Engagement Week Update - Data

Vice President of Academic Affairs Engagement Week Update Hi everyone, We’ve been busy coding and analysing your comments from Engagement Week. The sheer amount of data we have collected is amazing! From teaching to transport, assessment to accommodation and canteens to Camtasia you clearly have an opinion on all areas of academic life and are not scared to let us know about it. Over the coming months there will be more opportunities to get involved as we continue to collect information for the QAA Student Written Submission . We’ll be running Go Out And Talk sessions and also online forums for disabled students, international students, post-grads, mature students, placement students and part-time students. We’ve also got the course rep end of year survey going out in May. Thanks again for all of your feedback—we look forward to closing that feedback loop and reporting the changes very soon! Amy Rutland | VP Academic Affairs E: bsuvpa@brighton.ac.uk Facebook: VP AcademicAffairs Brighton-su Twitter: bsuacademic Blog: Brighton SU Academic

‘I MY EDUCATION’ A Few Words on the Data Analysis

We have now coded the data under a number of categories covering academic issues, organisational issues and other facilities/activities at the University of Brighton. We collected data from 1126 students and often each ‘Keep’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Start’ comment box had multiple comments addressing a number of areas of concern, delight and suggested improvements. Comments ranged from brief and specific to long and detailed and we would like to thank all students that took part for the consideration put into the responses given. This research now forms a rich database of student opinion across the university and will be a valuable source of input for not only the upcoming institutional review but also decision making process at the university. A detailed discourse analysis of the comments will be available soon with a school by school breakdown. Keep an eye on the new research area on the Students’ Union website for updates! http://www.ubsu.net/research

What have you said? Most of your comments have been about Teaching and Learning, with a large amount indicating a positive experience. However, this is also the area with the largest amount of statements on what needs to stop and what you would like to see start. Following this are your comments on organisation with a large amount of comments on what should stop—these largely focus on issues of lecture cancellations and timetabling. Comments showed you all had a lot to say about the design of your programme. This includes the balance between practical and theoretical work, planned curricular activities, how students within and out with the programme are split and brought together for teaching and learning, planning of the timetabling and assessments and how accessible and flexible your programmes of study are. Your access to learning resources and library are also in the forefront with opening hours and library fees being key concerns. Assessment and finance are high on the list of where you would like things to change. Timing and nature of your assessments are key areas of comment and much of the issues of finance focus on fees and printing costs. There are lots of positive comments about student central/e-learning and some key suggestions where this could improve. You have also identified lots of ideas that you would like your students’ union to start doing and we’ll be coming back to you with our plans for next year soon and acting on your suggestions!

Overview

Teaching and Learning Feedback on teaching and learning was extensive with over 40% of students providing commentary on Keep, over 20% on Stop and Start. Key areas you want to keep in place include high quality tutors, one to one contact and personal tutorials, positive and supportive attitudes of teaching staff, an interactive approach to learning in the classroom, teaching that links the

theoretical directly with the practical application and use of technology such as Camtasia in the classroom.

Under areas of teaching and

learning you would like to see stop are long lectures, extensive use of PowerPoint, negative attitudes, teaching taking place in unsuitable or cramped rooms. Your ideas what the university should start doing include extra study classes, more interactivity in learning, more examples of previous student work, having lectures recorded and put online so you can review them, more one to one time with tutors and more practical work.

Organisation The comments on Organisation were disproportionately negative compared to other areas commented on. This is in line with National Student Survey Data from previous years. Throughout the comments on organisation issues were raised about timetabling concerns such as having to come in for only one lecture in a day, lectures and classes being split over multiple campuses and late receipt of timetables for both classes and exams. Comments were also given on having information

on assignments and marking schemes available that was clear and timely. Further concerns were raised about the lack of communication where lecturers were off ill or had to cancel a lecture or seminar for some other reason. Poor communication on room changes

and timetable changes generally were also frequent themes.

Keep “Employing my

fantastic lecturers!”

Start “Providing more opportunities for interaction with

lecturers and seminar tutors”

Start “setting exam timetable

earlier so that we can plan our lives accordingly”

Stop “cancelling lectures and

seminars at last minute!”

Some more detail...

Programme Design

Comments showed appreciation for practical sessions with some drawing a direct correlation with employability. Comments show that you value opportunities to link the academic with real life examples. The practical elements of the course were frequently referenced as areas that needed to increase for students to feel they could learn and improve skills and apply theory.

Linking with the above there was a

great deal of appreciation of

external speakers and guest

lecturers. These were mentioned

with a high level of frequency

throughout comments on programme design.

There was a strong desire to stop the clustering of

deadlines for assignment hand in dates and

assessments.

