THE SCHOOL OF PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY
Student:Staff Forum
Confirmed Minutes of the Meeting held on 21st February 2014
Present:
Staff:
Prof. Thomas Hartquist, Dr Stuart Lumsden Dr Alison Voice, Prof René Oudmaijer,
Dr Sarah Harris, Dr Samantha Pugh, Martin Iles, Jessica Severn (minutes)
Students:
Caleb Elliott, Daniel Murgatroyd (1st Year), Charles Harries, William Henry-Guthrie
(1st Year). Joel Briscoe, Jonathan Foster (2nd Year). Adam Infante (Chair), Lucien
Roach, Erick Hinds Mingo, William Montgomery, Lewis Cameron (3rd Year). Francis
Ridgeon, (4th Year). Christopher Hamer (Physoc Representative).
Other:
N/A
Apologies:
Dr Simon Connell (2nd Year Convenor), Dr Hugo Christenson (3rd Year Convenor).
Joseph Allen, Frazer Parker, Godwin Madho (4th Year). Craig Lamkin (3rd Year),
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1. Chair Welcomes Members
The Chair welcomed the members of the forum and indicated that in addition to the usual forum
members, the Admission tutor and Head of School/Examinations officer at the time of the Semester 1
examinations would be present at the start of the meeting to discuss examinations and the Quantum
Field Theory module. These agenda items would be covered before the general year group feedback.
2. Minutes of the meeting on 22nd November 2013
One issue was raised with the minutes by the Chair. The last sentence of item 13/33 has been altered to
read “Lecturer has been approached and is very helpful with regards to offering revision
material/examples for section A.”
Quantum Field Theory Module
The Quantum Field Theory module and examinations were last minute items added to the agenda due to
the attendance of the Head of School (and former examinations officer) and the Admissions Tutor. There
was some concern amongst Theoretical Physics students surrounding the omission of PHYS5380M
Quantum Field Theory module from the list of optional modules for fourth year students in 201415. It was
discussed that Theoretical Physicists do not have electives throughout their degree so many of them look
forward to taking this module as an option in the final year when they have the facility to do so in terms of
their credit load. Concerns were raised about merging Quantum Field Theory with Quantum Optics, given
that merging 2 modules means content has to be erased from the course structure. The students were
reassured that the new module would be more focused on quantum field theory with less of the quantum
optics.
It was discussed that this too was a concern for some students. It was suggested that the course reps
needed to collect some further feedback from their fellow students-including second years about the
favourability of reducing the quantum optics module.
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3. Examinations
Year 4
There were no issues with the Year 4 examinations.
Year 3
There were issues with the PHYS3115 Photonics examination which were discussed by the School Rep
and the examinations officer and module leaders. This has been dealt with by the department and
students are satisfied with the final decision made.
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There was a small problem with one of the PHYS3440 Statistical Mechanics examination questions. This
did not affect many of the students on the module as not many students chose to answer the question.
Those who did answer the question had consideration given for the error and no one had since raised
any concerns about this.
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There was a discussion about the module marks for the third year medical physics module Digital
Radiography and X-ray Computed Tomography as some Physics and Astronomy students achieved very
low marks. Dr Voice indicated that the poor marks did correlate with the attendance rates. AI to feed that
back to the students who raised the issue.
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Year 2
The forum mentioned that the change to the rubric of the Year 2 PHYS2300 Physics 3 had been a small
issue during the examination period. This issue affected 5 people only. 1 of the 5 answered all the
questions. All 5 students had their paper marked fairly.
It was mentioned that the exam results had not been good overall for the Diagnostic Imaging: How Do
We See Disease? Module parented by Medical Physics. It was suggested that the layout and marking
criteria for the examination varied greatly to the Physics and Astronomy examinations and this may have
been the reason for the poor results. The students were not given enough examples with solutions to
prepare themselves for the way the examination would be marked. They also received no feedback for
the coursework before the exams which may have helped. AV will ask Medical Physics if practice exams
and solutions/exam criteria do can be made more available. AV insisted that students do need to be
proactive about going to module leaders/lecturers and asking them for clearer information surrounding
marking criteria and or solutions/examples.
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Year 1
There were no issues with the Year 1 examinations
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4. PG and Year 4 Feedback
PGT-Currently recruiting
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Year 4-no issues.
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5. Year 3 Feedback
Thoughts were shared regarding the timeline of the PHYS3777/8 Advanced Experimental Techniques
and analysis module; there is not enough time allocated to carry out the experiment and VIVA in Cycle 3,
the last before the Christmas break. The first two weeks of semester 1 are dedicated to lectures. Is it
possible to condense these into 1 week and start the experiments a week early that way allowing for
extra time for the Cycle 3 Lab? AV to feed back to module leader of PHYS3777/8.
There had been some issues with the difficulty of the Nuclear and Particle Physics module but this was
dealt with immediately by the lecturer and students were happy with the outcome.
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The item 13/32 from the previous Student Staff Forum was reiterated by one of the third year
representatives regarding the Advanced Quantum Mechanics module PHYS3381. He raises the point
that the module (including the exam) did not cover enough content and too much time was spent revising
content from previous years as oppose to learning new content. The response to this was that all the
third year modules are being reviewed and many are changing to become 15 credit modules and
therefore the content will be increased.
