Learning and
Teaching Committee
LTC08-M1
Minutes of the Meeting of
the Committee held on 14 February 2008
Members: Morag Bell (in the Chair), Simon Austin, Paul Byrne, John
Dickens, Sophie Driscoll, John Harper, Barry Howarth, Martin Harrison, Helen
Jaques (ab), Ruth Kinna (ab), Anne Mumford, Jennifer Nutkins, Jan Tennant,
David Twigg, Andrew Wilson
Apologies: Ruth Kinna
In
attendance: Robert
Bowyer
08/01 Welcome to new members
The Chair welcomed Barry Howarth and Sophie Driscoll who
were attending their first meeting of the Committee.
08/02 Business of the Agenda
No items were unstarred.
08/03 Minutes
LTC07-M3
The Minutes of the Meeting of the
Committee held on 8 November 2007 were confirmed.
08/04. Matters Arising from the Minutes not otherwise appearing on the
Agenda
4.1 Senate actions
It was noted that
Senate had approved the recommendations of the Committee in the following
matters:
(i)
Terms of Reference of the Committee (M.07/51)
(ii)
Widening Participation Strategy (M.07/57)
(iii)
Assessment of students (M.07/58)
(iv)
Terms of reference of Curriculum Sub-Committee
(M.07/59)
(v)
New programmes and strategic changes (M.07/59)
(vi)
Procedures for the approval, monitoring and
review of collaborative provision (M.07/60)
4.2
Student Hub (M.07/52(iii))
The Director of Media Services reported that the
emphasis was on creating a virtual network of services on the University
website. However, since the whole
University website was about to be redeveloped by the Marketing and
Communications Office, temporary arrangements might need to be made to get the
hub launched.
4.3
Accommodation for Careers Fairs (M.07/54)
The Director of Media Services reported back
on discussions with Jenny Jones. The
Netball and Badminton Centre might provide a location for the twice-yearly
careers fairs as an alternative to the EHB where the fairs interfered with the teaching
timetable. The Committee felt that with
signposting and transport, this could be a practical proposition and it was
agreed to ask the PVC(T) to pursue it in further discussions.
ACTION:
MB
4.4
It was noted that the SR&E Office would
liaise with LUBS about the possibility of alleviating pressure in the
examinations timetable by using Saturdays for
4.5
It was noted that Professor Backhouse had
invited Ratula Dobson from LUBS to join the Internationalisation Advisory
Group.
4.6 English Language requirements (M.07/56)
It was noted that similar amendments to
English language requirements for PGR students had been approved by Senate on
29 January 2008.
08/05 Learning and Teaching Implementation Plan
LTC08-P1
Received an update of the Learning and Teaching Implementation
Plan. It was noted that updates of the
various implementation plans had been discussed at EMG’s recent away-day.
Good progress had been made against the 2007/08
priorities. The statement of 2008/09
priorities highlighted some resource implications. The PVC(T) had flagged up the wish to see
existing fixed-term posts converted to open-ended ones, to support the
development of the Teaching Centre and maintain the support of e-learning.
It was clear the University would wish to see the two CETLs
sustained into the future; it would be important to develop links between them
and the Teaching Centre.
The
ACTION: MB, RAB
It was agreed to give broad endorsement to the plans for
2008/09.
08/06 Teaching Centre
LTC08-P2
Received a document setting out the purpose, aims and scope
of the proposed Teaching Centre. It was
noted that this had been discussed by the Programme Quality Team, and more
detailed operational plans had also been considered, though these were still in
draft form. The development of effective
working relationships with other parts of the University would be very
important.
The Committee discussed the budgetary commitment that was
anticipated from the University, which was not indicated in the document. It was indicated that the core of the initial
staffing for the Centre would come from Professional Development, including the
staff currently on fixed-term contracts who it was intended should be
transferred to open-ended contracts, given the mainstreaming of the funding
sources involved. There would be a
request for additional staff, over and above this complement. The Committee asked that a paper detailing
the resource implications be brought to the next meeting, showing also in more
detail the range of work that the Centre would be undertaking.
ACTION: MB, JMT
Members of the Committee expressed support for the
proposals, emphasising how helpful it was for academic staff to have the
opportunity of obtaining help and advice on a one-to-one basis.
The Committee was asked to recognise that the Centre would
have to continue managing a considerable
body of existing work, undertaken through PD.
It was also pointed out that the co-ordination of work with other
services took a considerable amount of time and effort. The Teaching Centre would also need authority
to ensure that it could enlist support from other services as necessary to
implement its priorities.
Although the emphasis of the Centre would be on supporting
staff, the ultimate aim was to improve the student learning experience. The student hub was more directly student
focussed. This meant some subtle
messages to get across and careful consideration would need to be given to
communications. It was suggested the
reference to the student hub in the document might be expanded.
