LTC13-P31

6 June 2013

report for Learning and Teaching Committee

28 May 2013

revising the Loughborough Student Charter for 2013-14

submitted by

Dr Maurice FitzGerald, Quality Enhancement Officer, Teaching Centre

executive summary

This report provides Learning and Teaching Committee (LTC) with a draft version of next year’s Loughborough Student Charter for comment, amendment and approval, as well as signposting LTC colleagues to various materials aimed atsupporting the continued embedding of this resource across campus. In doing so, it asks LTC to consider how they wish to oversee the future development of this resource now that it has been in existence for a number of years.

main recommendations

  • agree on the Loughborough Student Chartertext for next academic year; and
  • decide on who will manage this resource/where it will be based from this summer.

introduction

The 3rd edition of the Loughborough Student Charteris due to be released later in thesummer, that isin time for academic year 2013-14. As the University committee tasked with overseeing this process, this report is being presented to LTC for comment, while additionally offering the opportunity for amendments to be made before approval is granted for next year’sversion of the text. To support this process, this paper is divided into four main sections:

  • feedback received –providing an insight into feedback already received during the course of this past academic year, it highlights some of the emerging considerations;
  • resource development – offering ideas and materials for implementation next academic year, the feedback is used to help further develop and underpin this resource;
  • suggested amendments – proposing relatively minor changes for the most part to the current text (see Loughborough Student Charter, 2013-14 for track changes); and
  • future steps – recommendations regarding the future handling of this resource, and its on-going development, both in terms of where it fits in terms of the Academic Cycle and how it might be supported now that it has gone beyond its developmental phase.

The Loughborough Student Charter has established itself as an institutional resource, with the next task being to build upon this process so that it becomes more fully understood and owned by our whole teaching and learning community.

feedback received

Since LTC received its last update report at Easter (see LTC13-P12 for further details), the main focus has been on eliciting feedback from staff, students and student representatives so that it can be taken into account as part of the annual update. This process has been supported by calls placed on theTeaching and Learning Blog, theLboro Noticeboard, and the Information for Students – Noticeboard,as well as feedback supplied by student representatives who attended the biannual LSU Education Conference on 8 May 2013 and subsequently supported by LSU’s use of Twitter (see across).[1] Student and student representativefeedback has suggested the following:

  • Interesting – how exactly is it enforced though?!
  • Department specific Student Charters
  • Lecturer of the Year should be uni-wide, and be included in representation awards. A more formal event
  • Design Point: Contrast is too dark. Better colour scheme would make it easier to read.
  • Students don’t know it exists. It doesn’t have an impact on students’ behaviour

Feedback received from staff includes the following:

  • … there is still nothing about moral standards, sustainable or environmentally responsible research or not obliging students to work on any other form of ethically questionable projects in the Student Charter.
  • … surprised to note that their [sic] are no references to plagiarism. Is this intentional?
  • Could there be something about courtesy from the students (e.g. not using mobile phones in lectures) … Could there be something about the purpose of a degree in the prologue . . . too many students are trained by school to see that education is all about exams . . . could there also be something about breadth, developing transferable skills and employability in the prologue?
  • I'm just not at all sure of the purpose of having a Social Science Student Charter that deviates from the University SC, nor am I happy with the idea of it being used as some sort of measure of teaching quality - there are so many other ways that this is 'measured'

It may well be possible to take at least some of this feedback on board for next year’s version.

resource development

One of the main efforts this academic year in terms of resource development has been to develop further the matrix presented this time last year (see LTC12-P27 for further details), that isin order to help people to understand what each of the commitments and undertakings contained in the Loughborough Student Charter might be said to mean.

Running in parallel with the main onlinewebpage, a Loughborough Student Charter Learn module has therefore been created to promote greater interactivity and understanding; currently in draft form ahead of its launch in time for next academic year, LTC is asked for on-going feedback regarding this resource – indeed, feedback already received from AD(T)s is being incorporated. As it is intranet based, this Learn modulewill allow moreready access to the meaning of the various University commitments and undertakings by students and their representatives; in addition, it can also be more readily updated and developed than the outward-facing webpage – appropriate signposting is being included from both locations.

Meanwhile, another draft resource that has been developed this academic year is a set of adaptable guidelines entitled Classroom etiquette – basic technology ground rules for use by colleagues in conjunction with the delivery of their modules. Trialled with staff who attended the Teaching Small Groups workshop on 19 April 2013 and the New Lecturers’ Course - Unit 1: Teaching and Supporting Studentsprogramme on 2 May 2013, this document is not meant to be prescriptive, but it may support colleagues in their discussions with students regarding the appropriate use of technology in the classroom.

suggestedamendments

For the document to remain current and appropriate, a relatively small number of elements need to be updated each year; these include the photograph featuring the Vice Chancellor and the LSU president (i.e. representing the nature of the relationship that exists here between this institution, our students and their student representatives), but might additionally include the joint statement to which they put their names.

This joint statement typically runs to 200 words, but it does allow for a focus, perhaps also helping to outline particular institutional and student priorities.Building upon the joint statements signed off by Prof Bob Allison and Ellie Read at the start of 2012-13, as well as by Prof Shirley Pearce and Rebecca Bridger at the beginning of 2011-12, the following choice oftexts – alternative (a) which repeats last year’s version andalternative (b)suggestinga new and updated set of words based upon emerging themes –– areoffered ahead ofnext year:

  • joint statement by Prof Bob Allison and Josh Hurrell, 2013-14

Loughborough University is an outstanding place to study. Widely recognised for the strength of its student experience, we care for and listen to all our students – foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate – throughout the application process, during their studies, and after they graduate.

