Faculty of Humanities
Notes of the Teaching & Learning Administrators’ Network – 5 May 2011
Present:
Anne Thompson (Centre for Combined Studies), Catherine Croft & Morag Guilfoyle
(School Arts, Histories & Cultures), Jan Marriott, Gail Steeden & Catherine
Schofield (School of Education), Janice Dodds & Rosie Williams (School of
Environment and Development), Nikola Keough & Abi Robinson (School of Law),
Sara Latham & Amanda Mathews (School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures),
Melanie Crank (Manchester Business School), Amanda Brereton & Bernadette
O’Connor (School of Social Science), Laura Watson & Wayne Eden (Student
System Office), Gail Bradbury (MLP, Career & Employability Division), Nicola Lord
(Faculty QAE Administrator) and Lisa McAleese (Senior Taught Programme
Administrator, Faculty & Chair).
Apologies:
Apologies were received from: Fiona Fraser & Louise Stewart (School Arts,
Histories & Cultures), Emma Casey (School of Environment and Development),
Fiona Hallard (School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures), Lynne McCormack
(Manchester Business School), Michelle Morrison (MBS Worldwide), Colette Cooke
(MLP, Career & Employability Division), Emma Rose (Senior Faculty QAE
Administrator) and Emma Sanders (Faculty QAE Administrators).
In attendance: Ian Miller, eLearning Manager, FLS (for agendum 7.1.1).
2.
Previous Notes
Ref 7.1.3 Auditing Courses
The guidelines, developed by Pam Ransome, for recording on Campus Solutions
those students who are auditing courses are currently being reviewed.
Ref 7.3.1b Undergraduate Regulations
The wording of the second paragraph to be changed to:
In 2009/10, with the consent of the Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning), one
School used Method B at their final exam boards; the use of Method A and Method
B was raised and discussed at the Faculty Teaching & Learning Committee (TLC)
last week.
Confirmed:
Subject to the above changes being made, the notes from the meeting of 10 March
2011 were confirmed as an accurate record.
3.
Matters Arising
Ref 3 / 7.1.2 Charging Students for Printed Materials
Reported:
It has been confirmed, by the University’s Teaching & Learning Group, that students
mustn’t be charged for printed materials which are relevant to their programme;
information to this effect will be announced on the central TLSO website in due
course
Action:
Lisa McAleese to circulate announcement when it is published.
Secretary’s Note: The following statement has been published at:
http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/teachingandlearninggroup/charging-stmt/
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Statement regarding charging students for printed materials
Following discussion at meetings of the Teaching & Learning Group (TLG) and
Teaching & Learning Management Group (TLMG) in February 2011, it was decided
that the University position was that Schools should not charge students for printed
materials which are essential for their studies. This should normally be covered
within the cost of the students’ fees.
Ref 4.2 Assessment and Progression sub-group
Reported:
It was recorded inaccurately in the previous notes that students can print unofficial
transcripts, from Campus Solutions, which can subsequently be stamped in Schools,
this should actually state that ‘Schools can print unofficial transcripts, from Campus
Solutions, which they can stamp, rather than print them on headed paper’.
A decision has subsequently been taken by the University that unofficial transcripts
must be printed on headed paper.
4.
Business Process Management Groups
4.1
Student Administration Management Group (SAMG)
Reported:
The Group has not met since the last meeting.
4.2
Registration / Start of Year (RSOY) sub-group
Reported:
The general wording for communications about non-registered students is being
prepared.
The sub-group is reviewing the UKBA Tier 4 implications.
A meeting has taken place with administrators responsible for distance learning
(DL) provision.
Noted:
The School of Education has DL provision, but has not been involved in these
discussions
Action:
Abi Robinson to report this back to Sarah Beer, with a request that the School of
Education are also consulted / involved.
4.3
Assessment and Progression sub-group
Reported:
a. The Student Services Centre (SSC) have produced a paper outlining issues
around the production of historical transcripts which will be going to the University
for formal approval.
Secretary’s Note: It is proposed that as of the 1st September 2011 the University
only provides full academic transcripts for students who completed their studies in
or after academic year 1999/2000.
