DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
MINUTES of the DEPARTMENTAL SSCC MEETING held on 29th November 2012,
in room RB404 at 1.05pm
Distributed to all members of the committee,
Dr A Wojcik, Prof N Ladommatos, UCL Union and the Dean of Students.
Posted to the ME intranet
Present :
Dr A P Blackie (Undergraduate Tutor)
Dr B Hanson - SSCC member
Dr K O Suen (Postgraduate Tutor) - SSCC member
Caroline Lenihan (Undergraduate Administrator), Secretary
First Year:
Gabrielle Bourret-Sicotte (ME)
Noureddine El-Saidi (ME)
Douglas Stridsberg (ME)
Second Year: James Cook (ME)
Rehan Shah (EBF)
Krishna Vadakattu (ME)
Third Year:
Dan Erkel(EBF)
Joe Fang (EBF)
Roberto Koustas (ME)
Fourth Year: Carmella Friedman (NAME)
Clem Lim (ME)
Mech Eng Soc Nicholas Koh (ME)
Postgraduate: Niloufar Hojatoleslami (MSc Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering)
PGR representative: Megdi Eltayeb
Apologies: Prof. N Ladommatos (Head of Department)
1. Previous Minutes:
(a) The minutes of the last meeting were approved as a correct record.
(b) As this was the first SSCC meeting of the new academic year, APB welcomed all new
members and explained the terms and conditions of the meeting. CL had also circulated
the details of the StAR scheme and the terms and conditions prior to the meeting to all
members.
(c) DE acted as Chair for the first meeting.
2. Matters arising from last meeting:
(a) [Item 2e] DE reported that he had raised these issues with UCL Union who suggested
that they form a lobby group and organise a petition signed by all committee members
and all students. As a result of this, 24 hour library access was granted by College
authorities for the May examination period.
(b) [Item 2f] APB reported that the Mechanical Engineering Department would pilot a new
printing facility, provided and maintained by ISD, with printing facilities similar to those
in the library being installed in the Upper Basement of the Roberts Building, as well as
one in Gower St, due to be installed shortly. This initiative was welcomed by all
students, and would start in January.
3. Departmental Activities:
(a) APB advised that the annual Departmental Christmas party would be held on the last day
of term, due to the timing of the Mid-sessional exams for first year students. The
members of the Events Sub-Committee would be responsible for its organisation and were
elected as follows: Douglas Stridsberg (First Year); Krishna Vadakattu (Second year);
Carmella Friedman (Fourth Year).
Action: CL to book RB422 if available and Mechanical Engineering Society to assist with
organisation. APB advised that the Department will fund this activity.
(b) APB advised that last year’s Departmental Sports day had to be cancelled, due to
problems booking the venue at Shenley, despite the department making a booking request
well in advance of the Easter vacation.
Action: APB will endeavour to arrange the booking of the Sports day venue as soon as
possible this year.
(c) Students requested that a Departmental staff and student photograph be taken this year if
possible, as there had not been a group photograph during the past three years. It was
agreed that the Thursday of reading week would be a suitable time to schedule this.
Action: CL to book the UCL quad and the photographer for this session on 14th February.
4. First Year Matters:
(a) Students requested that the tutorial answers for MECH1001 be uploaded to Moodle, as
well as the lecture notes, as there is not always time to answer all tutorial questions
during a session.
Action: These issues would be raised with the course organiser for Mechanics of Fluids.
(b) Students complained that the computers in the basement computer suite are very old and
struggle to cope with programmes such as CATIA or similar. While the computers in
RB410 are excellent, these are not sufficient for all students, and RB410 is often in use
for either lectures or other reasons and out of bounds to students.
Action: APB noted that there are plans in place to upgrade the computer facilities in the
Department, and these should be rolled out over the coming year. The Department is
aware of the problem and is working to rectify this. APB advised that he would raise this
issue with the Head of Department
(c) Students requested permission to record lectures in MECH1001 and MECH1002, as the
lecture pace is very fast and they struggle to keep up.
