Awards Committee

10/10/06 Student Reps - Shirley Corston and Peter G Le Maistre

The committee recommended for approval by the Curriculum,Awards and Validation Committee the following awards.

• Postgraduate Certificate in Systems Practice
• Postgraduate Diploma in Systems Practice
• MSc in Systems Practice
• Professional Certificate in Physics
• Certificate in Legal Studies
• Professional Certificate in Effective Practice (Youth Justice)
• Foundation Degree in Youth Justice

A BSc in Computing with Psychological Studies was approved for Chair’s action.

The Committee also approved:

• A Graduate entry route to the BA (Hons) in Social Work (Scotland)
• Amendment to the credit transfer scheme for the above
• Credit transfer arrangements for Master of Business Administration Awards

Science Faculty Committee

22/09/06 Student Reps – Shirley Corston and Carey Shaw

More October starts on the way with S205 and S207 moving to autumn starts in 2008.

Waymark Credit - A scheme is under consideration to allow for some recognition to be made available in the future for students on 60 point courses who complete only part of the course, probably initially in respect of first level course.

Re-presentation of courses:

• 2007: S279 (30 point replacement for S267 and S269 combined).
• 2008: S104 (to replace S103) – 2 presentations per year

Planned new courses:

• TBA S154 – an introduction to S104
• 2007 S186 Volcanoes Earthquakes Tsunamis (10 points)
• TBA S187 Forensic Science (10 points)
• 2008 SA188 Introduction to Archaeology (10 points)
• 2008 S189 Weather (10 points)
• 2007 SK??? Chronic Health Problems i – Cardiovascular conditions (15 points)
• 2008 SK??? Chronic Health Problems ii - Obesity
• 2008 S310 Ecosystems (30 points)

New academic certificates are being planned - whether in place of or addition to existing certificates and/or diploma was not clear.

Longevity of recognition of courses towards degree awards. The university notes that in some cases, awards due to be made in 2006 and 2007 may include recognition of courses taken in the early years of the OU – 30 years ago. This aspect is under consideration but there are no proposals for change at present.

Interesting BBC programmes coming up are “Adam’s Cosmos” with Adam Hart Davies and "Climate" with David Attenborough.

A level 2 certificate in Physics is planned.

There is to be internal support (funding to Central Academic Units) for Post graduate research students.

Exam Stress

I love our university dearly and am often proud of what they achieve in the way of awards, accreditation by external bodies, and accolades from students. However sometimes, just sometimes I have to hold my head in my hands and give a little cry of despair.

Exam time can be stressful enough for students, but imagine getting to the exam and being told by the invigilators that one of the questions on the paper was no longer available to you as an option to answer and you should strike it through. Worse still, imagine sitting the exam and not being told by the invigilators about the now disallowed question, then getting home relieved that you had survived, only to have a letter drop through your mailbox advising you that one of the questions you had answered had actually been disallowed.

This is what has happened to many students on one science course recently. In fairness they have been told that

"The University has now also put in place mechanisms to ensure an equitable assessment for all students performance in the examination"

But that doesn't alter that fact that a significant number of them were not told about the disallowed question and so answered it.

So far no information is forthcoming from the university about what will be done for these students. I am investigating and will update the blog as soon as I have news

25/10/06
Apologies for the delay folks (my fault not the universitys - they got back to me very quickly but my life got in the way of my updating the blog)
19/10/06
Having heard back from the relevant department of the university (and my thanks for their speedy response), I am satisfied that they are aware of the full situation regarding the above exam, and am confident that when the results are determined they will be done so in a manner that is fair to all students who sat the exam, and that no one will be either advantaged nor disadvantaged.

That’s it folks – fingers crossed that your results are what you wished for yourselves.

Experiments in Inclusivity

As an Association we tend to use closed FirstClass conferences to help facilitate the support and training of various reps. There are pluses and minuses to doing this. On the plus, side new reps have a place where they can find their feet, get support, ask questions, discuss issues, and generally not worry about looking daft if they aren't 100% sure exactly what they should be doing. The down side is that people can get missed off the permissions list so don't get added to the conference (and they don't know they should be added so don't know to ask), and the closed aspect (secret some would say) can help to foster an atmosphere of 'them and us', lead to accusations of 'cliquishness', and often doesn't do a great deal to promote a feeling of inclusiveness.