The SSC will continue to verify final results for all graduates but would not provide a
transcript or breakdown of marks for courses completed before September 1999.
b. When students run an academic advisement report in Campus Solutions they
can currently see their grades; this functionality will be removed in July 2011.
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c. The Group is looking at external examiner access to Blackboard (BB9) and
Turnitin (Tii).
d. The Student System Office (SSO) have issued a ‘Quick Guide to UG Exam Grid
Improvements’.
Secretary’s Note: There are seven changes:
 New undergraduate grading basis UEX (UG extra credit)
 Year mark process – alternative progression rules
 Online exam grid – minor changes
 Units in Grade Ranges – new ‘total’ column
 Style A Hum (Humanities) – further improvements
 New degree classification scheme (MBS, SoSS)
 Degree mark process – Level 2, Level 5
By reading the summary at the start of each section Schools can check whether the
given change is relevant to their programmes or not.
The Guide can be accessed at:
http://studentsystemsoffice.newsweaver.co.uk/images/3671/5021/1000655/11-0415_quick_guide_ug_exam_grid_improvements_v3.pdf
e. The SSO has sent the data quality reports to the HoSA for checking / action; the
stats are now broken down by level (UG, PGT, PGR).
4.4
Student Records Maintenance sub-group
Reported:
The sub-group is looking for volunteers to join them for the placement project; The
School of Education have volunteered two staff members (placements / teacher
training).
Noted:
The School of Environment & Development will also volunteer a member of staff.
Action:
Rosie Williams to send the name of their representative to Catherine Croft.
5.
Briefing Note
Received:
A Briefing Note containing the following information:
A.
TLAN Dates for the Next Academic Session
All meetings will take place on a Thursday between 10am – 12noon (rooms tbc)
6 October 2011
17 November 2011
26 January 2012
8 March 2012
3 May 2012
7 June 2012
19 July 2011
23 August 2012
Action:
Please put the dates in your diary.
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B.
Contact Hours in Humanities
A meeting of Undergraduate Directors will be held on 11th May to discuss a potential
model for minimum contact hours in the Faculty of Humanities.
The University will shortly be required to publish the number of contact hours that a
student should expect to receive on a programme at The University of Manchester,
as part of a Key Information Set that will be published by each institution for each of
its programmes.
At present we do not know what definition will be put on ‘contact’ for that purpose
and we are awaiting further guidance on this. However, the demand for increased
contact time has been coming from a large proportion of our students for many
years and it is an annual theme in the comments received in the National Student
Survey.
At the Teaching and Learning Committee on 6th April 2011, there was a brief
discussion about whether Humanities should set a minimum for contact hours per
unit and there was some interest from the members about developing a
model/policy on this. The action from TLC was to establish a working group to
review a potential model for minimum contact. The Faculty is starting with a review
of contact at UG unit level and how feasible it is for Schools to raise that and will
consider if a similar review is needed for Postgraduate Taught Programmes at a
later date.
Any outcome will come with the caveat that the University may decide to consider
this issue itself and have a different requirement, but until then it is hoped this will
help Schools in implementing policies and practices to improve the student
experience.
The meeting will discuss the following:
1. Should there be a model of minimum contact hours for all UG programmes in
Humanities? Should this model vary for different levels of a programme?
2. If yes, what should any model be and how should it be framed? X hours per Y
credits, X hours per week per Y credits?
3. Should a Faculty model specify the nature of the contact for those minimum
hours? For example, should we state that a proportion of the minimum hours
should be in an interactive forum such as a seminar? Is this too inflexible?
4. From when should this be implemented? Given the time of year, is it feasible to
make any model possible for 2011 where Schools don’t already meet an agreed
minimum, or is it now too late?
5. Is this a policy or good practice supported by the Faculty? How would Schools like
this to be framed?
Action:
Any comments or input from TLAN members are welcome and should be forwarded
to Emma Rose (emma.rose@manchester.ac.uk).
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C.
