Social Policy Honours Level Feedback Meeting Semester 2 2010/11
22nd Feb 2011
Present : Verity Caiger (Governing the Social), Nicola Lowry (Children’s Rights),
Ross MacKenzie (Doing Survey Research)
Paul Norris (Honours Convenor, Social Policy)
Apologises: Louise Angus, Samuel Barbour
The representative for Analytical Perspectives in Social Policy was not present but
VC and NL were also on this course and so were able to offer feedback.
There are four honours courses being taught in Social Policy this semester (Analytical
Perspectives in Social Policy, Children’s Rights, Doing Survey Research and
Governing the Social). The meeting discussed each course in turn and then concluded
with a couple of more general remarks.
Analytical Perspectives in Social Policy
This new course was seen as having several positive aspects. Notably, students
thought the range of topics was enjoyable and that the standard of teaching was very
high. There was also praise for the way that the reading list contained many recently
published readings, this was seen as increasing the relevance of the course. Many
students also welcomed the chance to “specialise” in a specific area of policy during
their discussion groups, although there was a general perception that the pensions
topic was not as interesting as the other options offered.
There were a couple of areas where the students thought the structure of the course
could be improved:1) Several of the reading lists provided for lectures were seen as too long and
unguided. This meant that students often read a range of the reading detailed in the
handbook and then found only minimal tie-up between their reading and the topics
covered in the lecture. The lectures given by Elke Heins were single out as having
reading lists which addressed this concern. Dr Heins had listed two key readings for
each lecture and then provided a more general reading list around the topics covered.
It was suggested that other lecturers could follow this approach of highlighting a
couple of key readings to prepare students for the topics they were going to meet in
class.
2) There had been concern amongst students about the topics covered by the first set
of essays. The questions were seen as very general in nature, and when combined
with the wide ranging nature of many of the reading lists, and relatively short word
count for the essay, students feared they might have produced essays which were too
general and lack sufficient detail. Students hoped that the feedback they received
from the first essay would help addresses such concerns ahead of the second piece of
assessment on the course, and wondered if more specific guidance could be given on
what was expected in the 2nd essay.
Doing Survey Research
The quality of teaching provided on this course was seen as high. The quality of the
“lab book” was particularly noted. Similarly, the “slow” pace of the early sessions
was appreciated given apprehension about the mathematical content and compulsory
nature of the course.
Students commented on the usefulness of the early material on how to evaluate survey
data and consider the data collection process. Related to this, the “professional”
lecture from the person working for a company involved in running large-scale
surveys was well received (especially given its relevance to the first piece of assessed
work which was due at around the same time).
Within the stats lecture, there was support for the inclusion of the small practical
exercises which were used to illustrate points made. There was however a wish to see
a tighter link between the lectures and the lab book - maybe highlighting which
exercises in the lab book illustrated a particular point made in the lecture.
There was a clear perception that those who considered the exercises in advance got
most out of the lab sessions, and this was well received. Finally, the structure of the
assessment which allowed students to receive feedback relatively early in the course
was seen as positive for a course where the content and skills varied from most other
honours options.
One issue raised was, towards the end of the course, might it be possible to discuss the
issues around taking the skills learned on this course (with specific datasets) and
applying them to the research process associated with undertaking dissertations and
other independent research.
Children’s Rights
Several students had signed-up for this course expecting it to be taught by Professor
Tisdall and were disappointed she was not playing a more active role in the teaching.
Overall, the course was seen as having interesting topics and was generally enjoyable.
However, there were some specific points where students thought the delivery of the
course could be improved:1) The areas of interest amongst Social Policy students appeared to be different from
those students coming from an Education background. This led to an apparent lack of
discuss of issues around Social Policy and Politics in favour of a more applied or
“classroom focussed” series of discussions. These were often seen as of limited
interest to Social Policy students.
2) With regards to lectures, it was felt that too much time was spent addressing
practical issues (such as how to access WebCT). Would it be possible to leave these
issues out of general class time, and then provide an opportunity for those students
who had concerns like this to raise them after the lecture? As it was there was a
feeling that these “how to be a student” issues were taking time away from
substantive learning.
3) It was not always clear how lectures linked to subsequent discussions. It was
suggested that the links could be more explicitly highlighted.
4) Students had been provided with examples of “position papers” to demonstrate
what was expected in the first assessment. These examples generally involved their
authors arguing for a specific viewpoint. However, students were told that their
position papers should consider arguments from both sides. Students thought that this
meant their position papers were rather like short essays and so were not sure what
was expected, or of the merit of the examples they were given.
5) Reflecting point 4. Students were aware that their final course essay was not meant
to be based on a topic which they had been extensively covered in class discussions.
However, it was felt this left a relatively small range of topics which could be written
about and as such would place high demand on a relatively small range of resources.
Might it be possible to get guidance on exactly how different an essay question had to
be from a topic previously covered in class? This might allow students a wider choice
of topics and so reduce demand for particular resources. Could prevision be made for
students doing more unusual topics to get input on possible readings? As things
stood, students were likely to concentrate on a narrow range of topics top reflect the
existing reading lists. Offering a chance for guidance on other topics might encourage
students to consider a wider range on possible essay topics.
Governing the Social
This course was seen very positively with the class rep reporting they had not heard a
single negative comment. The structure of the course, and approach of Dr Naumann
were particularly praised with students feeling that they were learning analytical skills
which would serve them well in the rest of their academic careers (notably through
the weeks where students were asked to research a particular topic independently
prior to class). Similarly, the range of assessments was generally positively received
with the recent book review making a nice change from normal essay writing.
Dr Naumann was particularly complemented on the way she led the course and
engaged with students as equals during discussions. The focus on incorporating all
the required readings into discussions meant that students could see a clear link
between their independent learning and class teaching.
It was suggested that on weeks where the class was going to predominantly take the
form of a discussion, it might be appropriate to rearrange the chairs so that students
could more easily interact with each other.
General Points
The reps asked that feedback from this meeting be made available to honours students
in Social Policy so that they could better see the feedback process that as taking place.
PN agreed to see how this could best be achieved
When providing details of honours options which were available in any given year, it
was suggested it might be good to include some feedback from students who had
previously taken the course, rather than simple descriptions of the course content.