My tale of me - Chris Jenkinson

As a life sciences student at the University of Manchester the way I was assessed in almost all modules I studied was through exams, and only exams. Yesterday, in my capacity as Academic Affairs Officer, I had the opportunity to talk to course representatives from life sciences and one of the topics we spent a fair amount of time on was whether exams are really the right way to test someone’s understanding of the subject matter, and if not, how they as representatives could go about changing the assessment system so they do test understanding.

I’ve already got strong opinions on the issue, so I sat back and enjoyed the discussion, occasionally clarifying some facts or asking some questions. It was significant that no one was that in favour of exams, other than in recognition that other methods of assessment take longer to mark and staff time is limited.

The two preferred methods suggested (though there were others) were more coursework essays spread throughout the semester, and more assessed group work or presentations. Someone made the point that in most careers, when people are asked to research a topic they are unlikely to spend crazy hours close to the deadline frantically cramming and then write a report in two hours without reference to the subject. Others talked about how, upon reflection the day after an exam, they’d already forgotten a fair amount of what they had just revised.

I’d be interested to hear what other students think about exams as a method of assessment. Do they work? What are they for? How would you prefer to be tested on your understanding of a subject?

I’m running for a national position within Liberal Youth - Vice-Chair (Membership Development). The job description is pretty self-explanatory, being responsible for supporting branches, organising training and helping branches both grow in terms of numbers but also as people.

My full manifesto is available to read. Please show your support by joining my Facebook group or become a supporter on Facebook. I’m also on Twitter, and can be contacted via email at memdev@chrisjenkinson.org.

If you’ve got any comments about my manifesto or campaign please let me know!

Course representatives

I have continued work on the course representative conference. The booking form has been open for 4 days at the time of writing and over 60 course representatives have registered, which is an impressive number. I have begun work on my sessions in the course representative conference (the opening session, and education funding), and will organise a meeting to discuss the education funding session in more detail late this week or early next week.

The next round of course rep meetings on a school-by-school basis are coming around very quickly. The dates on our end have been determined and we are currently verifying with schools whether the proposed dates are feasible. These will be quite intensive but are very useful in gathering opinion about educational policy and practice, and talking and getting feedback about the work of the Union.

Review of Undergraduate Education

I have attended a couple of meetings, including the central strategy group, since the last Executive meeting. Current work at a institutional level revolves around curriculum design and reform (a new group I will be sitting on), the Higher Education Achievement Report, and review of the award system for excellence in various fields, academic and non-academic. Work at faculty and school level continues to be improving feedback, implementing academic advisors, and engaging more staff in the review.

Other activity

I was grateful to meet the new Chancellor and give him a tour, with the General Secretary, of the Union. He was very interested in the work we do in many areas including academic representation, societies, and our democratic structures.

I attended the General Assembly and took the opportunity to talk to several members of senior staff about the work I have been doing on the review and bringing to their attention the views of students and the Union on some of the changes.

I attended NUS regional conference and talked to colleagues about shared issues in addition to attending sessions.

I have also worked on some governance reform to the constitution for the election regulations. I talked to almost all sabbatical officers and several part-time officers (unfortunately constrained by the exam period) about the changes and found the feedback immensely helpful.

I have also helped many students with simple and more complicated problems via email, phone, and in the Advice Centre.

Since the 17th December, I have been working on the two key areas of course representatives and the review of undergraduate education, but I have attended a couple of conferences and contributed towards the website and other non-portfolio activities.

Course representatives

I finished the first round of meetings with all course representatives on a school-by-school basis before Christmas. It was a great opportunity to meet and find out what being a course representative, and studying, is like in many different areas of the university. Unfortunately the meeting duration was only one hour and I frequently found myself pushed for time to get enough information on a whole range of subject areas.

Attendance at the meetings varied significantly from school to school. Due to the short amount of turnaround before starting the meetings, I determined meeting times unilaterally, which meant unfortunately there was a short amount of notice and conflicts with academic commitments in some cases. More forward planning is necessary in future to ensure a higher turnout.

Kevin O’Brien, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) in the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, led the sessions with course representatives in the faculty, asking questions about key aspects of being students in the various schools, which I believe was hugely beneficial for all sides. I am encouraging the Associate Deans in the other faculties to take part in similar activities in the next round of course representative meetings.

In addition, a large amount of work is being done into improving the quality of the data about course representatives so a more strategic view in the future can be taken. We are slowly becoming more aware of where the gaps in the data are so they can be filled and we are becoming more aware of the various structures of student representation that exist in the various schools. Being better at record-keeping means that less time can be spent on reinventing the wheel and making the same mistakes in future years and more on better support and more events for course representatives to benefit from.

