PDT & Staff-Student Conversations: integration in the classroom Gary Lunt Programme Leader BA (Hons) Communication, Advertising & Public Relations School of Arts & Creative Industries

For discussion today:  Promoting a regular open forum for staff-student conversations  How this came about and has developed recently  PDT conversations as a large group  Programme and University wide topics/issues and the classroom conversations

Promoting regular conversations... Benefits:  Engage the students regularly  Promote discussion on important issues/topics  Actively seek student opinion  Provide feedback (formal & informal)  Provide information (and links to additional info)

How & why I find this useful and how it’s developed recently...  Always engaged the students in discussions during Week 1 activities  I always used it as a mechanism leading up to and after SSLC meetings  I used this type of forum to discuss generic feedback on assessments – leading to discussions on extra help & guidance that might be provided  Discussed broad issues arising from PDT sessions More recently:  Issues with the Programme that have arisen over the last 2 years  University issues: redundancies, moving from Craighouse...

PDT & academic discussions... Following PDT sessions shared issues can present themselves: - academic challenges (e.g. direct entry students from FE & EU) - worries & concerns (e.g. 4 th year dissertation students) - reassurance (e.g. transition from 3 rd to 4 th year) - clarification (e.g. regulations or degree classification)  Discussion of these as a group/year often highlights the extent of the issue and also helps negate the level of concern  Potential solutions can be discussed and students can be pointed in the right direction for assistance

Programme & University discussions /10:  Changes to the programme  Changes within the School  Rumours regarding Craighouse Campus 2010/11:  Rumours regarding the Programme  Craighouse Campus cont.  Redundancies  Discussion on these issues were ongoing often with the same questions & concerns being raised  Student concerns could be dealt with on a more personal level with the students feeling engaged at programme level

Back to the benefits then...  Engage the students regularly – e.g. they should feel that their input is valued and their points of view are taken on board  Promote discussion on important issues/topics – e.g. these issues affect them directly and they should feel actively involved  Actively seek student opinion – e.g. this can be positively acted upon  Provide feedback (formal & informal) – e.g. in addition to their developing reflective skills this can lead to provision of additional help/advice  Provide information (and links to additional info) – e.g. Regulations, no matter how often this has been cited previously they often just need reminding

Thank You Gary Lunt Programme Leader BA (Hons) Communication, Advertising & Public Relations School of Arts & Creative Industries