My tale of me - Chris Jenkinson

Periodic reviews

I have taken part in two periodic reviews since my last report, for the schools of Dentistry and Environment and Development. Both went well, and it was each panel’s feeling that both schools are performing well, with some excellent practice but some improvements still to be made. Before the next meeting I will be reviewing the School of Law, which I will be happy to answer questions on.

Course representatives

I have finished the final set of meetings with course reps by school, where the main topics of discussion were discussing ways to pass on their knowledge to their successors next academic year as representatives, and the best suggestions will be taken forwards. They include a short end-of-year report and including outgoing reps in the course rep training. We also discussed the Union’s support this academic year and ways to improve the support for next academic year.

I held a discussion with two course reps developing some guiding principles for schools to follow regarding student representation, which was productive and these suggestions will be consulted more widely with course representatives, before being taken to the University. My aim for this project is to have these principles adopted by the University, improving the involvement of course representatives and students more generally within discussions of teaching, learning and the student experience.

I met with staff in the University to discuss ways in which the University can help support course representatives, which was a productive meeting and I believe with increased awareness of the Union’s work in this area at an institutional level the course representation system can be more effective in future.

University meetings

I attended my final meeting of Senate in my capacity as Academic Affairs Officer, where the statistics for appeals, complaints and disciplinary hearings were discussed. The figure for international students was disproportionately high, and I took the opportunity to recommend extra support for students who have previously studied in overseas institutions, as they are often not used to the British system of referencing.

I attended teaching and learning meetings for Engineering and Physical Sciences and Humanities, and contributed a student perspective on several issues, particularly anonymous marking, improving feedback, academic advisors and personalised learning.

I attended a meeting of the Exchange Project Board, which is overseeing the upgrade of the email system for students. The system being proposed is a ‘cloud’ system by Microsoft, meaning if the Board decides to do so, Microsoft will host students’ email externally. There are a few particular criteria that I am keen the solution meets, such as data protection and privacy.

I attended, with several course representatives, a session reporting the findings of a survey the School of Social Sciences conducted into teaching and learning, which was useful as it added to the evidence base for many of the improvements I have been arguing for, and in a sufficiently robust way.

I went to the University’s inaugural teaching and learning conference, and attended sessions on novel assessment techniques, academic advisor implementation, peer mentoring, online formative assessment, and curriculum mapping, and contributed my thoughts on them.

Other activity

I chaired the open meeting with the President and Vice-Chancellor, which had a disappointing turn out. I thought the questions were generally excellent and I hope they continue in the future, with more effective communication so students are aware of the event.

I have been continuing to prepare the handover for my successor and work with her to ensure she can be an effective officer from the start of her term in office.

I’m running for Postgraduate and Mature Students Officer in the University of Manchester Students’ Union elections. Here’s the video I recorded for the campaign:

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.