In an effort to promote inclusivity I'm preparing to start an experiment on FirstClass. I've asked for a conference to be created which will be for the use of regional reps to university committees. In it they will be able to discuss issues that come up at their meetings, ask questions about O U S A policy on matters due for discussion at those meetings, and get and give support to one another in the normal manner of support conferences. The difference will be that this conference will not be hidden in any way and all students will be able to read it if they want to.

I'll explain why I've gone for read access as opposed to being totally open (though you are free to disagree with me and put forward your view if you wish - I have been known to be persuaded to change my viewpoint). There are any number of ways for students to put forward their views on things to the Association (I'll leave aside the argument about these could be better publicised and more accessible for now), and there are any number of people students can contact who deliberately put themselves in the way of being a 'public face' and a communications channel within our Association. The people who put themselves forward for the role of a regional reps to O U committees generally fall into one of two groups:

• Those who are new to representing student opinion, are just finding their feet, and want to start in a local environment where it is likely they will know others and have an understanding of the issues.
• Those who are concerned with local students and local issues, want to 'do their bit' for the student body, but don't want to be a public face.

By giving the whole student body read only access to the conference I'm hoping to do two things:

• Increase awareness of what our regional reps do (and maybe encourage participation by doing so)
• Protect those reps who don't really want to get involved with debates with the whole student body by ensuring that if someone from outside the group does want to debate certain issues they use the appropriate forum/channel to do so.

I'm not sure I've got this right, it's an experiment to see how it goes, if it works then great, if it doesn't then I'll look at the situation and work out where to go from there. Your views, as always will be appreciated.

I Ask You!

Like any large organisation the Open University has a particular fondness for acronyms and abbreviations (in truth so does the Student Association though we are trying to break ourselves of the habit).

Most committee and working group names end up reduced to abbreviations, so Curriculum Awards and Validation Committee becomes CAVC, and CASG is actually the Complaints and Appeals Steering Group.

But WREEG! I ask you! WREEG! I told my boss I needed a day off to attend a WREEG meeting and he laughed! Which is a bit of a shame really when you consider that I work for a training company who do a lot of government funded training, and the meeting he was laughing about was the Work Related and Employer Engagement Group.

But I ask you! WREEG!

Widening Particpation Advisory Group

14/09/06 Student Rep - Alex Hamilton

http://www.open.ac.uk/widening-participation/

It has been noticed that quite a lot of students on K100 do not have English as their first language, possibly causing problems for them and tutors marking their assignments. This may have led to drop outs and students misunderstanding what was expected of them. The university is now looking at the necessary requirements to help students whose first language is not English while at the same time retaining the open policy.

A presentation of Region 4 (West Midlands) initiatives in Widening Participation was given. A large number of initiatives have taken place in the Midlands since the AD (Assistant Director) joined in February.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/near-you/west-midlands/p3.asp

Suggestions?

I thought it might be useful to have a place where readers could put forward their suggestions for some content.

I know what I had in mind for content when I thought of doing this but it's a communication tool and communication is a two way process - so if there is anything* you think ought to be on here then leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.

*When I say anything I really mean education related - please don't ask me questions about the Constitution because you'll make me have a headache if I have to go read that ;-)

Mental Health Working Group

04/09/06 Student Rep - Christine Fitze

Making Your Teaching Inclusive
Note: The link is to an O U site that is specifically aimed at staff and professionals - I've included it because it is a useful resource and may help not only increase awareness but also aid in understanding some issues that are beyond personal experience.

Mentoring Scheme – this is a pilot scheme at that allows mentoring support to students with mental health problems. The pilot has run into a hiccup or two because students who have already been granted the Disabled Student Allowance (D S A) didn’t have an element of that award to cover mentoring. The suggestion now is to promote the scheme to students who have not yet applied for D S A.

Prisoners in Secure Units – Currently the university have no way of being able to identify whether or not a student is a prisoner or held in a secure unit (the address isn’t necessarily a good indicator as the student could be a member of staff, or the place could actually be a residential home). It is hoped to have a meeting with the Home Office to find out the position regarding Health and Safety and other issues on how the OU should work with students in Secure Units. General guidelines are being produced. This is an area O U S A has already taken an interest in and Vice President Equal Opportunities has a working group in place looking at the issues and implications.

