Course Rep Training
Congratulations
• Congratulations on being elected as the
Course Rep for this year!
• We hope this will be an exciting opportunity
which will allow you to help to make a change
to your course and University experience.
#TeamGlos
#bluearmy
Who we are!
Jenny Barnes
Representation &
Democracy Coordinator
Louise Fensome
SU Full-Time
Education Officer
And who are you?
Your Students’ Union
Who Are We?
Vision
To have a positive impact on all students at the
University of Gloucestershire
Mission
To effectively represent our members by being a
student-led and sustainable organisation, creating a
better experience at the University of
Gloucestershire
Values
•
Helpful
•
Professional
•
Trustworthy
•
Democratic
•
Fun
Full Time Officers 2014 - 15
From left to right…
Louise Fensome
Education Officer
lfensome@glos.ac.uk
@yoursued
Ben Parfitt
Sports Officer
bparfitt@glos.ac.uk
@yoursusports
Kesh Patel
President
rpatel@glos.ac.uk
@yoursupres
Catherine Innes
Community Officer
cinnes@glos.ac.uk
@yoursucom
Any Questions?
If you think of any later feel free to drop us a line!
t: Park SU Office (main): x 4360
FCH SU Office: x 5358
Oxstalls Office (sports): x 5187
e: su@glos.ac.uk
: @yoursu
w: www.yourstudentsunion.com
SU Staff Contact Directory
Roles & Responsibilities
The Aim:
To improve the education the University of
Gloucestershire delivers to its students through bringing
to light the issues faced by the students on your course.
Your Role
•
The role of the Course Representative is an exciting one that allows you to
represent the views of your peers, and help to shape your education!
•
Your University is for students, so why not help make it student led, by making
demands of and questioning the current system.
•
Your feedback is invaluable to the University as it helps us to improve across the
board and offer the best possible teaching and learning environment to UoG
students.
•
It is important that representatives highlight both good and bad things about
their course, so we know what we are doing well as well as what we need to
improve on, so we can spread any good practice around the University and
change weak areas.
Your 6 main responsibilities:
1. Talk to the students on your course to find out any academic issues
they are having.
-To find out more information about how your course mates feel about
any issues.
-Help give you a good argument in Board of Studies meeting- get a
statistic!
-Find out any improvements your course mates want to see OR find
out anything they think is great about their course before a Board of
studies meeting.
2. Attend Boards of Studies meetings to feedback and
discuss the issues faced by the students on your course
-If you don’t tell the University what’s wrong, they aren’t
going to change anything!
-It’s an opportunity to tell them face to face what you
want to be done and quiz them on how they are going to
do it
3. Feedback any decisions made in Boards of
Studies meetings to your peers.
-Ensures everyone knows what changes are going
to be made
-Ensures everyone is happy with the changes that
are going to be made
-Lets everyone know what can’t be done & why
4. Talk to your School Rep
-Attend Rep Forums
-Get bigger issues resolved (including non-academic
issues) e.g. ones beyond your course
-Get involved in helping to build a School Community
5. Bring a student perspective to potential
University policy changes such as proposed
changes to assessment deadlines.
-without a student perspective it’s difficult to know
what you want!
-avoids further problems later on
6. Engage students with national issues affecting
education.
-e.g. Rising Tuition Fees
-Pass your knowledge of the issues onto your course
mates
-It’s hard to push for change if you don’t know what is
wrong!
What is NOT your role
• To deal with individual students issues e.g. a
student who is unhappy with their grade.
• To deal with students personal issues.
Helpzones
•
There is a Student Helpzone on each campus, where staff are available to provide
advice and support on academic and personal matters, including questions about
obtaining an extension to an assessment deadline; accommodation, finance,
health, etc.
•
You can visit the Helpzones web page at:
•
http://www.glos.ac.uk/helpzones,
•
or phone 01242 71444, or email the Helpzone for your campus:
•
•
•
helpzonefch@glos.c.uk
helpzoneoxstalls@glos.ac.uk
helpzonepark@glos.ac.uk
Specific Student Services
-Accommodation (accommodation@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714544
-Chaplaincy (chaplaincy@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714592
-Counselling (counselling@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714542
-Disability, Dyslexia and Learning Support Service (disability@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714541
-Employability: Careers Centre (careers@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714795
-Employability: Degreeplus (degreeplus@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 715032
-Employability: Student Placements (placements@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714316
-Mental Health and Wellbeing (mhw@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714542
-Money Advice Team (moneyadvice@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714535
-Student Achievement Team (studentachievement@glos.ac.uk) Tel: 01242 714444
What you get out of being a Rep
•
Being a Course Rep brings loads of great rewards, as well as providing you with skills that
employers love! As a Course Rep, you will:
•
Develop loads of skills including: communication, negotiation, interpersonal skills, public
speaking, leadership
•
Get to have your say in how your course is run
•
Meet all your course mates and make new friends
•
Get accreditation on the Degree Plus Award and the HEAR
•
Get involved with your Students’ Union and gain accreditation in the SU Volunteering toolkit
•
Sit on top University meetings that will expand your knowledge of how the Universityworks
•
Make a change and leave your mark on the University
Any Questions?
