Undergraduate Course Rep Handbook 2014/15

A Guide for

Course Reps EDUCATION NETWORK 2014/15

Education Office r

School educat

R e p s Course Reps ion

CONTENTS 4.

Introduction from the Education Officer

5.

Foreword

6.

Your Education Officer

7.

The Education Network

8.

The Four Steps

10. School Education Reps 14. Help & Support 16. Training 17. Recognition 18. Useful Contacts

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AN INTRODUCTION FROM YOUR

EDUCATION OFFICER Hello and welcome aboard! I’m Adam, your Education Officer for the new academic year.

As a Course Rep you are now part of the Education Network, making you one of almost 900 students who make tangible differences to the educational experiences of students here at Nottingham.

Your main job as a Course Rep is to represent the views and concerns of your course mates at Learning Community Forums (LCFs) with staff from your school or department. LCFs provide an opportunity for you to raise any widely felt teaching and learning issues coming from your peers and, just as importantly, give positive feedback about the things that you like.

School Education Reps – you will also attend LCFs and, in addition, represent students on your school or department’s Teaching and Learning Committee. You will also work closely with me to tackle widely felt or recurring issues raised by Course Reps that aren’t successfully resolved through the LCF. In my role as Education Officer, I work with 6 other full-time and 8 part-time officers to represent students at both union and university level. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without YOU to keep me informed of the issues our students all over the University are facing, so don’t hesitate to come and see me or get in contact at any time.

This year is set to be particularly exciting with the launch of our new Nottingham Advantage Award module, specifically designed to recognise and celebrate the work that you do. I wish you the best of luck for the year ahead and look forward to working with you all!

Adam BK Education Officer

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FOREWORD I am delighted to accept the invitation to write a few words of introduction in this handbook. to Course Representatives play a key role in the University being able enhance, whenever possible, our enviable record for providing a student has experience of Higher Education of the highest quality. This record genuine through but not been achieved by staff working in isolation, partnership between students and staff over many years. matters As with any human organisation, there are occasions when we get will wrong. The University’s commitment is that when this happens we This it. from learn will we and it, correct acknowledge it, we will work to ctively constru g workin approach requires confidence in each other: by e and together and communicating effectively, problems can be overcom the University’s provision can be continuously improved. In this regard, I believe that the Education Network developed by the Students’ Union the is important in making student communication more effective and ive. dialogue between the University and students even more product The University appreciates the commitment that Course Representatives give and be assured that your efforts influence the conduct of the University at all levels, right up to that of Council, the University’s in governing body. Moreover, the experience that you gain is an asset your CV and is valuable in many careers.

Thank you for all of your efforts.

With best wishes, Alan Professor Alan Ford Pro-Vice-Chancellor – Teaching and Learning

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Adam BK Education Officer The Education Officer is responsible for providing a top standard academic representation system through the use of the Course Rep Network. They also represent students on a number of committee meetings throughout the University, ensuring Nottingham students get the best experience when it comes to their teaching and learning. They also participate on a number of national campaigns and are the first point of call for the Students’ Union in terms of Higher Education policy.

Objectives/ Manifesto points: A key project this year is the Teaching Transformation Programme, which aims to make improvements to teaching and learning in every school. We will need to work together to ensure that students are properly consulted and to communicate positive changes to all students. · This year also marks the introduction of a new online process for module review and publication of the data. We will need to closely monitor the system and make certain that all of the results are being published on Moodle, so that our students are able to make informed module choices. · Finally, you elected me on a manifesto that pledged to make printing cheaper, standardise hand-in procedures and introduce wide-spread video capture for lectures. So of course I’ll be working on those and appreciative of your help and support!

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The Education Network 2014/2015

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WHAT ARE MY DUTIES? Here’s a handy step-by-step guide to some of the duties you’ll have as a Course Rep and if you’re ever not sure you can always ask your School Education Rep

STEP

1

COLLECT STUDENT OPINION

STEP

2

SORT THROUGH THE ISSUES •

•

•

Learning Community Forums (LCFs) are regular meetings with your School/Department where all student questions and feedback can be raised.

Find more information on your LCF by visiting workspace.nottingham.ac.uk/display/ LCForum Make sure your course mates know who you are and how to contact you

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STEP

3

TAKE IT TO THE LCF

STEP

4

FEEDBACK UPDATES & CHANGES •

•

•

•

Check out the Moodle module for ideas on researching student opinion Decide whether student feedback should be dealt with informally (Relevant Staff Member) or formally (LCF).

