Course Rep Handbook
Welcome The Stude Union!
from ents’ Firstly, we want to say HUGE congratulations on being elected as a Course Rep! Student Representation is managed by the Student Voice Team. We are here to help guide you to ensure your fellow peers are well represented throughout the year, and that your voice can achieve positive impact on behalf of the students you represent. We hope you find this handbook helpful, with key information to support you in your year ahead. Your time volunteering as a Rep is invaluable to us and we thank you for stepping up to represent your peers over the year.
The Student Voice Team
Hello!
Hi, I’m Cara your President Exeter this year. My job is to represent the University of Exeter Cornwall Campuses’ students on all things academic. This includes working closely with Course Reps and Subject Chairs to make sure students’ feedback is being heard and acted upon. I will attend Subject Chair Working Groups (SCWGs) and Student Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs) when possible, but if you don’t catch me in these meetings feel free to contact me individually. I sit in numerous meetings with Senior Management and academic staff at the University of Exeter, so if, as a Rep, you find issues that can’t be solved at department or College level, I can escalate them in these spaces. One of my manifesto goals this year is to “make Course Reps more visible, accessible and influential”. You have such an important role so we want to make sure all students successfully make use of you! Work is already underway at the University of Exeter to develop a site which gives students key information about their course reps and SSLCs. If you have any other suggestions for how to improve your visibility, accessibility or influence, please get in touch. Another key manifesto point this year is “decolonising education”. I want to make sure that decolonisation is occurring across all colleges on the Cornwall Campuses and that it’s a grass-roots, student-led process. Therefore, I’m setting up various feedback mechanisms for students to give their input on the decolonisation process, which I’ll need your help to spread the word about. Additionally, this summer I’ve pushed for the expansion of EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) Reps to all Colleges at the Cornwall Campuses, after seeing their success in Politics and CLES. They will be Reps who champion and oversee all of your work on course-based EDI issues, highlighting concerns at a higher level when necessary. There’s more about this role later in the handbook. I’m looking forward to meeting and working with you all over the coming year. Please get in touch with either myself or the Student Voice team if you have any questions, concerns or ideas.
Cara Chittenden President Exeter
Contents What Is The Union?
08
What Does Representation Look Like?
10
Gathering Feedback
16
ROS
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What Feedback Should Look Like
24
What To Do Next
28
And Finally...
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Key Contacts
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What Is The Union Your Students’ Union (SU) is a membership-led charity; run by students, for students, and we are the only union in the country to represent students from two different universities. We focus on the academic, social and support needs of all students and we do that through three teams: Student Voice (representation and democracy), Activities (Sports, Societies, Volunteering, Fundraising) and Advice (free impartial and confidential service on housing, finance, academic appeals etc). Course Reps are a key part of Academic Representation, which is managed and supported within the Student Voice Team. The SU represents students studying at both Falmouth University and the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campuses. Our students are spread across three campuses; Truro, Falmouth and Penryn, and we also have students studying by distance learning and at Falmouth University’s partner institutions. On both Falmouth Campus and Penryn Campus, both universities invest in and own a separate company, FX Plus, which manages all of the non-academic services and facilities, such as accommodation, food outlets and Student Services.
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What Is The Union?
n? The Student Voice team will be your first point of call to contact in the SU with any queries about your role. You will meet them at training and they will be in contact with you throughout the course of the coming academic year. Please check out this link on the website to meet the Student Voice Team and for their direct contact details. Help is only ever a phone call or email away. Please get in touch with any problems or queries: www.thesu.org.uk/studentvoice/team/ The best way to contact us is via email (see the contacts page at the end of this handbook). In the event of an emergency outside of office hours, please contact the Porter’s Lodge which is available 24/7.
What Is The Union?
9
What Doe Represent Look Like? Student Presidents
Subject Chairs
Education Officers
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Course Reps
What Does Representation Look Like?
es tation ?
Education Officers
(UG / PGT / PGR) are part of the SU Student Council; an elected team of students who manage change in the interests of the student communities across the Cornwall campuses. Education Officers work with the SU Presidents to identify opportunities to develop the academic experience of Exeter students.
Subject Chairs are students who are ‘team leaders’ for the Reps in their Department. They chair the Student Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs), attend Subject Chair Working Group meetings and meet regularly with their Director of Education.
What Does Representation Look Like?
