Minutes of History Staff-Student Committee Meeting Friday 11th November 2005, 9.30am – 10-30am. Present Dr. Donald Spaeth, Dr. Stephen Marritt, Professor Lynn Abrams, Dr. Maud Bracke (Committee Convenor), Dr. Sam Maddra, Dr. Lionel K.J. Glassey, Dr. Davit Broun, Donald Tait (Subject Librarian), Euan McCowan, Fiona Martin, Brenda Casey, Joeseph Waterfield, Henk von Klaveren (Chair), Alistair MacLellan (Secretary), Marion Stewart, Keeley Norton, James Schneider. Apologies Ally Redpath, Julie Rieter, Simon Reid, Heather Fleming, Gary Li. Martin McGregor, Matthew Strickland (convenor 2AM), Simon Ball (convenor honours) Election to Student Chair Henk von Klaveren (History 2EM) volunteered to be Student Chair. Minutes of Last Meeting The minutes of the last meeting were read by the Chair and agreed to be accurate by those present. DS stated that, as a matter arising at the last meeting, the number of Honours exam questions had been reduced from ten to seven. He is aware that this is against the wishes of members of the History Staff/Student Committee. New Proposals for Honours Modules The Making of the Union of 1707 Special Subject (to run 2006-2007). Committee agreed that this course sounded potentially interesting. Sex and Marriage in the Middle Ages (to run 2006-2007). Committee had no comment. The American Constitution: Issues and Institutions, 1787 to the Present (to run 2006-2007). LA said that the course title sounded dull and did not 1 reflect the wide range of issues addressed in the course content. Suggested a more relevant title to broaden its appeal. BC pointed out that students who wished to study American history would note the word ‘American’ in any course title. War and Identity in the British Atlantic World 1754-1815 (to run 20052006). AM noted that it was good to see the introduction of a course addressing this particular period. HK questioned how each course was introduced to cater for ‘an identified student demand’. How was this identified? DS replied that this was a standard phrase to use when introducing a new course. HK then asked if the introduction of these modules would be at the expense of others. DS explained that many courses on offer in fact reflected the convenor’s research interests, for example Dr. Matthew Strickland’s Rebellion and Treason Honours module sees him embarking on a major research project that will see him writing two books. As staff research interests change over time, so will the modules they offer. LA added that modules on offer depended also on whether or not certain staff were on leave. MB suggested that perhaps courses on offer should fit into a specific teaching framework. Survey of Courses Level 1A – On the whole students were happy. It was pointed out that currently tutorials take place fortnightly, and that it was felt it would be better if this was instead weekly. SM replied that this was not up to him as convenor. HK noted that this issue had been raised last year. DS said that weekly tutorials would be nice but it was a case of timetabling – 350 students study 1A and they are split into 12 person tutorial groups, meaning weekly tutorials would be extremely difficult to organise. LA suggested study workshops. DS expanded by suggesting that study groups could be encouraged by the Department. HK mentioned Peer Assisted Learning Schemes (PAL) already running in other departments. LA raised the point that while some students might be keen to have more frequent tutorials, attendance at lectures and even tutorials was low. A lot of time was spent chasing absentees that otherwise could be better spent on those willing to attend lectures and tutorials. It was then queried whether or not there could be more choice in tutorials. SM pointed out that, as in the past, budgets for books affected this. Level 1C - It was noted that students would prefer to be made aware of the exam format in the course document. This could be made possible by 2 collective e-mailing. SM said he would e-mail DB the format for this. Issue of lecture notes being made available online was raised. DB replied that this was work in progress. Lecture notes were currently unavailable off-campus due to security etc. SM and LA suggested that a greater awareness of the new History Moodle site would provide for student interest, instead of extra tutorials etc. Level 2AM – Two points were raised. The first was that powerpoint problems had been quite frequent in lectures, and secondly there was far too much information on the powerpoint presentations when they did work. SM admitted that there had been problems with powerpoint, but asked if students had noticed a change recently. Students admitted that problems seemed to have been resolved recently. HK mentioned that it often depended on the lecturer. Some seemed quite comfortable using powerpoint whereas others were less so. SM went on to explain that the powerpoint presentations may seem to have too much information because the lecturers have a lot of information to put across. Some staff were lecturing on this course for the first time and so needed time to adjust their lectures accordingly. Level 2EM – The issue was raised that one particular student with dyslexia needs lecture outlines before the lectures so that she can follow the lecture. She had approached certain lecturers but they had refused her request. In her e-mail to the course representative she made it clear that she hoped this issue could be resolved at the Committee meeting, being as she did not wish to take it further. LA asked whether or not the student could not tape the lectures. HK replied that it was not that simple. The student needed an outline to facilitate her understanding of the lecture as a whole. DS mentioned that certain staff do not have ‘set’ lecture notes, which would mean providing a lecture outline would be difficult. EM mentioned that, as a dyslexic himself, he felt that this issue was extremely important and should be addressed fully. HK agreed and said that the Department should be more accommodating in these matters. LKJG said that he hoped that the student in question would contact him. HK said that she had e-mailed him at the beginning of the semester. LKJG said he would look at the issue and hoped that the student would come and see him about her concerns. He went on to say that putting lecture notes on the web would be difficult. For example, lectures previously taught by Dr. Thomas Munck were now being taught in a different format and would change when he returned. LA highlighted the fact that Special Needs to dot communicate effectively with the Department. It seemed that Special Needs informed their students on what support they were entitled to but these entitlements were not made explicit to the 3 Department. DS said that the Special Needs Service gave each department a pink slip to identify a Special Needs student. These slips were kept in student files however, and were not readily available to course convenors. It was felt that the Special Needs Service should be more proactive it contacting the Department. Junior Honours – AM stated that no issues had been brought to his attention by Joint Honours students. On the whole he had the impression that there was general contentment among Junior Honours students. Senior Honours – MS said that the Dissertation Workshops had been a great help. Re-Calibration of Honours Modules DS explained how it was proposed to change Honours modules from being worth 15 credits to 20 credits, with at least 5 hours of seminars. The value of the dissertation would be reduced slightly, and this would be reflected with a slightly lower word count. Re-calibration would mean that Single Honours students would have their courses reduced from 9 to 7. Single Honours students would only be allowed to take 2 late modern modules in their Junior Honours year, and similarly Joint Honours students would only be permitted to take one. The re-calibration would mean it would be difficult for students to take outside courses worth 15 credits being as this would lead to them not having enough credits. It was mentioned that the Departments of Archaeology, History and Celtic are working together to provide 20 credit courses however. DS went on to suggest that more weighting should be given to Senior Honours courses, being as students by that point in their university career would have a clearer idea of what was expected of them. HK asked of the reduction in course requirement would lead to less modules being offered. DS replied that it perhaps would, but only slightly. Currently approximately 40 modules are offered at Honours level and it was not likely to change significantly. DS made it clear that this re-calibration was going to affect current Level One and Two students and asked for feedback. On the whole students were in favour of the changes. Any Other Business DT asked if students and staff had noticed the availability of e-books at the library. The response was that while e-journals were found to be useful, hardcopies of books were preferred to e-books for ease of use. DT went on to ask if renovation of Level 8 was appreciated. Committee 4 replied that it was. FM asked about when information on Level 2 MED would be available. SM replied that it would be available after Christmas. The issue of whether or not any more American Special Subject trips were to take place. DS replied that it was possible, it depended on the success of funding applications. The meeting concluded at 10.30 am. 5