Course Rep Training

Congratulations on being elected as the Course Rep for this year! We hope this will be an exciting opportunity which will allow you to help to make a change to your course and University experience. #TeamGlos Congratulations

Who we are! Louise Fensome Student Voice Manager Raphaella Ward SU Full-Time Education Officer

Your Students’ Union

Who Are We? The SU is a student- led charity, whose aim is to make life better for you. Values Helpful Professional Trustworthy Democratic Fun

Your Students’ Union Promises Your SU will: 1. Help you improve your teaching & learning 2. Help you develop your skills 3. Improve your wellbeing 4. Promote sustainability 5. Help you participate in sport 6. Provide student-led volunteering opportunities 7. Help you make friends & have fun

Full Time Officers From left to right… Hope Fawsitt Community Raphaella Ward Education Liam Sandford Lauren Chenoweth Sports

Get involved We want you to: 1.Be a course rep 2.Join a sports club or society 3.Be a part-time officer 4.Give us feedback 5.Apply for a job 6.Be a trustee 7.Volunteer 8.Go to events 9.Sit on a committee 10.Talk to us!

Any Questions? If you think of any later feel free to drop us a line! e: : w: F: facebook.com/universityofgloucestershirestudentsunion

Roles & Responsibilities

The Aim Representation Scheme is designed to ensure student engagement with Quality Assurance To improve the education the University of Gloucestershire delivers to its students through bringing to light the issues faced by the students on your course. Course RepsSubject Reps 44026

Structure 2 layers/roles of the Scheme Course Representative: Feedback role - improve the education on your course Subject Representative: Improve the quality of the Student Experience at the University

The role of the Course Representative is an exciting one that allows you to represent the views of your peers, and help to shape your education! Your University is for students, so why not help make it student led, by making demands of and questioning the current system. Your feedback is invaluable to the University as it helps us to improve across the board and offer the best possible teaching and learning environment to UoG students. It is important that representatives highlight both good and bad things about their course, so we know what we are doing well as well as what we need to improve on, so we can spread any good practice around the University and change weak areas. Your Role

1. Talk to the students on your course to find out any academic issues they are having. -To find out more information about how your course mates feel about any issues. -Help give you a good argument in Board of Studies meeting- get a statistic! -Find out any improvements your course mates want to see OR find out anything they think is great about their course before a Board of studies meeting. Your main responsibilities

2. Attend Boards of Studies meetings to feedback and discuss the issues faced by the students on your course -If you don’t tell the University what’s wrong, they aren’t going to change anything! -It’s an opportunity to tell them face to face what you want to be done and quiz them on how they are going to do it

3. Feedback any decisions made in Boards of Studies meetings to your peers. -Ensures everyone knows what changes are going to be made -Ensures everyone is happy with the changes that are going to be made -Lets everyone know what can’t be done & why

4. Talk to your Subject Rep -Attend Rep Forums -Get bigger issues resolved (including non-academic issues) e.g. ones beyond your course -Get involved in helping to build a Subject Community

5. Bring a student perspective to potential University policy changes such as proposed changes to assessment deadlines. - without a student perspective it’s difficult to know what you want! -avoids further problems later on

6. Engage students with national issues affecting education. -e.g. NUS Cut The Costs Campaign #CutTheCosts -Pass your knowledge of the issues onto your course mates -It’s hard to push for change if you don’t know what is wrong!

What is NOT your role To deal with individual students issues e.g. a student who is unhappy with their grade. To deal with students personal issues.

Helpzones There is a Student Helpzone on each campus, where staff are available to provide advice and support on academic and personal matters, including questions about obtaining an extension to an assessment deadline; accommodation, finance, health, etc. You can visit the Helpzones web page at: or phone , or the Helpzone for your campus:

Specific Student Services -Accommodation Tel: Chaplaincy Tel: Counselling Tel: Disability, Dyslexia and Learning Support Service Tel: Employability: Careers Centre Tel: Employability: Degreeplus Tel: Employability: Student Placements Tel: Mental Health and Wellbeing Tel: Money Advice Team Tel: Student Achievement Team Tel:

What you get out of being a Rep Being a Course Rep brings loads of great rewards, as well as providing you with skills that employers love! As a Course Rep, you will: Develop loads of skills including: communication, negotiation, interpersonal skills, public speaking, leadership Get to have your say in how your course is run Meet all your course mates and make new friends Get accreditation on the Degree Plus Award and the HEAR Get involved with your Students’ Union and gain accreditation in the SU Volunteering toolkit Sit on top University meetings that will expand your knowledge of how the Universityworks Make a change and leave your mark on the University

Any Questions?