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The matter was raised that clearer advice is to be given at the end of year review meetings to second
year students about the module choices in year 3 and how they lead on to the fourth year modules
offered. Action Point: AMV to ensure the module information offered at end of year review
meetings follows this advice.
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There are not enough computers available with the Astrophysics software downloaded on them when the
second year Physics with Astrophysics student are carrying out their laboratory session and when the
fourth years are also in the cluster. Need to use those computers because they need Linux/and or other
software. Action Point: AMV to discuss with the Astrophysics group and IT department if the
Astrophysics software could be made available on some of the computers elsewhere in the
University.
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6. Year 2 Feedback
The students reported positive feedback regarding the Electromagnetism topic taught as part of
PHYS2310. This is going very well and students are pleased with the lecture/lecturer. Action Point:
AMV will feed this back to the lecturer of PHYS2310 Physics 4-Electromagnetism.
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The year 2 students fed back that students are struggling with the structure of the PHYSICS 4
Condensed Matter lectures. The content written on the board is not actually what is said and nothing is
recorded/relayed in electronically form or uploaded on to the VLE. As well as this, the lectures were
moved by the lecturer to 5pm on a Tuesday and sometimes because of the nature of the lectures, they
run over to 6.20pm. It is hoped that automatic lecture capture next year will remedy this.. Action Point:
AMV to feed this back to the lecturer of PHYS2310 Physics 4-Condensed Matter.
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A further issue with PHYS2310 Physics 4 was put forward. The Particle Physics lectures are like a history
lesson. The students are taught about every particle and then told that those particles will all be listed at
the back of the exam paper anyway. The students in the higher years said that Particle Physics increases
in difficulty a great deal in the higher years and it is advised to appreciate it whilst it is easier to digest. It
was reported that the reason for the historical content is because of the IOP Accreditation.
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The students wish for the Physics coffee bar to have a microwave and to be more of a kitchen than a
coffee bar. Students are not permitted to use the Coffee Bar microwave. This has been raised at the
forum in previous years and the reason this could not be actioned was because of health and safety.
Lewis Cameron advised the student reps that there are microwaves available in the LUU for student use.
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7. Year 1 Feedback
The first year students are concerned about Computing 1. Learning computing is very new to them and
students do not find that the lectures correlate well with the workshops nor are the lectures very
engaging. This is causing the attendance at the lectures to suffer. The levels 2-4 student representatives
explained that computing is not something that can be lectured in a particularly interesting way and every
year first years say the same things about computing being a shock. This is because at high school
computing is very different. The higher level students advised that computing is definitely a subject that
needs to be worked on at home/on top of what is covered during teaching. The students also raised the
issue that the amount of demonstrators is an issue. This is something that can be fed back to the module
leader. Action Point: AMV will investigate with the module leader the number of demonstrators
allocated to the Computing 1 module.
The 1st year Theoretical Physics student representative reported that the lecturer of the MATH1060
Linear algebra module is very shy, they have tried to forward this view to her but she did not act upon it.
Action Point: AMV to ask for this feedback to be passed on to the MATH department by
Theoretical Programme Manager.
8. Date/Time of next meeting
The next meeting will be held on the 21st March 2014 at 1pm.
9. AOB
AMV asked the forum members whether they would like the Physics Coffee Bar to remain open in weeks
10 and 11. Student reps to collect thoughts from the students. Action Point: Student reps to inform
AMV if the students would like the coffee bar to remain open in Weeks 10 and 11.
The students would like the Study Cluster to stay open later. It was discussed this may be possible if it
could be arranged for a keypad to be put on the door. The students said if it could stay open until at least
5pm and be locked by the Taught Student Office instead of the Laboratory staff this would at least make
a difference. Action Point: AMV to investigate having a keypad placed on the door to the study
cluster. JS to arrange for Taught Student Office to lock the cluster for now instead of the
Laboratory staff so the cluster remains open until at least 5pm.
Signed: ……………………………………………..
(Dr. Alison Voice, Director of Student Education)
Date: …………………..
Carried
Forward
Actions
2013-14
Date
21/02/14
Minute
ref
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ACTION
AMV to ensure the module information offered at
the second year end of year review meetings is
exhaustive and helps the students to also choose
4th year choices.
AMV to discuss with the Astro group and IT
department if the Astrophysics software could be
made available on computers outside the Physics
department.
AMV will feedback good feedback regarding
electromagnetism lectures to the lecturer of
PHYS2310 Physics 4-Electromagnetism.
AMV to feedback to the lecturer of PHYS2310
Physics 4-Condensed Matter about lack of notes
on the VLE and about overrunning on lectures.
AMV will investigate with the PHYS1220
Computing 1 module leader the number of
demonstrators allocated to the Computing 1
module.
AMV to ask for feedback to be passed on to the
MATH department by Theoretical Programme
Manager regarding the lecturer of MATH1060.
Student reps to inform AMV if the students would
like the coffee bar to remain open in Weeks 10
and 11.
AMV to investigate having a keypad placed on
the door to the study cluster. JS to arrange for
Taught Student Office to lock the cluster for now
instead of the Laboratory staff so the cluster
remains open until at least 5pm.
Responsibility
AMV
AMV
AMV
AMV
AMV
AMV and
Theoretical
Physics
Programme
Manager
Student Reps
AMV/JS
Completed