FAQs

There will be an opportunity to edit modules in the Curriculum Management System (CMS) that commence in all trimesters ahead of each academic year. There are also further edit windows during the academic year that allow module coordinators to edit modules that commence in spring and summer. Details of these edit windows can be found on the CMS Edit Timelines section of our website.

When the CMS is open for edits, you can refer to our How to edit the Module Descriptor guide, Module Descriptor Checklist, and (opens in a new window)video tutorial for further details. You can also visit the Module Edits section of our website for further details.

If you want to make a change to the module descriptor outside of CMS edit timelines, the change can be requested in the below ways, based on the type and timing of the request.

Changes for the upcoming academic year:

These can be submitted via the Module Descriptor Change Request form that is in operation from May-September to cater for change requests ahead of a new academic year for sections of the module descriptor that are closed for edit. Our CMS Edit Timelines highlight what sections close and when, along with a link to the change request form referred to above.

Changes for the current academic year:

Once the academic year has commenced, changes outside of CMS Edit Timelines or after the module delivery has commenced must be submitted by way of an exemption request. You can refer to the Module Exemption Checklist and/or (opens in a new window)video guide if are not sure how to do this. 

Certain changes do not require an exemption and can be sent to your Curriculum College Liaison to action, details of which you can see on the Changes that do not require an exemption section of our Module Exemptions page.

Long titles of a module can be changed for a module with a 'pending' status, in the Module Descriptor, accessed via the My Modules menu in the CMS.

Generally a new module is required when the title of an existing module changes significantly. You can contact your Curriculum College Liaison for advice or refer to our How to submit New Module Requests guide for further information.

Module exemption requests can be accessed from the My Modules menu in the CMS. Always make sure you are in the correct academic year.

Click the Exemptions link to the right of the applicable module, OR View to use the Request Exemption button within the module descriptor itself. Click on the applicable + Start Request button to begin your request. You can track your requests within the CMS via Module Exemption Requests.

You can find more details on exemptions on the Module Exemptions section of our website.

Exemption requests for Student Effort Hours & Assessment Strategy have built in validation checks, meaning you will not be able to submit your exemption request if certain information provided does not meet requirements, or if information is missing.

If you are submitting an exemption request for Student Effort Hours (SEH), the 'Submit Exemption Request' button will not appear if the following text displays; 'The student effort hours entered are not within the permissible range for the module credit value'. You will need to ensure that the SEH requested are within the range for the credit value associated with the module, noting that one ECTS credit corresponds to approximately 25 hours (between 20-30 hours) of total student effort. Once the SEH are within range, the 'Submit Exemption Request' button will appear.

If you are submitting an exemption request for changes to the Assessment Strategy, the 'Submit Exemption Request' button will only appear once all required fields have been completed. If the button is not appearing, please check each component to ensure that you have completed all of the required fields.

You can change the Brightspace set up for your module via the module descriptor; My Modules > Module Menu > Module Details > Brightspace Access From field.

There's an info button beside this field which provides you with the various brightspace options that can be chosen for your module and when students will be able to access it.

You can update the module coordinator of a module through Module List Management.  You may find our How to use Module List Management guide useful to assist you in making this change.

Module Coordinators are members of faculty of the University. The Head of School is responsible for the appointment of Module Coordinators and, in exceptional circumstances, a non-faculty Module Coordinator may be appointed, as outlined in regulation 3.16 of the academic regulations.

The Head of School will provide an annual report of the non-faculty Module Coordinator appointments to the Academic Council or its relevant committee. This report will include the period of appointment of a non-faculty Module Coordinator.

Details of non-faculty Module Coordinators can be found on the Manage Non Faculty Module Coordinators menu in Module List Management. The duration of the appointment can also be recorded here.

You can refer to our New Module Requests webpage where we outline reasons you might need a new module code.

New Module Requests can be requested all year round on the New Module Request menu in the CMS by staff or faculty with School/College-level access to the system.

To access the New Module Requests menu:
1. Log into InfoHub and click on the Students menu
2. Select Curriculum, Module Capacity & Timetables, then Curriculum Management System
3. Click on the New Module Requests menu, and Add New Module Request

Please find more detailed instructions in our How to submit New Module Requests guide and (opens in a new window)Video Guide.

A Continuing status means module descriptor information/details rolled forward from previous academic year with some mandatory data missing.

