of the feedback will be shown underneath the title, such as ‘Rep 1 Assigned’;
    3. The student that submitted the feedback;
    4. The date of submission;
    5. Their college, school, course and year of study;
  2. Scroll down to view the ‘Submission Content’ (the feedback that the student has added as part of their submission).

How can I modify the content of a submission prior to approval?

  1. When you go to view the feedback, scroll down to the ‘Submission Content’ section;
  2. Click ‘Amend Content’ to modify the information if required (i.e. if you need to remove any names mentioned for GDPR purposes);
  3. Click ‘Save’ to update the details;
  4. If you do not click ‘Save’, any changes that have been made will not be updated if the page is refreshed or the feedback subsequently approved.

Please Note: Content cannot be modified once it has been approved or declined, so ensure it is correct before making a decision.

Approving and Declining Submissions

Once you have reviewed and modified a submission where required, you will be able to approve or decline:

  1. Approve:

    1. Approving will allow you to subsequently assign the feedback to a Rep (Rep 1) to progress it onto the next stage;
    2. You will be able to leave additional information for staff to view (this will not be included within the email received by the student);
    3. The feedback will move to the ‘In Progress’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard.

Please note: the member will not receive an email upon approval of their submission until it has been assigned to Rep 1.

  1. Decline:

    1. Declined submissions will appear within the ‘Declined’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard;
    2. They can then be archived if required;
    3. You will have the option to add any additional information when declining the feedback, which will be included within the auto-email sent to the student.

Once you have approved or declined a submission, a box will show underneath the ‘Submission Content’ confirming:

  • The decision that was made;
  • When the feedback was approved/declined;
  • The member of staff who made the decision;
  • You can click into the status to view any additional information that may have been left.

This information will remain within the submission throughout the process, including if/when the feedback is completed or archived to allow staff to return and review its history.

How do I assign feedback to the Rep 1?

  1. Once you have approved a submission, scroll down to the ‘Rep Assign’ section of the page and select the role of the relevant Rep;
  2. Start typing the name of the Rep you want to assign the feedback to and select them from the dropdown menu;
  3. Add any additional information you wish to include for your Rep within the box entitled ‘Leave Feedback for Rep’;
  4. Once you are happy with your comments, click ‘Assign’ to assign the submission to your chosen Rep.

Once you have assigned the feedback to a Rep, this will be confirmed in the following sections of the page:

  • The status of the submission at the top of the page will be updated to confirm that it has been assigned to a Rep;
  • The name of the Rep will be confirmed under ‘Current Rep’ within the ‘Rep Assign’ section;
  • In a blue box under the ‘Rep Assign’ section, confirming the name of the Rep and when it was assigned (as with approval, you can then click into this box to confirm any feedback that was left when the submission was assigned).

An email will then be sent to:

  • The student who submitted the feedback, confirming that it has been approved and to which Rep it has been assigned;
  • The relevant Rep, confirming that a submission has been assigned to them for review.

‘In Progress’ Submissions

The ‘In Progress’ section of the Dashboard will list all submissions that have been approved and their primary details, plus:

  • Date it was last updated by staff;
  • Whether the feedback has been assigned to Rep 1 and/or Rep 2;
  • Date it was last updated by a Rep.

You will be able to ‘View’ the details of the submissions, as well as ‘Archive’ any if required.

What options does Rep 1 have once a submission has been assigned to them?

Once a submission has been assigned to Rep 1 (i.e. the relevant School Rep), they will be able to view the feedback via their Rep Dashboard and:

  • Comment on the feedback for staff review and approval;
  • Reassign to Rep 2 (i.e. a Course Rep) if they wish.

If a Rep has reassigned a submission, the details of the new Rep (Rep 2) can be found when you view the feedback within the ‘In Progress’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard.

Guidance for Reps on how they can review and assign their submissions can be found within the ‘Rep Guidance’ documentation.

Can I reassign a submission to a different Rep?

You can reassign a submission to another Rep at any time. The ‘Rep Assign’ section will be available at all times, from approval to final completion, for you to select an alternative Rep if required. You can change the Rep role you require and select the relevant Rep to which you wish to reassign the submission.

You will also be able to leave additional information whenever you may need to reassign to another Rep, such as why it has been reassigned.

All Reps that you assign feedback to will be able to reassign the submission to another Rep if required.

Please note: Reassigning a submission to an alternative Rep will remove access to the feedback from any pre-existing assigned Reps.

Can I send reminder emails to Reps to review feedback that they have been assigned?

If you wish to send emails to Reps reminding them to review a submission, you can set this within ‘Settings’ in System Configuration.

