Wow what a week! It’s been a while since I’ve done a weekly update but as always things have been great and super busy! We’ve had the Education Awards, I’ve dressed up in the duck costume as part of Study Well week and I’ve attended some interesting meetings!
As restrictions have been slowly lifting it’s been great to see more and more in person activity happening and bumping into lots of you who I have spoke to online this year as you pick up drinks from the Tub.
You may have seen that on the 21st April at Senate the University signed off the Lecture Capture Policy which will be implemented next year! Find out more about this here. This is a HUGE win for all of us, without your collective lobbying it would not have been possible so thank you.
Here’s a bit of a breakdown on some of the key meetings and projects I have been involved in this week:
Monday
Assessment and Feedback Group – This is a new group that has recently been established which is looking into how we can improve both the quality and quantity of assessments and the way feedback is currently being delivered. This is closely linked to the student satisfaction result on the NSS which the University are continuously evaluating and wanting to better.
Paper on No Evidence Extensions – I’ve recently been writing a paper on the continuation of no evidence extensions for the next academic year, once no detriment measures are no longer in place. This is something which academic reps have feedback as being extremely beneficial this year. I will be presenting this at EQSC next Tuesday.
Senior Tutor Forum – I met with several of the senior tutors at our University to discuss key concerns which may be arising and ways in which they can support personal tutors to support you, this ranged from exam concerns, placements and even summer accommodation. There was also a discussion around the confident conversations training personal tutors can receive and how popular the training has been so far.
Tuesday
Resilient Curriculum – Given the government announcement on Monday the Resilient Curriculum team had a discussion about what this would mean for PGT students and their supervision. If you are a PGT student, your supervisor will be in contact shortly about your return to campus. We also discussed next academic year and the plans the university have. You should have recently received an email outlining this and your department will be in touch in the future outlining more specific plans.
Essay Mills and Academic Integrity – I wrote a blog outlining the dangers of using essay mills and the way it can impact the academic integrity. The University has recently updated it’s guidance around what happens if you are caught ‘cheating’ to make it clearer for you. It is really important that you read through this. To find out more click here!
Teaching Development Fund Panel – As Education Officer you sit on the TDF panel which looks at development projects academics put forward to enhance the opportunities for students. We discuss the proposal and seek further clarification from the proposer before deciding whether or not to grant the money to support this from a set pot. It is really interesting to read about the plans some departments have to enhance the teaching for future years.
Wednesday
Personal Safety Student Community Partnership – Freya and I attending the Personal Safety meeting which has members of the SCP, Bath Spa SU, Norland College, Bath College, owners of some of the clubs in town and a representative from the local police. We discussed lots of key issues from safety in clubs once they re open, to how we engage with students to continue to improve safety measures and which areas in Bath we could put a funding bit forward to the Council to enhance safety. It was highlighted that Bath is an extremely safe city, but how important it is to continue to look at ways to enhance safety.
SU Leadership – Every month all the SU Officers along with the CEO, Deputy CEO and heads of departments meet to discuss our key priorities, the student life survey and ways we can continue to improve the SU.
Thursday
University Council – On Thursday we had our last university Council meeting of the year. We discussed the University’s new strategy, their KPIs, and finances. The meeting lasted 3 hours and there were over 350 pages to read ahead of this meeting!
Decolonising Architecture – Myself and Ben Palmer (student voice coordinator) met with some fantastic students who are part of the core Decolonising Architecture group. This group is fantastic and the work they have done is outstanding. They are extremely inspiring and I look forward to hopefully working closely with the group in the future.
Friday
And here we are finally at Friday! Today has been spent wrapping up lots of loose ends and having in person catch ups with staff members and meetings looking ahead at the next academic year. The SU Officer team also went down and met with some of the Dominos staff team who were handing out free Dominos outside the SU.
Have a lovely weekend and for those of you who are done with your exams congratulations, and those who still have a few more left – keep going!! You’ve got this!!
