THE COURSE REP HANDBOOK FALMOUTH FLEXIBLE
fxu.org.uk fxu.org.uk/ros facebook.com/fxunion instagram.com/fxu_insta Falmouth & Exeter Students’ Union is a registered charity in England & Wales No. 1145405
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Welcome Your Students’ Union What Does Representation Look Like? The Course Rep Role Gathering Feedback Introducing ROS Representing Feedback Meetings Key Contacts
WELCOME Hello! I’m Callie, and I am your President Falmouth! I have been elected into this role by Falmouth students and it is my responsibility to act as your representative regarding all things academic, which includes the Course Rep structure. In my role, I go to a lot of meetings with the senior management of the University and present feedback from students, much of which will have been gathered by Course Reps. This year we’re bringing in an online reporting tool called ros ; Rep Online System; you
will learn about that in training and there’s a guide to using it on page 10 in this booklet. We’re especially gratefully to you, our online Course Reps for finding the time to get involved when we know many of you, alongside studying, are also working professionals! This handbook and the Course Rep Training should help you to get going in your role but if you have any questions, need support, or have any ideas then please don’t hesitate to contact me or the Student Voice team.
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YOUR STUDENTS’ UNION
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Your Students’ Union (FXU) 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 part of the Student Voice Team and are managed via the Representatives Coordinator.
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WHAT DOES REPRESENTATION LOOK LIKE? are students who are ‘team leaders’ for the reps in their Department. They chair Department Forum meetings, attend Department Board and meet regularly with their Department Director. Your feedback will help inform them about the online student experience within the Department.
Student Presidents
department chairs
Academic Officers
Department Chairs
academic officers and distance
are part of the FXU Leadership Team; an elected team of students who manage change in the interests of the student communities across all campuses and virtual learning environments. The Academic & Distance Learning Officers work with the FXU Presidents to identify opportunities to develop the academic experience of Falmouth students, wherever and however they are studying. learning officers
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Course Reps
Student Body
5300 STUDENTS
3 DISTANCE LEARNING ACADEMIC OFFICERS 4 OFFICERS
240
COURSE REPS
DEPARTMENT CHAIRS
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THE COURSE REP ROLE KEY RESPONSIBILITIES feedback from your peers and give it to ROS. represent that feedback! Liaise with individual staff, attend meetings, speak to FXU. share what happened next! Let students know what happened as a result of their feedback. gather
You are vital ! Without our Course Reps, nothing else works! Course Reps act as the voice of the students they have been elected to represent, rather than presenting just their own opinions. They do this by gathering feedback, and getting the student voice to where decisions about the student experience are made.
PERSONAL QUALITIES Proactive and organised Passionate about your course Keen to make a difference Good communication skills Able to separate your role from your opinion
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GATHERING FEEDBACK Sometimes it can be hard to know what areas to get feedback on. Here are some example questions to get you going: HOW ORGANISED IS THE COURSE? HOW CLEAR IS THE TIMETABLE? ARE THERE ANY STYLES OF CONTENT DELIVERY YOU REALLY ENJOY OR WOULD LIKE TO SEE ADDED? DO ASSESSMENTS ADEQUATELY AND FAIRLY REPRESENT THE CONTENT OF THE MODULES? CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE TYPES AND TIMINGS OF ASSESSMENTS; ARE THEY VARIED AND EQUALLY SPACED? HOW DOES THE SUBMISSION PORTAL WORK FOR YOU? DO YOU THINK THE COURSE VALUES YOUR FEEDBACK? HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE TEACHING? WHY HAVE YOU RATED IT IN THAT WAY? WHAT OTHER RESOURCES WOULD ENHANCE YOUR LEARNING?
The more specific and detailed the feedback, the easier it is to act on. 9
ROS (Rep Online System) is our brand spanking new tool to help you gather and manage your students’ feedback about their 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 collect balanced feedback about any topic. ROS can be used in two ways. 1. reps can input feedback they’ve gathered on behalf of the students they represent or, 2. students can use it individually to leave feedback. When a student inputs feedback individually, as their Rep you will get an email with a summary of that feedback so you know what things you may need to act on. Additionally, if they input feedback against a particular service, for example Library resources, that service will also be emailed with the details, so they can act on it. If you have directly received feedback from students, you should use ROS to record it; by doing that all
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the feedback for your course will be in one place . You can request a report from FXU that compiles all the feedback for your course. That report will help you evidence what might need further discussion or investigation. ROS does not collect the name of individual students, only the Reps, so students can be reassured any feedback given to ROS is anonymous . You can find ROS on Canvas just look for this symbol:
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REPRESENTING FEEDBACK Once you’ve got your feedback you need to represent it. Sometimes that will be a quick and easy action, like emailing a module leader to alert them to a missing resource on Canvas. Other times there might be bigger issues that need discussion before action is taken. Maybe students feel there needs to be a different balance of assessment in a module. With issues like that you need to raise them in a meeting with your course coordinator, called an SSLG. An SSLG is a student staff liaison group . There is an SSLG for each course (or sometimes a group of courses within a subject), held in each study block and its purpose is to be a formal opportunity for Reps to present the feedback they have gathered to staff, and confirm a set of action points to be delivered that address that feedback. The SSLG should also provide a chance to 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. The SSLG meetings are a vital part of the University Quality Assurance system, and help close the feedback loop for students. We understand that SSLGs for online courses might need to work in a different way than for on-campus courses but you should be given an opportunity at least once per study block to formally represent student feedback to staff. 12
Don’t raise issues concerning individual students or staff; these issues should be addressed out of the meeting. Please contact FXU or the Student Adviser team for advice. Be polite and considerate of others. Try phrases such as, “wouldn’t it be better if…” or “could we consider…” Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something. It’s always more powerful to give positive solutions rather than a list of problems. Remember you are not there to represent your own personal experience but be a representative .
When representing feedback, remember to always follow the ABCDE code:
A ccurate B alanced C onstructive D epersonalised E videnced
positive feedback is just as important !
If staff know what students like they can try to do more of it!
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MEETINGS aa Get your ROS report from FXU. Email studentvoice@fxu.org.uk aa Check that you have done everything you can to resolve any issues before the meeting. aa Contact staff beforehand if you have concerns about a major issue. This will help build a good working relationship, and will give staff time to prepare before the meeting.
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KEY CONTACTS It’s also worth spending time finding out who the key staff are in your subject area. That way when an issue arises you’ll be able to take action more quickly.
Your
key contacts
are:
FXU studentvoice@fxu.org.uk FALMOUTH PRESIDENT Callie Edwards, callie.edwards@fxu.org.uk REPRESENTATION & DEMOCRACY MANAGER Hannah Partington, hannah.partington@fxu.org.uk WIDENING STUDENT PARTICIPATION OFFICER Mathilde Baade-Whittendale, mathilde.baade-whittendale@fxu.org.uk FALMOUTH FLEXIBLE student.advisers@falmouth.ac.uk
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thank you !
Your work to represent your peers is really appreciated!
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