I have also been planning the first Course Representative Conference, which is occurring on the afternoon of Wednesday, 11th February. I am hoping this will be a success and hope members of the Executive will attend and enjoy the conference as well.

Review of Undergraduate Education

I have attended several meetings regarding the review, in Humanities, Engineering and Physical Sciences, and Medical and Human Sciences, and with the Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), Colin Stirling. I have also been to meetings about the Learning Commons. Progress continues to be made and several changes will be in place for the upcoming semester, particularly around Academic Advisors. Discussions about improving feedback are ongoing and I have asked the course representatives to continue to be vocal on this topic so it does not slip off the agenda.

Other matters

I attended the Executive away day and the Higher Education Conference, hosted by NUS. Both were interesting events (in different ways), covering new areas that will influence the work I do over the next semester. The issue of postgraduate representation and involvement in the Union will be a focus of mine.

I was pleased to notice that several members of university staff are readers of my blog and have started to look into feedback on exams as a result of my blog post on the issue.

I am also pleased at the trial of the 24-hour library, which is going well. It seems more popular than first expected and I will be meeting the head of the library to discuss a way forward after the end of the exam period.

Kate Little, a course representative in the School of Law (with a new blog), is running a campaign called “I’m Hungry for Exam Feedback”, to get the University of Manchester to give personalised feedback on exam scripts - support her and the campaign by joining the Facebook group or emailing her. Here’s my thoughts on the issue of exam feedback.

With the January 2009 exams just around the corner and thousands of University of Manchester students revising for important exams, it is worth reflecting on how exams do and can help students develop. With all the hours spent on revising over the Christmas and New Year period, a great deal of work is put in by students.

What happens after completing the exam? Often, a unit done in one semester will be related to another unit in a following semester, or the next academic year. A good writing style is important for all essay-based exams, whatever the subject. Knowing our strengths and weaknesses helps us improve. Perhaps when revising a particular student knows they need to focus more on one area of the subject matter, but less on another.

If you are a first year, it’s very likely these are your first exams at university. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know whether you’re on the right lines and what you need to do to improve for next time around?

A mark is just an average of how you performed in a particular unit - it is a two-digit number which is intended to summarise a semester’s worth of work. Just a mark does not help that much with helping students develop. Does a mark of 57 mean you’re doing the same in all questions, or does it mean you’ve got a pretty solid grip of one area but are let down by other areas? Does a mark of 65 mean you’re fine for a 2:1? Or does it mean that you’re getting outstanding marks in one section of the exam but are just scraping a pass in another?

It’s difficult to tell what it means - which is why I agree with Kate’s campaign to get feedback on exams. It might be difficult to accomplish, but it is well worth doing. Students want to know how they are doing, not just on coursework throughout the semester but on all work we do - including exams. It helps us learn - isn’t that what universities are all about?

Last week I had the first eight out of twenty-three meetings with the course representatives at the University of Manchester. I’ve been meeting them on a school-by-school basis, as schools have a great deal of autonomy in educating their students. It’s been highly interesting listening to course reps from right across the university, and discovering just how widespread some of the problems are.

While I’d expected that some personal tutors were better than others, with some being very knowledgable, full of useful advice, and eager to give it, while others being rather apathetic, not bothering to show up to introductory meetings or declaring they were “here for research and nothing else”, I was not quite ready when it turned out that the tutors’ lack of engagement with their students seemed to be the norm. While the average tutor was generally helpful if approached, and may have reached out to their tutees once or twice over the course of study, there was nothing near the appropriate level of academic advice that students should be receiving.

If Manchester is to embrace a learning culture which is personal to the student, allowing students the flexibility to choose units they wish to study, in the learning environment they work best in, and getting feedback on work they have done rather than on the work the group has done, and to get advice and support tailored to their needs, the tutorial system needs to change to reflect that.

Late last academic year a policy was passed at University Senate,  introducing “Academic Advisors”. Academic advisors are required to make weekly contact with their advisees, and the role includes providing information and guidance on academic choice, planning targets for development, monitoring performance and identifying fulfilment of the “Purposes of a Manchester Undergraduate Education” (a set of attributes all graduates from the University should possess). This policy is a good one - part of a personalised education is developing personal relationships with members of academic staff. It is important for so many reasons, not least in that the academic a student gets to know the most is probably going to end up writing a reference.

I’m not pretending that all academic advisors will be brilliant. There will still be apathetic ones, who do not care about their students. But by making it more of a two-way street, with the academic advisor required to be more proactive and not just leaving it to the student, the safety net is increased, all students will get more support, and a major step along the pathway to a personalised education will be achieved.