Education for Sustainability
Education for Sustainability (EfS)
• EfS – a way of teaching and learning that can be applied to all courses
• Develops students to become graduates with the knowledge,
understanding, skills, values and attributes capable of being agents of
change for sustainability
• It supports leaders and decision makers of tomorrow to consider an
alternative positive future
• our current ways of life are putting increasing pressure on society and the
environment which is limiting quality of life for current and future
generations
This is a set of principles which can be adapted to the context of
any course, any student and any future career path
Why is EfS important?
The University of Gloucestershire aims to be a sector leader embedding EfS in all
of its taught programmes
EfS is being demanded by students and graduate employers:
NUS-HEA Student Survey 2013:
• 87% believe ‘sustainability is something universities should actively support and promote’
EMPLOYERS:
• Highlighted the need for sustainability literate graduates in the following surveys:
- BITC 2010, Ipsos-MORI 2010, Sky Future Leaders Survey 2011, British Council 2011
QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY (QAA):
• EfS is a QAA priority, it was included in the Teaching and Learning chapter (B3, p8) of the new
UK Quality Code
HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY (HEA):
• QAA and HEA have released national guidance on ESD in curriculum development and
graduate outcomes in 2014
Course Reps and EfS
EfS uses active, ‘real-world’, participatory and transformative approaches to education
As a course rep you can:
•
•
•
Question lecturers on the integration of EfS into your courses
Press for curriculum development to give you more experiences of EfS teaching and learning approaches
Ask for more relevant education which equips you for the future
Be an active learner and ensure you are gaining the most from your time at the University of Gloucestershire!
For more information get in touch with Meg Baker in the Sustainability Department:
rcesevern@glos.ac.uk or Jenny Barnes: jbarnes@glos.ac.uk to join a more in-depth EfS
workshop
*More information on EfS and your role as a course rep is provided in the course rep handbook. See also,
http://insight.glos.ac.uk/sustainability/Education/hefcelgmquality/Pages/EducationforSustainableDevelopment.aspx
Communication
Activity
• Talk to someone you don’t know
(2 mins)
-what happened?
-what skills did you use?
Activity
• Draw what you hear (5 mins)
-Partner 1- think of something you want to change about your
course. Describe this to your partner.
-Partner 2- try to DRAW what your partner has described
-Partner 1- did this drawing match what you were trying to
explain?
Now SWAP!
Negotiation
Skills you need to negotiate?
• Listen carefully to the arguments of the other party
• Clarify issues you are not clear about by asking how, why, where, when
and what questions.
• List all the issues which are important to both sides and identify the key
issues.
• Identify any areas of common ground.
• Understand any outside forces that may be affecting the problem.
• Try to be assertive about what you want rather than passive or aggressive
Scenario 1
• You are in a Board of Studies Meeting. You bring up
that you and your course mates all feel that the
assessment deadlines are too close together for this
term.
• The staff members present agree that it’s unfortunate;
however they feel that they need to remain where they
are, as they all want their students to have finished
most of the module before writing their assignments.
• How do you negotiate a deal?
Scenario 2
• You are in a Board of Studies meeting, and you bring up
that many of the students on your course are unhappy
with the standard of feedback they are receiving.
• The staff members present feel that they are giving
sufficient feedback.
• How would you negotiate a change in feedback and
find a positive solution to the problem?
Meetings
Boards of Study meetings
•
You and the members of staff in your School (e.g. Course leaders) will discuss any
issues raised by students.
•
The aim is to work towards a positive solution to resolve issues.
BEFORE MEETINGS
-Talk to the other students in your department and research any issues they are
facing.
-Submit these issues to your Personal Tutor, so they can be included in the agenda.
-You will receive an agenda prior to the meeting-make sure you print this off!
-If you have big concerns about an issue, talk to either your School Rep or a member
of staff to build a good working relationship.
During Meetings
• Ensure that all your arguments are clear and make a good point. It can be
useful to have facts and statistics to back up your argument.
• Try to talk about the experiences of the students in your department as
opposed to personal experiences.
• Work towards actively creating positive solutions.
• Ask questions during the meeting if there’s something you don’t
understand.
• Be polite throughout the meeting, allow others to speak, and don’t
become too emotional about your point.
After Meetings
• Make sure you know what decisions were
made at the meeting.
• Inform your course mates about what
happened at the meeting.
The Quality Assurance Agency
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVrRlAFH
_3U
Get involved with Quality Assurance
Survey time!
Feedback
You will feed back to:
-Your module review tutors
-Members of Staff at Boards of Studies meetings
-Your course mates
-School Reps
WHY IS FEED BACK IMPORTANT?
-Lets everyone know what’s going on
-Means actions can be taken
-Means you can hold staff to account for their actions
IT MEANS WE CAN IMPROVE EDUCATION!
Meet your School Rep
Any Questions?