Course Rep handbook 2016/17

Course Rep Handbook

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CONTENTS 03

Congratulations on becoming a Course Rep!

04

What is a Course Rep?

05

Getting Students’ Opinions

06

Course Boards

Working with your Course Leader

07

Course Rep Wins

09

The Forums

10

Common terms and acronyms

HOW WE WILL KEEP IN CONTACT WITH YOU

facebook.com/groups/ucacoursereps

@

email updates

telephone

ucasu website – ucasu.com/coursereps

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CONGRATULATIONS ON BECOMING A COURSE REP! This handbook is a guide to the world of course reps! It explains your role, how the system works and provides you with tools to be the best.

develop stronger professional relationships with staff and academics.

Good luck!

There are a whole load of benefits to being a course rep, on top of being the driving force to improving student experience.

You will learn new skills for your portfolio, get official recognition, paid work opportunities, meet new people, make friends and

CAMPUS OFFICER CONTACTS Ellie Webb

Silviu Doroftei

Becky Dann

Tasmin Brindley

Canterbury Campus President Email: ewebb.su@uca.ac.uk Direct: 01227 81 7337

Farnham Campus President Email: bdann.su@uca.ac.uk Direct: 01252 89 2693

STAFF CONTACT Emma Chandler

Advice & Representation Coordinator Email: echandler2.su@uca.ac.uk Direct: 01372 20 2203

Epsom Campus President Email: sdoroftei.su@uca.ac.uk Direct: 01372 20 2443

Rochester Campus President Email: tbrindley.su@uca.ac.uk Direct: 01634 88 8704

MY COURSE DETAILS Course Leader Name____________________________________ Email__________________________@uca.ac.uk

Dates for Course Board Meetings 1 ________________ 2 _______________

3 ________________

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WHAT IS A COURSE REPRESENTATIVE? Your role is to find out the collective opinions, questions and experiences of students on your course. Supported by your course leader and the SU you can make positive changes to the University through meetings called Course Boards.

Course reps make sure students are on top, have their voices heard and acted upon. Rather than just consuming the experience, you can be a part of creating it! You will then feed back any changes and improvements to the people on your course (look at the arrows in red).

Campus wide issues can be brought up at forums. More information on page 9.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO? • •

• • • •

•

Publicise yourself and your role to students so they know who to turn to Proactively gather feedback from students on your course and identify possible solutions to bring to course board Represent the collective view of all students on your course Attend course board meetings with your course leader (one per term) Feedback any outcomes from course board back to students Point students with individual issues to the right place for help – your Campus President or course leader You can get out as much as you put in to this role – including paid opportunities if you want to do more

WHAT DO I NOT HAVE TO DO? Don’t take on more than you need to – refer anything that’s outside of your role to your Campus President. *Remember, you represent the Collective opinions, not individual’s problems with grades, extensions, failing modules, bullying, harassment or formal complaints etc.

04

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GETTING STUDENTS’ OPINIONS 1. TELL EVERYONE WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO • •

• •

Do a lecture shout out Ask course leader/lecturer to send out who you are and ways to contact you to all students Put up posters Make sure you meet the other reps from your year and course. Support each other.

2. LISTEN TO WHAT STUDENTS THINK • Discussions during lectures (ask your course leader to step outside) • WhatsApp/Facebook groups • Email • Questionnaires/surveys • Drop-in sessions 1-to-1

3. REPRESENT THE COLLECTIVE OPINION Only take opinions to course boards that cover these four criteria: Accurate: Is it based on fact or gossip?

Balanced: Does it reflect majority opinion or just a few people?

Constructive: Go with solutions for your problems, not just criticism Depersonalised: Think about the issue, not the individual and keep all feedback anonymous.

TIPS FOR GETTING USEFUL FEEDBACK • Ask specific questions rather than just general ones. eg “what do you think

about the feedback we get from our assignments?“ • If a problem is brought to you, ask others if they have had similar experiences • Don’t get lost in gossip – you need facts and proof • Ask more than just your friends • Don’t bring up issues about a certain person – think about the issue, not the individual • Keep things anonymous • Ask for positives as well as negatives : balanced • Work on the relationship with your lecturer/course leader • If you need help, ask for it. The SU and course leaders are here to support you.

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COURSE BOARDS A course board is a meeting where people discuss all things course related. It’s attended by course leaders, some lecturers, Head of School and YOU! There will be reps from other years, so it’s a great chance to meet them.

WAYS TO MAKE COURSE BOARDS WORK FOR YOU • • • • • • •

Let students know that there is a meeting coming up and identify any issues that need raising in plenty of time Represent the collective opinion Remain professional and focused Bring issues to the attention of the course leader sooner rather than later to avoid snowballing Don’t be shy - make your voice heard If an issue is taking too long to be dealt with, report it to the Students’ Union.

You should always bring positives and negatives

ISSUES YOU MIGHT WANT TO DISCUSS • • • • • • • •

Course facilities Access to resources Contact hours with lecturers Links to employers and the industry Course organisation Timetabling National Student Survey (NSS) results Assessment and Feedback

WORKING WITH YOUR COURSE LEADER Feeling a little daunted about giving feedback to your lecturers? It is vital that students are satisfied with their course and feel their voice is being listened to, your course leader will want to make things better too, so really you’re a team!

If you are having troubles with your course leader then talk to the Students’ Union for advice.