Humanities Teaching and Learning Showcase – 5th July 2011
Following on from the success of the Showcase event in January 2011, the Faculty
of Humanities is hosting a second Teaching and Learning Showcase event on
Tuesday 5th July 2011. The event will be held in the Samuel Alexander Building.
There will be 10 sessions available for participants to attend, each lasting 30
minutes and structured around a presentation followed by time for questions and
answers. Each session will be offered twice during the event.
There will also be the opportunity for staff to find out more about the key
technologies that are being used to support teaching and learning, both through the
sessions and through demonstrations by the Faculty eLearning Team throughout
the afternoon.
Throughout the afternoon, there will be a number of stalls in the Samuel Alexander
Foyer providing information and demonstrations pertinent to teaching and learning
in Humanities.



Library: Talis Aspire and digitising texts
Humanities Sabbatical Interns: Peer Assisted Study Sessions and Peer Mentoring
Humanities eLearning Team: demonstrations of Blackboard 9, WIMBA Classroom,
BoB
A formal announcement and invitation to register for the event and for the individual
sessions will be circulated in due course.
Action:
Any questions about the Showcase should be addressed to either Emma Rose
(50286) or Cath Dyson (57171)
D.
Statistical Data
The Teaching & Learning Office statistical data pages have been updated to include
analyses on semester 1 2010-11 UEQ results by discipline and level:
http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/qa/qa_repository/index.html (under
’Faculty-level information and data’)
6.
eLearning & Blackboard
Received:
eLearning and blended learning update containing the following information:
1. Faculty and University projects
Blackboard 9/MLE project
Transition from Blackboard 8 to Bb9:
See http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/bb9/transition.php for
the Faculty Transition Plan.


The key deadlines for the transition are:
March 2011 to July 2011 for Semester 1 and All-Year courses and Programmelevel spaces
October 2011 to January 2012 for Semester 2 courses
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Transition support activities began in February with Presentations, followed by
Roadshows and Bb9 Build Workshops in March. These will now continue through to
the beginning of July.
A summary of key dates by School is available from:
http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/bb9/
Response to transition support
Attendance at the events so far has been low. Both AHC and SED requested that
their deadline date for moving reusable Blackboard 8 content into Bb9 be put back,
and the eLearning Team have incorporated the new dates into the overall plan. In
addition, further workshops have been arranged for AHC in May as a result of the
low turn out for Workshops run in March. The eLearning Team have made all the
Workshop resources available on the eLearning Essentials site, so that staff who
are unable to attend a scheduled workshop will be able to work through the
materials independently, see:
http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/essentials/
Verbal feedback from staff who have attended the workshops has been very
positive. Concerns seem to be largely around finding the time to rebuild courses,
rather than using Bb9 itself.
A further update was sent out with the 6th April Teaching & Learning committee
papers, including a breakdown of attendance by School.
The Transition Wizard is now in operation and staff are starting to use this as part of
the process to activate their courses. The Wizard asks a series of detailed questions
about courses and generates an automatic support response based on the
answers. Where a course required bespoke support, e.g. high stakes assessment,
large courses, cross listed courses, an ARS is generated and the eLearning team
contact the course owner to follow up. See:
http://bb9-transition.manchester.ac.uk
As at 17 April over 50 staff had used the Wizard and a similar number of courses
had been activated.
Further support activity
There is still some work to be done within each School on further additions to the
School ‘Standard Course Structure’ i.e. the template course for each School. In the
meantime, the advice is that staff should go ahead and activate their courses and
use the Standard Course Structure for their School. Any further developments to the
template can be updated for individual courses as required.
The eLearning Team are also currently working with Schools to obtain lists of staff
and courses so that they can start providing personalised support to staff who have
not yet engaged with the process, either by attending support events, running the
Transition Wizard, or activating any of their courses.
Action:
Please continue to encourage staff to attend the Presentation sessions, consult with
eLearning staff during the Roadshow and book onto the Bb9 Build workshops.
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2. Administrative issues for Bb9
The CS/Bb integration briefing by the SSO for Administrative colleagues took place
in March. Additional sessions are being arranged for next month for staff who were
unable to attend. Cath Dyson is meeting with Sian Nash and Stephanie Farrar from
the SSO next week.
