Improving course organisation and management David Morris National Union of Students

Aims of the session Think about the most important issues in course organisation & management Look at trends in organisation & management nationally and locally Introduce the Organisation & Management Benchmarking Tool Benchmark your courses and schools

What is organisation and management? In the National Student Survey: 13. The timetable works efficiently as far as my activities are concerned 14. Any changes in the course or teaching have been communicated effectively 15. The course is well organised and is running smoothly Before clicking through, ask them to define what they think learning resources are. Then talk through how the NSS has three questions covering O&M (you will come to the NSS later so don’t dwell on what it is), but that each of these areas is very broad. If you are going to run a successful campaign, you need to know what specific issue you are campaigning for.

National trends and issues Organisation and management is the black line. As you can see, all areas of the NSS have increased in the last five years. Assessment and feedback is consistently the lowest scoring area, particularly amongst Russell and 1994 Group universities, but organisation is the second lowest scoring and particularly for Million+, Alliance and GuildHE institutions.

Issues in organisation and management Timetabling: access and release Hidden course costs Staff time, pay and conditions Support services (IT/Estates/Registry/Planning/Comms) Work placements and co-curricular activity Time allowed for extra-curricular activity Student travel and commuting Mature and part-time students Student parents Any others???

Why does course organisation matter? Badly organised courses: Create unnecessary stress Disrupt, demotivate and distract from teaching and learning Are a barrier to disabled students, students in work, part-time students, distance students and student parents Create animosity between students and teachers

Introduction to benchmarking

Benchmarking tool Principles Practice After we had agreed the ten principles, we discussed examples of practice for each of the ten principles. This resulted in a benchmarking tool with five levels of practice, from undeveloped to outstanding, for each of the ten principles. You can use the tool at an institutional, departmental or course level to identify current practice and what to do to reach the next level. It’s especially useful to start conversations between staff and students at a course level to achieve the change that works in their local context. Principles Practice

Principles of effective O&M 1. Partnership decision-making 2. Consistent, accessible processes and procedures 3. Facilities equipped and accessible for learning 4. Accessible approach to organisation and management 5. Additional course costs are minimised or mitigated 6. Availability of relevant information and resources 7. Student centred course structuring 8. Selection of options/choices and modules 9. Partnership approach to placements 10. Management of changes Based on research into the NSS and focus groups with student officers, we arrived at ten principles for effective course organisation and management covering a variety of different areas. Each of you will have one, or several, of these principles that are most relevant to your students.

An example On my course at uni…

Benchmarking your course

Benchmark your institution/course In groups: Benchmark your course against the principles you think are most important. Identify one principle where your course does well, and one where it does not so well. Can you identify one key issue for your students? How do you know it’s an issue? Where’s your evidence?!? Take ten minutes to benchmark your institution or course against each of the ten principles. Make sure delegates are thinking about where they could gather evidence to inform their campaign.

Questions you can ask your peers Are you happy with your timetable? Are changes to your course communicated clearly and in good time? Have you encountered any unexpected costs in your study? Are your placements well organised? Any admin problems in enrolment/induction?

Towards enhancement In groups: Find out good practice from other courses and universities. What areas are strong and not-so-strong on your course, or at your university? Where can you realistically work in partnership to move ‘up a level’?

Next steps Start talking to your classmates Work with your course leaders to find common solutions Set a common goal for moving up a step on the benchmarking tool

END

Turning your issue into a campaign

10 Steps of Effective Campaigns Plan your campaign – resources, goals, timescales Look at your institution’s current policy Engage students – what are their issues? Collate your research Engage with the institution Keep campaigning, keep students engaged Evaluate your campaign Celebrate your successes Monitor policy implementation Make further recommendations

Campaign planning What is your campaign issue? What supplementary evidence do you need? Who are your allies? What will be your main message? What obstacles will there be?

Campaigning examples Teesside SU – Wednesday Watch http://www.tees-su.org.uk/wednesdaywatch/ University of Bristol Union – Student communications http://www.ubu.org.uk/news/article/UBU/Rob-Griffiths-Lets-get-Student-Communications-right/ Sussex SU – Timetabling for student parents http://www.sussexstudent.com/campaigns/content/750273/student_parent_timetabling/ University of the West of England SU – Hidden Costs http://www.uwesu.org/campaigns/hiddencosts/

More information david.morris@nus.org.uk @dgmorris295 http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/campaigns/highereducation/nss/