An assessment_instance is any learning activity in a module, for which a student receives a grade and/or mark. The assumption is that grades and/or marks in assessment_instances are summative.
A course is a learning opportunity that defines a student's learning activities and aim. It is run by an institution and is usually validated to continue over several years with several intakes. A course will usually have a qualification aim. Example: BA Honours degree in French.
The properties of the course entity do not include start date, study mode or location, because the course is at a high level in the UDD structure. These properties of a learning opportunity are differentiated in the course_instance, student_course_membership and student_on_course_instance entities.
A course_instance is a stage of a course with a start date and an end date, often marked by a progression decision point at the end. Example: a single academic year in a 3 year Honours degree course.
An institution is the overall provider of one or more courses. Example: University of Gloucestershire.
A module is a self-contained, formally structured unit of study, with a coherent and explicit set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria.
This description is the same as the description for the Module entity in the HEDIIP Data Language.
A module_instance is the specific offer of a module to students. It therefore has a specific venue and defined assessments.
A module_VLE_map links a module in a student record system with module materials in a VLE.
A period describes an institution's official start date and end date of time slices, such as academic years, terms and semesters.
A staff element identifies a member of staff at an institution.
A staff_on_course_instance links a member of staff to a course_instance.
A staff_on_mod_instance links a member of staff to a module_instance.
A student element describes a person undertaking one or more courses.
A student_course_membership describes a student's enrolment on a course. It is designed to handle, not only a student enrolling on a single course in their time at an institution, but also with cases where a student is enrolled on more than one course, to study either two or more courses simultaneously or one after the other.
The student_course_membership entity carries critical data about the student's current studies and also acts as a historical record of course changes and previous studies. For this reason, the WITHDRAWAL_REASON code and COURSE_END_DATE must be set when a student changes course, and typically the ACTIVE_MEMBERSHIP property is updated.
This entity is similar to a HESA Instance element and a HEDIIP Data Language Student Registration entity.
A student_on_a_module_instance describes a student's performance on a specific module.
This entity is similar to a HESA StudentOnModule element or a HEDIIP Module Instance entity.
A student_on_assessment_instance describes a student's performance on a specific assessment.
A student_on_course_instance describes a student's engagement with a specific stage of a course.
This entity has some similarities to a HESA Instance element, but deals with only a single academic year or stage without reference to the whole course, which is covered in student_course_membership. It is similar to a HEDIIP Data Language Student Course Session entity.