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SU President Student Experience Amelia Banton
SU President Exeter SU President Falmouth
Cara Chittenden
SU President Welfare & Inclusivity
Charlotte Agnew
Lizzy Marshall
SU Presidents The SU has four Presidents, each heading up a specific area of representation and activity.
Course Reps AKA You! Purpose The Students’ Union (SU) Course Representatives are the foundation of student representation, promoting a partnership between students, academic staff and SU. Assuming the role of market researcher within their cohorts, they ensure the student experience of their peers is authentically represented throughout the course of their studies. Term of Office •
12
One academic year
What Does Representation Look Like?
Objectives •
Provide students with opportunities to give feedback
on all aspects of their experience such as:
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Learning and Teaching
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Assessment & Feedback
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Learning Community
- Employability
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Campus Facilities
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Wellbeing & Support
•
Log all feedback with ROS (Rep Online System)
•
In the first instance, seek to informally resolve issues
with the appropriate staff (see key contacts)
•
Present academic feedback (positive and negative)
at the Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC)
•
Endeavour to make sure that feedback is: Accurate,
Balanced, Constructive, Depersonalised & Evidenced.
•
Working in partnership with your department staff, ensure your
cohort is kept up to date about how feedback is being progressed.
•
Actively promote the representative work of the SU to your peers
Attends •
SU Course Rep Training
•
Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) 2 x Term
•
SU Big Rep Meeting 1 x Term
•
Informal meetings with academic staff, Subject Chairs and/or SU
The SU h
area of r
Exeter (e
employa
Key Contacts •
SU Subject Chair
•
SU President Exeter
•
SU Student Voice Coordinator (Exeter)
•
Student Community & Partnership Team
•
Module Leads
What Does Representation Look Like?
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Boundaries (Not Your Job!) Student disciplinaries: It is not a Rep’s role to represent students on disciplinary matters. The SU Advice service can help with this. Claims of harassment / bullying: Students who allege they have experienced harassment and / or bullying should contact Student Services and / or the SU Advice service. Complaints: students who wish to make a formal complaint should be directed to the University’s complaints policy and may wish to contact the SU Advice service for confidential help. Personal problems: Please refer students experiencing personal problems to Student Services who are qualified to give the specialist advice required in this area.
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What Does Representation Look Like?
Gathering Feedback The first step is to think about how you are going to get feedback from the students you represent. You’ll likely need to experiment and try a few different methods to make sure you’re giving all your students good opportunities to express their opinions. We know there may be fewer face-to-face opportunities than usual this year so try and use the chances you do get; staff should be supportive in allowing you time at the end of sessions to talk with your peers. You could try: -
Surveys (allow for anonymous responses) or online polls
(Google Forms or Survey Monkey are good free tools) -
Physical or e-drop boxes (Padlet is a good option)
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Set up a messaging group, WhatsApp or Messenger, or ask to
have a ‘chat’ stream on your programme’s Teams’ channel
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Face-to-face – at the end of a seminar or group session, this could be
a good opportunity to get some context on feedback, or check with a
wider demographic if feedback you’ve received so far is truly representative.
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Gathering Feedback
g k Just asking if anyone has any feedback won’t usually give you much useful information. You can try asking questions about specific topics, which should help students reflect on their experience. Try not to ask leading questions, which are deliberately designed to make people think in a certain way. For example: “Do you agree the seminar today wasn’t helpful in improving your understanding?” Instead you could ask, “How useful did you find the seminar today?”
Gathering Feedback
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Open vs Closed Questions Open questions mean students will generally have to reflect on their experience and give a full answer, using their own knowledge or feelings, rather than just a yes / no or single word answer. Closed questions can be answered in a short or single-word answer, and can often be leading. They are used to obtain facts and specific pieces of information. When used correctly, both formats can be helpful when getting feedback. Closed questions can give you a sense of what the majority of students think about something: “Did the seminar today help develop your understanding of the module topic?” The answer has to be Yes/No, which will tell you whether students on the whole found it useful / not useful. Following it up with an open question, “How did the seminar today develop your understanding of the module topic?” will give you context and a better understanding of that opinion. IDEA: If there is an Academic Society linked with your course or subject area, try working with them as a potential source of feedback. IDEA:
Stop Start Keep This is another approach you can take to encourage your peers to give you helpful feedback. Ask them to list one thing they would stop, one thing they would keep, and one thing they would start.
