Nevertheless, there are a few areas that may need addressing and improving.

Transcription

1 FROM TO Gemma Swan (VUWSA Student Representation Coordinator) and Jonathan Gee (VUWSA Academic Vice President) Review Panel: Geology and Geophysics DATE 24/08/2015 SUBJECT Student Submission Kia ora Members of the Academic Programme Review Panel, Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the Geology and Geophysics Programme as offered in the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences. We have prepared the following submission in consultation with thirty-one students currently enrolled in the Programme. This total includes seven students who have been or is a Class Representative in a course in Geology or Geophysics, seventeen students who are taking a major in Geology or Geophysics, three who are taking a minor in Geology or Geophysics, three students who are completing a postgraduate qualification in either Geology or Geophysics, and one student who is taking a Geology or Geophysics paper as an elective for a separate major. From the feedback received by VUWSA, the programme should be commended on the overall design of the programme, how well research is integrated into teaching and learning, the high quality of learning opportunities and the overall support of staff which in turn promotes engagement in learning and a sense of academic community. Nevertheless, there are a few areas that may need addressing and improving. As we had a small number of respondents for this programme survey, we ask that the Panel use comments in this submission as a measure of triangulation with the other sources of data gathered. We would suggest the following recommendations to be considered once a triangulation of data has occurred: That the Programme looks to providing more timely assessment feedback for students That the Programme looks into ways to better alignment assessment with curriculum 1

2 That the Programme provide more promotion for events and learning opportunities outside of the classroom That the Programme look to providing more physical space within their department to develop a better learning environment That the Programme provide more support in first year basic knowledge courses that are required to progress to second and third year The following submission looks specifically at each of the items in the Terms of Reference. 1. To what extent is the design of the overall Programme and its courses comprehensive, current, coherent and clearly communicated to all teaching staff and students? There was a strong consensus that the design of the overall programme is comprehensive, current, coherent and clearly communicated. 80% of students feel the types of knowledge and skills you will acquire when you finish a major or minor in Geology and Geophysics are clearly and comprehensively communicated in the various courses offered by the programme and 83% of student feel that the learning objectives and learning opportunities in Geology and Geophysics are clearly and comprehensively communicated. Furthermore, 86% of respondents feel that there is a clear progression of knowledge and skills in the courses offered in Geology and Geophysics such that basic courses link directly to more advanced ones. Although these statistics voice the majority, there was a comment which highlighted the opportunity to better organise some courses: Some courses are better organised than others. ESCI 203 in 2015 I found was very poorly organised. The structure done in first year was nothing like what I expected of second year and I know I struggled and wasn t alone. It was almost expected that we had all done calculus or physics to a level higher than schools however it is not a prerequisite. If Geophysics is continued to be advertised as split into two options (being that of Meteorology and Solid Earth) then the course options need to reflect this. Currently, the undergraduate curriculum is such that the mandatory course requirements for the Meteorology option include no courses on Meteorology, and you end up getting sucked into learning about Solid Earth Geophysics even if you didn t want to. Don t make courses clash, namely ESCI 303 Petrology and Geochemistry and chemistry 302 Inorganic and Materials so people doing a double major can take both in the same year. 63% of respondents think Geology and Geophysics courses reflect and are comparable to what you could study at other universities both here and overseas, however some students know of the design of courses offered at other institutes and made a suggestion based on this knowledge: Introducing some form of geotechnical courses would be idea (rock mechanics etc) like those offered at Canterbury. 2

3 Overall, the programme design and its courses are seen to be comprehensive, coherent and current as well as clearly communicated to both staff and students. The comments from students in regards to the overall design should be taken into consideration to make the course even more comprehensive, coherent, current and clearly communicated. 2. To what extent does the Programme integrate research into teaching and learning activities? The programme integrates research into teaching and learning activities successfully as seen in the following statistics: 89% of student respondent s feel that Geology and Geophysics courses allow them to develop basic skills such as collecting, synthesising and interpreting information. 88% of student respondents feel that the various courses offered in Geology and Geophysics give you some idea about how research in these areas contributes to the development of knowledge in general. 71% of respondents reported that they get to hear about the research interests and projects of staff teaching courses in Geology and Geophysics. The programme should be commended on how well it integrates research into teaching and learning keeping in mind that there is always room to develop this integration as seen through the student comments: Sometimes hear of research interests and projects of staff, but would be very interested to hear more. ESCI 241 was commended and highlighted for being a great example of the integration of research into teaching and learning activities ESCI 241 was fantastic, looking forward to 341 and 342. The Whanganui report and assignments in ESCI202 helped me learn and develop my research skills. Overall, the programme has presented itself successfully in regard to the integration of research into teaching and learning activities. 3. What is the quality of the learning opportunities provided by the Programme? Student respondents indicated that the learning opportunities provided by the programme are of high quality. 60% of respondents feel like they are actively encouraged to participate in learning activities both within and outside of class time such as programme and seminars and field trips: Good interactive lab sessions and exercises. Great field trips. Suggestions were made however, that more promotion of such events would result in higher attendance and offer more opportunities for students. More advertisement of public lectures [would be helpful] i.e. online newsletters 3

