Textiles courses

Guidelines for submission for formal assessment

Look at OCAs Student Support Guide Assessments and how to get qualified, available
to download from, OCAs student website: oca-student.com. This will tell you about the
assessment process. Also look out for videos and other tips on assessment that are
posted on weareoca.com. Look out for updates on these guidelines on
oca-student.com
Digital Submissions
Please note that all written work (tutor reports, learning logs and blogs do not have to be printed out, if they
are submitted digitally) submitted for assessment MUST be submitted digitally as well as printed out and
submitted on paper along with the rest of your submission. Digital work should be submitted to assessment@
oca-uk.com, clearly stating your name, student number, the course name and what the digital work attached
is (eg critical review, essay etc) This is a requirement and is to enable OCA to carry out plagiarism checks on
work, and a requirement of our validation with the University for the Creative Arts.
If you are submitting an entirely digital portfolio on CD or a USB stick, or entirely via a blog, only a sustained
piece of writing (such as an essay or critical review) needs to be sent to assessment@oca-uk.com as well as
printed out and submitted for assessment in hard copy.
If you are submitting work on a USB stick or a CD please ensure you check it thoroughly for viruses before
you send it in.

Presentation
Include a clear contents list with your assessment submission. All your work must be clearly labelled, stating
which assignment it relates to and with your name and student number on every item you submit. Where
there is a clear link between project work and your learning log, or blog, this should be clearly labelled or
cross referenced in some way.
Your work should be mounted on A1 or A2 sized card. (Thin card is fine, it does not have to be mounting
board). Pieces can be mounted individually or grouped with drawings or photographs. The professionalism of
your presentation is important and you will lose marks for poor presentation.
Students may consult with their tutor if they feel unsure about what to include in their submission based on
their strengths and weaknesses and also for guidance on presentation methods.

Your overall submission may not weigh more than 20 kg in total.

Any submission in excess of 20 kg will incur a surcharge for additional postage and admin.

Requirements at each level

Level one course (HE Level 4)
All five assignments of the course
Your preparatory work: including notes, samples and sketchbooks
Your learning log or blog url

Important note about Assignment one for level one courses.

Although Assignment one is not formally assessed component of the course, the assessors do want to see it,
so that they gain a comprehensive view of your development. So, if you are applying for formal assessment,
do send assignment one in with all the others.

Level two course (HE Level 5)

All six assignments of the course. The sixth assignment is the 2,000 word critical review on a textiles
artist or relevant movement. Although this should be submitted as a sixth assignment, you should be
working on this along side your other work (send both physical and digital copies)
Your preparatory work including notes, samples and sketchbooks
Your learning log or blog url

Level three course (HE Level 6)

Your sketchbooks, notebooks and learning log or blog url
Theoretical studies including a 3,500 word essay to support your research (send both physical and digital
copies)
A selection of work which you feel expresses and illustrates the quality and level that you have achieved
as a result of your personal research and practical work towards your chosen projects. Your submission
should include your methods and process of working through drawings and any other media you have
chosen to use in the development of these projects.
You must also submit copies of all your tutor report forms. If your tutor has annotated your written work,
then you must submit the annotated version of the written work as well as the final version.

Guidelines on submitting work to your tutor for review (not for assessment).
Package up your work from the section of the course you have completed. This should be sent in an A1
portfolio plus a box if necessary. Tutors are keen to see your sketchbooks but please do not submit more than
ONE sketchbook each time you send work to your tutor for review. This can be inserted into the portfolio when
you send it to your tutor. You should also include the relevant section of your learning log, unless you can
email this to your tutor. If you keep a learning blog, please provide the url to your tutor.
Please note that assignments sent to your tutor for review should weigh no more than 5 kg. This includes
the weight of the portfolio and sketchbook. If your work weighs more than this there will be a surcharge for
postage and administration to return your work.

Clarification on presentation of work when studying multiple courses

If you are studying more than one OCA course at the same time, you must ensure that your work on the
courses you are studying do not overlap in any way. You must keep separate learning logs, demonstrating
that the research you do is specifically for each of the courses. It is essential that when you present your work
for assessment that it is clear which work relates to which course. There must be a discrete set of work for each
course so that the assessors are clear what they are assessing.
Students cannot present the same piece of work for marks on two different units. However, if a students is
studying two units at the same time and doing general sketchbook work for example, to support both units,
this person can submit the sketchbooks for both units as evidence of background research.

About assessment at OCA

The assessment process involves your work being marked by one assessor and then moderated by another
assessor. The average amount of time spent reviewing each submission at assessment is 45 minutes, but this
may increase at level 3 (HE6).
The assessment process is validated by an external examiner who observes the assessment and reviews a
sample of the submissions.
The resulting marks are provisional. The marks are then confirmed by an exam board convened by the
validating university, UCA.