The Training and Support documentation has been circulated separately by the
SSO. Some corrections need to be made regarding combined sections.
Noted:
Administrative staff don’t need to contact the eLearning Team to secure content, as
combining sections only affects enrolment not Blackboard spaces.
In some cases the eLearning Team are aware that 2011-12 classes may be
scheduled early. Law have been in discussion with their eLearning School liaison
about this, and LLC are planning to schedule classes shortly. However the Team
are still recommending that academic colleagues build their Bb9 content in spaces
for 2010/2011 and move this into their 2011/2012 space at the Start of Semester.
Noted:
Administrative staff do not need to schedule early or do anything different to their
planned activity.
Discussed:
A suggested date when administrators can run a query to highlight any remaining
flags at class and course level, and take action to remove them, as the eLearning
Team need confirmation that there are no outstanding flags and that nothing is
being delivered in Blackboard Vista 8.
Noted:
The flags have to be removed individually. MBS will be removing the flag straight
after the course has been rolled forward.
All Schools will have removed the flags by mid July 2011.
3. Blackboard Issues For Students
In order to try and minimise support queries resulting from students being unaware
of what is required in order to gain access to their course units in Blackboard, the
eLearning Team have again prepared some text which can be inserted into
Programme Handbooks and included on School Intranets.
Action:
Administrators to include the information below in student handbooks; the
information provided can be amended by the School.
Blackboard: courses and enrolments
The teaching and learning activities within your courses are enhanced and
supported by the use of Blackboard. You can access Blackboard through the
Student Portal http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/. To ensure that you have
access to all of your courses within Blackboard, you must be correctly enrolled
on them through the Student Records system. Once enrolled, your
courses should appear in Blackboard within 24 hours.
If you change your course enrolments there will also be a delay of up to 24 hours in
acquiring your new courses and removing those you are no longer taking.
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After enrolment or changing your enrolments, if your courses are not correctly listed
in Blackboard after 24 hours, please us know which course(s) you are missing by
going through http://www.manchester.ac.uk/servicedesk/
4. Best on Blackboard Competition
Last year the Faculty eLearning team ran a ‘Best on Blackboard’ competition in
which students from Humanities were invited to nominate the resource that they had
found most useful in their current courses.
The eLearning Team are running ‘Best on Blackboard’ again this year and will be
asking students to nominate resources which have had a positive impact on their
teaching and learning. The Team will be reviewing the submissions during May
2011 and will publicise shortlisted and commended individuals before the end of
Semester.
Action:
See http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/resources/funding/best_on_bb/
for details of ‘Best on Blackboard’ 2010.
5. Gathering Requirements






Action:
The eLearning Team have received a number of requests from Schools for access
or functionality within Bb9. The following areas are under investigation. Please note
this work has not yet been approved.
Availability of previous years courses
External Examiners access
Ability of students to be guests/auditors on a course
Ability of staff to be guests/auditors on a course
External mentor access
Pre-arrival access to
If you have other requests or any questions about how Bb9 and the delivery of
teaching and learning in your School please discuss with your eLearning team
School Liaison (Cath Dyson-Education/SED, Roger Hewitt-SLLC/SAHC, Anna
Verges-SoSS/Law and Pete Lythgoe-MBS)
6. eLearning calendar
The eLearning calendar outlines key eLearning related activity for administrators
and academic colleagues.
http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/blackboard/calendar.html.
7. About the eLearning support in the Faculty
eLearning Reporting to Schools
Quarterly eLearning reports have been sent to all Schools supported by the Faculty
team to outline the eLearning activity they are working on with the School for the
quarter Jan-March 2011; these were sent out mid April. Teaching and Learning
Administrators should be included in the distribution of these reports, if you are not
please let Linda Irish know and she will ensure you get copies. Another report is due
in July which covers April-June 2011.
8. Call us if you need eLearning HeLP
www.manchester.ac.uk/servicedesk
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email elearning@manchester.ac.uk
7.
