LT61/10-11
Notes of the Inquorate meeting of the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee held at
2.00pm on Thursday 3 March 2011.
PRESENT:
Joanna Cheetham ( vice Ann Keating), Nicolette Connon ( vice Lyn Black), Elwyn Cox,
Yassein El-Hakim (Chair), Nicole McNab ( vice Dr. Fiona Handley), Angus Paddison ( vice Dr
Jo Pearson), Terri Sandison, Carol Smith, Prof Kris Spelman-Miller
IN ATTENDANCE:
Fiona Crickmore (secretary)
LT43/10-11 Apologies for Absence
RECEIVED:
For absence: Jonathan Beal, Lyn Black, Simon Boxley, James Challis, Dr Helen
Clarke, Dr Carolin Esser, Dr Fiona Handley, Paul Jennings, Ann Keating, Prof
Tony King, Dr Bex Lewis, Seb Miell, Sue Mullen, Dr Jo Pearson, Prof Liz Stuart
For Early Departure: Nicolette Connon and Elwyn Cox
LT44/10-11 Minutes of the Previous Meeting (Paper LT44/10-11 refers)
RECEIVED:
The Minutes of the meeting held on the 27 January 2011.
NOTED:
That, apologies for absence had also been received from Prof. Kris Spelman-
Miller.
AGREED:
That, as the meeting was Inquorate , the minutes would be taken to the next meeting of the Committee for approval.
LT45/10-11 Matters Arising
NOTED: i) Feedback Week (Minute LT29d/10-11 refers)
That generally the week had been well received. There were mixed views on the timing with some subjects feeling it had been too early and some feeling that it was difficult to schedule in to the academic weeks,
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LT61/10-11 however it was also noted that most felt it should remain in semester 1 and that there were no current plans to move it. There had also been some confusion on the purpose of the week as to whether it was focussing on feedback to students or students’ feedback to staff. It was felt there should be some sort of clarification to avoid confusion next year (Minute LT47/10-11 also refers).
WRAP – Final Reports 2010 (Minute LT36/10-11 refers) ii)
That a paper had been submitted to UMG and the Director of Learning and Teaching would give an update at the next meeting of the committee.
LT46/10-11 Faculty Academic Development Reports 2009-10 i) Faculty of Arts (Paper LT45/10-11 refers)
RECEIVED:
The Learning and Teaching Report from the above Faculty.
NOTED:
That this was the first attempt at the combined report and was based on the headings used in the report by HSS. Within the faculty it was felt that the combination of Learning and Teaching and Quality was being taken as a positive step. That many staff were finding the turnaround time of promptness of feedback harder with the increased load (and particularly so for HPL) but promptness was generally felt to have improved. It was also noted however that the students perception of improvement did not always match the Faculty’s record. It was thought that this may be due to the fact that surveys reflect students’ experiences throughout their time at university, and not just their recent situation. It was also noted that the volume of CET staff response had been very positive. It was felt that the report would be very useful for staff development.
Faculty of Business, Law and Sport (Paper LT46/10-11 refers) ii)
RECEIVED:
The Learning and Teaching Report from the above Faculty.
NOTED:
That the report, which had yet to be approved by the Faculty
Management team, had been written by the incoming and outgoing chairs. It was recognised that this was not an ideal situation in which to write the report. It was noted that the analysis of CET was missing which made the report difficult to compare. It was also noted that the Quality part of the report had already been to ASC.
Faculty of Education, Health and Social Care (Paper LT47/10-11 refers) iii)
RECEIVED:
The Learning and Teaching Report from the above Faculty.
NOTED:
That, as for BLS, the report had been produced separately from the
Quality report. The 73% response rate to the CET was felt to be good.
There was some concern with regard to the extensions required for some of the Learning and Teaching projects.
