Outcomes of the Student Voice Committee
Staff and student reps will summarise the key outcomes from the SVC after each meeting. These outcomes will be represented on the Psychology screens (HCA corridor and HSB Ground and First floor screens. More detailed outcomes will be shown here. Archives are available here.
November 2024 Meeting Level F Outcomes
You said...
Reps not in attendance
...We did
November 2024 Meeting Level C Outcomes
Welcoming environment - Commendations
Melissa (Level C Rep) B shared that students feel welcome by staff and tutors, and that they enjoy the teaching styles of some tutors. Students also appreciated the team-building activities, such as the Plas Caerdeon trip, which made being in Psychology fun, and expressed interest in having more trips.
...We said
This is wonderful news. As a small University we think it is key to be a supportive and welcoming environment for our students. We are delighted that the Single Honours students enjoyed Plas Caerdeon. We believe that activities such as this help students to form bonds and a sense of identity aligned with School of Psychology.
3 minute Challenge - You said...
Melissa raised concerns about lecturers providing conflicting information regarding assessments, particularly about the 3-minute challenge, which students were receiving different guidance on. Melissa suggested that this could be addressed by giving students clearer communication in lectures rather than in individual tutor groups.
...We said
We will liaise with the Academic Lead (Dr Catherine Thompson) to look into this. Students should be aware that on each Moodle there is a folder named Assessment Briefs. These briefs provide the information for each assessment that you should adhere to when constructing your assessment. They also state how you will be graded.
Lecture Slides - You said...
Melissa noted comments were made that some lecture (ethics, RDA) and seminar slides lack sufficient content (amount of text), making it difficult for students to review and study later (e.g., some students would expect notes accompanying the slides). Ethical lectures, in particular, were mentioned as being hard to follow due to the focus on talking/image rather than text.
...We said
Dr Zarzycki acknowledged the feedback and explained that lecture slides are designed as prompts, with students expected to take their own notes as well as engage in reading where relevant. Dr Pennington suggested that speaking to the library acdemic mentors or Psychology Peer Mentors about notetaking skills could be helpful.
November 2024 Meeting Level I Outcomes
You said...
Level I Rep Mia is concerned that students do not know who their rep is and wants to work with students to increase her presence.
...We did
As this meeting was the first of the academic year, it is likely that all reps will need to increase their visibility. We are introducing a number of ways to do this. Names and photographs on this site, on the HCA and HSB screens, and by using the Student Voice Noticeboard (HCA EW 1st floor). Additionally the new forms for contacting reps makes it incredibly easy to access reps at all levels of study.
RDA 2 Walkthroughs - Commendations
Level I Rep Mia commended the RDA analysis practice walkthroughs available on Moodle for the RDA seminars, noting that they are very helpful as students can break them down in their own time. There was also a lot of positive feedback overall (lectures, tutorials).
We said
The RDA walkthroughs have been care fully designed to support students through the analysis and reporting process, and the team would like to thank Dr Dan Clark for the time and effort put into providing these incredibly useful tools.
November 2024 Meeting Level H Outcomes (Nov 24)
Staff Support - Commendations
Alona (Level H Rep) commended the tutors for providing plenty of attention and support to all students, expressing gratitude on behalf of the group.
...We said
This is lovely to hear. The Psychology team work very hard to ensure our students are supported and this feedback is welcomed.
BPS Event - Commendations
Jamie (Level H Rep) shared that students are excited about the upcoming BPS event.
...We said
In supporting students to attend this event we hope that it will provide valuable information and insights into the next steps in your professional development
Future Challenges - You said...
Alona (Level H Rep) reported that there is some anxiety around the potential exam questions for the Future Challenges exam.
...We said
Dr Eve Binks has asked that the SVC committee relay the following information. The Future Challenges exam (actually called Exam in Advanced Studies in Psychology) has only three questions on the paper. Students are required to answer any two of the three, but are required to a synthesise their knowledge from across the entire course in their answers. As such, there are not exam questions that link to each topic or block of the course, but three overarching questions that students should answer using knowledge they have gained across the entire 24 weeks of the course.
There is an exemplar paper on the Level H Core 2 Moodle and, to help them prepare for getting used to answering these types of students, it would be good practice for students to make notes for each question at the end of each block of study. For example, one of the questions on the exemplar paper is: How has psychological research advanced our understanding of the self?
If students spent some time at the end of block 1 reflecting on the content of this block that could contribute to their answering of this question, and then did the same at the end of blocks 2, 3, and 4, they would be able to provide a response that synthesised their understanding from across the course.
Providing an example exam question after each lecture would be not only pointless, but very unhelpful for the students, as they are not going to receive an exam where the questions focus on one taught topic or even one block of study.
As this is a seen paper, students will be advised when the paper will be released. This will be two weeks before the date of the exam. This allows ample time to prepare for this exam.
Ethical Approval Process - You said...
Jamie (Level H Rep) rasied concerns about the four week turnaround for ethical approval and asked why the process took so long.
...We said
Dr Miko Zarzycki explained that the subject ethics lead needs to review submissions and advised working closely with supervisors to improve the form and reduce amendments. Miko will check if it’s possible to add an explanation about the ethics process to the lecture slides or ethics form, though this might be limited due to IT constraints. Students were reminded to start working on ethics early to avoid delays in data collection.
November 2024 Meeting Level M/Pg Outcomes (Nov 24)
You said...
Some students did not get timely information about Research Seminars
...We did
SVC has fed this information back to the seminar organisers to ensure that the dates/times are distributed in advance. Students should also note that research seminars will be advertised on the Psychology screens in HCA and HSB and in the News Section of this site.
You said...
Students raised concerns that academic skills training sessions on Mondays, conducted via Zoom,are overlapping with school events and lectures.
...We did
Where possible such activities will not be scheduled on Mondays. We hope you understand that sometimes scheduling of such activities is not in our control, particularly if it is a University wide event.
You said...
Austin (Level M Rep) highlighted that Level M students do not have any classes in HCA, and thinks it would be beneficial in terms of staff visibility that students have classes in this building.
...We did
The SVC Chair (Dr Miko Zarzycki) will follow this up with course leads and timetabling.
November 2024 Meeting General Outcomes
Noticeboard Visibility
Student Reps are responsible for the 1st floor HCA (East Wing) noticeboard.
To Do
The student reps will maintain and promote the student noticeboard. All students should make themselves aware of the location of the noticeboard and check regularly for information.
Methods for contacting Reps
The SVC Reps discussed the need for a simple way for students to contact them.
Actions taken
Dr Glen Pennington has set up a series of QR codes and link which will allow students to send comments, commendations, complaints, suggestions etc to their reps. These will be advertised on the Psychology screens, and the links for each level are on the Student Representatives page.
The SVC want to make it clear that academic and support staff cannot access these pages to allow for confidentiality between students and your reps.
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