Central Reps

About
Central Representatives are students who sit on Open University committees and groups that meet weekdays on campus in Milton Keynes (they generally meet 3 to 5 times per year, and the year currently runs from September to August). Consideration for appointment as a Central Rep is by application (supported by references). Applications are processed and references followed up and then everything is sent to an Executive Committee (E C) appointments panel who meet once face to face in May or June and online throughout the rest of the year. The appointments panel considers the applications and makes recommendations for appointment. The recommendations then go to the full E C for confirmation of appointment.

Recruitment and Selection
When considering suitability for appointment many factors are considered and the E C appointments panel has a document appropriately called the Principles of Appointment which it uses to help make decisions about suitability or not.

Once appointed a Central Rep will be allocated to a committee/group - usually this is based upon the preferences they express, but this can’t be guaranteed with applications that arrive outside the main appointments period as their preference may have already been allocated to someone else.

Having been given a committee or group the rep will be sent all available info about it including dates of meetings for year, and the Terms of Reference (T o R) for that particular body (the T o R details the scope, remit and usually the membership of that body), they will also often be contacted by the secretary to the committee/group to say welcome.

Training and Support
Reps in place by August are invited to attend the O U S A Central Training event which generally takes place in September. This is a residential weekend where old and new reps will take part in training sessions helping them familiarise themselves with their new roles (and just as importantly begin to build contacts with other reps and so develop their own support network.

Speaking of support networks there are a couple directly available to Central Reps. First of all the role falls under the remit of Vice President Education so all the Central Reps are supported and facilitated by V P Ed and that roles support team at the O U S A office. There is also a FirstClass conference where the reps can meet up, exchange ideas, discuss issues – this is also where the reports from meetings are posted for the attention of V P Ed.

Good To Go
The university committee year starts in September soon after training takes place and that’s when the Central Reps begin to fully perform their roles by attending their meetings, using their student voice to speak up about student related issues raised there, and reporting back to V P Ed about matters of interest coming out of the meetings.

Is It For You?
It all sounds very formal doesn’t it? I suppose to a certain extent it is – Central Reps are one of the main tools we have for making the university aware of our views and it’s important that we have people in those roles who are not only prepared to do the role but are also capable of it. The meetings themselves though generally friendly are disciplined affairs so can be a little intimidating to a lone student in a room full of university staff. The issues discussed can be technical and/or wide ranging – it is important we have the right people in the roles. All that said the roles can also be fun, interesting, equip you with new skills, hone some existing ones, build confidence, empower, help develop negotiating skills, and lots of other things that employers look for in their prospective employees.

More Info?
Interested? Have you got what it takes? Like to develop some worthwhile employability skills? Like to help make a difference – together? Want more information? Vacancies for Central Reps exist throughout the committee year and applications are always welcome – we are particularly always on the lookout for research student applicants who are significantly under represented amongst our pool of reps

Contact

O U S A P O Box 397
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6BE

ousa@student.open.ac.uk

01908 652026

Student Representatives

One of the primary functions of the Student Association is to present the student viewpoint to the university. We do this in a variety of ways and at various levels of the university structure. One of the main ways we put forward the student viewpoint is by having Student Representatives attend face to face meetings held by the university.

Student Reps are appointed (or for some committees they are elected) to sit on university committees and groups at both regional and national level. They put forward the student viewpoint by using; personal experience, anecdotal evidence, and by using OUSA policy from the Register of Decisions (the Associations policy document which contains all the policies decided over time by our annual conference).

The various types of Student Representative are:

• Central Representatives
• Central Disciplinary Committee Representatives
• Central Consultative Committee Representatives
• Regional Committee Representatives
• Regional Consultative Committee Representatives
• Regional Representatives to the Senate Reference Group

More about each of these roles in a while.

Welcome

Welcome to the blog of the Open University Student Association Vice President Education.

Why a blog? Several reasons really:

First off because I can - I'm reasonably web savvy, fairly articulate, and my style of communication suits the short sharp bursts of blogging.

It seems silly in this day and age (when you have the ability and the will) not to take advantage of all the channels of communication available to us, especially when you want to engage with your members and have them engage with you.

Next it’s fairly spontaneous – as news views and information come to hand they can be posted quickly into a blog, published, and shared with the wider student community.

It’s accessible – in the sense that anyone with an internet connection and a web browser can arrive at the content.

Finally – it allows for the participation of its readers through the comment facility which means that views can be sought, feedback given, interaction can take place.

If as students we are going to continue to influence our university and help shape our own educational establishment, it is important that the Vice President with the education remit has as many avenues as possible available to them to gather and disseminate news, views, and information.