Administrative Issues / Business Processes (including Campus Solutions)
7.1
General (UG & PGT)
7.1.1
Health & Safety Induction Course Unit for Taught Students
Reported:
The University has a legal responsibility to ensure students are aware of health and
safety requirements.
An on-line health and safety induction course unit has been developed with
colleagues from the eLearning team in the Faculty of Life Sciences (and has been
piloted with over 1000 students in the University). Following the pilot the
University’s Health & Safety Committee agreed that the unit should be mandatory
for all students.
The unit will only have to be taken by new undergraduate and taught postgraduate
entrants in September 2011; there are currently discussions taking place about the
unit for PGR students, which may be attached to eProg.
The unit will be delivered through Blackboard and will take students approximately 1
hour to take. The course has three parts, University Expectations, Your Safety,
Labs & Workshop Safety (the title of which will be changed to ‘Safety in Different
Environments’). It will be optional for Humanities students to take the third part of
the unit. Schools can add additional information / parts that are relevant to their
students, but can’t change the content of the University information (the text on the
introductory pages can be added to). There are a number of questions embedded in
the content which students must complete and pass (it will be recommended that
the overall pass mark is set at 70%); students can have multiple attempts to pass.
It is recommended that the students are informed of the unit and complete it as part
of the induction process, and should achieve a pass within 2 weeks of registration.
A report from Campus Solutions will be available to confirm that all students have
passed. Administrators (or the person identified by the School) will be able to
periodically run the report to see which students have completed it and which
students will need a reminder to do so; emails can be sent via Blackboard to those
students who haven’t completed / passed.
Agreed:
Standard reminder messages to be sent, via email, to students will be developed for
use by Schools (Ian Miller).
Noted:
In Humanities, it will be difficult to place restrictions on student access to facilities if
they haven’t completed / passed the unit, as is done in FLS.
Reported:
The information is relevant to all students, regardless of their programme of study,
and provides a basic introduction to health and safety. It is intended that the unit
should compliment and not replace information given to students. Some Schools
will continue to also provide additional information, instruction and training specific
to their local activities and risks.
Noted:
Schools can set up the unit for 2nd and 3rd year students who will be going on fieldtrips.
9
Reported:
Each School will need to set up non-credit bearing courses that will roll over from
year to year. The content will be provided to Schools via a permanent URL which
will need to be put into Blackboard.
The University’s preferred option is to set the course unit up at School level,
however it could be that Schools would prefer the course to be available at
programme or discipline level or embedded into an existing course unit (e.g.
induction, core course etc).
Agreed:
For 2011 Ian Miller will arrange for the Humanities units to be populated with
content.
At School level one course unit would be set up in Campus Solutions for new
students, which is added to the academic advisement for each programme.
Discussed:
It was discussed whether the course unit would appear on the students’ transcripts.
Action:
Wayne Eden to confirm if the unit can be excluded from the transcript.
Secretary’s Note: it has been confirmed by Wayne Eden that the ‘Audit’ Grading
basis will exclude the unit from appearing on all students’ transcripts; however this
grading basis must be added in course catalog for this to work.
Reported:
The course leader (appropriate person determined by the School) is assigned via
Campus Solutions. The unit is activated by the course leader and populated with
the content.
The unit, at School level will need to be set up by career, i.e. UGDT and PGDT, as
an all year unit. Any student who is coming onto Campus will be required to
complete and pass the unit; this includes study abroad and Erasmus students.
Advisory content is being developed for Distance Learning students on for e.g. safe
use of computers etc (it is not a requirement that this unit is reported on).
Noted:
Responsibility for the administration of study abroad students lies with the Study
Abroad Unit (SAU) and not the Schools.
Discussed:
Setting up of a Faculty level Health & Safety Induction Course unit was discussed.
It is not possible for this to be achieved due to the restrictions on the numbers of
students that can be assigned to a unit and the difficulties in separating out the
reporting requirements.
Agreed:
It was agreed that the School Health & Safety Induction course units should all have
the same similar / course unit code.
Action:
Ian Miller to provide Schools with the URL for the content for the DL students.
Schools to publicise this content in the most appropriate place for their DL
students.