4 55% of students feel that they are actively encouraged to continue through to postgraduate study within Geology and Geophysics. However 30% were unsure how to answer this which may suggest further encouragement is needed. The learning opportunities are seen to be held in high regard as students did acknowledge participation in seminars and events, however there is a demand for making these opportunities more accessible. Further encouragement of postgraduate study will also improve the quality of the learning opportunities provided by the programme. 4. How well does assessment align with Programme learning goals and foster learning? Respondents generally feel that assessment aligns with the programme learning goals and fosters learning well. 89% of respondents indicated that the various learning activities in Geology and Geophysics courses assist them in meeting course objectives and 85% of respondents feel that the assessments in Geology and Geophysics courses are directly relevant to the learning objectives for these courses, as stated in their respective course outlines. Furthermore, 71% of students are happy with the current ways in which the assessments are moderated. However this does mean a small percentage are currently unhappy with the model: ESCI was not well organised in terms of assessment. The writing assignments had very little to do with any other CLO s and were extremely poorly organised and explained. This issue suggests development to better align assessment and curriculum is needed. 50% of student respondents feel that they receive timely, consistent and effective feedback on their progress in Geology and Geophysics courses. Counter to this however, 39% of respondents disagree that they receive timely, consistent and effective feedback on their progress: Some courses expect weekly lab reports, and specifically say to use feedbacks form previous reports to improve. Then you don t receive a marked report until there are 3 weeks left in the trimester. There could be more focus on timely responses to students at both undergrad and postgrad level. Other suggestions were made to improve the assessment alignment with the learning goals and to foster learning within the programme: I think it would be a good idea to make the answers available following the test or exams so that we can see what we did wrong. Such as with weekly spot tests- when I get things wrong I d like to know what the answers are so that I can progress. All Geology labs need to be as well-structured and written as Rupert Sutherland s. 3 rd year labs ned to be well written and well structured, to avoid confusion and wasted time not being able to understand the questions or the labs. Assessment at Victoria needs a massive revamp, because it does not currently align with research or assessment practices in accordance with student learning. 4

5 Assessment is my only issue. I feel assessment in Geology courses is set as if they expect students are only taking 2-3 courses. While most students are falling into this category, it makes things increasingly difficult for people doing 4 courses when is assessment is continuous throughout and on top of this there are high amounts of in class time with labs etc. it s a horrible way to learn, being driven by constant day to day deadlines rather than interest, and requires students to take shortcuts. Better arrangements are needed for students to learn the basics of stats. Student comments should be taken into account to improve the assessment alignment with the learning goals and to foster learning within the programme. 5. To what extent has the Programme developed a learning and teaching environment that effectively promotes engagement in learning and a sense of academic community? There are many ways in which the programme has developed a learning and teaching environment that effectively promotes engagement in learning and a sense of academic community. 79% of respondents think the facilities available such as rooms, library resources, computers etc. help in achieving the objectives of courses in Geology and Geophysics. In saying this, comments indicated the need for more space in order to develop more of a learning environment and to promote engagement. Student s comments outline suggestions: Smaller class sizes for labs in first year papers and better lab rooms would be nice. More areas for group/study work would be appreciated. Further suggestions were made in relation to classroom improvements and to better promote engagement in learning: The more notes and other sources provided by the lecturers, the better. It s good to have explanatory sources available to you if you want to understand something better. The textbook does an excellent job of this, but if the lecturer has a documentary or something like that to add to it then it s great. 42% of students feel that the progress of students is monitored by staff and help is given when students are struggling. Although 35% of student respondents do not feel that the progress of students is monitored by staff and help is given when students are struggling. Comments reflect the majority who feel that the support of staff develop a learning and teaching environment in which effectively promotes engagement in learning and a sense of academic community through pastoral care: Geology courses are well structured and staff always go above and beyond to lend as much help as required when needed. Overall some really fabulous courses. 5

