DEPARTMENT FOR HEALTH
SES SSLC 14/15
Minutes of meeting
Unreserved
______________________________________________________________________________
Meeting:
BSc/MSci Sport and Exercise Science SSLC
Date and Time:
Thursday 23rd October 2014 at 15:15
Venue:
CB 3.5
______________________________________________________________________________
Present:
In attendance:
Peter Bradley
Aaron Hengist
Kirstie Lamb
Georgia Lucey
Jenny Medland
Rachel Michell
Harry Smith
Dr Keith Stokes
Dr Grant Trewartha
Hannah Welton
(PB)
(AH)
(KL)
(GL)
(JM)
(RM)
(HS)
(KS)
(GT)
(HW)
Subject Librarian
Second Year Rep
Final Year Rep
First Year Rep
Student Experience Officer
Final Year Rep
Second Year Rep
Chair
Director of Studies
Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
ACTION
1.
Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from George Lightwood (First Year Rep) and Eleanor
Kenworthy (First Year Rep)
2.
Welcome and Membership
GT welcomed the committee to the first meeting and each member introduced
themselves.
3.
Election of Chair
GT explained that most SSLC meetings are either chaired or co-chaired by a
student rep. KS was nominated to chair the first meeting and a student rep might be
elected at the next meeting. The reps were assured that if they put themselves
forward they would be fully supported in their role.
4.
Terms of Reference (Chair) Paper 01
KS explained the Terms of Reference and these were noted.
5.
SSLC Meeting Procedures. Paper 02
The Meeting Procedures were explained by KS and were noted.
6.
SSLC Report from 2013/4. Paper 03
KS reported that the SSLC report from 2013/4 was a summary of the meetings and
action points from last year. This was noted by the committee.
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7.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting. 02.04.14. Paper 04
The minutes of the meeting on 2nd of April 2014 were agreed.
8.
Matters Arising (Chair)
There were no matters arising. All matters arising from the previous meeting had
been dealt with. The only one of relevance to the current academic year related to
the placement conference. This had been moved from a Wednesday to a Friday
Library Issues (PB)
PB asked if the reps had any comments on study space or library resources. The
Final Year Reps reported that the library is overcrowded. PB explained that this issue
is ongoing, but, books have been moved to try and provide more space, more
sockets have also been installed. It was also noted that students could make use of
the ‘PC availability page’ and other spaces on campus.
9.
The First Year reported that there were not enough copies of some core texts. PB
encouraged students to place reservations on books in advance and if demand is
high enough, it might be possible to order more copies.
Subsequent email from Peter Bradley to Year 1 students:
I'm following-up a comment made in yesterday's SSLC meeting about the number of
textbook copies provided by the Library, particularly in relation to "Vander's Human
Physiology" and "Kinesiology: scientific basis of human motion" by Hamilton and
Luttgens. A request was also made for these to be made available online.
Unfortunately, neither of these titles have as yet been published as ebooks and we're
not aware of any plans to do so. Fortunately, we do provide 24 copies of "Vander's"
(612 WID) and 20 copies of "Kinesiology" (612.76 HAM) - also, several copies of
both are available currently on the shelves.
As with all borrowing libraries, you may find occasionally that a book is unavailable
temporarily. In this situation, I would strongly recommend reserving the title in order
to increase your chance of borrowing it. Furthermore, placing reservations is the best
way of alerting me to "high demand" titles. I frequently check numbers of reservations
and where they reach a certain level, I aim to buy additional copies (budget
constraints permitting).
How the reservation system works:
If all 7-day and 28-day copies of a title are on loan, please place a reservation - a link
inviting you to reserve the relevant edition appears in the "shelf locations" tab of the
Library Catalogue record.
By reserving a book, this will prevent an "on loan" copy from being renewed. Once
you're next in the "reservation queue", you'll receive an email asking you to collect a
copy from the Issue Desk. As many SES books are 7-day, you might not need to wait
for long. Further details are available at:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/services/issue/check.html - reservations are covered
alongside catalogue-searching within this presentation:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/pass.bho/infoskills/sportsci-ug-catalogue/
Available copy but not found at its shelf mark?
If copies are "available" on the system but you can't find them on the shelves, please
ask myself or another member of staff for help. It may be that the books are being
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used within the study/photocopying areas or they're located temporarily in the
reshelving section. If you're still unable to find it later, please alert me to this as
students won’t be able to reserve any "on loan" copies while one copy is still
available.