Ian Miller to liaise with the SAU about the requirements for their students.
Lisa McAleese to circulate proposed course codes (UGT & PGT) to administrators
for agreement.
Secretary’s Note: Ian Miller has spoken to Sarah Bloor (SAU) who has confirmed
that she will enrol these students on to one of the Health and Safety course units
(set up by the Schools) best suited to the Schools’ taught units being taken by the
student. If a student is taking a variety of units from different Schools she will
choose one of the health and Safety Induction unit and attach the student to that
one.
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Erasmus students already have a School administrator allocated to enrol these
students onto course units so they will need to be made aware of the requirements
for the Health and Safety Induction course unit.
Reported:
The report (Campus Solutions) detailing the completion of the unit must be
forwarded to the central Health and Safety contact (it is recommended that this is
done by the School Safety Officer).
Noted:
Due to the set up of the unit it will appear on the exam grid.
Secretary’s Note: Wayne Eden has consulted with Tony Fargher about the
possibility of removing the unit from the exam grid, however, at this stage, it is not
possible to do so. Schools will need to manually delete it from the output
spreadsheet.
Reported:
Guidance is currently being developed by the eLearning Manager and the Student
System Office and will be issued by the end of May 2011. The guidance will
address both business process issues and guidance about set-up in Campus
Solutions.
The University’s Language Centre (ULC) is currently piloting an on-line health and
safety course with the pre-sessional English Language students who have
registered from April 2011. The unit is not currently being delivered via Blackboard.
The course has the three standard parts and also local information in the form of 2
presentations containing essential information for international students.
Secretary’s Note: Administrators can view the ULC health and safety course at:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4759667/hs_language/Language/index.html
Noted:
Those candidates, attending the pre-sessional English Language course, shouldn’t
also have to undertake the School Health and Safety Induction course unit as well.
Action:
Ian Miller to liaise with the ULC to arrange for the list of candidates registered on
the pre-sessional courses to be sent to the Schools.
Schools to remove these students from the Blackboard enrolment.
Action:
In order for the health and safety induction units to be available to new taught
students for September 2011, Schools need to:





set up health and safety induction courses at UG and PGT career level.
determine how students will be informed of the requirement to undertake the
course unit.
determine who the course leader will be and assign them to the Blackboard
unit.
determine who will be responsible for the reporting requirements.
send Ian Miller course codes by 15 August 2011.
Ian Miller to arrange for the Humanities course units to be populated with content,
in time registration in September 2011 (1 September).
Secretary’s Note: The Safety Advisors Networking Event (SANE) is meeting on 9
June 2011. The meeting will focus on clarifying who does what, and how. A
member of the Faculty will also attend this meeting.
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7.1.2
Principles for Taught Programmes
Reported:
Following discussions with various stakeholders about the rationalisation of
programmes in Humanities a paper was produced outlining the implications and
subsequently a set of principles was developed to help guide Schools in terms of
dealing with programmes that recruit small numbers which were agreed by the
Dean’s Advisory Group.
By the end of this week, the Teaching and Learning Office will circulate to Schools a
list of those programmes that due to low recruitment over a period of time fall into
the categories outlined by the principles, which are:
1.
Programmes or pathways with less than 5 students for the past three years:
to be closed from 2012.
2.
Programmes or pathways with 5 – 10 students and programmes or
pathways that have not achieved the student numbers predicted in the programme
approval documentation over the past three years:
a.
Schools must demonstrate that it is strategically important for them to
continue to run these programmes.
b.
Schools must demonstrate the financial viability of these programmes
/pathways based on the pattern of recruitment for the past three years or since the
programme/pathway was introduced. Such demonstration may consider the overall
suite of pathways that make up a programme where the discussion concerns a
specific pathway, but Schools should be aware that if such a pathway uses a
significant number of specialist units the financial viability case will be weakened.
3.
All units must meet the University and Faculty requirements for viability. The
Faculty will continue to monitor the number of students on units annually. Units that
do not meet these requirements should be removed, or merged with other units.
Under no circumstances should units be run with less than 5 students.
