Background
This document is intended as a supporting document to the University’s DLP Minimum Standards and Expectations Policy (20-21 update) and to provide further guidance to Swansea University’s academic and administrative staff delivering or supporting content either in Welsh or bilingually.
The aim of these guidelines is to outline clearly the expectations for content on the DLP to support the student’s language choice of study. HEFCW and the Coleg Cymraeg measures the activity of students in Welsh by credits, with 5 credits, 40 credits and 80 credits of a degree used as target thresholds. This document aims to ensure students receive a parity of experience when studying in Welsh across the disciplines and that their working environment within the DLP is sufficiently provided in Welsh or bilingually to match their chosen language of study.
All Core Principles and guidelines provided by the University’s current DLP Minimum Standards and Expectations Policy will apply to those teaching and studying in Welsh, with the following providing greater detail on expectations. Swansea University’s current DLP provider is Canvas and these guidelines address the terminology or facilities available via this particular DLP.
The following table outlines the various modes of delivery according to language that are available within the provision offered at Swansea. The provision ranges from modules taught wholly in Welsh through to those that are predominantly taught in English with some support available in Welsh. Module co-ordinators are invited to consider the guidelines that are most appropriate for the type of delivery for each of their modules.
Further guidelines are outlined below on preparing various course elements to support students learning in Welsh:
|
Course Element |
Further information |
Responsible |
|
DLP Interface Language |
There is Canvas guidance on how to set the language preference of a course here: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-change-the-language-preference-in- my-user-account-as-a/ta-p/436 However, if a staff member sets a language preference for their course it overrides the language preference of the user. It is therefore advised in most cases for modules taught bilingually that the module coordinator should not set the language preference and to leave it as “Not set (user configurable defaults to English UK)”. This will enable students to choose their interface language. Further guidelines here: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-change-the- language-preference-for-a-course/ta-p/1246 |
Module Co-ordinator |
|
Cross-listing modules on DLP (parent/child) |
Cross-listing courses enable a module coordinator to post content in one shell which then reaches more than one cohort of students registered to particular module codes. Whilst this enables module co-ordinators to ensure the same access to materials for all students, brings cohorts together to share a teaching experience and eases staff workload to a degree, it is important that the student experience of all remains a key consideration and that the use of one language does not over-ride the other. Requests for courses to be cross-listed should be made via a service desk ticket as soon as course shells are available to the member of staff on Canvas, and prior to any content being created within the shells. Cross-listing should be done while courses are unpublished. Coursework is retained with the course, not with the section enrolments, so if a published course is cross-listed, all cross-listed enrolments will lose any associated assignment submissions and grades. |
Module Co-ordinator |
|
Canvas Course Overview |
Module/course information including synopsis, syllabus, delivery, contact, hours and learning outcomes needs to link to the module catalogue (SITS) via the course overview page. To enable the information to appear in Welsh on Canvas, the information needs to be in Welsh on SITS. |
Module Co-ordinator |
|
Team Taught Modules |
All modules that are team taught and are not 100% taught in Welsh should list the module contributors, and in particular the member of staff who will be the contact for those students studying in Welsh. The teaching team is encouraged to include a short video of each member in order to introduce themselves, the topics they’ll be teaching on the course, and their research interests. These should be done in Welsh or bilingually by staff who are teaching in Welsh on a course. |
Module Co-ordinator & Lecturer(s) |
|
Assessment in Welsh |
A separate area within Course Overview should be created to outline clearly in both Welsh and English what the assessment requirements are. The statement should also make clear to students that they can submit in either Welsh or English and provide information on the process involved in informing the department of their choice. Further details of the procedure are available: https://myuni.swansea.ac.uk/academic-life/academic-regulations/assessment-and- progress/assessment-in-welsh-another-language/ Any assignment questions, instructions or guidelines, or marking matrix etc for each assessment component should be available in both Welsh and English. Quizzes requiring free text answers should be set separately in Welsh and English whereas quizzes with multiple choice answers can be set bilingually with questions and answers provided in both languages simultaneously. Module co-ordinators should take care not to set prerequisites for students to complete a quiz in one language which might prevent progression on the test if it isn’t completed in the other language also. SALT can advise on settings to avoid this situation. |
Module Co-ordinator |
|
Canvas Discussion Boards |
Whilst discussion boards are there to enable students to engage with their module content, their lecturers or fellow students in their language of choice, module co-ordinators and lecturers should consider how best to promote posting in either or both languages by users. |
Module Co-ordinator |
|
Library Guides |
Module contributors should ensure relevant Welsh-medium sources are included in the library guides. Signposting and directions for accessing relevant resources on Y Porth (the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol’s national Welsh-language Digital Learning Platform) should be included. Bear in mind that there will be resources available in Welsh on Y Porth for students to access even though a particular topic or course might not be taught in Welsh. |
Module Co-ordinator & Lecturer(s) |
|
Accessibility |
Making your resources accessible for some, in particular those with specific learning difficulties and/or disabilities, improves accessibility for all and will reduce the number of individual adjustments you need to make. By following the guidance below you can start making reasonable adjustments to the teaching and learning materials you provide to students, regardless of language choice, before a specific need arises. Please use the University’s Guide to Accessibility for Teaching and Learning Resources created by SAILS. |
Module Co-ordinator & Lecturer(s) |
|
Turnitin |
Instructions on how to submit each assessment component via Turnitin should be made available in both languages on the Canvas site when the module is delivered bilingually, and in Welsh only when the module is 100% taught in Welsh. |
Faculty Assessment teams/Module Co-ordinator |
|
Module registration |
Programmes should ensure that the students are registered on the correct module code according to language choice. The University cannot accurately reflect its students’ learning experience in Welsh through HESA data if the student is not registered on a module code which records Welsh-language content. Please make sure that students who are studying in Welsh are not registered on the English- language version of the module as they will then be invisible to our data collection. |
Faculty student support teams/ Module Co-ordinator |
