Learning and Teaching Committee

LTC12-M1

 

Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 16 February 2012

 

Members:

 

Prof. Memis Acar

Prof Simon Austin

Prof. Morag Bell (Chair)

James Carroll

Prof. Ray Dawson

Prof. John Feather

Dr Jane Horner

Dr Brian Jarvis

Dr Ruth Kinna

Prof. Michael Kong

Dr John McCardle

Dr Jennifer Nutkins

Dr Keith Pond

Dr Phil Richards

Jayde Savage

Jan Tennant

Prof. Fred Yeadon

 

 

In attendance:    Rob Pearson, Nigel Thomas

Dr Manuel Alonso (for 12/03)

 

Apologies:         Dr Robert Hamilton

 

12/01   Minutes

LTC12-M5

 

1.    The Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 15 December 2011 were confirmed.

 

12/02   Matters Arising from the Minutes not otherwise appearing on the Agenda

 

11/73   Course text book provision by the University: implications of

higher tuition fees

Ruth Stubbings had been in discussion with Library Liaison Officers and would be reporting back to the March meeting of LTC.

 

            11/77   Periodic Programme Review – 2010/11

            At its meeting on 23 January 2012, the Academic Standards and Procedures Sub-Committee had agreed actions to be taken in response to institutional issues raised at LTC.

 

11/78   Regulation XIV: Student Appeals against Programme or Review Board Decisions, Report for 2011 (Calendar Year) up to 5 December 2011.

It was confirmed that the timescale for conveying a decision in writing to an appellant would be extended to 40 working days.

 

11/80   Role of the External Examiner

Following discussion at the Academic Standards and Procedures Sub-Committee on 23 January 2012, Schools would be consulted on revisions to the Code of Practice on External Examining in light of changes to national guidance provided by the QAA.

 

12/03   Reasonable Adjustments for Disabled Students

           

Received:       LTC12-P1

           

1.    Recommendations for ‘reasonable adjustments’ were made by the Counselling and Disability Service (CDS) to ensure that disabled students were not placed at a substantial disadvantage in relation to their peers.

 

2.    CDS would only make a recommendation for a reasonable adjustment if there was sufficient medical evidence and/or a CDS professional judgement that an adjustment was appropriate. 

 

3.    It was noted that there was little in the way of case law by which to reference CDS recommendations.

 

4.    To date in 2011/12 there had been 1530 alternative examination arrangements put in place.

 

5.    Each year CDS requested alternative forms of assessment for approximately 30 students.

 

6.    It was agreed that a greater understanding of the statistics may be reached by the disaggregation of the statistics by disability.

 

7.    The Committee thanked MA for the paper and the constructive dialogue at the meeting.

 

Agreed:

 

8.    If available, MA to provide a future meeting of LTC with the following data:

 

·         A disaggregation of the statistics for reasonable adjustment by disability.

·         Clarification of the number of students for whom a CDS request for alternative forms of assessment is made for all assessments.

·         A historical analysis of the performance of students for whom adjustments have been made in comparison to their peers.

 

9.    Schools were asked to consider their assessment portfolios to ensure they were designed to provide all students a reasonable opportunity to complete the assessment in the specified time.  In this regard, it was suggested that School LTCs should annually review assessment matrices.

 

12/04   QAA Institutional Review – Spring 2012

 

Received:       LTC12-P2 and LTC12-P3

 

1.    The QAA Assistant Director overseeing the Institutional Review had visited the University on 10 February and confirmed the following:

 

 

·         The deadline for the submission of the LU Self-Evaluation Document, the LSU Student Written Submission and all supporting documentation was 15 March 2012.

 

·         The timetable for the Audit Panel visit on 17 and 18 April and the staff and students that the Audit Team wished to meet at that visit.  Relevant staff had been notified.

 

·         The schedule for the visit on 28 May to 1 June, including likely participants, would not be confirmed until the end of the first visit on 18 April.

 

2.    It was noted that the thematic element of the audit was the first year student experience.  In response to comments about student engagement in the first year it was agreed that at a later date LTC should consider the appropriateness of Part A assessment contributing towards degree classification.

 

Agreed:

 

3.    The Committee endorsed the content of the Self-Evaluation Document and thanked all those who had contributed to its production.

 

4.    Members were asked to send additional comments to RP by 24 February.

 

 

12/05   Annual Programme Review 2011/12

 

Received:       LTC11-P4

 

1.    It was agreed that the revised APR process had worked well and Schools reported a reduction in the administrative burden during preparation for the process.

 

2.    The PQTP office would be working with Schools and other central services to deliver enhancements to the APR process in advance of 2012/13.

 

3.    IT Committee was due to consider a paper proposing actions to resolve issues with slow login times in some labs that were having a negative impact on teaching.  The Head of IT Services would forward the report to the Secretary for circulation to members of LTC.

 

4.    Institutional issue 4.iv would be amended to clarify that the concerns related to the timetable, not the timetabling system.

 

Agreed:

 

5.    PQTP and the Teaching Centre would review the effective practice that had been identified in the reviews, with a view to reporting back to LTC on practice that was worthy of dissemination and / or adoption across the University.

 

6.    The Academic Standards and Procedures Sub-Committee would follow up the institutional issues identified in the reviews and report back to LTC.

 

7.    Schools would be provided with an extract of the report with the expectation that School issues would be addressed, at the latest, by the next APR.

