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BOARD OF STUDIES FOR MEDIA
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 17 November 2015 at 1600 in
the Boardroom
16.01 WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
NAME
TITLE
Rosemary Stott
Jeremy Barr
Jeremy Gardiner
James Ward
Associate Dean, Content (Chair)
Associate Dean, Production
Postgraduate Course Director
Associate Dean, FE and Community
Engagement
Director of Technology
Course Leader BTC
Course Leader DTV
Senior Lecturer, DTV
Head of Quality
Assoc Senior Lecturer, EPP
Assoc Senior Lecturer, Animation
Assoc Course Leader, Preparation for
Industry
Course Leader, DP
Course Leader, Music for Media
Course Leader Contextual Studies
UAL Link Liaison Tutor, Production
UAL Link Liaison Tutor, Postgraduate
UAL Link Liaison Tutor, Content
RSU Vice President, Production
Will Pearson
Martyn Gates
Stephen Sadler
Annie Davis
Jill Leigh
James Gregory
Mike Smith
Kirsty Powell
John Gulliver
Jenna Donnelly
Liz McQuiston
David Hoyle
Paul Bevan
Chris Petter
Stefan
Ferrol-Henry
Jack Williams
Rowha Mohid
Alex Bagao
Paul Jeffery
RSU Vice President, Content
RSU Vice President, FE
RSU Vice President, Postgraduate
Quality Officer (Secretary)
Meeting
17.11.15
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A
A
Meeting
23.02.16
Meeting
17.05.16
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A
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A
A1
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A
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A = apologies for absence
In attendance:
Amile Ali
Greg Loftin
1
Abigail
Summerfield
RSU Vice President, Fashion
Assoc Course Leader, EPP
Assoc Senior Lecturer, E&E
16.02 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
Approved:
Quality Team
The minutes of the meetings held on 11 and 27 May 2015
(MBS16/01/02a-b) were approved by the Board, subject to an
amendment to the Content Board minutes (15.25) to confirm that
Association of Photography (AOP) accreditation of BA (Hons) Digital
Photography is current.
1
Unconfirmed
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16.03 MATTERS ARISING
16.03.01
Student Liaison Committees
(item 15.25 11 May 2015)
Noted:
Updates on plans for:
i)
Blacking-out the Re-touching Suite (DP)
The Digital Photography Course Leader reminded members that this
measure was a condition of AOP accreditation. It would provide an
area of controlled lighting for students to use calibrated monitors. A
meeting in September with the Director of Learning Resources and
Operations considered a number of possible solutions and the
process was continuing.
ii) Relaunch of the Open Media Area (SD)
The Director of Technology reported that the issues with 304 have
been resolved with significant gains in leading edge facilities. There
was a new Pro Tools S6 control surface with a bespoke-built desk as
a new monitoring solution. The Open Media refit is due for
completion by 1 December, when further 4K monitors for the craft
stations, together with some furniture, have been received. The
increased number of workstations in the central area will then be
complete. The main infrastructure work is already done, with
breakout panels and new computing in place. Staff have also
received training on using the Avid Interplay system.
16.04 MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF REFERENCE
Noted:
Membership and Terms of Reference of the Media Board of Studies
(MBS16/01/03).
The Head of Quality described the thinking which informed the recent
review of Academic Board sub-committees, and which resulted in the
reconstitution of the Boards of Studies. Essentially, the Boards were
intended to act as the guardians of academic standards and the
quality of the student experience, and would cover all provision in
Content and Production including FE and postgraduate. The
membership was comprised so as to provide breadth of
representation across the schools and courses, and the role of
members was to ensure that representation was effective.
16.05 COURSE UPDATES
Received:
 Annual Course Monitoring Reports
 2014-15 External Examiner Action Plans
 Minutes from Term 1 SLC meetings
The Head of Quality explained that as a consequence of the different
academic year for postgraduate courses, reports would be
considered at the next meeting. Reflecting on the Content reports
(MBS16/01/04a-e) as a whole, the Chair and other board members
reflected on key indications of quality and enhancement. The levels
Quality Team
2
Unconfirmed
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of engagement of both staff and students in aiming for high
standards of work were much in evidence. The accessibility of staff
to students, active industry links incorporating guest speaker events
and a range of other activities enriched the student experience
significantly. The recent major changes to validated programmes
were also proving highly successful in responsiveness and relevance
to industry. Students confirmed the success and popularity of the
changes, particularly in relation to the increased relative weighting of
the creative components of courses.
While there were some recurring issues affecting student experience
negatively, members felt that things were generally moving in a
positive direction. The project in progress on adapting and
developing the teaching day could be expected to lead to better use
of existing resources without a major extension to teaching hours. It
was also pointed out that improvements in specialist equipment
provision often had consequent effects that required further
adaptations, therefore tensions between the provision of specialist
and general facilities must be managed effectively.
The view was expressed that the speed of the process of change in
areas such as timetabling should be increased. Many students were
employed, and the late issue of timetables often entailed significant
difficulty and disadvantage. It was noted that the SLC meeting for DP
had heard some concerns about evening lectures for third year
students. The Course Leader explained that this instance was a
contingency measure which it was hoped to avoid in future. It was
also reported that postgraduate students had only received vague
responses to questions about the schedule for changes in progress
in the postgraduate area, and were particularly concerned about
being deprived of the use of lockers.
