STUDENT EXPERIENCE
news
04 Who are we?
06
Student Experience facts
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Staff spotlight
HYBRID WORKING? “Most staff are positive and happy about the prospect of hybrid working”
It was a real pleasure to have the whole Directorate together for our virtual Student Experience Directorate Staff Conference on 17th March, exactly one year on from the first lockdown. The themes included consultation on the new Student Academic Experience Strategy with Dr Claire Carney, and a specific topic covering ‘How Will Home Working Work in the Future’ with the Principal and myself hosting a live poll on hybrid and home working. To get things started, staff were asked to describe how they felt about hybrid working and the results are shown in the word cloud below. Most staff are positive and happy about the prospect of hybrid working, where some work time could be spent working off campus. An exciting and forward looking development.
d e x a l e R efficient More Lonely Busy Stress s g n eli e f d e x mous o n Mi o t u A m o d e e ns o Fr i t p u r ter n i s s e L
e Positiv
Love it stic Optimi
ed s u es c h o c F a o OK r pp a n r e d Mo
ble a k r o Keen W allenging Ch
Excitneedd
Concer
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ent Confid th ress n E e v Less st i t ughts c o u h d t o d r e p ix More ance M
Bal
ted Motiva ductive o Less pr
y t i l i b i x y p e l p a F H d e c n e v i Baiselda t c u d rst ofoboth worlsdtsic Energ P Be usia ting Frustra
Gillian Plunkett, Student Experience Director gillian.plunkett@cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk
Safe
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Welcome to our FIRST Student Experience Directorate newsletter where we hope to offer you information on what we do and what’s coming up to support students and staff
As this is the first edition it would be good to hear your views on the content and what you might like to see more or less of, drop me or Gillian an email or pop in to see us at City or Riverside Campus. madeline.jean@cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk
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WHO ARE WE?
We are the Student Experience Directorate and we manage the seven functions shown in the diagram below. We have around 70 staff including learning support lecturers and advisors, sign language interpreters, educational support workers, careers advisors, student advisors, engagement officers, counsellors, funding and admissions staff. We are members of the Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education (AMOSSHE). AMOSSHE, informs and supports the leaders of Student Services in the UK, and represents, advocates for and promotes the student experience worldwide.
Student Funding Student Recruitment and Admissions Student Engagement
Students Association
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
DIRECTORATE
WHAT WE DO The Student Experience Directorate has two main aims. First to support the retention and success of our students and second to promote the Student Voice. To support retention and success we use a three tier model of support shown below to ensure students get the right help at the right time, but with upwards of 25,000 students to support each year we recognise that everyone in the college helps to support students.
100% 15% 5%
Foundation level support which addresses the needs of the greatest percentage of our students
Specific interventions for ‘at risk’ groups
Intensive help for a small percentage of our students with particularly complex and specific needs.
What is the Student Experience? The student experience is a term that covers all aspects of student living, from academic studies to social interactions and all aspects of campus (or virtual campus) life. It includes every student touchpoint, interaction or engagement from application to graduation and everything in between.
Student and Careers Advisors Mental Health and Wellbeing
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Learning Support
To promote the student voice we support CitySA, class reps and learning and teaching across the college. Externally, we work closely with student representative bodies such as the National Union of Students (NUS) and Student Partnership in Quality Scotland (sparqs). 5
STUDENT EXPERIENCE FACTS 2020/21 As we move into the new Academic year, we reflect on our successes from last year.
Contrary to what we thought might happen, counselling referrals were down by
17%
Our spend on student funding was
£12.5 million
The number of steps taken by all participants in the Spring into Action Step Count challenge was
16,043,960 On the College’s website the student services page has been visited
441,686 The Students’ Association was
AWARDED
an ‘Excellent Rating’ at the NUS Green Impact Awards 6
In learning support, Personal Learning Support Plans totalled
1,700
Our Careers Advisors supported
1,840 UCAS applications
Our Summer Foodbank received over
150 DONATIONS 7
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WHAT’S ON Get Ready for College Have you noticed our welcome flags and banners in and around both campuses? We are excited to welcome new and existing students back to the College! As part of Get Ready for College new students are invited to complete the Welcome to College course on the Open Learn VLE. This course is a light-touch introduction to the college, providing videos, resources and information to prepare new students for their studies. One area we’ve been excited to develop are our Student Vlogs. These include current students giving their
Workshops LEARNING SUPPORT WORKSHOPS Learning Support are offering workshops this week to provide teaching staff with an overview of the revised Personal Learning Support Plan (PLSP) summary. Attending will allow staff to better support the College’s corporate, moral and legal responsibilities for Equality, 8
Date for the diary Uni Expo - Tuesday 5th Thursday 7th October This is an opportunity for universities and HEIs to engage with our students to let them know about the range of opportunities available for their next steps and how to make a successful UCAS application. The event is open to all students.