Education for Sustainability

Education for Sustainability (EfS) EfS – a way of teaching and learning that can be applied to all courses Develops students to become graduates with the knowledge, understanding, skills, values and attributes capable of being agents of change for sustainability It supports leaders and decision makers of tomorrow to consider an alternative positive future our current ways of life are putting increasing pressure on society and the environment which is limiting quality of life for current and future generations This is a set of principles which can be adapted to the context of any course, any student and any future career path

Why is EfS important? The University of Gloucestershire aims to be a sector leader embedding EfS in all of its taught programmes EfS is being demanded by students and graduate employers: EMPLOYERS: Highlighted the need for sustainability literate graduates in the following surveys: - BITC 2010, Ipsos-MORI 2010, Sky Future Leaders Survey 2011, British Council 2011 QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY (QAA): EfS is a QAA priority, it was included in the Teaching and Learning chapter (B3, p8) of the new UK Quality Code HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY (HEA): QAA and HEA have released national guidance on ESD in curriculum development and graduate outcomes in 2014

Course Reps and EfS EfS uses active, ‘real-world’, participatory and transformative approaches to education As a course rep you can: Question lecturers on the integration of EfS into your courses Press for curriculum development to give you more experiences of EfS teaching and learning approaches Ask for more relevant education which equips you for the future Be an active learner and ensure you are gaining the most from your time at the University of Gloucestershire! For more information get in touch with Meg Baker in the Sustainability Department: or Louise Fensome: to join a more in-depth EfS workshop *More information on EfS and your role as a course rep is provided in the course rep handbook. See also,

Communication

Activity Talk to someone you don’t know (2 mins) -what happened? -what skills did you use?

Activity Draw what you hear (5 mins) -Partner 1- think of something you want to change about your course. Describe this to your partner. -Partner 2- try to DRAW what your partner has described -Partner 1- did this drawing match what you were trying to explain? Now SWAP!

Negotiation

Skills you need to negotiate? Listen carefully to the arguments of the other party Clarify issues you are not clear about by asking how, why, where, when and what questions. List all the issues which are important to both sides and identify the key issues. Identify any areas of common ground. Understand any outside forces that may be affecting the problem. Try to be assertive about what you want rather than passive or aggressive

Scenario 1 You are in a Board of Studies Meeting. You bring up that you and your course mates all feel that the assessment deadlines are too close together for this term. The staff members present agree that it’s unfortunate; however they feel that they need to remain where they are, as they all want their students to have finished most of the module before writing their assignments. How do you negotiate a deal?

Scenario 2 You are in a Board of Studies meeting, and you bring up that many of the students on your course are unhappy with the standard of feedback they are receiving. The staff members present feel that they are giving sufficient feedback. How would you negotiate a change in feedback and find a positive solution to the problem?

Meetings

Boards of Study meetings You and the members of staff in your School (e.g. Course leaders) will discuss any issues raised by students. The aim is to work towards a positive solution to resolve issues. BEFORE MEETINGS -Talk to the other students in your department and research any issues they are facing. -Submit these issues to your Personal Tutor, so they can be included in the agenda. -You will receive an agenda prior to the meeting-make sure you print this off! -If you have big concerns about an issue, talk to either your Subject Rep or a member of staff to build a good working relationship.

During Meetings Ensure that all your arguments are clear and make a good point. It can be useful to have facts and statistics to back up your argument. Try to talk about the experiences of the students in your department as opposed to personal experiences. Work towards actively creating positive solutions. Ask questions during the meeting if there’s something you don’t understand. Be polite throughout the meeting, allow others to speak, and don’t become too emotional about your point.

After Meetings Make sure you know what decisions were made at the meeting. Inform your course mates about what happened at the meeting. Informal follow up meeting with your Course Leader

Feedback You will feed back to: -Your module review tutors -Members of Staff at Boards of Studies meetings -Your course mates -Subject Reps WHY IS FEED BACK IMPORTANT? -Lets everyone know what’s going on -Means actions can be taken -Means you can hold staff to account for their actions IT MEANS WE CAN IMPROVE EDUCATION!

The Quality Assurance Agency _3U _3U Get involved with Quality Assurance

Meet your Subject Rep

Subject Rep Role To improve the quality of the student experience at the University of Gloucestershire by engaging effectively with Course Reps and students To work actively and enhance a more effective approach to teaching, learning and the wider student experience To represent the student voice at a variety of levels both within the Students’ Union and the University of Gloucestershire

We love feedback! How would you like your assignment feedback? If you had Wednesdays off, what would you do? E.g. volunteering/working/placements/playing sport/societies/workshops?

Any Questions?