Page | 1 Frequently Asked Questions on Assignment Course: 2806ICT – IT Services Management (ITSM) Assignment / Report 1. Where can I find materials / files related to the Assignment/Report? Ans: All the materials are available in the Assessment menu (located on the left hand side of your course website). Go down the page and you will see the files under "Major Assignment (50%) files". 2. What are the main two parts of the report? Ans: The report or your assignment submission will have two main parts:  Part A: Case study (ITIL at Celanese, worth 30% marks), and  Part B: Reflective learning journal (worth 20% marks). So, the total weight of the Assignment/Report is 50% of your final grade. 3. What is the word limit of the report? Ans: Your entire report should be no more than 4,000 +/- 10% words, excluding all materials and sections such as appendices and references. You can’t write 2,500 words or 5,200 words. It’s up to you to decide how you allocate the words, but be guided by the marking criteria; and that the case study (Celanese) section is worth 30%, and the reflective learning journal is worth 20%. So write more about Celanese. 4. Where/how should I write my report? Ans: All students must adhere to the report guideline provided into the template file (2806ICT_ITSM report template.doc). It is important that your work is presented in a professional fashion. Make sure that you correct spelling and grammar of your report and it is proof-read and contains no typos, is referenced appropriately, your tables and figures are named correctly, etc. By adhering to the template, you also help the markers tremendously in reducing our workload by understanding and following your written arguments. We thank you very much for your cooperation and look forward to receiving a professionally presented report! 5. Will there be a mark deduction if I do not adhere to the report template? Ans: Yes, marks will be deducted (up to 5 marks) if you submit an unsatisfactory report which does not follow the guideline provided into the template file. 6. What I should NOT do in the report? Ans: As discussed, you should follow the guideline in the template. Some of the things you should NOT do include:  No cover sheet,  No table of content page,  No separate submission for reflective journal and case study parts of the report,  No late submissions,  No more than 1 submission per student, Page | 2  No report submission into the weekly assessment page under "Submit Learning Journal" menu. 7. What I should DO in the report? Ans: As discussed, you should follow the guideline in the template. Some of the things you should DO include:  Start writing the report from NOW,  Follow the guideline in the report template,  Write all two parts of the report into one file,  Submit file as a Word file,  Submit before the due date and time. 8. What will be the format of the file name report? Ans: Coursecode_Tutorname_Student-number_Your-firstname_familyname_ITSMassignment. doc 9. Is there a draft report due before the final submission? Ans: Yes, a draft is due in Week 8 in person in the Workshop/Lab. You have started in week 6, so there will be no time extensions if you do not or cannot submit on time. Show your printed draft report to your tutor in Week 8 for feed-forward. Note: we cannot read your entire report in workshops due to time restrictions, but are happy to answer any questions you have about the content and the presentation of your material. 10. How should I submit my report? Ans: The submission link will be available around Week 10 on the course website under Assessment menu. The detail will be posted and informed once the link is available. 11. What is the due date of the final report submission? Ans: Week 11, 21 May Sunday 11:00 PM. 12. We have been asked to submit a single document using the template file. Now in the same file should these two parts (Case Study & Reflective Journal) be put together or separate? [New] Ans: Yes, the two parts (Case Study and Reflective Journal) will be in the same document, but put one after another separately, e.g., first write your Case Study Part and then, write your Reflective Journal part. Once you finish everything about the case study, start your Reflective Learning Journal on the next page. 13. A draft is due in Week 8, although the full assignment is due in Week 11. How much should we finish for the draft in Week 8? [New] Ans: Yes, you are required to show a draft in Week 8 and it should be half way done. The content should be according to the requirements mentioned in the documents provided in Assessment menu at L@G. If you do so, your tutor will record a Satisfactory (S) draft submission against your name. Otherwise, your draft will be considered either Not Submitted (NS, you do not submit) or Unsatisfactory (US). Unsatisfactory submission means:  You haven’t completed over half of your report, or Page | 3  Your draft contains an inauthentic learning reflection, or  It does not use the report template as requested. Remember, just because you print or show a word document about ‘something’ doesn’t mean it is sufficient and acceptable. Part A: Case Study 1. Where can I find questions for the case study? Ans: See “2806ICT_ITSM report & learning journal assignment 2017.docx” file, which can be downloaded from the Assessment page. 2. Do I need to use the same ITIL/ITSM tool for the assignment as the trial version that I used in Weeks 3 & 5 has expired? [New] Ans: Yes, definitely if your earlier version has expired, you can use a new ITSM tool for your assignment. Please note that many of ITSM tools offer you to have online access, so you do not have to download. You can use any device to access your online version. Some of them even can be used for an unlimited time as long as you log in to the tool once a week or so. Thus, you better choose one that fits for your purpose & use (VALUE!). 