A Pending status indicates that this is a new module and some mandatory data is missing. 

You can refer to the Mandatory Data Completion Status section for further details on how to check what mandatory information is missing. Modules with either of the above status can be edited during CMS edit timelines.

Staff with School-level access can re-activate a module that was made inactive within the same academic year through Module List Management. You can use the Curriculum Management – School Module Summary menu on InfoHub to view modules from previous academic years.

Please contact your Curriculum College Liaison to reactivate modules made inactive in a previous academic year.

A module coordinator or School/College administrator can grant access to a module using Module Access Management (MAM)

Access can also be granted via the the Access to Modules section of the module descriptor, via the My Modules menu in the CMS, as seen below.

An explanation of the available roles and what access they have can be found via the MAM FAQs page.

Please refer to our Module Access Management Checklist or Module Access Management User Guide for instructions, or to the Access to Modules section of our website for more details.

You can access the Brightspace page for a module if you have been granted access to the module via Module Access Management by a module coordinator or school/college administrator.

An explanation of the available roles and what access they have can be found here and you can refer to our Module Access Management Checklist for further details.

As presentations are used in many ways across UCD, and as they are often a component of other assessment activities, you have three choices to consider depending on how you use presentations. 

• If you use them as low-stakes in-class activities, to encourage student engagement in their learning, and/or to give students some practice at presentation skills, you might consider choosing ‘Participation in Learning Activities’

• If they are being used as the output, or component part of an individual project, you could choose the ‘Individual Project’

• Alternatively if presentations are used as the output of group work, in part or in whole, the most appropriate choice could be ‘Group Work Assignment’. 

Once you have selected the most appropriate assessment type for your module, you are encouraged to use the free text Description field to provide more details to students on your particular approach.

The assessment types are not mutually exclusive, and disciplines/subjects can describe assessments differently. In choosing the assessment type consider what best describes it for your student group and provide additional details in the free text Description field.

The MCQ exam is now embedded in two different assessment types, your selection will be dependent on whether you are holding your exam during the trimester or at the end of the trimester in one of the university’s exam centres. 

• If you wish to hold your exam during the trimester, then you should select the following in CMS: 

  • Assessment type: Short Quiz (Description: Short questions or task to gauge knowledge, application, analysis, problem-solving, or evaluation skills. Examples: MCQs, quizzes, exercises, narratives, data interpretation, problem-solving tasks). 

Timing: Select the week in which you wish to hold the MCQ.

• If you wish to hold your exam at the trimester as part of an exam, either in class or in one of the university’s exam centres, then you should select the following in CMS: 
  • Assessment type: Exam In-Person (Description: High-stakes closed-book exam, often at the end of a learning period, to assess if students have met module's learning outcomes. It's in-person and timed; generally takes place in an exam centre).
  • Exam Timetabling required: Yes - if you want it timetabled as part of the end of trimester exam session.
  • Exam Duration: Select the duration of the MCQ exam. 
  • Exam Location: Select location where the MCQ exam is to be held - Exam Centre or School-arranged.  

Choose the assessment type that best describes it for your student group and then provide additional details in the free text Description field. 

Team-work is a higher functioning version of group work, so choosing ‘Group-work Assessment’ is the closest choice, then add in the detail of what makes this a team-work assessment in the Description Field and in any further assessment documentation.

The weeks of the Fieldwork/Study Break are not available for selection. In this situation you could select week 8 (which is the week after the Fieldwork/Study Break) and use the free text Description field to clearly outline to students how the assessment will be conducted over the Fieldwork/Study break and the details relating to final submission/completion deadline.

All potential weeks in which the assessment is taking place should be selected for the assessment component. You are encouraged to use the free text Description field of the assessment component to provide students with more details on this.

If there is a submission deadline for your assessment component, then the week of the submission deadline, or the trimester week closest to your submission deadline, should be selected. You are encouraged to use the free text Description field of the assessment component to provide students with more details on this.

Modules are made up of different elements, detailing the student effort types associated with a module, such as lectures, tutorials, etc. A CRN (Course Reference Number) is used to identify each student effort type. These CRNs are, in most cases, assigned to a room during the timetabling process. This means that when students are registered to/register for lectures/tutorials, they will be able to see on their timetable exactly where they need to be.