Action: APB noted that Lecturecast is available in most rooms, however individual
members of staff must consent to being filmed, and they may not wish to do so. He would
discuss with the individual lecturers concerned.
(d) Students requested that a common room be made available for Engineering students in the
Roberts Building or the Department.
Action: APB reminded students that the Engineering Café on the ground floor of the
Roberts Building functions as a common space, but advised that he would raise this issue
also at Faculty level for incorporation into future planning rounds, and students noted
that there were several common areas that may be used in the meantime in surrounding
buildings.
(e) Students wished the Department to reconsider running the Booster course, pending
analysis of the Mid-sessional test results.
Action: APB would analyse the results of the Mid-sessional tests once available and
consider reintroducing some additional sessions, providing both a teacher and a room
can be sourced at such a late stage.
(f) There were issues with the lecturing style for the subject MECH1010, as students felt that
the lecture notes were unclear, the lectures were delivered in a very quiet manner, and
students found it difficult to follow and keep engaged.
Action: This matter would be raised with the course organiser for Modelling and
Analysis.
5. Second Year Matters:
(a) Students felt that more tutorials each containing fewer numbers of students would help
greatly in the more difficult subjects such as MECH2006 and MECH2004. They noted
that not all tutorial questions were answered, and sometimes too long was spent on
questions that several students found quite straightforward.
It was suggested that
lecturers operate a system similar to that currently used by Dr. Burriesci which was to
provide a poll on the module Moodle site where students could vote on which topics to
cover in the next tutorial.
Action: It was noted that lack of available teaching space at UCL and lack of teaching
staff would make it difficult to schedule groups of 10-15 students at a time. However this
proposal would be raised at the next DTC. It was also proposed that APB would contact
some third year students with the intention of arranging some smaller tutorial groups in
certain subject areas.
(b) A water fountain was requested for the fourth floor, also a student area with microwave
facilities. Students pointed out that such facilities were available on the 5th floor for PhD
students and they wished to have similar access to cooking areas due to the high cost of
buying food externally.
Action: It was noted that a water fountain has been installed on the ground floor and the
Engineering café and ULU are also available for student use.
6. Third Year Matters:
(a) Students felt that the PhD student leading the MECH3003 Quality Technology tutorial
was unprepared for the session and did not seem familiar with the subject area.
Action: This was reported to the course tutor who gave the subsequent tutorials. In
addition all tutorial questions and solutions were uploaded to the MECH3003 Moodle
page after the class.
(b) Students were concerned with the allocation of staff for the panel presentations on the
third year project, and queried if they would be reshuffled in future sessions.
Action: APB explained that the project panels are assembled according to the expertise
of the academic staff in mind, to ensure expert assessment of the different projects. This
is continued throughout the process to ensure continuity, consistency and to record
student progress.
7. Fourth Year Matters:
(a) Fourth year students were concerned with the allocation of coursework for MECHM003
as they felt it was excessive, and there were constant additions to the requirements once it
had been given out, making it difficult for students to plan their time effectively.
Action: This matter would be raised with the module organiser.
(b) Students raised the issue of the scheduling of MECHM008 on a Wednesday afternoon
which made it difficult for them to participate in extra-curricular activities such as
Formula student, sports teams, careers events, etc.
Action: The Department is aware of this issue and will take steps to ensure that classes
will not be scheduled again on a Wednesday afternoon.
(c) The scheduling and rescheduling of the progress presentations for MECHM010 had
caused a lot of confusion – students requested that the date for these presentations be set
in advance in future and notification be given at the start of the year.
Action: This would be discussed with the module organiser and dates would be circulated
in advance in future.
8. Postgraduate matters
(a) MSc students requested that lecture notes and handouts be made available on Moodle.
They wished to receive clarification on the Departmental policy on this, and requested
that if the notes were not available on Moodle, then the lecturers should provide a
handout during the session.
Action: This proposal will be taken forward to the next DTC for discussion.
9. AOB
There was no further business.
10. Date of Next Meeting:
Thursday 17th January, RB404 at 1.05 pm.
Minutes prepared by CL