European History 1 Student/Staff Liaison Committee Meeting
Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 17 November 2010
Kirkpatrick Room, William Robertson Building
Present:
Dr Stephen Bowd (Chair), Mr Alexandre Cayrouse,
Mr Robert Hannah, Mr Edward Kelleher, Mr Andrew Pollard,
Dr Pertti Ahonen, Mr Camillo Erlichman, Dr Iain Lauchlan,
Miss Katherine Nicolai
In attendance: Miss Tamsin Welch.
Absent:
Miss Arianne Grimaldi, Mr Euan Kay, Mr Christopher Massie,
Mr Nathan Peddie, Miss Allanah Peters
Apologies:
Professor Donald Bloxham, Dr Andrew Wells
Item 1:
Welcome
Stephen Bowd welcomed both staff and students to the first Committee meeting
of the year. He emphasised the fact that this is a Student / Staff meeting and
therefore an opportunity for the students to report to staff on how they’re finding
the course and alert staff to any concerns and positive experiences that they and
their cohort have encountered.
Item 2:
Student Feedback
The general consensus from the student body is that they’re happy with the
course and the pace at which it is taught. Alexandre Cayrouse informed the
meeting that where there had been an occasion when students had struggled to
hear the lecturer, but that this information had been fed back by him and rectified
by the lecturer. Absent staff will be made aware of this as the new venue is
bigger than the usual location for the lectures.
All representatives present were in agreement that the group tutorials were
successful in that staff were approachable and prepared them for the
coursework. Dr Andrew Wells was singled out for particular praise by student
rep’s.
One concern from the student body was that a number of students had struggled
to find the books that they wanted in the library, although it was noted that those
who had prepared early had no difficulty in obtaining texts. Stephen Bowd
stressed the importance on getting to the library early so as to avoid this and also
highlighted the number of European History books that had been placed in the
High Usage Books area on the ground floor of the Main Library. He also
reminded those present of the number of readings for essay questions now
available from the E-Library, accessible through the course WebCT area.
Stephen Bowd informed the meeting that on 13 December he has a meeting with
Sheila Cannell (Director of Library Services) and will raise, among other matters,
the question of providing books for large survey courses like European History 1.
Robert Hannah highlighted the fact that a number of students were dependent on
one text (John Merriman’s A History of Modern Europe from Renaissance to the
Present) and this became very clear during class presentations. All student rep’s
present agreed that they too had seen this during class presentations and staff
present agreed. It was agreed that a more conscious effort to encourage
students to read other core texts would be made, pointing out to students that
speaking / writing from one perspective will not necessarily lead to a good piece
of coursework or a well-rounded understanding of the subject.
Item 3:
Staff feedback
General consensus from those present was that students were responsive in the
main but that inevitably there were some quiet groups or individuals, which could
make assessing student progress very difficult. It was agreed that the fact
students often have to do a presentation meant that ultimately all students
contributed something to the class discussion, but the student rep’s were also
asked how they’d feel about their tutor selecting students at random to answer a
question on the spot. The response was mixed. Half felt that this would not be
popular and rather than bring students out would have the opposite effect as
there’s nothing worse if you know relatively little about a topic to be asked
publicly to discuss it. However, the other half agreed with Iain Lauchlan’s point
that in some instances it would benefit the student who perhaps hadn’t said
anything because nobody’s asked them to do so and was feeling put out.
Everyone agreed that not only did the presentations mean that each student
contributed something, but, as Andrew Pollard said, it’s a great way of getting to
know the rest of the tutorial group.
Item 4:
Directive from Student Disabilities Office
Tamsin Welch presented a document from the School’s Undergraduate
Administrator. It was clarifying a directive from the University’s Disabilities Office
informing staff that certain students with recognised disabilities are to have the
option of submitting work up to a week after the official deadline without penalty
where there were submission deadlines on the same day. This would be
considered ‘reasonable adjustment’ as defined in Disability legislation affecting
educational institutions.
Those present acknowledged the document.
Item 5:
AOB
No further business was presented and the meeting was called to a close. The
second meeting will take place in March 2011 at a date and time to be confirmed.