All CRNs, including resit CRNs, for a module can be found in the Module CRNs by Academic Year & School report.

Resit CRNs are created for modules for which the remediation strategy is listed as a Resit, when student fails are recorded during the Grade Approval Process for each trimester.

You can find a Resit CRN by searching in the Module CRNs by Academic Year & School report. If there is no Resit CRN listed, contact your Curriculum College Liaison or (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie for assistance.

The Module CRNs by Academic Year & School report allows you to view module CRNs that have already been created. If you cannot find the CRN you are looking for, please contact your Curriculum College Liaison or (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie. Please provide the module code and let us know which intake term (September, January or May) the CRN is needed for.

You can view major structures via the Structures Reporting menu on InfoHub, where you view details by School, individual major, or programme.

There will be an opportunity to edit majors for each intake term (September/January/ May). Please refer to the Curriculum Management Timelines for Schools/Colleges on the CMS edit timelines section of our website for more details.
You can edit a major through CMS. Please refer to our Editing Majors User Guide, and/or Editing Majors Checklist for further details.

Outside of CMS edit timelines, you can submit a Governing Board approved PDARF 16 Structure Change Proposal form to (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie

Yes, there is. In the Structure by Major report, there is a button at the top right-hand of the screen Combined PDF (all modules), as seen below, which will download all module descriptors for the module associated with that major.

If a change to a major/programme title, duration, overall credits, etc., you can submit a programme change request. Please refer to the 'How can I request a programme change' FAQ below.

If you are looking to introduce a full-time or part-time delivery of a major/programme that has already been established, you will not be required to complete a programme approval (PDARF) form. Instead, you can email your Curriculum College Liaison or (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie to request this, and we can set this up for you.

A major can be made inactive by emailing curriculum@ucd.ie or your Curriculum College Liaison.

If the major is to be discontinued completely, an approved PDARF7 Programme Change Proposal form is required for submission to (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie

You can view the modules associated with Structured Electives by referring to the Structured Electives structured reporting.

We understand that sometimes you may prefer to meet with a member of the team for face-to-face support, especially if your query is more complex.

We also hold a weekly drop-in Q&A session via zoom for School/College staff and Module Coordinators. These drop-ins give you an opportunity to speak to a member of the team on a 1-2-1 basis. To ensure privacy, you may be required to briefly enter a waiting room before connecting with us, as we may be closing off a query with another colleague.

You can subscribe to this Google(opens in a new window)calendar to view time slots and links. 

You can refer to our Guides & FAQs page, which provide useful information about how to use complete various curriculum management related tasks within the Curriculum Management System (CMS) or related reports.

For further information or training, please contact your Curriculum College Liaison.

PDARF stands for Programme, Development, Approval & Review Framework. It's the process where new programmes are developed and then go through an approval process to determine whether they will be implemented. Existing programmes are also reviewed and programme changes may be put forward on foot on this review. You can find more information on this process on the Programme Approval section of our website.

You can find and download PDARF forms via the Programme Approval section of our website.

If you would like to introduce a new programme, approval for the strategic case is required from the University Management Team (UMT). You should complete and submit a PDARF2 New Programme Proposal (UMT) and send it to UMT@ucd.ie

You will also need to put forth the academic proposal. You can download this PDARF3 New Programme Academic Structure Proposal form to capture these details, ensuring to note the UMT approval date on this form.

Once the PDARF3 form has been completed and signed, it can either be sent to (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie or(opens in a new window) programmes@ucd.ie, depending on the nature of the new programme request. The UPB/Local Approvals Flow Chart provides some guidance on where you can direct your form.

If you would like to make any of the changes outlined on the 'Programme Changes' section of this UPB/Local Approvals Flow Chart, you can download and complete a PDARF7 Programme Change Proposal form.

Once the form has been completed and signed, it can either be sent to (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie or (opens in a new window)programmes@ucd.ie, depending on the nature of the change. The above flow chart also provides some guidance on where you can direct your form.

You can submit a completed and signed PDARF14 Derogations to (opens in a new window)programmes@ucd.ie for approval by the University Programmes Board (UPB).

Structured Elective changes must be submitted to (opens in a new window)curriculum@ucd.ie on a Governing Board approved PDARF6 Structured Elective form, and a member of the team will update the Structured Elective.

You can access and download the Academic Regulations 2024-2025.