3. Some answers to case study part are too long, for example, the service level agreement (SLA). In order to accommodate the whole report in 3,000-4,000 words, can I put the SLA in an appendix as the number count does not include materials in appendix and reference sections? [New] Ans: No, you cannot. Markers may overlook anything in your Appendix. So, everything that is for marking should be within the main body of the report (Introduction to Conclusion). However, in order to accommodate your report within the given word limit, you can decide how much you like to write for the SLA part (say, depending on the mark allocated for it). So, you can write a short/summary of the SLA in the main body of the report (this will be marked), but put the full SLA in the Appendix. The full SLA, although may be overlooked by the marker, but important to show that you have done a full SLA on the case study. 4. I am in your ITSM course. I was wondering if what we are learning in Week 11 "IT/Business alignment" is required for the assignment as the advice section talks about this same topic. [New] Ans: Remember that the whole course is about IT/Business alignment and you need to foreground this in your Assignment/Report. Alignment is the purpose of ITSM and frameworks like ITIL. So, of course the assignment advice to the CIO is about how to achieve IT/Business alignment using ITIL, and you must advise on this. Page | 4 Week 11 is about research studies studying this claim of alignment (is there evidence for it, etc.), but you do not need to cite the research in your Assignment/Report. Part B: Reflective Learning Journal 1. What is Reflective Learning Journal? Ans: Reflective Learning Journal is a piece of writing which allows students to record thoughts and insights about their own learning experience. It encourages students to review and consolidate learning, to evaluate performance, to plan future learning based on past learning experience. The meaning of the word “reflection” means writing something that becomes very meaningful and fruitful in the process of learning. Thus, reflect on your process of learning. Record any observations, experience, thoughts and insights that are significant to you as a learner, or even as a person. 2. What are two types of reflective learning journal? Ans: A reflective learning journal can be structured with guiding questions (see the Prompt Questions Bank) or unstructured, in which students are asked to write about anything related to the assessment item or to their learning. An over-structured journal prevents reflective thinking, while an overly unstructured one might not encourage reflection to be made either. For more information see “2806ICT_ITSM reflective learning journal _student guide.doc”, which can be downloaded from the Assessment page. You can also search in Google with “reflective learning journal” and find numerous helpful webpages. 3. Which weeks of learning experience should be included into reflective learning journal? Ans: Students can write their learning experience from any weeks from Week 1 to Week 11. Thus, the choice here is open-ended. If you want to write about the entire course you can; or if you want to include your experience on particular topics / weeks you can do so. 4. Should I write my reflective journal in chronological order of weeks & dates? Ans: No, don’t just throw in events in chronological order. This is NOT a diary. 5. Where can I find some example of reflective learning journal? Ans: See Page viii in “2806ICT_ITSM reflective learning journal _student guide.doc” file, which can be downloaded from the Assessment page. 6. I am confusing with marks. You’ve said 20 marks of assignment mark will be from learning journal right? Does that mean if I got 15 marks from learning journal that my tutor have marked it, so my assignment mark will be 15 marks and plus another 30 marks right? Page | 5 Ans: We are sorry. The confusion arises because of the use of “Submit Learning Journal” menu for Weekly Assessments submission (due in Weeks 3, 5, 7 & 9 and worth 20% marks). These FOUR Workshop/Lab submissions are separate from the Reflective Learning Journal which is a main part of your final assignment report (worth 50% of your final grade). The final report has two main parts: the reflective learning journal (20%) and a case study on Celanese (30%). You will submit these two parts together in a single file (using the template provided in the Assessment page) at the end of Week 11.