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Gathering Feedback
ROS ROS (Rep Online System) is a tool to help you gather and manage your students’ feedback about the whole university experience. ROS has three questions: Is there anything working well? Is there anything working less well? Do you have any new ideas? This means you should be able to input all the balanced feedback you’ve received about any topic. When you input feedback as a Rep, you will get an email with a summary of that feedback so you know what things you need to take action on quickly or to remind you of what feedback you’ve gathered before a meeting. Feedback about your course is your responsibility to represent / action. Feedback about the wider student experience (e.g. Accommodation, Student Services, Catering etc) will be monitored and analysed by the Students’ Union and used to inform meetings and reports the Presidents have with those Services as well as inform the topics we discuss at Big Rep Meetings. It’s important to note that issues requiring immediate attention, e.g. concern about a fellow student, should not be logged in ROS and instead the relevant service should be contacted directly (see contacts page). You should use ROS to record all the online and /or face to face conversations you have with students; by doing that all your feedback will be in one place and you can get a report from SU in advance of any meetings. That report will help you evidence what might need further discussion or investigation. Just email us to get your report. ROS does not collect the name of individual students, only the Reps, so students can be reassured any feedback given to ROS is anonymous.
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ROS
This year we are opening ROS up to allow any student to leave feedback for their Rep. You should receive an email anytime that happens, so you’ll always know if there’s something that requires you to take action! ROS is really useful in building a picture of the overall student experience. The more Reps use it, the more informed and accurate that picture becomes. We then use that data to inform more strategic decision making about where we need to focus our efforts, and can inform the Universities likewise. For example, we can see if the quality of academic feedback received by students is really good in just 1st year English, or across that whole department, or the whole of 1st year, or the whole University. We’ll also use ROS to pick the topics for our Big Rep Meetings, which happen once a term and allow Reps to have face-to-face conversations with senior managers of areas ROS has highlighted as receiving a lot of student feedback.
ROS
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ROS
What Fee Should Lo Once you’ve got lots of feedback from your students, it’s time to ensure you can deliver it in such a way that it is effective in creating change. The easiest way to check, is to apply to ABCDE of feedback:
Is it: Accurate & Appropriate – is there enough detail in the feedback to clearly explain what the issue / good practice is, and what the impact on students is? Use the decision tree to make sure you’re raising it in the right forum and in a timely manner. Balanced – is it inclusive of everyone’s view. Have you made sure to check with minority groups of students*? Constructive – is it worded in a way that clearly highlights any problem but in a moderate and practical way? Try offering solutions where possible using phrases such as “wouldn’t it be better if…”, or “could we consider… “. Apply the Rat Sandwich approach.
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What Feedback Should Look Like
edback ook Like The Rat Sandwich approach can help you think about how you present critical feedback. Imagine the rat is your feedback, rather than just presenting staff with an unappetising smelly rat, think about sandwiching it between some delicious context and a proposed solution. For example, rather than: “No-one likes switching their cameras on for seminars” try “We haven’t spent much time getting to know each other yet, so the majority of students I asked said they found it a bit intimidating to have their camera on during the seminars. Could we do some activities to help us get to know each other in smaller groups?” A much tastier sandwich for your tutor to digest!
What Feedback Should Look Like
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De-personalised – names are massive NO-NO! If there is an issue with a member of staff, SSLC meetings are NOT the forum to raise it. A confidential meeting with your Subject Chair or Director of Education in the first place is the right way to start. If you want to praise a member of staff, we recommend nominating them for a You’re Brilliant Award - look out for the boxes around campus or use the online form.
Evidenced – You should always evidence the feedback you have received whether by using comments, data, statistics, reports, University policy or practice from elsewhere. A good tip is to think of the feedback you get on your academic work. What kind of feedback is useful for you to improve your work and keep you motivated? Is that the kind of feedback you’re giving your staff? See “Being Inclusive” on page 31!
What Feedback Should Look Like
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What To D Meetings
Now you’ve got your feedback and it’s been through the ABCDE test, it’s time to REPRESENT it. Sometimes that will be quick and easy like an email to a module leader about missing resources on the Learning Space. Other times there might be bigger issues that need discussion before action is taken. Maybe students are suggesting there needs to be a different balance of assessment methods in a module. With issues like this, you’ll need to raise them at your SSLC. An SSLC is a Student Staff Liaison Committee. There is an SSLC for each subject area, and it meets to talk through the feedback gathered by Course Reps, and confirm a set of action points to be delivered that address that feedback. It is chaired by the Subject Chairs, and is attended by all Course Reps within the discipline / subject area, Director of Education, Programme Leads, and some Professional Service staff like the Academic Librarians. The SSLC should also hear about the progress on previously agreed actions points and decide upon a plan to report back to students about what’s happened because of their feedback. You’ll be asked if there’s any feedback you want to add to the Agenda for discussion at the meeting. This is your chance to feedback what your peers have been telling you, and raise any issues you haven’t been able to solve yourself. The SSLC meetings are a vital part of the University Quality Assurance system, and help close the feedback loop for students. You should always do your best to attend your SSLC but if you can’t then make sure you send apologies to the Subject Chair, and submit a short report with any feedback you feel needs noting or discussing.