I think Shamir Patel, in his article “An apathetic attitude”, does a disservice to the hard work the several hundred course representatives do across the university. Being a course rep does not lead to infamy with your photo on the front page of Student Direct or many column inches, but it does lead to respect, experience, and most importantly change.

Finding out what students want changing is simple – persuading the people with the purse strings to agree to that change is a lot more complicated. It’s not whinging to sit in meetings, argue with staff and win improvements for students.

Hardworking course reps in the past have won changes to teaching to make it more personal, changes to the feedback we receive on the work we do, and the 24 hour library we’ll have at the next exam period.

I’m proud of the course reps at this university, and students should be too.

I’ve just come across a blog by the Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning in the Faculty of Medical & Human Sciences at the University of Manchester, Professor Kevin O’Brien. It’s well worth reading - especially for students within the faculty, but also for those outside who now may be looking on with envy at what MHS is offering!

I’d be interested in hearing from other students/staff at the University of Manchester who blog or are aware of other blogs from students/staff - please leave a comment!

Last Thursday I was interviewed by a researcher working for the Open University’s project on the impact of universities on local economies, for around an hour. The discussion was interesting and thought-provoking, and gave me an opportunity to consider the positive work done by the University of Manchester and the Students’ Union as institutions, and work done by individual students.

The University of Manchester is one of the best universities in the world, leading in many research fields, and only accepting students with high academic performance. It is also one of the largest in the world, with around 40,000 students and 10,000 staff. It is surrounded by some of the most deprived areas of England, including Longsight and Moss Side, which means it is possible to walk in a very short space of time from the imposing and well-kept site of Whitworth Hall to boarded-up housing and roads strewn with potholes. It is a stark difference.

It is little wonder that there is resentment from some sections of local communities towards the University and students - the priorities of local residents and students coming to study are very different, which is perfectly acceptable. An institution with the footprint the size of the University of Manchester can create shockwaves and have a major impact on decisions taken by the council, which may again be different or even conflicting with the priorities of local residents. This has to be managed; and usually it is managed well. The economic benefits a university such as Manchester brings to the city are significant.

But universities are more than just about economic benefits from increased traffic in shops, and more than just the research conducted. It is about the people at the university as well. Staff and increasingly many students have children which attend local schools and are very much a part of the community. Students, while their time in Manchester is often short, and their time in one area is often even shorter, are still part of the community. Students, just like any other group, take part in civil society, through volunteering in hundrds of different ways, and the entrepeneurship of many students in starting and maintaining small businesses. It would not be possible to list all the types of volunteering students take part in - so here’s two which I have involved myself in.

In June 2007 I applied to be a school governor to a secular high school in south Manchester. My application was, to my surprise, accepted. Governors are the largest volunteer force in the country and in addition to learning more about accountability, budgets and openness I have had the opportunity to ensure that the benefits of the new school buildings for pupils shortly to start construction are maximised. It has been a fantastic experience for me.

My second type of volunteering is part of a university-wide programme of volunteering in schools. For my final-year project I had to spend two hours in a school in Levenshulme teaching pre-GCSE children about ants. While the amount of time I spent teaching was short the amount of preparation I put in was much longer. My supervisor warned me that if I didn’t get them onside in the first five minutes I could write the whole hour off. The teachers really value students coming into engage their pupils, and hopefully the pupils will have been inspired by other young people teaching them - which may lead to them attending university when previously they had not thought about it.

Education is its own reward - a university is something to be proud of and so are its students. Students are a part of the community and shape the community, not just improving the local economy but improving local society.

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

– Thomas Jefferson

I support a strong, independent, democratic and campaigning National Union of Students, which can effectively deliver results on issues students care about.

I am the Academic Affairs Officer in the Students’ Union, a full-time position, giving me a great deal of experience in effectively representing students and campaigning on issues students care about – like the environment, civil liberties, and tackling student debt.

I believe strongly in equality for all regardless of background, and do not believe that means-testing is a fair or equitable way in ensuring access to higher education. The 2009 higher education funding review is a critical opportunity for both current and future students. I support a free education, want to tackle student debt, and am adamantly opposed to any lifting of the cap.

I believe our government is not listening to the views of students and the country on climate change and that the NUS should lead a strong campaign.

I believe that ID cards are illiberal and unworkable, and are an expensive ‘solution’ to a nonexistent problem and that the government’s plan to impose them firstly on foreign students and then all students as a requirement to obtain a loan is appalling and systematic of their continual degrading of human rights.

I oppose zoning of students by town councils, and the selling of university halls to the private sector.

I support NUS reform, as it offers a strong solution to the problems that NUS faces. It keeps democratic structures while increasing our ability to campaign on key issues affecting students like the environment, access to higher education, and human rights.

If elected, I will vote according to what I believe is best for students and the NUS.