Birkbeck College. Department of Psychological Sciences. Learning and Teaching Committee Meeting

Transcription

1 Birkbeck College Department of Psychological Sciences Learning and Teaching Committee Meeting Minutes Thursday 3 rd March 2011 Malet Street Room am Attendees: Simon Green (SG Chair) Natasha Kirkham (NK) Marie Smith (MS) Eddy Davelaar (ED) Kirsty Rowan (KR) Jennifer Fraser (JF) Rabinder Bery (RB) Magnus Vaughan (MV Minutes). 1. Apologies Michael Mallaghan, Naz Derakhshan 2. Confirmation of minutes of the meeting of 24th November 2010 It was noted that the minutes were incorrectly labeled as the Teaching and Learning Committee. This was changed to the Learning and Teaching Committee. The minutes were confirmed 3. Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting 3.1 Mandatory participation for all BSc students on Research Methods modules. SG noted that the issue was raised at the Student-Staff Exchange Committee and those present were generally in favour. It was agreed that the committee would recommend that: a) Compulsory participation be introduced for new students only in October b) That is should be compulsory for BSc students, but that it should be made clear that other students were free to volunteer to take part. c) That 10 hours of participation should be undertaken. d) It would not carry credit but would be a requirement for progression to Year 2. e) That a short essay or an appraisal of a research paper be offered to students as an alternative form of assessment where necessary.

2 3.2 Assessment and examination workload MV reported to the committee that the examinations department did not have a Scantron machine, designed to process answer sheets for multiple choice question papers, and had no plans to acquire one. NK expressed her concern that the increasing number of students equated to a higher marking workload for academic staff. MS added that,the promise of a new 100-workstation-lab in the new academic year meant that in-class Blackboard-based multiple choice tests would become more-feasible for large classes. ED requested that increasing student numbers be tabled as a standing item for future Learning and Teaching Committee meetings. 3.3 Kirsten Swan administrative duties SG reported that Kirsten Swan would not be given administrative duties at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, as these would now be performed by Robin Saunders. 3.4 Feedback for GTA training day KR reported that a planned follow-up GTA training day did not take place in February, but added that MS was welcome to send any demonstrators that she felt would benefit from additional training to herself or JF. She added that she was happy for future training sessions to happen on an ad hoc basis. LSO and SG to plan programme for 2011/ Code of conduct for BSc handbook JF raised concerns as to the conduct of some students in relation to a number of incidents involving verbal and written conversation with lecturers, teaching assistants and demonstrators. SG outlined the current staged process for dealing with complaints: 1) An informal verbal warning (1 st incident). 2) A letter from SG (2 nd Incident) 3) A formal letter from Mike Oaksford (3 rd incident) The committee agreed that the current guidelines on behavior could be developed futher JF said she would look at the current code of conduct in the BSc handbook and revise it to include sections such as: What you can expect from us, What we can expect from you and Getting on at University. 5. Assessment and Maternity RB RB reported that students due to give birth at the period of exams should be offered an alternative form of assessment and not be forced to defer assessment until the following year. It was noted that the College may look at scheduling evening examinations in the future.