Many features of our University contribute to this great experience. Our world leading academics and a research-intensive environment provide the basis for our renowned teaching, learning and research. They are complemented by the quality of our campus setting, extra-curricular activities, Library and IT resources, social life, sports and other facilities, all of which are backed up by one of the best Students’ Unions in the country. Our staff and other students – including your student representatives – are there to help; thus, the programme of study that brought you here is sustained both by extensive support networks and through your own efforts.

Developed with students and staff, and revised annually, the Loughborough Student Charter exemplifies the partnership that exists at this Higher Education institution between staff, students and student representatives.

Our mission remains to provide the highest quality of educational experience and to offer the widest opportunities for all of our students. We look forward to you supporting our academic community in this endeavour.

  • joint statement by Prof Bob Allison and Josh Hurrell, 2013-14

Loughborough University epitomises what an outstanding experience Higher Educationcan be.In informing and progressing the research, teaching and enterprisethat our institution embodies, we are confident and proud that our students, their representatives, and our graduatespersonify thispartnership approach.

This annually updated document not only symbolises the academic community of staff and students which is the beating heart of this University, it also celebrates the professionalism of the support services and enhancementstructures that advance and sustain our individual and collective talents.

Our University provides an extraordinary environment in which ourvarious attributes and skills can mature and flourish. Over the years, it has struck a fine balance between developing minds and promoting knowledge, inspiringadvances and innovations across engineering, science, the humanities and social sciences, all the while identifying the necessary transferable skills and enhancing the employability of our taught and research students.

In continuing to build upon excellence, in actively enabling student engagement, and in encouraging each of us to achieve our goals, we know that we can count on you to help drive this process forward.

It might be noted that the Working Group has thus far indicated a preference for alternative (a); LTC is asked to choose between the two, or indeed an amended version of either of them.

In addition to the inclusion of a specific commitment which might signpost people to resources such as the Loughborough University Ethical Policy Framework, it is suggested in theLoughborough Student Charter, 2013-14, that the student undertakings regarding feedback is made more explicit (e.g. to promote completion of the National Student Survey), while another undertaking mightbe added to encourage graduate employability and student professional development (i.e. mirroring the University commitment to providing and supporting such activities and opportunities). Apart from these, the only other recommended changes are essentially to the dates on the document and to the contact details, both for the incoming LSU officers and for the member of staff who will manage this resource from 2013-14 onwards.

future steps

Ahead of next academic year, plans are already in train to produce resources that will support the further embedding of this document and a greater understanding regarding its various commitments and undertakings. The Teaching Centre has earmarked circa£1,073.00 to cover the anticipated cost of 6,000 A4 trifold leaflets (primarily to be distributed to new undergraduate and postgraduate students at induction in the early autumn), 100 A3 posters (to be shared and displayed in various locations across campus), and six A2 poster-boards (for display in a number of strategic positions such as LSU, the Library, the Student Office in Rutland, etc.); please note that no financial provision has yet been made for analogous resources to be made available in 2014-15.

Ideally, the leaflets should be distributed to incoming students before their induction at the end of September, for instance as part of the registration mail-shot that Academic Registry runs in the middle of August each year. However, the turnaround time between LTC approval and the production of these resources is relatively tight, which is why efforts this summer will once again concentrate on signposting through the Welcome to Loughborough resource, the my.Lboro student portal, etc., and to support Marketing and Communications in updating the main Loughborough Student Charter webpage. In the future, it may also be possible to point to this resource via the online Student Prospectus, even if plans are already in hand to make further use of the pull-up banner developed last summer at forthcoming University Open Days.

Now that its annual updating has become quite well established, and with the value of this resource confirmed by various bodies, such as the Quality Assurance Agency,as well as within a number of University forums, it may well be an opportune time to decide upon how and where this resource should be housed.This resource hasnow outgrown the original Enhancing Student Engagement project proposal to introduce this documentat our institution. A resource like this requires limited annual maintenance allied with some continuing development, but any immediate decision regarding its future lies with LTC. While the Teaching Centre has been at the forefront of its development alongside LSU, it has only done so by working closely in conjunction with other colleagues, such as those from Academic Registry, as well as Marketing and Communications, with the Working Group having proven itself to be invaluable. Thus, a decision needs to be taken regardingthe future of this resource, particularlyin relation to who will manage it on behalf of LTC and where its day-to-day management will reside.

conclusions

In addition to promoting the use of a dedicated Learn module for the future development of this resource, this report for LTC has had two main functions. Firstly, it suggests some amendments to the text of the Loughborough Student Charterahead of next academic yearand, secondly, now that it has been established and is entering its third edition, it seeks an LTC decision regarding who will manage this resource, and where it will be housed, from this summer.

[1].For examples, see:“Loughborough Student Charter, 2012-2013”, Teaching and Learning Blog, 28 March 2013, at “Loughborough Student Charter – annual update (final posting)”, Lboro Noticeboard, 3 May 2013, at and “Loughborough Student Charter – annual update”, Information for students – Noticeboard, 12 April 2013, at [all 20 May 2013].