6 For me the best part about the programme is the openness of the lecturers to sharing their personality. It makes learning feel like more of a student/lecturer interaction than it does in courses outside of ESCI. Individual staff are very skilled and seem to be able to transmit enthusiasm in most cases. I haven t had a single bad lecturer at Vic. Hearing their experiences and encouragement to do postgraduate study is great. Overall the courses are thought excellent. Most lecturers are approachable and very helpful. There is a real sense of community in the department. Rupert Sutherland, best teacher. Clearly communicates ideas and structures work effectively to enable learning. 53% of respondents feel that Geology and Geophysics fosters the development of interdisciplinary links as seen in the comments: The Fieldwork is closely related back to classroom teaching. It s fantastic how you can put your knowledge to the test whilst still being in a learning environment. Especially when you work in the field after uni, the assignments are similar to work in the real world. However, some students feel a need for more interdisciplinary links: More labs with techniques relevant to other disciplines would be cool, ones that reflect what we might do when we leave, working with geographers, GIS etc. Overall, the programme is seen to have successfully developed a learning and teaching environment that effectively promotes engagement in learning and a sense of academic community through the facilities available, approachable, encouraging and enthusiastic staff, and the developing sense of interdisciplinary links. 6. How effectively and efficiently does the Programme manage, explore and reflect on learning and teaching in relation to its learning and teaching goals? In response to how effectively and efficiently the programme manages, explores and reflects on learning and teaching in relation to its learning and teaching goals, students provided the following comments which highlight the need to revisit some areas of structure and curriculum in order to better achieve learning and teaching goals: Students going into second year need more math/physics knowledge. STAT193 doesn t improve your ability to manipulate equations or understand fairly basic physics which are needed in ESCI203. Currently there is a big divide between students who struggle to understand the concepts and those who know them well. Several lectures are spent giving students background knowledge. Some progression through course material doesn t flow logically. 6

7 For ESCI203, offering students (or directing them to) math boot camps to get them up to scratch [would be a good idea]. Those who had only taken STAT193 found it challenging. And while the writing assignments were a good addition, have them assessed in the first 4 weeks of the semester. This gets students engaged early and reduces the pressure on them for the lab tests and 202 assessments. For ESCi202 the Wanganui Project needs to be explained better at the beginning; start by explaining what the end result will be and the timeline before going into detail about everything else. The role of Meteorology in the undergraduate curriculum desperately needs clarifying, with likely restructuring. PHYG courses should be blended into an explicitly separate Meteorology major, rather than having bits of pieces in each PHYG and GPHS in their current format. There is a desperate need to include some engineering aspect Can you please not make SECI303 and CHEM303 clash next year! More knowledge about the industry is needed. More writing assignments are required at all levels. It is not fair to assign students their first writing assignment at 3 rd year level. These topics reflect the need to better manage, explore and reflect on learning and teaching in relation to the learning and teaching goals within the Programme. 7. To what extent is individual and collective research fostered in the programme? 50% of student respondents feel that the Geology and Geophysics courses actively engage with evaluation process such as eliciting student feedback. Students value opportunity for individual and collective research both in learning opportunities and for further reflection. It is recommended that students get the opportunity to feedback not only at the end of a course but also during a course. Student comments also reflected on the need for specific feedback: Feedback seems designed to tick boxes, not to understand student needs. The programme should develop ways to better foster individual and collective research and feedback. 8. How clearly and effectively is the Programme linked to and responsive to its relevant academic, social and professional communities? The Programme clearly and effectively links and responds to its relevant academic, social and professional communities as seen in the statistics: 7

8 89% of students feel like they belong to a diverse academic community, which is a result that reflects the 55% of students responded that they feel they are actively encouraged to continue through to postgraduate study within Geology and Geophysics. The programme should be commended on the support it offers within the diverse academic community as previously mentioned. 53% of students feel that this programme takes account of cultural diversity in general however 64% of students are unsure whether or not the Geology and Geophysics programme supports the development of Maori scholarship within the University. Related to this, 53% of students feel that the academic and social needs of international students are accommodated in Geology and Geophysics courses. These results may be a result of the small number of respondents for the survey, who do not represent the wider academic, social and cultural communities. Closing Remarks It is clear from our submission that the Geology and Geophysics Programme at Victoria is one for which the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences merits considerable commendation. For VUWSA, it is a pleasure to be able to pass on such praiseworthy student feedback. This is not, however, to diminish the validity of the number of issues raised within certain areas of this Programme. We hope that the information and analysis we have provided can be of use for the Committee in determining how to make the Geology and Geophysics Programme an even better one. Prepared by Gemma Swan (VUWSA Student Representation Coordinator) and Jonathan Gee (Academic Vice President) in consultation with students in the Geology and Geophysics programme. src@vuwsa.org.nz 8