Next timetabled library session:
I look forward to seeing you all for the follow-up to the last library-related session this
Wednesday morning (29th Oct). You'll be finding out how to identify articles on a
given topic by searching databases. It's important that you develop this skill as your
lecturers will expect you to find your own literature to support your assignments
rather than rely solely on their recommendations i.e. helps increase your chances of
getting higher marks! Please contact me if you would like any further information.
Best wishes,
Pete
The Second Year students were encouraged to use End Note.
PB then left the meeting.
10.
2013-14 External Examiner Reports and Department Responses (Chair)
Paper 05
KS explained that the department has two External Examiners; their duties were
noted by the committee. The examiners provide feedback on the title / nature of all
assignments and also on all exam papers that count toward the degree award.
They also look at a sample of coursework and examination scripts and provide
feedback to the exam board at the end of each year.
For 2013-14 one of the externals did not attend the meeting due to ill health,
therefore, there is only one report and department response. In 2012-13 an issue of
over-assessment had been raised by both examiners; however this had been fully
addressed as part of the development of the MSci programme. This was then
commented on in the 2013-14 report. Overall the report was very positive.
The Department Response was noted. KS explained that External examiners get
three years in office; Adrian Burden has come to the end of his term with Neal
Smith taking the next three year post. GT noted that the new external is visiting in
December and might wish to meet some students then
11.
Unit Evaluations and Department Responses (GT) Paper 06
GT explained that unit evaluations were filled out by students at the end of each
semester; the department will then respond to the feedback that is provided, initially
via Unit Monitoring Reports. The responses are given a rating, anything below 4 will
be looked at by the department, even though University policy requests that anything
below 3.5 should be looked at. The department will continue to look at feedback and
All
have been trying to improve this over the last few years. The students were
Reps
encouraged to promote completing the evaluations to the rest of their year groups.
The First Year suggested that feedback expectations should be explained to the
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students for each unit at the start of the semester.
KS asked how many of the students had looked at the ‘Department Feedback Policy’
and it was discussed that this should be moved higher up the Moodle page. It was
HW?
suggested that clearer communication should be given on feedback as students’
interpretation can be different from the department policy.
GT reported that ‘Intellectually Stimulating and Teaching Methods’ will be looked at
in the Second Year. The reps stated that this could be due to a specific change in
the structure of the biomechanics strand associated with MSci developments which
meant there was some repetition of content. In addition it was discussed that there
are no optional units in year 2. GT noted that this was put in place in order for
graduates to have a good grounding in all three disciplines and can then, specialise
in the final year.
GT stated that ‘Teaching Methods’ would also be looked at in the final year. This
area was highlighted in HL30062 and HL30109. The reason for this could be that
these units do not have a standard, ‘lecture and lab’ structure. The Final Year Reps
stated that they were unsure of what they were supposed to be getting from the
HL30109 unit, as the two hour lecture slot differed in length, depending on who was
taking it and expectations hadn’t been outlined for the unit as a whole. This unit has
also moved from an unseen to a seen exam. The External Examiners reported that
this unit was good; therefore there must be a middle ground to continue this unit
moving forward. GT will contact the unit convenor to get him to provide an overview
of the expectations on the unit.
12.
Student Response Rates to Unit Evaluations (GT)
The number of students completing the unit evaluations was quite low. It is possible
that some time will be put aside during lectures in order to get students to complete
them. This is also made possible from this semester as the unit evaluations can be
accessed through mobile devices. The unit convenors and department as a whole
can use the unit evaluations more effectively and confidently if the number of
students completing them goes up.
13.
Proposed Changes to Units (GT) Papers (07a, 07b,07c and 08a, 08b,08c)
13. 1
Any proposed unit changes come to the SSLC for approval and are then sent to
DLTQC. There are minor changes to HL10183, these related to the introduction of
Professional Writing Issues in Sport. JM informed students of changes that were
being made to the Academic Skills Centre.
13. 2
HL30059 is an optional unit in the second semester for Final Year students. The
proposed changes are to the assessment of this unit. Currently there are three
written assignments; totalling 90% of the unit’s assessment and a further 10%
discussion based assessment. This has proved problematic as some students find it
difficult to contribute. The final piece of coursework will now be worth 40%, it will also
be longer.