You can also confirm after how many days you would like this to be sent.

Please see the ‘System Configuration and Permissions’ guidance for further information.

Assistance

Within ‘Settings’ under System Configuration you can also confirm whether or not you would like a ‘Help Me’ button available on the Rep Dashboard for Reps to request assistance.

If selected, an auto-email will be sent to:

  • The Student Union (if selected by Rep 1 (the email you wish this to be sent to can also be confirmed within ‘Settings’));
  • Rep 1 (if selected by Rep 2).

Will all Reps be able to review and resolve feedback via the Rep Dashboard?

You can determine which Reps are able to review Coursemate submissions via the ‘Representation’ module.

  1. Navigate to the ‘Reps’ section of the Representation module;
  2. Select ‘Rep Roles’ from the top of the page;
  3. When you create/modify a Rep role, select the ‘Coursemate Rep’ tick box to allow all Reps within that role to be assigned feedback and access the ‘Coursemate’ section of the Rep Dashboard.

This can be modified at any time to grant and revoke access to this area of the Rep Dashboard and allow additional Rep roles to review Coursemate feedback.

Reviewing Comments

Reps can leave comments on feedback via their Rep Dashboard, either to give an update on their progress, or to provide further information once they have resolved a submission.

If a Rep leaves a comment, that submission can be found within the ‘Outstanding Comments’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard, which will list all submissions that have a new comment and their primary details, plus:

  • Number of outstanding comments;
  • Date the submission was last updated/worked on.

How can I review any comments submitted by a Rep?

Click ‘View’ to enter the submission and scroll down to the ‘Comments’ section.

Any outstanding comments will be shown and will confirm:

  • Who the comment was left by;
  • When it was submitted;
  • Whether or not the submission has also been marked as complete.

From here, you will be able to:

  1. Decline the comment:

    1. Declining the comment and/or completion will allow you to provide feedback as to why it has not been approved;
    2. The Rep in question will receive an email confirming that their comment has been declined along with the feedback provided by the relevant member of staff.

  2. Approve/Amend the comment:

    1. You will be able to amend the comment before approval if required;
    2. The Rep in question will receive an email confirming that their comment has been approved;
    3. The student who submitted the feedback will also receive an email confirming that a new comment has been added to their feedback and will be able to view this via their Student Dashboard.

Please note: Approving a Rep’s comment where they have also marked it as complete will not automatically complete it via the SUMS Dashboard. This must be done separately; please see below under ‘When can I complete a submission?’

Can I auto-approve comments without requiring review?

A setting is available that will allow auto-approval of comments submitted by Reps.

Students will therefore automatically be able to see all comments that have been submitted by their Rep.

Please see the ‘System Configuration and Permissions’ guidance for further information.

Please note: Auto-approval of a Rep’s comment where they have also marked it as complete will not automatically complete it via the SUMS Dashboard. This must be done separately; please see below under ‘When can I complete a submission?’

When can I complete a submission?

As soon as a submission has been approved, staff have full control over when it can be marked as complete via the SUMS Dashboard.

A ‘Mark as Complete’ button will appear at the bottom of the submission as soon as it has been approved, which can be selected whether or not the assigned Rep has marked it as complete via their Rep Dashboard.

Submissions can also be marked as complete even if it has not been assigned to any Reps, or there are outstanding Rep comments that have not yet been approved or declined.

Staff can leave internal feedback when marking a submission as complete if needed, which will be shown within the completed submission if it is viewed at a later date.

As soon as a submission has been marked as complete via SUMS, it will appear in the ‘Completed’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard.

The submission will also push through to the ‘Completed’ tab within both the Rep and Student Dashboards.

‘Completed’ Submission

To access submissions that have been completed, select the ‘Completed’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard, which will list the primary details of all feedback that has been completed via the SUMS Dashboard, plus:

  • Date the submission was marked as complete by a Rep;
  • Date the submission was marked as complete by a member of staff.

You will be able to ‘View’ the details of the submissions, as well as ‘Archive’ any if you need.

Archiving Submissions

You can archive all:

  • Completed submissions;
  • Declined submissions;
  • Submissions in progress.

The only feedback that cannot be archived are new submissions that have not yet been approved or declined.

Navigate to the ‘Completed’/’In Progress’/’Declined’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard and click ‘Archive’ alongside the relevant submission.

All archived feedback can be found within the ‘Archived’ section of the Coursemate Dashboard.

Please note: Any archived feedback cannot be viewed via the Student or Rep Dashboards, including completed feedback.

Created on 21st June 2022