Comments showed you are in favour of shorter lectures with more weighting given to seminar groups and tutorials. You are not in favour of three hour blocks of lectures or lectures that last over 1 hour and would prefer for this to be split up with interactive learning sessions.

Learning Resources and Libraries A lot of commentary centred on the desire to see increased library and workshop opening hours. A number of students noted that due to their commitments at home and work that the ability to study longer at the weekend in a university space would be useful to their studies. The extended library opening hours during exam times were seen as a hugely positive measure by the university. Library fines that stop students being able to withdraw books were also a point raised as a difficulty students faced.

A great deal of value was seen in having lecture notes and PowerPoints stored on for reference on StudentCentral and for the student central area to be organised and kept up to date. Access to workshop space and computer labs out of hours was also an issue. A number of comments centred around computers that remained out of service for long periods of time. There were a number of comments about providing Wi-Fi in all areas of the university, including workshops, not just in the library.

Stop “Locking us out of the

library before 9am! Some of us do arrive

before then and want access to return books/

study them.

Keep “Keep... Relating my

learning to a practical application in a working business environment.”

Assessment One of the main issues raised in terms of concern about guidelines was the bunching of deadlines as mentioned under programme design and late release of exam timetables. The nature of assessment on courses was also a big issue. Some felt that the assessment methods were boring or repetitious and allowed them to demonstrate knowledge but not necessarily understanding of a topic. There was preference for a flexible or at least varied approach to assessment although some felt that presentations disadvantaged less confident students. The importance of providing clear guidance on assignments and assessments. There were a number of comments on the lack of clarity for assignments. Prompt feedback was listed as a positive and slow feedback as detrimental, especially when not received until the end of module when all submissions had been made. Comments demonstrated student awareness of the 20 day rule for receiving work back.

Finance and Fees Complaints were raised about costs in a variety of areas including: Library fines Printing costs Cost of food (especially healthy food), tea

and coffee on campus Costs of materials in the shops Hidden course costs such as materials and field

trips—concerns here were also around the timings of the payments for these trips

There were also a number of comments about the cost of tuition fees and concerns about getting value for money, there were some specific statements on this from international students. Concerns were also raised about levels of debt with some suggestions of how the university could help students save money such as starting lectures after peak travel times so they could get cheaper tickets.

Keep “Because I am on my first year of the course, at the moment we are being

provided with a huge amount of assignment guidance. This means that 1. we can settle into the course well. 2. we can achieve our full potential

and 3. we can get a good idea of how the course will be.

Stop “Taking too long on

assignment feedback especially in first year when

need it for next

Stop “Having high prices for everything, there is no

need to charge more than normal shops”

Stop “Asking for payments of

previous trips and deposits of future trips at the same

time.”

Students’ Union There were a number of comments relating to the students’ union, provision of entertainment/bar facilities and Students’ Union societies. RaG Week, Dance Rivals and other Charity events are big hits and on the agenda for us to keep doing. Social events that are happening seem to be popular but you want to see more events across campuses. There is a general call for a Students’ Union bar on campus and more specific comments on reopening Stokers in Eastbourne Campus. More social space should be available to students generally which would facilitate a sense of community across year groups. The Food Co-Op society is popular, however, we need to be providing more societies on Hastings campus. In general you want to see the Students’ Union communicating more with students and continuing to make your voice heard in the university, however, you would also like to see us having a stronger presence on campus than we do now. You want to keep using our shops on campus, although some of you think the prices should be lower, and you find the advice you have received from us in person and via email useful.

Other Comments We received comments on many other areas too Sustainability— students have noticed lights left on in unused spaces and wish to see increased recycling and

promotion of sustainable lifestyle choices. There were also lots of positive comments about Student Services including Disability and Dyslexia Support

and Careers The peer learning scheme PASS received a number of positive comments. There were positive comments on the value of placements but also some negative ones on the organisational

aspects. A fuller in-depth analysis of the results and a school by school breakdown will be available soon.

Start “Get a SU bar, where students can an socialise together rather than having to go into town Have a better more inclusive fresher's week with events that everyone will want to go to. “

What Happens next with the Engagement Week Data This data is already being used in the university to inform decisions that they will be making to im-prove the student experience. Reports from the data will be fed into university committees and any changes made as a result of your comments will be fed straight back via course reps and the Students’ Union website. The data will also be feeding into the Student Written Submission which we are due to submit to the QAA as part of the Institutional Review in November 2012. The first draft of this document will be available late June for you to pass comment on. We will be passing reports to school reps and course reps to ensure they have evidence to help them make changes in their own areas. If you would like any further information please don’t hesitate to get in touch: h.mcknight@brighton.ac.uk