 

8.    There would be a standing item on all meetings of LTC for Schools and central services to provide an update of actions taken following APR.

 

12/06   Automated monitoring of student engagement

 

Received:       LTC12-P5

 

1.    The Student Information Steering Group (SISG) asked the committee to comment on a proposal to pilot an automated system to monitor student attendance in classes.    It was reported that attendance monitoring was one of many ways in which student engagement could be assessed and supported.

 

2.    It was reported that recording of attendance was widespread across the University but that practice varied, with many Schools using paper -based methods which had a high administrative workload.  The SISG had been asked to investigate the possibilities of adopting automated systems, and the proposal for a pilot had arisen following a period of review into current practice.

 

3.    The Committee noted the pastoral benefits of attendance monitoring, with current practice having identified students with welfare issues.

 

4.    Members felt that while attendance monitoring may be a way of measuring student engagement with their studies, it did not address the causes of disengagement.  It was felt that student engagement would be better enhanced by measures within Schools to address pedagogical issues in regard to the delivery of the curriculum and through discussions with students on their performance and progress within the tutorial system.

 

Agreed:

 

5.    With the exception of the School of Science, members did not support proceeding with a pilot.

 

12/07   Student Placements

 

Received:       LTC12-P6

 

Agreed:

 

1.    The Committee supported the proposals set out in the paper for recommendation to Senate.

 

12/08   Draft response to the QAA consultation on Part C of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education

           

Received:       LTC12-P7, LTC12-P7A

 

1.    The QAA Academic Infrastructure would be replaced with a new UK Quality Code for Higher Education from 2012/13.  A key component would be a new Part C, which would set out the expectation that all UK higher education providers are required to meet concerning the information they produce about the higher education they offer.

           

Agreed:

 

2.    The Committee approved a response to the QAA consultation on the content of

Part C.

 

12/09   Code of Practice on Student Feedback Questionnaires

           

Received:       LTC12-P8 and LTC12-P8A

           

1.    It was proposed to revise Appendix 13 to clarify the responsibilities on Schools to report to Staff Student Committees the outcomes of questions 1-12 (quantitative questions on the module) and to provide feedback on actions taken.

 

2.    Questions 13- 18 (quantitative questions on the lecturer) and any written comments would not be made public.

 

3.    The Committee noted the sensitivity of the data and agreed that the policy would be revisited if any concerns were raised about misuse of the data.

 

Agreed:

 

4.    The proposed Appendix 13 would be revised in light of feedback from the committee and circulated for comment in advance of submission to Senate.

 

5.    Senate would be asked to approve the revisions to Appendix 13 and to delegate authority to LTC to oversee revisions to the questions, with a view to implementing the revised Code and revised questions for the Semester 2 module feedback process in 2011/12. 

 

6.    The Head of IT Services would investigate the practicalities of making the module data available on Learn and of identifying the programmes towards which the modules contribute.

 

12/10   Revised UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education

 

Received:       LTC12-P9, LTC12-P9A

 

1.    A new HESA field, recording details of teaching qualifications held by academic staff, would be introduced in 2012/13.

 

12/11   Research-informed Teaching Award

 

Received:       LTC12-P10

 

1.    The award was welcomed as an opportunity to demonstrate and celebrate outstanding research-informed teaching.

 

12/13   The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey

 

Received:       LTC12-P11, LTC12-P11A

 

1.    The outcomes were very positive, although the response rate was low.

 

Agreed:

 

2.    Action should be taken to increase the response rates.

 

3.    Action should be taken to investigate the usefulness of disaggregating and benchmarking the data.

 

12/14   National Student Survey

 

Received:       LTC12-P12

 

1.    An early census date by which the University was required to notify the Ipsos Mori of NSS participants resulted in some student groups being surveyed outside of their final year. 

 

Secretary’s note:            The Registry had contacted all affected students to inform them that they were eligible to complete the NSS questionnaire and that they would not have another opportunity next year.

 

12/15   Curriculum Sub-Committee – 26 January 2012

 

Received:       LTC12-P13

 

1.    It was agreed to recommend new programme proposals and other strategic changes to Senate on the advice of Curriculum Sub-Committee, as set out in the report. 

 

2.    It was agreed that Chair’s Action would be taken to approve the programmes for which there remained issues to be resolved, as noted at the meeting.

 

3.    Members commended the secretary to CSC for the introduction of an appendix detailing the actions required by CSC.

 

12/16   Amendments to Regulation XIV

 

Received:       LTC11-P14

 

            Agreed:

 

1.    The Committee agreed to recommend to Senate amendments to Regulation XIV.

 

12/17   Teaching Partnerships Sub-Committee, 30 January 2012

 

Received:       LTC12-P15

 

12/18   Academic Standards and Procedures Sub-Committee, 23 January 2012

 

Received:       LTC12-P16

 

12/19   Curriculum Sub-Committee, 26 January 2012

 

Received:       LTC12-P17

 

12/20   E-Learning Advisory Group, minutes of the meeting of 24 November 2011 and terms of reference and membership

 

Received:       LTC12-P18, LTC12-P18A

 

12/21   Dates of Meetings 2011/12

 

Dates of remaining meetings:

 

29 March 2012, 2.00 pm

3 May 2012, 9.30 am

14 June 2012, 2.00 pm


Author – Rob Pearson

Date – February 2012

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