Remember to balance positive and negative feedback at the LCFs Any unresolved issues can be taken to your School Education Rep

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S P E R N O I T SCHOOL EDUCA What is a School Education Rep? Your School Education Rep has been elected to support, lead, and collaborate with you and all of the other Course Reps in your school or department in campaigning for and implementing positive changes to teaching and learning.

They are involved in your initial training, organise team meetings to prepare for LCFs, and will remain your first port of

call if you need any help or advice in your role as Course Rep.

How can I Find out who they are?

Hopefully your School Education Rep has already been in touch to introduce themselves. If for some reason they haven’t, find out who they are at: su.nottingham.ac.uk/educationnetwork/school-reps/

what else do they do?

School Education Reps also serve as a vital link between Course Reps and your Students’ Union Officers. They attend monthly meetings with other School Education Reps, the Education and Postgraduate Officers, and the Education Network staff to talk about what Course Reps are working on in all schools and departments and strategize with the Officers on university-wide issues.

They’ll also escalate any serious, widely felt issues that have failed to be resolved through the LCF to the Education Officer.

School Education Reps also represent all undergraduate students in your school or department on the Teaching and Learning Committee and will keep you, and in turn the students your represent, informed of what happens at these meetings and the impact decisions made will have on students.

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COURSE REP HANDBOOK 2014

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DO I GET P L E H T A WH ALL THIS? G N I O D H WIT

Lecture Shouts & Surveys

YOUR SCHOOL

Before you do a lecture shout, please ask permission from the tutor whose lecture it is! It is rare for them to say no, but out of politeness, you should always check first.

ct Many Schools will not give you dire r thei of all of list il ema access to an students. If you ask at the School to Office, however, they will be able ents stud the of all to il send out an ema alf. beh your on se cour on your

If you want to survey your course mates, there is a really useful free tool available online at www. surveymonkey.com. This is ideal if you just want to ask a couple of questions. For larger surveys, the Education Network has a full SurveyMonkey account. If you would like to use the SurveyMonkey account, please contact the Education Network Office. You will also be asked to get your course mates to complete surveys on behalf of the Education Network throughout the year, and your help with this is appreciated.

All Schools have an online presence m. for their Learning Community Foru ils, This contains your contact deta d minutes from the meetings you atten your for rts repo iner exam and external School. Every School has a forum e feature which will enable dialogu ed tabl time ally outside of form meetings. The online presence is and referred to as the LCF Workspace : here can be accessed c.uk/ http://workspace.nottingham.a display/LCForum/Welcome

THE NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEY Every year, between February and April, the National Student Survey (NSS) takes place. This surveys all final year undergraduate students across the University, asking their opinions on their academic experience and the Students’ Union at the University of Nottingham.

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The following August, the results are made available, and through your School Education Reps you can use these to inform your role for the year. For example, if a large number of students have complained to you about final year textbooks not being available in the Library, you can use the results of the NSS to back up your claims.

COURSE REPS NEWSLETTER Every month, during term-time, you will receive by email a copy of the Course Reps newsletter. This is the primary method of communication between all of the members of the Education Network.

The newsletter will include information and opportunities which you will need to communicate to all of the students on your course. These will include details of campaigns or initiatives the Education Network is running, national opportunities within organisations

such as the NUS or Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), and events hosted by the Students’ Union. It is really important that this information is passed on to all of the students on your course, whether by email, lecture shout or some other method.

You are more than welcome to send the Education Network Office articles for inclusion in the newsletter. Past issues of the newsletter are available through the Students’ Union Reps Module on Moodle.

Education Network Off ice The Education Network Office contains dedicated full-time staff based in the Students’ Union, Portland Building. They are here to support you throughout the year, and there is no question too big or too small for them.

Want to do some research before you raise an issue at a formal meeting?

The Education Network Office will be able to provide you with all of the resources you need, including the rules on what Schools should and shouldn’t be doing for you.

They can provide a signposting service. When you know that there is probably a dedicated person or department that deals with something, but you are not too sure who or where it is, the Education Network Office will be able to point you in the right direction.

Basically the Education Network Office is a one stop shop for anything to do with your role as Course Rep. Feel free to email, ring or pop into the Education Network Office on B Floor, Portland Building, University Park Campus.

Have an issue, but not entirely sure if your Learning Community Forum is the right place to raise it? The Education Network Office will be able to advise you.