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LT61/10-11
LT47/10-11 Feedback Week Report from HSS (Paper LT48/10-11 refers)
RECEIVED:
The above report from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
NOTED: i) That the bookmarks provided by the LTDU had created some controversy, as had been intended. Apologies were given by the LTDU for any problems caused. ii) That it was generally felt that closer collaboration with the Student
Union might make more students engage with the week. It was also noted that better coordination of activities across subjects would help avoid duplication of coverage, especially for Combined Honours students.
AGREED:
That the LTDU would circulate guidance on good and bad practice and clarify the purpose of the week.
LT48/10-11 Plagiarism
RECEIVED: a)
An update presentation and report on research in to plagiarism by the
LDTU (Paper LT49/10-11 refers)
NOTED: i) That the research had been conducted by the LDTU as a result of concerns raised by some programme leaders with regard to the plagiarism process. ii) That, although 70% of those students who responded to the questionnaires or were interviewed, felt they understood what plagiarism meant, when questioned further it emerged this was not always the case iii) That, in most instances it was the fear of being thrown off of the course or peer pressure that stopped students from plagiarising. iv) That the section of the student handbook on Academic
Misconduct was currently being re-written to clarify the process. v) That referencing appeared to be one of the main areas of confusion for students, particularly for those on the Combined
Honours programme, where practices within different subjects varied. b)
AGREED:
That a link to the video be put on the Learning Network, with the possibility of a section on ‘what to do next’ at the end.
RECEIVED:
A paper from the Director of Learning and Teaching concerning the use of Turnitin (Paper LT50/10-11 refers).
NOTED: i) That, it was generally felt that the proposal to use Turnitin as an education and development tool was a good one. It was suggested
Y.EH
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LT61/10-11 that all work at level 4 be submitted through Turnitin so that students could learn where mistakes were being made and to illustrate what counted as academic misconduct. It would then only be used for work at level 5 and 6 by staff for work causing concern. It was also noted however that this proposal wouldn’t be possible for Masters students as their work was all at the same level. ii) There was some concern that if this proposal was implemented then it should not be done at the same time as the possible implementation as categorical marking.
AGREED:
That the Chair of the Committee would send the proposal and above suggestion to the FADCs for comment and to see if a programme
(possibly one from each faculty) would be willing to run a pilot.
LT49/10-11 CET Lunches (Paper LT51/10-11 refers)
NOTED:
For information, details of the Collaborative Enhancement and Teaching
Lunches.
LT50/10-11 Faculty Academic Development Committee
RECEIVED:
For information, a) Faculty of Arts i) Confirmed Minutes of the Faculty Academic Development
Committee held 17 November 2010 (Paper LT52/10-11 refers) ii) Confirmed Minutes of the Faculty Academic Development
Committee held 15 December 2010 (Paper LT53/10-11 refers) b) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences i) Confirmed Minutes of the Faculty Academic Development
Committee held 12 January 2011 (Paper LT54/10-11 refers) ii) Unconfirmed Minutes of the Faculty Academic Development
Committee held 9 February 2011 (Paper LT55/10-11 refers)
Faculty of Education, Health and Social Care c) i) Confirmed Minutes of the Faculty Academic Development
Committee held 24 November 2010 (Paper LT56/10-11 refers) ii) Unconfirmed Minutes of the Faculty Academic Development
Committee held 12 January 2011 (Paper LT57/10-11 refers)
LT51/10-11 Academic Standards Committee (Paper LT58/10-11 refers)
RECEIVED:
For information, the unconfirmed minutes of the Academic Standards Committee held 19 January 2011.
LT52/10-11 Race Equality Action Forum (Paper LT59/10-11 refers)
RECEIVED:
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LT61/10-11
For information, the unconfirmed minutes of the Race Equality Action Forum held 28 January 2011.
LT53/10-11 Date of next meeting
NOTED:
That the next meeting of the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee will be held on Thursday 28 April 2011, at 2pm in the Boardroom The deadline for papers and agenda items will be 12noon on Thursday 14 April 2011.
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