This article covers troubleshooting related to evidence behaviour (uploading, marking, referrals, verification and OTJ hours). For component status, mapping or progress calculation issues, see the Learning plan: troubleshooting guide.
Contents
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Evidence status & component behaviour
- Why is a learning plan component still showing as 'Evidence Submitted' when the evidence has been marked?
- Why does evidence show as 'Requires Marking' on the Evidence Summary page even though the learning is 100% complete?
- Why do some future-dated learner activities show as 'Evidence Required' instead of 'Not Started'?
- A learner sees a "File size too large" message uploading evidence to a Digital Learning component
- Why does evidence show as 'Requires Marking' even after the work has been referred?
- Why has previously referred work reset to 'Requires Marking'?
- I've accepted all the referred evidence in a component, but the activity still shows 'Evidence Required' instead of 'Accepted'. Why?
- A learner uploaded new evidence to replace evidence rejected by the verifier. Why does the component still show as awaiting verification?
- Upload & submission issues
- Marking & filtering behaviour
- OTJ hours & tracking
Evidence status & component behaviour
Why is a learning plan component still showing as 'Evidence Submitted' when the evidence has been marked?
Check whether the evidence has a status of 'Trainee Accepted'.
If so, the tutor who marked the evidence has the 'Trainee Assessor' role applied to their account.
This means another tutor, who isn't a trainee, needs to mark the trainee tutor's marking. Once this has been marked, the learning plan component should show as 'Completed'. If the tutor who originally marked the evidence isn't a trainee tutor, we'd recommend removing the 'Trainee Assessor' role and applying the 'Assessor' role to their account instead.
On the Evidence Summary page, the evidence shows as 'Requires Marking', even though the learning is marked as completed with 100% progress. Why?
This can happen if the pieces of evidence aren't associated with any component (as shown below, where the Component Name field is blank).
The evidence was likely uploaded to components that have since been deleted. When a component is deleted, it's removed from the learning plan; however, evidence attached to it still remains linked to the learner and can be accessed from the Evidence Summary page, where the Component Name field will be blank.
If you want to remove these pieces of evidence, you can do so from the Standard's Summary page: select the three dots next to the evidence and select Delete.
Why are some learner activities with a future date showing as "Evidence Required" instead of "Not Started"?
Check whether the activity type is 'Miscellaneous'.
Miscellaneous components are specifically designed to capture evidence, which is why they never have a 'Not Started' status.
When a Miscellaneous component is created, it can have one of three statuses:
- Evidence Required
- In Progress
- Completed
If a learner creates the component, it's initially set to 'Evidence Required'. If a tutor creates the component for the learner, the status depends on the component setup.
A learner sees a "File size too large" message when uploading evidence to a Digital Learning component
Likely cause
Files uploaded within the form of a Digital Learning component (including SCORM-based activities) are limited to 1 MB. If the file is larger, the learner sees a "File size too large" validation message and can't upload it.
What to do
- Reduce or compress the file before uploading — for example, lower the resolution of an image or compress a PDF.
- Alternatively, upload the evidence directly to the component rather than within the form, where a higher size limit applies.
- If the learner is unsure how to proceed, ask them to contact their tutor or administrator.
Why does the evidence status show as "Requires Marking" even after the work has been referred?
This happens when learners upload a 'note' type of evidence to the component, and the learner edits and resubmits the same note instead of submitting new evidence after the previous work has been referred.
When logged in, the learner can edit the same note and resubmit it after it's been marked and referred, as shown below.
To resolve this, re-mark the same evidence, and advise the learner to upload a new note instead of editing the existing one.
Previously referred work has been reset to 'Requires Marking'. Why?
This is most likely because the learner edited the referred piece of evidence, which sets the status back to 'Requires Marking'.
Check the evidence history:
- Select the 'Mark Evidence' button on the learning plan component.
- Select the pencil icon next to the evidence file.
- Select 'Show History'.
The history then appears.
I've assessed and accepted all the referred evidence in a component, but the activity still shows "Evidence Required" instead of "Accepted". Why?
This happens because the tutor hasn't matched the new evidence against the required criteria for the component. When accepting new evidence, they need to tick all the required criteria again:
Unless the tutor feels the evidence hasn't fulfilled all the requirements, in which case more evidence needs to be submitted. Until then, the system expects more evidence to be added, until all criteria are met.
A learner uploaded a piece of evidence to replace one that was rejected by the verifier (after it was approved by an assessor). Why does the component still show as awaiting verification?
Since the original piece of evidence hasn't been accepted by the assessor, it's not enough for the learner to simply submit new evidence. The assessor needs to reassess the original referred evidence and either:
- Refer it back to the learner, if the assessor agrees with the verifier, or
- Re-accept the evidence, if the assessor disagrees with the verifier.
Upload & submission issues
Why does a learner see the error message "An error occurred while executing requested action" when uploading evidence?
This error can happen when the date format is entered incorrectly. The correct format is day/month/year (dd/mm/yyyy). If a date is entered manually in a different format, as shown below, the system won't accept it.
Is there a character limit for feedback provided on evidence?
Yes, the character limit is 3,700. If you enter more characters, the system produces an error. To resolve this, shorten the response below the limit. You can add further feedback for the evidence in a separate response.
In Aptem Classic, why does previously assessed evidence 'disappear'?
If evidence has been referred, it may not appear when you select search in the Learning Plan, since the default setting doesn't include declined evidence.
To see all evidence, including evidence that's been declined, select the 'Show declined evidence' checkbox.
Marking & filtering behaviour
An error message appears when marking evidence. Why?
There are a few possible reasons an error appears when marking a learner's evidence. Check the following:
- Check the dimensions of the organisation logo. If it exceeds 500 × 500px, this produces an error. Try uploading a logo that's equal to or smaller than 500 × 500px to see if this resolves the issue. Note: this change typically takes up to 24 hours for the caching to clear and the new logo to appear on all documents.
- If the tutor copied assessment comments from elsewhere and pasted them into the feedback text box, this can also produce an error. The text may contain hidden, restricted HTML tags that the PDF converter can't process. We'd recommend copying the feedback comments into Notepad first, which removes any hidden or restricted text or images, then copying from Notepad into the feedback text box.
- This can also happen when a sub-programme a learner is enrolled on has a framework that includes a qualification already selected on the learner's delivery programme. Resolve this by removing the additional programme from the learner and applying a separate framework. The same error applies to any learners on the same delivery programme and sub-programme.
When a tutor filters 'Requires Marking' by 'My Learners', why does it also show sub-programmes where the component owner is someone else, for example the Functional Skills tutor?
A tutor has visibility of all items requiring marking for the learners for whom they're the designated case owner.
Can the system show when evidence for an activity was marked?
The system can only show a marking date if an assessment report was generated following a tutor action.
If evidence is added directly in Accepted status, for example SCORM assets that don't require tutor assessment, no tutor action is involved, so no marking date is recorded. The date shown as Accepted is the date the evidence was submitted, not the date it was marked.
If you need to track when specific evidence was reviewed, confirm the relevant learning plan components are configured to require tutor marking rather than auto-accepting evidence.
OTJ hours & tracking
Can we prevent learners on programmes that collect OTJ hours from entering hours for specific learning components when uploading evidence?
The system doesn't currently support blocking OTJ hour collection for specific learning components. However, learners can be instructed to untick the "Does this count towards off-the-job hours?" option in the Upload file pop-up when submitting their evidence.
If hours are submitted by mistake, a tutor needs to manually remove them through the 'Mark Evidence' section.