Results Withheld (RW) grades for Academic Integrity cases

In preparation for Results Release next week, the Academic Integrity Team (AIT) will work with the Student Results Team to apply Results Withheld (RW) grades where required until COB Thursday 2 July.

An RW grade will be applied to a student's unit at the end of the study period if:

• Their academic integrity case is still under investigation and no outcome has been reached.
• The student has not notified the AIT that they have completed the compulsory education modules assigned as part of a misconduct breach.

Note: Students with a finding of Poor Academic Practice (PAP) do not have a hold placed on their grade. National Unit Leaders (NULs) must finalise and release grades for any student for whom they have received a PAP letter.

Investigations can be prioritised where:

• a student has an EIP
• a student is experiencing significant stress
• a student is course-completing
• the unit is a prerequisite for Semester 2 units or placement.

RW grades will only be requested by the AIT for cases that are lodged in SAMMS by COB Thursday 2 July.

NULs are required to request an RW for cases submitted after COB 2 July by emailing stresults@acu.edu.au cc. academic.integrity@acu.edu.au.

Supporting students with Cost-Of-Living Assistance

As Semester 2 begins, for some students financial stress remains a significant barrier to engagement and academic success. When students are worried about groceries, rent, or fuel, concentration in the classroom suffers.

A reminder that the Cost-of-Living Assistance program introduced earlier this year is still running and accepting referrals - and a timely referral from a staff member can make a real difference.

If a student mentions they're struggling with everyday expenses, refer them through the Cost-of-Living assistance form on UniHub. Within two business days, the Student Experience team issues a $50 e-gift card redeemable at Woolworths, BIG W, or EG Ampol fuel stations. No follow-up is needed from you. Via the form you can also connect a student directly with the Student Experience Team, who can reach out proactively and link them with broader support where needed.

Students can be referred more than once, and the program continues while funds remain available.

Sometimes the most effective teaching begins with simply listening and knowing how to connect students with the full range of supports ACU offers.

Questions? Contact StudentExperience@acu.edu.au.

New feature in the Assignment Extension Tool

A new feature in the Assignment Extension Tool allows staff to exclude specific assessment types from short-term automatic extension eligibility by adding a supported exclusion keyword to the Canvas assessment name.

Once the keyword is added, the tool will automatically exclude the assessment from eligibility for a short-term automatic extension.

This feature is intended only for assessment types that are not eligible under section 9.21(i) of the Assessment Procedures. It must not be used to remove extension eligibility from assessments that are otherwise eligible. The update supports assessment types such as:

• central exams
• in-class tests
• group assessments
• Cadmus exams

Please refer to the Knowledge Base article for the full list of supported keywords and step-by-step instructions.

Canvas Foundation Template and drop-in sessions

As part of the Your Voice Matters initiative, ACU has introduced a Canvas Foundation Template to improve consistency and make it easier for students to navigate their units.

Are you a Unit Leader in Semester 2?
The Canvas Foundation Template has been automatically applied to your scheduled units. By Friday, 17 July you will need to:

• Follow the support guide to import the 2025 content into your 2026 Canvas shell
• Use the select specific content feature to only transfer required content
• Review the Readiness Checklist to ensure that your unit is set up properly

Throughout July, CEI will offer daily drop-in sessions commencing on Wednesday, 1 July and concluding on Thursday, 30 July. All sessions are delivered via Teams, join at the meeting time using the links below.

If you encounter any issues, please log a Service Central request for assistance.

Feedback comments for Canvas marking

The Academic Skills Unit has developed standardised feedback comments to support staff marking in Canvas SpeedGrader.

The comments cover 14 common areas of student writing, including logic and argumentation, use of evidence, organisation, paragraph writing and clarity of expression. Each category includes feedback comments, short explanations and links to relevant Academic Skills online resources in Canvas to help students build specific academic writing skills.

Markers can select and customise comments as needed, using them alongside existing feedback to provide clear and consistent guidance. The comments are also pre-loaded into the Annotate PRO web browser plugin.

Request access to the Academic Skills standardised feedback comments for marking with Canvas SpeedGrader, then download the Word or Excel file for easy copying and pasting into Canvas SpeedGrader.

For enquiries or feedback, contact academicskills@acu.edu.au.