experiences of different aspects of college life including being new to college, living in student accommodation and being part of the Students’ Association. There is also lots of information for new students on our website, and a Get Ready calendar which provides students with up-to-date information, guidance, support services, key dates and competitions in August. Our 5 Steps to Success ties themes together to keep students connected, organised, motivated and communicating to start their learning!
Freshers - October The Students’ Association will be hosting their annual Freshers’ fair in October this year. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates coming soon!
A handy guide for staff has been created to help staff welcome our new students to the College.
Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I). The first sessions took place on Monday 23rd August, but there are further workshops on Wednesday 25th August and Friday 27th August, three separate sessions will be delivered via Zoom at the following times: 2.00pm to 2.30pm 2.45pm to 3.15pm 3.30pm to 4.00pm
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Please book a session by accessing the Staff Event Booking App on MyConnect. Sessions are limited to a maximum of 20 participants. STRESS MANAGEMENT WORKSHOPS Last year, the Student Mental Health team focused on enabling students to access provision remotely: - providing online and telephone
counselling; remote workshops; an anxiety therapeutic group and developing ways that students could access wellbeing information and resources through the YouTube channel, website and remote Mindfulness and yoga courses. This year, the team will continue to provide this support with a focus on recovery from the pandemic and diversifying the service.
Lecturers can book Stress Management and Covid Conversations: Processing the pandemic workshops for their guidance slots by contacting counselling@ cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk.
Mental Health Conference Wednesday 1st December The Mental Health conference will be taking place online with special guests including Kevin Stewart, Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care. The conference will focus on supporting students and staff to thrive post-pandemic and embedding mental health and wellbeing into the curriculum.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Welcome Aboard!
A warm welcome to our new team members who have recently joined the team:
Robert Anderson
Learning Support Lecturer for 6 years at the college
KATY SWAN
in Assistant Student Association Adm
“one piece of advice I would give to new students is to establish a routine” Q. What gets you out of bed in the morning? A. I think we all have a need to be productive. In my role, productivity means getting satisfaction from helping someone (even if only in a small way). 10
Q. What 3 words would you use to describe your role? A. ‘Supportive’, ‘problem-solver’ (though admittedly some solutions are easier to find than others) and ‘communicator’. Q. What’s your biggest achievement to date? Personal or professional? A. Completing a PhD (as a mature student and through studying part-time). Q. If you could switch jobs with someone in the College, who would it be? A. Part of my job involves supporting the deaf sign language using students at the College. Though I am fluent in British Sign Language, I never went on to train as an interpreter. I think if I was to switch jobs it would be with one of the College’s BSL/English
LUCY TREASURE Officer eer udents’ Association Volunt
St
interpreters – as I really enjoy communicating with the Deaf students. Q. What advice would you give to new students starting this term? A. Given all the recent changes (the move to blended learning, for example) and all the demands that students have to juggle these days (including part-time work), one piece of advice I would give to new students is to establish a routine whereby you allocate some specific times every week for college work. Also, think about where you study/work best and establish that as your work space (whether at home or on campus or somewhere else). Start using a calendar/planner. If you develop these habits from the outset, then they will help you in times when you are feeling under pressure to complete assessments.
ELSPETH OMAND sistant
min As Student Development Ad
JADE MCCANN
nt
min Assista Student Development Ad
MARK HAMILTON er
Student Engagement Offic e ation to enter a career in th e It has always been my aspir th g I am pleased to be joinin so , or ct se ion at uc -ed er City. furth and becoming part of Team Student Engagement Team
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