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What To Do Next
Do Next DON’T FORGET - You are there to represent the views of your peers, these may not necessarily reflect your own, but you are asked to present the majority opinion or a balanced range of feedback.
Key Terms Agenda: this sets out what will be discussed at the meeting, if there is something specific you want to talk about at the meeting you need to ask for it to be added in advance of the meeting. It will be sent to members before the meeting so everyone can prepare. Apologies: Record of who has let the Chair know they cannot attend the meeting. Matters Arising: Discussion of actions taken or required regarding issues raised at the last meeting. Minutes: Approved written record of the previous meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting will usually be circulated with the agenda. Any Other Business: An opportunity to raise something urgent that hasn’t appeared on the agenda. Usually it will only have come to your attention after the agenda has been set.
What To Do Next
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Subject Chair Working Group Twice a term, usually after all the SSLCs have taken place, all the Subject Chairs will meet with the Education Officer and the President Exeter to discuss themes of feedback, or raise issues that have not been resolved in SSLCs and require escalation. Chairs can also discuss ideas for how to run their SSLCs more effectively or ideas for improving representation structures within their Subject areas. Course Reps do not attend this meeting but it’s good to know what is happening with the feedback you give beyond SSLCs.
The Big Rep Meetings The Big Rep Meetings take place once a term and, as you might have guessed, brings together all the Reps to talk about the big themes coming out of ROS. The meetings will be chaired by the SU Presidents, and senior staff from relevant areas will be invited to join in with the discussions and hear directly from you about the student experience. The meetings will also be a chance for the Presidents to report back to Reps about the work they’ve been doing because of student feedback and give you the chance to ask them questions. There might be other meetings you’re invited to from time to time like focus groups or approval panels. Let us know if you need any support with them.
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What To Do Next
Being Inclusive & Knowing Your Peers A fundamental element of being a representative is ensuring you are representing the interests of all students on your course. Make sure that you are not only voicing your own opinion, but the true opinion of the range of students you may represent –including mature students, international students, disabled students, or those with extra responsibilities. These students are often in a minority within their cohort and therefore it is doubly important their voice is heard as sometimes their experience may be different to the majority and not considered. We operate on a MAJORITY RULES, MINORITY RIGHTS approach, which is an “important principle in democracy according to which public policy is determined by a majority of citizens, but the majority may not rightfully use its power to deprive minority groups of their rights*.” It’s a good idea to make sure you know how many students you are representing, how you will share your duties if there are other Course Reps in your cohort, and that the students you represent know who you are and how to give you feedback. *Reference: https://www.reference.com/world-view/meantmajority-rules-minority-rights-f00485c910a86e0d There will be an EDI (Equality, Diversity & Inclusivity) Rep on each SSLC this year. This doesn’t mean EDI issues are not your responsibility, they still are but the EDI Reps will work with Reps to highlight any particular issues, ideas, or good practice connected to EDI, especially in the academic sphere, and be a student champion for the EDI agenda within their subject area. The EDI Reps will receive additional training and support to help them do this and meet outside of the SSLCs with the SU Presidents to ensure collective issues connected to EDI are being shared and escalated.
What To Do Next
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And Finall Closing the feedback loop is often the hardest part of the job but just as important as getting the feedback in the first place. Your University and academic staff will be working hard to let students know what has happened because of the feedback they’ve been given through your work as a Rep, as well as things like module evaluation and the National Student Survey (NSS). Please help them deliver these updates where you can. Your effectiveness as a Rep will be largely measured by your peers as to whether it was worth giving you feedback, so it’s in your interests to share any success you’ve had. Encourage staff to give brief updates at the beginning of a lecture or group meeting following on from an SSLC.