3 6. Accreditation for Prior Learning (APEL) RB RB outlined the procedure for considering APL/APEL. Admissions tutors, on behalf of suboards, can give up to 50% credit for prior learning, as long as the decision was reported to the sub-board. 7. English Language Courses RB RB circulated a copy of various English language courses offered by Birkbeck. Members were told that students could be asked to take any of the courses either before embarking on a programme of study, or concurrently with one. Birkbeck students would receive a 10% discount. RB agreed to circulate information on the courses to relevant members of the department. 8. Retention Update MV MS reported that attendance for Introduction to Research Methods had become worryingly low with less than 80 students attending. She added that students may be skipping lectures to concentrate on coursework, and consequently missing important material. KR and JF agreed to chase students who had not submitted report 2 for Introduction to Research Methods and attempt to see if there were common reasons for not doing so. MV reported that as of 02/02/11 there were 209 students registered on the Introduction to Research Methods module and 75 attending. Of the nd reports expected for the module, 118 were submitted. For General Foundations of Psychology, 211 were registered and 107 had attended on 10/03/11. JF added that she expected to receive 187 essays, including 20 with mitigating circumstances. JF offered to look into why those submitting essays for General Foundations of Psychology were not doing so for Introduction to Research Methods, as well as looking into the assessment deadlines for Year 1 of the BSc to ensure they were not impacting retention and needed revision. MS said she would consider switching one assessment for introduction to Research Methods to the Autumn term to reduce assessment load, and to let students have all assessment deadlines at the start of the module. 9. Examinations update SG SG reported that arrangements for the examination period were progressing well, and that the department was on track to deliver externally approved papers to the examinations office by the end of March He added that an examining group could be set up to discuss the workload of exam marking with GTAs for large modules. RB reported that the high number of pending decisions for UCAS applicants was due to a discussion between the department and registry over how much contact was permissible with UCAS applicants. This was now resolved and all outstanding applications would be dealt with shortly. 10. Route 1aa update MM MM was absent from the meeting, so the point was not discussed.

4 11. Web noticeboard for students MV MV reported that he felt administrators on the BSc Psychology were sending too many s to all students, sometimes as many as four or five in a day. He suggested that an agreed space be established on the departmental web page for the publication of non-urgent announcements. Urgent announcements would continue to be sent via . The committee agreed the proposal. 12. Report from the School Teaching and Quality Enhancement Committee RB RB reported the following from the School Teaching and Quality Enhancement Committee: 1) A consultation paper was being prepared focused on possible changes in teaching arrangements, including three terms of teaching. The changes would not come into effect until 2012/13 2)The college will be discontinuing its use of Blackboard, replacing it with the open-source Moodle system. The timeframe for the introduction of the new system has not been agreed. 3) RB advised the committee that all programme amendment forms needed to be in two terms before the start of the relevant module. 4) The next phase of the e-admissions system would allow admissions tutors to make their decisions online. They will also be able to override the need for an English language qualification if they felt the applicant s English is satisfactory. 5) Finalists had been encouraged to take part in the National Student Survey. Richard Throup was currently working through a list of eligible students provided by HEFCE, but had reported a number of errors, with students who had completed their Certificates listed as current finalists. 13. Report from the Staff Student Exchange Committee SG SG reported the following from the Student-Staff Exchange Committee: 1) A proposed journal club was cancelled due to lack of student interest 2) A requested careers evening would take place on Friday 4 th March featuring speakers on Organisational Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology, an overview of the Masters course and a talk on a career in academia.

5 14. Any Other Business: 14.1 MSC SG reported that some MSc students had made it known they were unhappy with the course, and that some of their complaints were justified. He added that he had attended a meeting with Professor Mike Oaksford and some MSc students to work through problems, and that students would now be allocated personal tutors, have seminar groups specifically for MSc students on modules shared with BSc students, and that the workload for Year 1 would be revised Pearson Textbooks NK reported that Pearson had offered to tailor make a textbook for the Developmental Psychology course. Access to software would also be part of the arrangement and NK was keen that all relevant software would be in place in the relevant teaching rooms. ED raised the idea of having in class tests as part of the assessment for Memory and Cogntion. RB reminded colleagues of the need to have assessment changes to modules approved via a module amendment form Hard copy and electronic submission of 4 th year projects and History and Philosophy of Psychology essays. KR proposed that both the final year project and the History and Philosophy of Psychology assessed essay be submitted in both paper and electronic format this year. She added that students should be obliged to submit electronic copies of projects/essays by advertised deadlines, with paper copies required shortly after. SG agreed to talk to Professor Jonathan Smith concerning project submission. 15. Next Meeting: Thursday 16 th June am 30 Russell Square RM 402