Course and assessment (re)design consultancy service

This consultancy service is designed to support UG and PGT course teams in developing new course proposals or preparing submissions for major course changes in line with the University’s course approval processes.

About our consultancy service

Our support is delivered through a structured series of workshops, check-in meetings with course leads, and coordinated engagement as needed with professional services colleagues including the divisional office, Education Policy Support, Online Education Hub, Disability Advisory Service and other teams as appropriate. Where course teams are planning credit or award bearing courses that are mostly or fully online, consultancy will be offered in conjunction with the Online Education Hub.

We will work in partnership with your course team to scaffold the development of the course design to support an inclusive and academically robust course appropriate to the Oxford context.

We can deliver the service in a compressed format or spread over 3-4 months, depending on the availability and needs of the course team and our capacity.

The consultancy typically unfolds in two stages, tailored to the specific requirements of the course team, to reflect the realities of academic and operational planning. Exact requirements are discussed and agreed with individual course teams but is usually broken down into two stages.

Stage 1: Course approvals (new courses and major changes) takes place from the generation of earliest ideas until the application for a new course or major changes is submitted to your Division and EPS.  This usually takes place from at least 2 academic years before a course is aiming to teach its first cohort.

Stage 2: Operationalising the course (new course approval/post major change/from EPS). Course teams can elect to extend the consultancy to support teams as they prepare their assessments (authoring assessments in Inspera, development of assessment criteria), focusing on more detailed learning design and their use of Oxford’s digital education and assessment toolset. This usually takes place in the academic year before a course is aiming to launch.  

If your course team have already completed one of our course assessment (re)design 90-minute workshops, this may reduce the time required for the consultancy. 

Thank you to the CTL team for helping us to navigate a complex course development environment, both in terms of the novelty of the type of course we are developing, but also in terms of supporting colleagues from different departments, with different perspectives, to reach agreement on a number of key issues where we had previously been struggling. Anna Warrington, Academic Office Manager, MSc in Finance & Economics (Part-time)

How we will work with you

What a typical consultancy includes

A typical consultancy with us begins with an initial meeting to establish a shared understanding of the work required. This results in an agreed set of outcomes and a timeline for delivery.

Following this, we will develop a detailed consultancy plan outlining the work needed to progress the project, including:

• Clearly defined tasks that we can lead or undertake and the course teams undertake
• Reflective pre-work to gather insights from key stakeholders
• Advice on tasks that may require outsourcing, along with recommended options
• A timeline of key activities linked to milestones, with clear checkpoints for feedback and review.

The consultancy process typically includes:

• Workshops to explore challenges and collaboratively design solutions
• Regular check-ins with course leads or project stakeholders to monitor progress and resolve issues between workshops
• Liaison with relevant teams, such as Education Policy Support (EPS), Disability Advisory Services (DAS), and Divisional Offices to ensure all recommendations align with current institutional policy and practice
• Final review and evaluation to assess whether outcomes have been met and to support sustainable embedding of the work.

What is involved in working with us

In order to achieve your strategic aims and implement them in a way that is sustainable, this process requires a significant commitment from stakeholders across your department, faculty or course team, including: 

• Senior team member/s, for example, course directors, to ensure the work is meeting strategic aims, by participating in scoping sessions, agreeing resources, and signing off plans 
• Course staff to participate in scoping and implementation tasks to ensure outcomes are sustainable.  

We will work closely with you in the scoping and planning stage to ensure you understand the input required, and that it can be resourced both for the agreed timeframe and on an ongoing basis.    

Colleagues in the Centre for Teaching and Learning have opened my eyes and significantly broadened my perspective of what 'diversification of assessment' can truly mean at Oxford and have introduced me to new ways of thinking about the interactions between course and module level intending learning outcomes and the methods used to assess them. Outputs of work with the Consultancy Service on redesigning summative assessments have yielded exciting transformational changes which have been identified during external review as both innovative and ahead of the curve in terms of introducing diverse synoptic assessments. Dr Andy Garlick, Deputy Head of Education Policy and Planning, Social Sciences Division  

How to apply for this service 

If you are interested in your course working with the consultancy, please contact us to organise a 'pre-meet' to discuss your requirements before completing our expression of interest form by the deadline dates below.

After each deadline, applications are reviewed by the Centre for Teaching and Learning senior team in consultation with the relevant divisional office. Please note that this process may take up to two weeks.

Examples of previous consultancy work and testimonials 

MSc Environmental Change and Management

The course team are developing a revised assessment framework with a planned implementation in 2026-27. The consultancy focused on supporting the identification of new summative assessment tasks and assessment criteria aligned with course outcomes. The consultancy has comprised a series of workshops and student feedback activities, with assessment design being informed by inclusive practice and the need for greater authenticity. The next phase which includes Canvas course design has already commenced.

The workshops were incredibly useful in helping us finalise the ILOs and assessments of the new course. Avidesh Seenath, Course Director, MSc/MPhil in Environmental Change and Management (ECM) 

MSc Global Women’s Health

Our consultancy team supported the course team with the learning design of a new part-time online MSc, including inclusive assessment planning, and the structuring of the course with respect to tutoring, assessment, and residential timings. Workshops and regular meetings have shaped the development of assessment strategies that suit the hybrid format and ensure alignment with professional practice and course outcomes. Feedback and documentation are now feeding into the course approval process.

They identified specific areas that I needed help with and addressed those as there was a very short time frame in which to do it in. Anita Makins, Course Director, MSc Global Women's Health 

MSc in Pain Neurosciences

The course team are designing a new part-time MSc that blends online and in-person delivery, with a planned launch in 2026-27. The course has been designed with consideration for the diverse needs and stages of part-time learners, and the consultancy has supported the development of a more distributed and inclusive assessment framework. The assessments are scaffolded across the course and designed to be authentic, transferable, and well-aligned with the course structure, with initial teaching and assessment design now complete and further work planned to develop detailed criteria and learning design in Canvas.