In general, however, it was felt that the documents showed
enhanced success and experience across media programmes,
prompting the suggestion that better coordination of marketing and
publicity on student achievement was needed.
Agreed:
Facilities staff should provide students with a schedule for progress
and completion of the works in the postgraduate area.
Welcoming the innovation of the joint Board of Studies for Media, the
AD Production summarised the series of positive developments
highlighted in the production course documents (MBS16/01/05a-d).
A gradual increase in the number of applicants, together with their
sustained quality was confirmed by achievement levels. The
enhancement derived from the move to a standard 30 credit unit was
also much in evidence. The small decline in the number of firsts
achieved was seen to be balanced by the increase in upper seconds,
which was said to compare favourably with the sector in general.
Outreach and external engagement through student filming was
reaping benefits, and it was encouraging to see that innovative
thinking had led to the development of the Open Media Area,
signalling the value of new approaches to responding to facilities
issues which looked beyond a simple demand for more space and
equipment.
Quality Team
3
Unconfirmed
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The Broadcast Technology Course Leader described how a specific
complaint about a lack of provision of specific product training raised
in an SLC meeting was shown, on further investigation, to relate to a
direct commitment in the prospectus. He said that arrangements had
since been made which had successfully addressed the students’
expectations but added that the matter showed the importance of
coordination, checking and accuracy in publications as part of
managing delivery and student expectations. Members reflected on
the increasing importance of care and attention to such matters,
particularly in the context of plans for the Teaching Excellence
Framework (TEF). The latter would have a detailed focus on the
information that institutions provide for students, based on standards
informed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The
developments also entailed more rigorous legal accountability by
HEIs. In relation to an issue about registers in EPP, the Head of
Quality reported that a working group had been established to
develop a long-term solution using ID swipe cards.
The AD Production drew attention to the gradual increase in BTC
applications and student numbers, and reminded members that BTC
was a cluster of four courses which represented the aim of the
school that production courses should coalesce in ways that
reflected work in the industry. BTC and EPP are where the overlap
occurs and coherence is achieved in collaborative projects. The
importance of such work was reflected in the discussions of the
Broadcast Advisory Board. Members discussed issues related to
collaboration within the levels of undergraduate programmes as well
as externally, which was associated with various challenges but also
with significant rewards for student experience. Students present
agreed there was scope for better FE-undergraduate collaboration.
Contextual Studies (MBS16/01/06)
Student members spoke in support of Contextual Studies and the
positive comments on the efforts of the team by the Music for Media
Course Leader. Criticism from students early in their courses often
proved premature, as the returns from Contextual Studies learning
became evident in the experience of dissertation. Some issues in
delivery were evident, especially in relating the work to subject
specialisms, and these issues were reflected in some poor
attendance. The Contextual Studies Leader stressed, however, the
extent of the work devoted to relating the learning to core subjects,
adding that there was value in a degree of separation, since the
essence of Contextual Studies was to learn to think differently and
more broadly about your subject. She also acknowledged that this
was a leap of faith for first year students whose prior learning was
largely practice-based. She described the measures used to relate
effectively to subject teams and evaluate delivery annually, based on
consultation with students.
Quality Team
4
Unconfirmed
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Further Education Term 1 SLC Minutes (DBS16/01/07)
Members noted the proceedings with interest, noting that FE
students had expressed satisfaction with the Foundation courses.
The RSU VP for FE spoke of the difficulty of achieving good
attendance at the SLC.
Agreed:
The Head of Quality would discuss a proposal for incentivising SLC
attendance with the VP for FE.
16.06 EXTERNAL EXAMINER NOMINATIONS/APPOINTMENTS
Received:
2016-17 summary of tenures and appointments MBS16/01/08- 08a
The Board approved the nominations for new appointments, noting
that BA Sound Design and BA Music for Media would now each
have an external examiner, a change that coincided with a
replacement necessitated by a conflict of interest arising from the
appointment of the new Course Leader for Sound Design..
16.07 TERMINATION OF PROGRAMMES
Noted:
The proposed formal termination of FdA Editing and Post Production
and BA (Hons) Screenwriting as validated programmes. The Head of
Quality explained the procedure for termination, noting that there
were no Screenwriting students, and that the FdA in EPP had
finished in 2014-15 with a single resit being allowed as a special
dispensation. As the screenwriting programme had not undergone
the major changes in the rest of the undergraduate curriculum, it was
being formally terminated in advance of the 2015-16 revalidation.
This did not, however, preclude future development of a 30
credit-based screenwriting degree which (it was agreed) would be a
very logical development for Ravensbourne that would respond to a
known demand from students.
16.08 MINOR MODIFICATION
Approved:
Modification to Creative Collaboration unit for Broadcast Technology
The Course leader explained the background to the modification,
which merged two previous 15 credit units and responded to a very
positive experience for second year students on a project with
external partners. The basic purpose was to provide for the delivery
of learning for the specified outcomes through assessed and credited
work on construction for the degree show.
16.09 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
None received.
16.10 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
To be confirmed (week beginning Monday 22 February 2016).
Quality Team
5
Unconfirmed