Education Network Office B Floor, Portland Building, University Park Campus Tel: (0115) 748 4469 Email: sucoursereps @nottingham.ac.uk

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Nottingham Advantage Award

TRAINING

To further enhance your skills as a Course Rep and gain accreditation for your role through the Nottingham Advantage Award (see next page for details), we will also be offering you opportunities to periodically complete some further online training through the Moodle module and to attend various employability sessions.

All new Course Reps are required to complete an introductory training session and can sign up online through the Course Rep Moodle module, which you all should be enrolled on very soon.

If you are a returning Course Rep, you must complete the online Refresher Training and quiz, which can also be found on the Moodle module. If you have any problems accessing the module or training, please contact sucoursereps@nottingham.ac.uk and we’ll help you to figure it out.

Please note that these opportunities are available to you even if you don’t wish to take part in the Nottingham Advantage Award.

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DO I GET ANY FORMAL RECOGNITION FOR MY ROLE?

NAA REQUIREMENTS

In order to say thank you for the time you give up to volunteer as a Course Rep, we’re offering you the chance to gain formal accreditation for your role through our brand new Nottingham Advantage Award (NAA) Course Rep module!

The NAA has been set up by the University to allow students to engage in more extracurricular activities to develop their skills and gain formal credit for those activities which is displayed on their transcript, helping them to stand out after graduation. To qualify for the full award, students need to acquire 30 NAA credits throughout their time at university but students can also participate on a module-by-module basis.

All Course Reps will automatically be enrolled on our new module, and those that meet the requirements (right) over the course of the year, will be awarded with 10 NAA credits for their transcript.

•

Undertake Introductory or Refresher Course Rep Training.

•

Attend at least one LCF (documented in minutes)

•

Have sent apologies to all unattended LCFs (documented in minutes)

•

Complete 40 hours of Course Rep activity (we’ve put together a handy checklist to help you to document this)

•

Attend one Peer Review session with other Course Reps per semester

•

Complete 3 hours of further online training

•

Participate in one Employability workshop

•

Complete a short reflective piece on their experience as a Course Rep

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Union

ONTACTS

USEFUL C

SU EDUCATION OFFICER The Education Officer is elected annually to represent students to the University and nationally on academic issues.

Adam BK T (0115) 84 68773 E sueducation@nottingham.ac.uk

SAC

STUDENT ADVICE CENTRE

EDUCATION ADVISERS The Education Advisers offer all students at the University of Nottingham advice and representation on any courserelated issues such as academic appeals, academic offences, progression etc. They are here to advise you and help you through any situation relating to your academic wellbeing.

Based in the Students’ Union Advice Centre, students wishing to see one of the Education Advisers should make an appointment to see them in person, or they can ring or email for advice.

(0115) 846 8730 sueducationadviser@ nottingham.ac.uk T E

EDUCATION NETWORK OFFICE The Education Network Office is the main point of contact for any questions and queries relating to your role, or on issues raised by the students you represent.

Education Network Office B Floor, Portland Building T (0115) 748 4764 E sucoursereps@nottingham.ac.uk

Welfare Advisers The Welfare Advisers provide a free and confidential advice an d information service on issues such as housing rights and responsibilities, mo ney and student funding, and consumer matters.

Based in the Students’ Union Advice Centre, students wishi ng to see one of the Welfare Advisers can drop-in, make an appointment to see them in person, or ring or email for adv ice.

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T E

(0115) 846 8730 student-advice-centre@nottingham.ac.uk

Counselling Service

Availability: • Portland Building: Appointments: 9.30am-12.30pm,

Monday-Friday (10am-12.30pm,

Wednesday, term-time)

Drop-in: 1pm-4pm, Monday-Friday

(1pm-5pm, Wednesday, term-time)

• Jubilee Amenities Building: 1pm- 4pm Monday (Appointment basis,

term-time)

The University Counselling Service is a free confidential service (based in the The Orchards) available to undergraduate and postgraduate students and to all members of University staff.

(0115) 951 3695 counselling.service@ nottingham.ac.uk T E

UNIVERSITY SUPPORT SERVICES

Student Services The Student Services Centre is the home for Academic Support, the Disability Policy Advisory Unit, Financial Support, the majority of the Registry’s front line services and Student Fees.

T E

(0115) 951 3710 ssc@nottingham.ac.uk

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OUR

PRODUCT RANGE MEANS YOU CAN PRINT ON PRETTY anything MUCH

STUDENTS’ UNION PRINT SHOP

you’re f i d n a , Oh tuff like s r e t f a t jus rinting, p n o i t a t disser s well! a t a h t f o we do all

Head over fo r the best quality print ing campus - an on d we’re cheap too!

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