Unconfirmed Notes – TLAN 5 May 2011
Faculty of Humanities
Unconfirmed 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/
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.
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/3671/5021/1000655/11-04-15_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.
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 ().
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 Programme-level spaces
· October 2011 to January 2012 for Semester 2 courses
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.
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.