It was also suggested that there should be specific
reference to Departmental Learning and Teaching Co-ordinators in section (h) on
p.2 of the document.
ACTION: MB, JMT
08/07 E-learning Strategy and Implementation Plan
LTC08-P3
The Committee considered a draft e-learning strategy and
implementation plan for 2007/08, which had been brought forward on the
recommendation of the Programme Quality Team following consultation with the
Faculty Boards, together with proposals concerning a ‘minimum presence’ for all
modules on Learn which would be implemented as the new Learn was rolled out.
It was noted that it was intended the proposed Head of
e-learning would have responsibility for the development of the e-learning
strategy, with an emphasis on pedagogical aspects. There remained more to be done in terms of
evaluating the effectiveness of e-learning approaches in pedagogical
terms. The strategy however placed an
emphasis on maintaining an appropriate mix of ‘conventional’ and e-learning
approaches, and on e-learning adding to and enhancing, rather than superseding,
current practice.
Attention was drawn to issues associated with the demise of
‘old technology’ (eg slide projectors).
It was noted that there was an ongoing debate about the minimum
standards of facilities within lecture rooms, which the Committee needed to
keep in touch with, and a continual need to support and manage changing
circumstances. The Director of Media
Services also highlighted the long lead-time involved in designing new
buildings and the need to ensure that as many technologies as possible could be
facilitated.
It was noted that the position of e-learning in the
organisational structure remained to be resolved and relevant responsibilities
might need adjustment in the documents.
There were reported to be some outstanding problems in
integrating Co-Tutor with LUSI developments, which needed to be followed up.
ACTION: JCN, JGD
It was resolved that the e-learning strategy and
implementation plan be endorsed, together with proposals concerning a ‘minimum
presence’ for all modules on Learn.
08/08 Central Timetabling
LTC08-P4
Further to discussion at the previous meeting (M.07/55.2), the
Committee considered a paper from the Director of Media Services on the
arguments for and against central timetabling.
It
was felt that opinion within the University was beginning to swing in favour of
central timetabling, though at this particular juncture, when there were issues
with the workload of departmental administrators, the introduction of another
major new process would be difficult. It
was noted there were some unfounded concerns which needed to be addressed
(concerning, for example, the inclusion of departmental rooms).
It
was resolved to ask the Director of Media Services, in consultation with the
Director of IT Services, to bring forward to the Committee a timeline showing
what inputs would be involved, from whom and over what timescale, in order to procure
and implement a central timetabling system.
It
was resolved also to ask the Director of Media Services to arrange for
representatives from institutions that operated successful central timetabling
systems to visit Loughborough and talk to the ADTs and members of DALG (a
special meeting would need to be arranged).
ACTION: AMM
08/09 Pool Teaching Rooms
LTC08-P5
Considered a report from the
Director of Media Services.
It was also reported that HEFCE had recently announced
allocations from its Capital Investment Fund, for learning and teaching,
research and infrastructure for the period 2008 - 11. Loughborough would receive learning and
teaching capital of c£10.5M. The DVC
would be convening a meeting involving the PVC(T) and the Director of Media
Services. It was the PVC(T)’s intention
to meet with the AD(T)s to seek their views prior to this taking place.
ACTION: MB
08/10 Spaces to support the student experience
LTC08-P6
Received a report
from the working group set up at the previous meeting (M.07/54) to discuss the
spaces needed to support the student experience. Both formal and informal learning spaces had
been addressed, as well as spaces to support the arts.
There was a
concern that the University was falling behind comparator institutions in terms
of the provision of facilities for student use.
A particular challenge was to commit the University to addressing the
student experience as it contemplated new buildings.
The group had
initiated a series of actions to feed into the implementation plans for
Learning and Teaching and the Student Experience, and would reconvene in due
course.
Simon
Austin reported on two national HEFCE projects on space-related issues in which
he was involved, one focussing on the design of effective academic
research offices and the other called ‘Learning Landscapes’. He expressed the hope that other individuals from the
University might participate in order to inform work being undertaken at
Loughborough and vice-versa.
08/11 Student
Feedback – Support Services 2006/07
LTC08-P7
Received a report from the Head of Academic Practice and
Enhancement on student feedback 2006/07 in relation to the support services.
Library
The number of modules attracting a mean score of <3.00
had significantly decreased. For several low-scoring modules, Library support
was neither necessary nor appropriate, but students were not ticking the ‘not
applicable’ box. Students did not always
recognise electronic resources as Library resources. A sizeable number of staff had not responded
to the Library’s attempts to follow up the feedback.
Media Services
There were many fewer modules with scores of <3.00. There were low scores for LUSAD modules that
did not use pool rooms, which seemed therefore to reflect dissatisfaction with
departmental space. The AD(T) was asked
to make enquiries of LUSAD about what was needed for the improvement of their
departmental space.