THANK YOU for giving your time to help better the experience of all your peers whilst at university. We think this makes you a pretty awesome human. If you ever need reminding of this, or a cup of tea, someone to chat to, or to celebrate creating positive change then get in touch and we’ll be happy to oblige!
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And Finally...
lly...
And Finally...
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Key Conta It’s worth spending time getting to know who the key staff are in your discipline area. That way when an issue arises, you’ll be able to take action more quickly. You could write in here who your key contacts are: Subject Chair: Director of Education: Student Community & Partnerships Associate: Academic Librarian: SU Student Voice Coordinator: You’ll also find lots of information on the ELE pages for each module to help you find the right member of staff. Student Services: studentservices@fxplus.ac.uk SU Advice Service: advice@thesu.org.uk Porters’ Lodge: 01326 253503
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Key Contacts
acts Student Rep Code Of Conduct TRAINING Attendance at the relevant Rep Training is compulsory for all Reps. Completing training allows Reps to carry out their roles effectively and build networks across departments. The only exception to mandatory attendance is for those who have been appointed and trained in a similar role in previous years with the agreement of the SU Rep & Dem Manager. Reps have the opportunity to engage with additional training opportunities over the course of the academic year. MEETING ATTENDANCE All reps will be expected to attend the meetings outlined in their relevant role descriptor. Where attendance is not possible, Reps should communicate their apologies to the Chair and / or secretary of the meeting. It is expected that Reps who are unable to attend a meeting will send a report/comments, detailing any issues to be discussed, to the meeting secretary or another Representative. Failure to attend (without providing apologies) two meetings, as outlined above, may result in the process to remove you as a Representative.
Key Contacts
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FEEDBACK COLLECTION The collection of feedback from the students you represent is the cornerstone of successful representation. All reps are expected to communicate consistently and effectively with their students, with the objective of gathering a representative view of opinions and concerns on all matters relating to the student experience. To ensure that this is the case, any presented feedback should adhere to the ABCDE rule, and be Accurate, Balanced, Constructive, De-personalised and Evidenced. Reps should log all feedback collected in the Rep Online System (ROS). Reps should ensure they pass information / raise issues in a timely manner. BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDE Reps must act respectfully and with professionalism at all times, including at any meetings they attend, throughout the undertaking of their roles. This includes verbal and written communication. Bullying and harassment of any kind are unacceptable. Reps are expected to abide by Students’ Union by-laws and policies and /or University regulations as appropriate. If you have concerns about the conduct of another Rep then please contact the Students’ Union. SENSITIVE INFORMATION Collected information which is of a sensitive nature, whether pertaining to a student or member of staff, should be treated as confidential, and anonymity should be retained for all parties concerned when appropriate. DATA Personal data is shared with reps with a view to providing information necessary for effective undertaking of core responsibilities. This information should be used exclusively for reps to carry out these responsibilities, and must not be used for any other purpose, or shared externally. Any breach of Data Protection laws could result in substantial fines, and additional consequences for the Students’ Union and University. As part of a legitimate interest to facilitate representation and communication, the names and contact details of Reps are shared with the students they represent.
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Key Contacts
Procedure For The Removal Of Representatives Occasionally there may be issues where the conduct of a Representative may be called into question, and the suggestion for a Representative to be removed from their role. This will tend to rise from a Representative breaching anything in this code of conduct, such as not turning up to meetings and not providing apologies, or conducting themselves in an unacceptable way. We want to ensure that this is a rarity, and that Representatives know what the process will be for their removal. The following is the procedure for dealing with the removal: Stage 1: The Representative will receive an email inviting them to a meeting with an SU President and / or Representation & Democracy Coordinator to discuss the concern informally. Stage 2: If a resolution has not been sought, or the incident is more serious, the Representative will be brought to a formal meeting with the Students’ Union and Course Leader / Director of Education. The result may be for the Representative to either address the discussed issue with action, or the University and Students’ Union may decide that the Representative should be removed from their position. Stage 3: The Representative will have a right to appeal, which if they choose to, a panel will be formed, comprising of members of their School, the University and the Students’ Union and they will be invited to discuss why they are appealing the decision. The Representative will be notified as to the decision of their appeal. A Representative can only be dismissed from their role from a joint decision by the Course Leader / Director of Education and Students’ Union, and after Stage 1 and Stage 2 have taken place. At all stages, we encourage Representatives to stay in communication with the Students’ Union and University throughout the year.
Key Contacts
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We would like to wish you all a final good luck and we hope you enjoy your year ahead!