HAPPY HOLIDAYS
THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Monday 9 December 2013
PROTESTS HIT UCLAN
Lecturers and students protest over pay cuts and job losses NEWS, Page 3
ANDY MAC: I’LL BE BACK Former MACs manager unhappy with current situation.
NEWS, Page 2
THE BIG REVIEW OF 2013 Pluto take a look back on the year in Culture CULTURE, Page 8
NEWS:
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FROM THE PLUTO TEAM
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UNIVERSITY STAFF REMOVE NEWSPAPER FROM PUBLIC VIEW AHEAD OF OPEN DAY BECAUSE OF THIS HEADLINE Jess Millington News Editor
MEMBERS of UCLan staff removed copies of Pluto’s latest edition from view ahead of a University open day after its front page contained a report on lecturer cuts. The open day, which took place on 30 November was a day for potential students to come and look around the institution. Michael Bailey, media officer at UCLan SU and editor in chief of Pluto said: “I was working the event as a Students’ Union representative and on getting into work at 9am I discovered all the papers had gone.” He added: “This led to a large backlash from students against the university who took over the hashtags #uclan #uclanopenday.”
Bailey continued, saying: "The sustained criticism they were receiving forced them to turn off two Twitter walls they were running at the event.” Defending their actions, a spokesperson for UCLan said: “UCLan actively supports a free press but equally it wishes to see accurate reporting. The newspapers were only removed from the main open day thoroughfare. We did not remove them from other university buildings for the duration of the event because the front page headline misrepresented the current situation at the university. Our development plans for the UK are entirely separate from our international operations and the change program currently being undertaken at UCLan would have taken place regardless of our overseas strategy.” The University has always maintained an open and constructive relationship with Pluto, the UCLan student newspaper, and we hope this will continue in the future.”
OUTSTANDING UCLAN WIN TOP ICT AWARD Jade Kneen News Reporter
UCLAN walked away from the ninth Times Higher Education Awards 2013 with the Outstanding ICT Initiative Award on 28 November. The award recognises the university’s Digital Shift initiative; which works towards implementing digital technologies in many aspects of teaching and learning. Martyn Harrow, a judge and chief executive of the higher education tech-
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nology consortium Jisc, commented on the judging: “The panel was very impressed with this entry and judged that the UCLan Digital Shift project had best embraced all the criteria of the award. “It demonstrated in particular an innovative approach and considerable skill and effort in successfully embracing both staff and students in the process.” As part of the program, there have been significant steps in implementing minimum standards for integrating the two. These have included areas such as uploading course information, ensuring online access to reading lists and lecture
CULTURE:
notes, remote submission of assignments as well as offering the option of digital feedback on courses. The project was introduced in 201112 and has been embraced by staff and students. It has resulted in a 136 per cent increase in electronic coursework submissions and a 316 per cent increase the number of feedback reports submitted online. It also allows for the staff to develop their own skills with technology and enhance their lectures. Through the initiative they are able to bring online seminars into their modules and also
SPORT:
provide a ‘blended’ approach to teaching. Over 4,000 staff have attended academic and technology workshops as part of the process. Lisa Banks, the acting head of UCLan’s Learning and Information Systems team which implemented the project, commented: “We are thrilled to accept this award in recognition of our work on the Digital Shift project. “We set out to truly transform the student experience and this ambitious programme of cultural change has combined technology and teaching to leverage institutional-wide benefits for both staff and students.”
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