Languages, Linguistics and Cultures (LLC) Undergraduate Provision
The criteria for LLC are different because students identify with their discipline (or
two disciplines) rather than the specific combination of disciplines that they are
registered to, and the programmes offered in Joint Honours combinations require no
additional dedicated units or administrative staff, so are cost neutral.
1.
Individual discipline/language areas with less than 5 students in total:
programmes offered that include those disciplines/language areas, to be closed
from 2012.
2.
Individual discipline/language areas with 5 – 10 students: the School must
demonstrate that it is strategically important and financially viable for them to
continue to offer programmes that include those disciplines/language areas.
(It may be appropriate to apply principles 1 and 2 to some specific programmes as
well as disciplines/languages, and the Faculty will review this with the School).
3.
All units must meet the University and Faculty requirements for viability. The
Faculty will continue to monitor the number of students on units annually.
The Faculty Teaching and Learning Office will undertake health checks on all
programmes annually to monitor whether further programmes fall into the categories
above.
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7.1.2
Use of Automatic Response for Generic Email Accounts (Gail Steeden)
Reported:
The School of Education has a generic email account, for which they use an
automatic response both as a form of receipt and to let the enquirer know that their
query is being dealt with. Where an enquirer (internal or external) sends more than
one email to the address they will now only receive one automatic response to
prevent email loops (unless the owner of the email address changes the out of
office reply / dates).
Noted:
All the Schools use the automatic response in this way, especially during busy
periods.
Action:
Lisa McAleese to investigate the issue with IT and report back to Schools.
Secretary’s Note: The following response was received from the IT Service Desk:
‘The default settings are to reply once only to mails per 'out of office' period. The
first mail will be replied to, subsequent mails will not regardless of when they are
sent’.
7.1.3
Teaching & Learning (T&L) Website
Reported:
The Faculty’s Teaching & Learning web pages have been available since the start
of the new institution and the T&L Team feel that it would be beneficial for the pages
to be reviewed (there will not be any major structural changes). The review will
either take the form of a short meeting or by email correspondence.
Action:
Schools to send names of staff willing to participate in the review to Nicola Lord
(nicola.lord@manchester.ac.uk).
Noted:
The SLLC’s web officer is going to be modelling the School’s web pages on the
Faculty’s T&L pages.
Gail Steeden has volunteered.
7.1.4
A.O.B
7.1.4a
Timetabling
Reported:
The central timetabling unit (CTU) ran reports several weeks ago to upload course
data from Campus Solutions for their web data collection (WDC). This is to try to
ensure that information in Campus Solutions about classes and other ‘activities’, as
they are known in Syllabus +/Scientia timetabling software, can be intertwined with
WDC information. This means that any courses activated/deactivated or any new
courses created after this report was run will not be included for administrators to
select when completing WDC. In addition to this administrators will be unable to
create new courses in WDC. Administrators have been informed by the CTU that
any changes need to be reported to them via email.
Concern was expressed that this involves double entry for all involved in the WDC
and that different advice had been provided by the CTU to administrators. It was
also unclear how long it would take the CTU to make the required changes.
It was suggested that a better way to report the changes (this year) would be via a
spreadsheet to ensure consistency of format and to ensure data is not lost.
Action:
Lisa McAleese to report the above concerns to Elizabeth Nolan, who is on the
timetabling project group for the ‘proof of concept’ scheme.
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7.1.4b
Programme Codes
Reported:
The way in which PGT programmes have been coded has caused issues during the
transfer of data as part of the timetabling project; only the units associated with
those programmes with a prefix of 6 have been attached.
UG units being taken by students out of level has not resulted in any issues.
Noted:
In some areas of the Faculty the prefixes 4, 7 & 8 are also used for PGT level
programmes.
Action:
Catherine Schofield to report the use of the additional prefixes to the relevant
parties.
7.2
PGT Specific
7.2.1
A.O.B
No PGT specific business was considered.
7.3.
UG Specific
7.3.1
A.O.B
No UG specific business was considered.
8.
Date of Next Meeting is 9 June 2011, 10am -12noon, in Ken Kitchen Room, John
Owens Building.
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