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MINUTES OF CANADIAN STUDIES 1A COURSE REPS MEETING
Held on the 12 October 2011 at 1.30pm
PRESENT
Erin Gillies (Tutorial Representative, Group 1)
Mike Yeomans (Tutorial Representative, Group 2)
Director of Canadian Studies (Dr A M Timpson, Course Convener)
Andrew Kelly (Course Secretary)
Minutes
Andrew Kelly
1.
INTRODUCTION
The Director outlined the structure of the meeting: positive feedback; reservations and proposed
remedies with the aim of making future improvements to the course. The Director also noted that there
will be a follow-up meeting to review actions from this meeting on Thursday 17 November.
2.
POSITIVE COURSE FEEDBACK
The Director asked Students to provide positive feedback on the Canadian Studies 1A course.
1.1 Lectures
Rep Erin Gillies commented that the lectures are very interesting, concise and to the
point. Rep Mike Yeomans concurred with this, also noting that the lectures were
interactive and not just a case of reading slides as has been his experience of other
subject lecturers.
They both agreed that the lecturers, including the post-graduate students, are very
knowledgeable about the subject and the students can clearly work everything out. They
also commended Kaitlin McCormick for her excellent lectures.
The students spoke positively about the graphics/pictures in the lectures matching the oral
presentation and noted that the maps were particularly useful. Overall, the feeling from
students is that Canadian Studies 1A is a good informative course.
1.2 Tutors/Tutorials
There were a lot of positive comments for Senior Tutor Kaitlin McCormick whom the
students found very helpful, informative and approachable. Students noted Kaitlin was
very erudite and spoke eloquently about the Canadian Studies subject area.
1.3 Handbook
The student reps praised the tutorial reading list for being concise and helpful.
2.
RESERVATIONS
Students were asked by the Director to relay any reservations they had about Canadian Studies 1A.
2.1 Course
The students commented that they were concerned that they were covering a large
amount of material but in not enough detail to get a grasp of it with reference to lecture
weeks 1-3. They felt that they only scratched the surface of aboriginal relations/colonial
topics and that the beginning of the course may be too broad. They also commented that
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the cities lecture was too broad and it would have been possibly better to concentrate on
three cities only. The Director explained that the idea of the course was to have a broad
outline then focus in.
Action: It was suggested by the Director that lecturers will ‘zero in’, focusing in on one
aspect in some detail and then bring in another. The Director will try this with the
language/politics lectures.
2.2 Lectures
The reps noted that during lectures the Director has sometimes struggled with the
technology, they would prefer if a technical glitch does arise that she carries on with the
lecture talk and students will go on-line after the lecture to view slides. The students’
feeling was that the Director’s talks were more informative than waiting for the slides and
would like her to keep going if a technical problem occurs. The Director accepted this is a
reasonable criticism.
Action: The Director asked if Student Rep Mike Yeomans could be the dedicated student
back-up should technical problems arise. The Director will also seek additional IT support
and training from the University.
The reps noted that it may be better for continuity that there are no ‘transitions’ in the
PowerPoint presentation as it slows down the presentation, particularly if the lecturer
needs to go back through the slides.
Action: The Director agreed this would be helpful to omit ‘transitions’.
The reps were concerned that the Director had warned at the start of the semester that
PowerPoint presentations and lecture notes might be taken down from WebCT if students
failed to attend the class encourage students to attend lectures. The reps explained that
students considered this strategy was unfair on those who regularly attended the lectures.
The Director commented that after reflection she had already thought that it was best that
this approach not be taken. She also noted that the lectures usually contain additional
comment and reflection over and above the lecture/slides put up on WebCT.
Action: The Director will convey this to students in the next lecture.
2.3 Readings
The
students
suggested
splitting
readings
in
the
handbook
into
mandatory/recommended/supplementary headings as is done in other subjects such as
ICEB and DCP.
Action: The Director agreed that this was a very useful suggestion and will consider this
for future years.
2.4 Assessments
Students commented that they did not think the essay topics were particularly relevant to
topics covered in tutorials so far particularly the Newfoundland question. The Director
pointed out that three essay questions have been covered so far with two still to come
before the essays were due. The students were happy with this explanation and the
Director also noted that questions were purposely designed to go beyond the material
reviewed in tutorials.
Action: The Director will explain this to students in the next lecture.
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2.5 Tutorials
Rep Mike Yeomans reported that the view in tutorial group 2 was that there has possibly
been too much focus on aboriginal groups although he noted the course is now starting to
move away from this to contemporary history including immigration/multiculturalism.
Students in Erin Gillies group did not mention this as an issue.
The Director’s concern was not to start the course solely from the colonial point of view
and noted the aboriginal element forms an integral part of the course as stated in the
course outline.
Action: The Director commented that as a compromise the multi-cultural / immigration
aspect will be addressed in the Quebec Section.
The students also commented on the dress – role playing exercise, the Director confirmed
students are not assessed on attire and will also make the Senior Tutor aware of this.
Student rep Erin Gillies who had already done this noted students were a little
apprehensive but enjoyed taking part. The Director commented that this exercise worked
well in previous years with positive feedback from students after completing the task.
3.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
3.1 Course
The students commented that they had already discussed the possible future evolution of
the course and the overall response from students for this year’s course was a positive
one. The Director noted the next meeting will take place on Thursday 17 November
1.30pm in her office (CMB 4.02) to review progress on the issues raised at today’s
meeting and new matters raised by students in the second part of the course.
Tutorial Rep Mike Yeomans agreed at the meeting to take on the role of Class Rep
The meeting closed at 14.10.