ACTION: PLB
Computing Services
There again seemed some confusion about the response to
offer for modules where the IT element was not significant. Changes had been to procedures in LUSAD which
should have addressed the issues raised in respect of their modules. The problems in respect of one of the
It was suggested that the central support services, in following
up low feedback scores in future, should copy communications to the HOD and the
Learning and Teaching Co-ordinator in the department as well as the module
organiser.
ACTION: JMT>MDM,
AMM, PR
08/12 Condonement
LTC08-P8
Considered
a review of the use of ‘condonement’ for undergraduate students in session
2006/07. Attention was drawn to the
summary of findings in the covering paper.
The majority of departments condoned less than 3% of their UG student
population; 8 made no use of it at all, 7 of which were in SSH. Mathematical Sciences, Physics and Electronic
and Electrical Engineering condoned more than 3% of students. Physics had used condonement significantly
less than in 2005/06. However, the
Committee observed that the average margin of failure condoned by Physics was
much higher than any other department.
The Committee was assured that Physics had been keeping under review the
subsequent performance of students who had had marks condoned in earlier years.
The
Committee thanked the SR&E Office for the report. It asked that an annual monitoring report
continue to be produced - if possible, in time for the autumn meeting.
ACTION:
RAB>CMG
The
question was raised whether condonement might be introduced for PGT
students. It was agreed to refer the
matter to the Programme Quality Team, with a suggestion that departments be
consulted on the issue.
ACTION: RAB>PQT
08/13 Disability issues and
Programme Boards
LTC08-P9
Considered, on the advice of the Programme Quality Team,
proposals from the Student Records and Examinations Office and the Disabilities
and Special Needs Service.
13.1
The role of DANS in relation to
student impaired performance claims and standardisation of supporting evidence
It was noted that the Head of DANS had concerns about the status
of the advice that his service provided, under the procedure described in 1.3.4
in the document. The Committee felt it
was appropriate that departments should be encouraged to act on the
professional advice given by DANS, but that the final decision on the IP claim
should rest with the Programme Board.
Some misgivings were expressed by members of the Committee
about specific aspects of the procedure.
It was nonetheless resolved to endorse
the procedure for use in relation to module assessments from summer 2008.
The Committee requested that a report on the operation of
the procedure be provided in the autumn of 2008.
ACTION:
RAB>MTR/JAK
13.2
Retrospective IP claims following
diagnosis of a disability
It was resolved to endorse
the policy set out in the document for implementation by the Academic Registrar
in handling retrospective IP claims.
08/14 BUE Validation
Sub-Committee
LTC08-P10
Received a report of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held
on 19 December 2007.
The Committee noted the concerns identified by the
Sub-Committee in its report. It also
received a report from the Director of Professional Development on his recent
visit to BUE, who endorsed and amplified the Sub-Committee’s observations. It was also noted that the Head of Quality and
Validation at BUE would not be renewing her contract beyond the summer of
2008.
The University had registered its concerns with BUE and
stressed the need for urgent action. It
was felt that BUE’s inability to recruit the body of
The next stage would be the Annual Institutional Level
Review (AILR) in March, with visits also from the Subject Specialist Advisers
who would undertake an expanded programme of activities. It would be important to link Andrew Wilson’s
role into the monitoring and review process.
08/15 QAA Institutional Audit
The PVC(T) reported on the QAA Audit Team’s Briefing Visit,
4 - 6 February 2008. This had included
separate meetings between the audit team and the Vice-Chancellor, members of
the Students’ Union Executive, and the University’s Audit Steering Group. The audit team would return for their main
visit from 10 – 14 March. The
The PVC(T) asked that thanks be recorded to Robert Bowyer
for the production of the institutional briefing paper and for co-ordinating the
audit for the University, and to Marie Kennedy for her work in support of the audit
arrangements.
08/16 Centenary Celebrations 2009
LTC08-P11
Received a report from Anne Mumford who had been asked to
direct a programme to celebrate 100 years of tertiary education in Loughborough
during 2009.
It was commented that there needed to be clarity about the
distinctive characteristics the University would aim to highlight during the
celebrations.
Members were invited to contact Anne with suggestions as to
areas of learning and teaching that might be celebrated during the event.
08/17 Curriculum Sub-Committee – 17 January 2008 (A)
LTC08-P12
It was resolved to recommend new programme proposals and other strategic changes to Senate on the advice of Curriculum Sub-Committee.
08/18 Curriculum Sub-Committee – 17 January 2008 (B)
LTC08-P13
Further discussions of the Sub-Committee were noted.
08/19 National Student Survey 2008
LTC08-P14
Received a briefing note.
08/20 Date of Next
Meeting
5 June 2008 at 9.30am
Author – Robert Bowyer
Date – February 2008
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