The Reps were asked for any comments on the proposed changes.
The changes were agreed.
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GT
14.
Updates to Programme Specifications. Papers (09a and 09b)
GT stated that the specifications were the official structure of the programme and
how it will be run. It was noted that students who do not pass their placements year
can go onto the three year course. Also, if students on the MSci course do not
achieve 50% in the first year or 60% in the second year they can change to the BSc
course. The amended paperwork merely now confirmed what was already happening
in practice.
15.
Student Issues
15. 1
The First Year questioned whether lecture slides and notes could be put on Moodle
after the lecture so they can be read in advance of the next week. HL10182 does not
have either of these but the PowerPoint slides could be put up.
There are two groups for MA10103 and it was reported that those who did a BTec
are finding the unit easier that those who did not. Those who are finding it particularly
difficult were advised to speak to GT to see if moving groups would be an option.
Unfortunately, the structure of the unit may not be something that can be changed
this year but could be put in place for future years. However looking at previous years
the percentage of people that fail the unit is very low. The Final Year stated that
students can pull up the unit average through the coursework.
15.2
15.3
The Second Year reported that students would like more units to be recorded on
Panopto. Students feel that some units are taught quite quickly and it is not always
easy to write down all the information. However, students were advised that the
emphasis of their learning should not only be on lecture content. There was
discussion about a specific lecture on HL20185. KS will speak to the lecturer as it
was his first time teaching this unit. It was discussed that panopto is a useful
resource but actually other resources on moodle are more useful in the context of
learning (e.g. lecture notes and additional reading).
The Final Year reported that there was a short time frame between the Introduction
Session for HL30110 and meeting staff to discuss dissertation topic areas. It was
questioned whether access to the Moodle page could be given earlier or to have a
longer time frame in which to think about the topics. The suggestion was that the
session in which students meet the staff to discuss projects might be held on the
Thursday of week 1 rather than the Tuesday to allow students time to read around
projects a little. GT will speak with the unit convenor.
GT
Placement Poster Presentations took place in the week commencing the 13th of
October. It was suggested that a list of the previous years’ placements could be put
on moodle with a paragraph from each student. This gives the students more
information and could make the event run smoother.
16.
Director of Studies Report (GT) Papers (10, 11 12a and 12b)
16.1
GT explained that every final year student in the country is requested to fill out the
National Student Survey, the data collected shows how satisfied students are with
their course. This information is also used in league tables. An action plan is then
drawn up based on these results.
The action plan includes a point against improving the usefulness of feedback to
students. This is a recurring comment and one which the department is looking at. It GT
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was proposed that an information resource should be put up on Moodle regarding to
how use feedback. This will be posted by Semester 2.
It was also suggested that advice on optional units should be put on Moodle. For new
units this would be especially important. For older units, the outlines and unit
evaluations can be looked at. The students were encouraged to look at the proposed All
NSS action plan in more details and give any comments to GT by the 30th of October. Reps
The Action Plan will then go to the DLTQC.
16.2
The Peer Mentoring Social Event is to be held on the 14th of November.
16.3
To be carried forward to the next meeting.
16.4
All
Each year the department writes an Annual Monitoring Report . This details the
Reps
events of the last academic year. This includes the NSS Action Plan and any
changes the department has made. The Reps were advised to look at the report and
pass any comments to GT by the 30th of October.
16.5
The DLTQC meeting takes place on a Wednesday afternoon, four times a year.
Usually, a student representative from the department would sit on the committee.
However, as there are two other programmes in the department this year, a student
could be chosen from either the Sports Performance or Sport and Social Science
SSLC Reps.
16.6
The University SSLC Report, is a combination of every departments’ SSLC meetings
over the last academic year. The report makes recommendations for good practice
across the university. GT highlighted some of the recommendations and commented
that the programme was already some way along the road with many.
17.
Any Other Business
GT/KS noted that last year there was an open meeting for all Final Year students to
air their views; however it was not as successful as hoped. The Reps were asked to
see if students would find this useful.
GT stated that many papers needed to be noted in this meeting, however, the rest of
the meetings will be more focused on student issues.
18.
Date of Next Meeting- Thursday 27th November 2014 at 15:15
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Final
Year
Reps