SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS
Associate Tutor Meeting
Minutes
Date:
Time:
Location:
Attending:
Wednesday 27 February 2013
16:00-17:30
Jubilee G30
Ian Davidson (Chair)
Head of School
Sarah Hardman
School Manager
Merrill Jones (Secretary) School Administrator
Eugenia Aguilar Nova, Guadalupe Alvarez Tinoco, Yusuf Dirie, Mark Fisher,
Javad Izadi Zadeh Darjezi, Olaya Moldes Andres, Johannes Rauch, Hammed
Roohani, Giuseppe Scotto, Anannit Sumawong, Kieron Swift, Marco Carreras,
Boidurjo Mukhopadhyay, Amrita Saha, Malgorzata Sulmierska, Tsegay
Teklesellasie, Emily Cox, Nicola Grassano, Mehdi Kiamehr, Jenny
1. Welcome/Introduction/Apologies
The Head of School, Ian Davidson (ID) welcomed all the Associate Tutors to the meeting
and thanked them for their contributions to teaching for BMEc. Each AT introduced
themself. There were numerous apologies for absence that have been kept as a record
for the meeting.
2. Head of School Update
ID confirmed the good news that SPRU were staying following discussions of a potential
move to UCL. He stated that the growth plans were to have a faculty of 30 in
Economics, 70 in Business and Management and 30 in SPRU. BMEc is continuing to
grow along with LPS.
The continued support for the School from the ATs is invaluable.
ID confirmed the changes to the GTA fee waivers for this year had been approved at
School level but we were waiting for the University Finance office to confirm the exact
details of how the changes would be administered, before communicating the new
arrangements to the students affected.
3. AT workspace
The School Manager, Sarah Hardman (SH), confirmed that additional space for ATs was
being sought outside the Jubilee Building. SH confirmed that potential locations to meet
a number of space demands across the University were to be considered, and it was
hoped that a decision would be made around Easter.
The hot desking and shared working space draft document was reviewed.
Room 301 needed to be more secure and swipe card entry would be the best solution.
A breakdown of ATs accessing the room per term would also be required in order to
confirm who should have swipe card access on a termly basis.
PhD areas should also be secured by swipe card entry and it was agreed that
PhDstudents would first go to their own departmental study area prior to trying
alternative departmental space. Having free access was not seen as a bad thing but an
advantage as it would enable the sharing of common research interests and themes.
There was a query about using desktops for extended periods for running code as this
puts a desktop out of action. A more powerful desktop would reduce time for running
code and this would be considered.
Action:
Merrill Jones (MJ) to look into resourcing a more powerful
desktop for running code for PhD students.
4. Storage Solutions
Comments were that coat stands were required. Secure lockable storage, ie filing
cabinets for marking and additional shelving for books and less sensitive materials.
5. Role Descriptors
MJ confirmed that there were role descriptors for grades 5, 6 and 7 and ATs could be
employed at any grade for any given module and the grade was not dependent upon
qualifications or period of time employed.
The descriptors are available via the following link:http://www.sussex.ac.uk/humanresources/personnel/jobevaluation/academicroleprofil
esrelatingtoassociatetutors
MJ also confirmed that the University A-Z had web pages containing useful information
for Associate Tutors, accessible via the following link:http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/associatetutors/
There are then a series of links about the AT policy, terms and conditions, rates of pay
and various FAQs.
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/associatetutors/atpolicy
MJ confirmed that it was important when being employed by a module convenor that an
AT is employed at the correct grade and that all the responsibilities were clear from the
start of the term.
6. Training and Development
MJ confirmed that all ATs must undertake the training offered by TLDU prior to or during
their first appointment.
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/at
There are then a series of other training sessions available from TLDU
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/tldevents
In addition there are drop-in sessions available on Study Direct and there are termly user
group meetings all of which support and develop ATs and teaching faculty.
7.
Workload and Marking
There was then a discussion about the workload for the ATs. ATs commented that
more than 1 office hour was required when undertaking several seminars on a module,
there should be 1 office hour per seminar. ATs commented that they would not have
taken on so many modules if they had been aware of the workload.
Marking of assignments takes considerable time particularly when providing
informative feedback. ATs confirmed that the follow-up from feedback from T1
continued into T2 and took time from T2 commitments.
It would be advisable to use more ATs on modules with high numbers of students.
ATs wanted more clear planning guidance from the module convenors.
ATs also emphasized the need for students to be given study skills training as this is an
area that they have to support.
MJ confirmed that this was available to students via S3 and ATs should signpost students
to this service
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/s3/?id=161&jquery=on
The issue of International students was also raised and the difficulties that ATs
encountered. There is support and training available for this via TLDU
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/tldevents/incl