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COURSE REP WINS COURSE REP WIN

#1

A group of students on a course were getting frustrated at their lecturer allowing smoking breaks during teaching time as it caused too much disruption.

The course rep asked all the students (including smokers) what they thought at the end of a lecture and a large amount of them felt it was disruptive.

However, when the course reps raised the issue at course board the lecturer denied it was a problem and the meeting moved on. The course reps came to the SU for help who advised them to time the amount of teaching time that was wasted with cigarette breaks.

COURSE REP WIN

#2

COURSE REP WIN

#3

Fashion students studios were shutting at 5pm everyday when students needed them for longer. The course reps put together a petition of all the students’ names that wanted extended hours and took it to their course board.

The course leader then showed it to the relevant staff that organised a new staff timetable that allowed for later opening hours.

Graphic design students were told their end of year show would no longer be held in London due to budget constraints.

When the course reps went to their course leader it became clear the decision had not been his. So the course reps went to school board, where they could raise their concerns with the head of school and other course leaders.

The course reps took lots of alternatives and evidence as to why a London show was important and they were successful.

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COURSE REP WIN

#4

Students were unhappy with the feedback they received on their work.

The course reps ran an open discussion on Facebook asking students what they wanted to see changed. The majority of students wanted more information about what aspects of their work was meeting the marking criteria rather than just negative criticism.

The course reps took this information to their course board.

As a result the course leader discussed the issue with staff and they agreed to offer positive feedback before outlining areas of improvement.

COURSE REP WIN

#5

COURSE REP WIN

#6

Some product design students wanted to know more about career options and skills for the work place.

Through taking this to the course leader and course board meeting, the university arranged for a local professional to come in to talk about their experiences.

Students from interior architecture had a project where they had to work in groups but the studio space was better suited to independent learning.

The course reps discussed this at their course board and found that other years agreed it was a problem.

As a group, they looked at the studio space and rearranged to encourage greater group work.

COURSE REP WIN

#7

Students were confused by the marking scheme and other elements of their course.

Through talking to their course reps that department have now produced a handbook explaining it in more detail.

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COURSE REP WIN

#8

When fashion, promotion and imaging held an event with Vogue only a small number of students could work with them.

The course leader raised this at a course board and it was decided that students interested could put forwards their work as a nomination and course reps from other years would decide who was best to attend.

As a result, the students sent who they wanted to Vogue to represent them all.

WHAT A COURSE LEADER SAYS: Course reps become a vital member of the course team and enables further dialogue between the academic policy making process of the university and the students’ experience of it.

The reps are key players in bringing their perspective to any discussions about course changes and development and can quickly highlight any issues that need resolving.

Claire Barwell Course Leader, Film Production, UCA Farnham

THE FORUMS Where to take your campus wide feedback, allowing more student voices to be heard!

Every 6 weeks we will hold meetings when all students can come and hear about what things have been going on, suggestions for change and voice any concerns – it’s a bit like course board meetings but with campus wide issues.

There are 2 areas; Academic Forum (your course) and Campus Forum (your social life, events, environment).

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COMMON TERMS AND ACRONYMS AAM - Annual Academic Monitoring A yearly review of how the course is doing looking at a range of factors including surveys, student feedback, dropout rates and results.

BoE - Board of Examiners Board of examiners award grades and final degree classifications to students.

BoG - Board of Governors A group of internal and externally appointed individuals that guide the overall strategy of the University and approve or reject high impact financial decisions.

CCF - Common Credit Framework The framework that sets out how ‘credit’ is accumulated, marks and grades are awarde, and outlines most of the academic rules for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

FE - Further Education Pre-degree level education (A-Levels, Foundation, etc).

HE - Higher Education Degree level education, including Masters and PhDs. ISS - Internal Student Survey An annual survey of all students at UCA to track student satisfaction.

KIS - Key Information Sets These are a set of information about individual courses for students to make informed decisions about where they go to university, see unistats.com.

LSS - Library and Student Services The new joint department of library and student development services. This includes advice, counseling, disability support, English for academic purposes, careers and more.

Hefce - Higher Education Funding Council for England (“heff-key”) Responsible for the distribution of funding to universities and colleges of higher and further education in England.

NSS - National Student Survey An annual survey of final year degree students, designed to assess student

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opinions on the quality of their degree programme.

OFSTED - Office for Standards in Education (“off-sted”) A non-ministerial government department for inspecting standards in schools and further education.

PTES - Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (“pee-tess”) An annual survey of postgraduate taught student opinions on the quality of their degree programme.

QAA - Quality Assurance Agency Independent agency to ensure HE qualifications are at an acceptable standard.

QAE - Quality, Assurance and Enhancement UCA department working to ensure qualifications are of an acceptable standard, run validation events and that assessments are run fairly.

Validation The process whereby a course is reviewed and agreed and recommendations or conditions are placed for the development of a course.

VC - Vice-Chancellor The leader of a University, Dr. Simon Ofield-Kerr.

UCA Leadership Team The Executive team who lead the University headed by the Vice Chancellor.

MEETING JARGON Agenda A list of topics to be discussed at the meeting. This is given out before the meeting which you can add to.

AOB - Any Other Business An opportunity at the end of the meeting to talk about things that are relevant but not on the agenda.

Chair The person in charge of running the meeting.

Minute taker / Clerk Writes down what is said and actions to be taken.

Minutes Notes taken during the meeting.

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