A few weeks ago Mike posted a blog post entitled “Academic Representation Utopia” in which he outlined the three key things you need for good representation: Structure, Engagement and Partnership. So, here is my take on Academic Representation at Heriot Watt.

Structure

For me, the structure is key. If you have a little representation here, and a little there, yes you get student opinion, but you get no consistency, and messages get lost in the system. At Heriot-Watt, I like to think our structure helps to avoid this.

We have Class Reps, who are the eyes and ears, the massive group of students who ensure that every class has a voice, and who can also spot problems at an early stage.

Then, we have people like me – School Officers. We work to ensure the class reps are looking for the right things, and telling those things to the right people, while also work ing on bigger issues, that are affecting lots of different classes, or even whole-university issues (such as IT systems).

After this, there are several routes on the structure. First, you have the staff in the department; always the first port of call, with almost all problems solved either through Class Reps talking to staff, or through meetings such as the Staff Student Liaison Committee. The second channel is through the Union, where discussions between School Officers help to share best (and worst) practice throughout the whole university. The union also deals with issues that are not being resolved in schools, and is able to push for strategic change, with the President sitting on many of the universities key decision making boards, including Learning and Teaching Board, where Academic Policy is set.

So this structure allows for the passage of information from the normal student to the decision makers in a maximum of three steps. Minor issues can be easily solved at a class rep level, whilst strategic issues can be solved at either union or university level. This structure also greatly aids the union in finding what students think on a variety of issues in a very short space of time – allowing them to represent the views of real students, and therefore, get what students want. At Heriot-Watt, the structure works.

Engagement

So, engagement – It’s a tough thing to quantify, and it’s even harder to get it right. As a School Officer I struggle with engagement daily; we have some amazing class reps, and they go above and beyond what they are asked to do – but there are weak links, and where there are weak links, it’s a great struggle to ensure student opinions are heard.

It’s often spoken about in representation-land that students are Apathetic, and that they just don’t care enough to spend time to make things better, but this view doesn’t sit well with me. In the time that I’ve been involved in representation, every time you speak to students you realise something: students do care, and they want the education they get at university to be the best.

So why is engagement a problem – well, there is often a lack of trust that the system is effective, and a misconception that Staff-Student committees are just forums for people to have a moan and be ignored. There is one solution to this, and that is building from the inside, and selling the idea through wins, shouting when we get something changed for students.

Do we do it well? Sometimes. Would I say enough students are engaged in representation? Occasionally. Could we do better? Definitely.

Partnership

It’s a nice word – Partnership – working in tandem, together and in sync. It can’t possibly work in reality, can it?

Well, I think it does work, and it works pretty damn well. As a School Officer I work in partnership daily with the university, and working with (rather than against) the university is what allows the structure outlined above to work. We trust them to do the right thing, and they trust us to tell them what we really think. This trust reaps rewards in that small problems rarely become large ones, because there is a constant conversation between staff and those representing students. Generally speaking, it is only when this partnership breaks down that problems become unmanageable and more serious. Yes, there are times where it is impossible to work with the university, as the view we have, the stances we take are polar opposites (Such as Rest-of-UK Tuition Fees, for example), however, these cases are rare, and usually are on national or strategic issues.

Partnership works, and it’s probably the most important of these three things to get right. With no partnership, the structure would not work, as you’d have to campaign at every level, fight a battle every step of the way, whilst engagement could be higher – results would likely be less.

Utopia?

So, do we have an Academic Representation Utopia at Heriot-Watt. No – but we do pretty well. Systematically, we have few weak links; the structure allows for rapid gathering of information amongst the whole student body, and trouble-spotters in each and every class. Where students are engaged, the results can be amazing, shown by how few issues get escalated out of the department (You can count on one hand how often this happens annually in most departments). But, we can improve, we can involve more people and there is one thing not mentioned in the original article that I believe is the key to greater success…

Communication

We live in the information age, and its easier than ever to communicate with vast numbers of people, but far too much gets lost in the “fuzz”.

Representation is a two-way street; and we’re pretty good at going down the street, gathering the facts and working out what going on, but far too often thats where we stop. We don’t make the return journey, and disseminate what has happened, we simply do not tell those that we represent what we have done for them. This, in my mind at least, is why engagement is difficult – results speak louder than anything else, one “win” can set a representative body in good stead for years.

So, how do we communicate effectively? Well, it’s difficult, and there is no one answer, but in my opinion, transparency is key. The more we show students what we do, the more they will trust us to do it, and therefore we can do a better job of representing them.

It’s a tough issue to crack, but I believe websites like this are key; giving representatives a platform to share what they are doing. It can be done better, and there are battle to be won in giving student representatives space to share what they’re doing in places like Vision (Heriot-Watts Virtual Learning Environment) – students access this platform daily, and if we can put information at students fingertips, awareness should increase.

Communication must be done better if we are to improve representation. We must invest time and effort into publicising what the representation system does, how it works, and how we’ve changed things.

Because we have changed things, and we should be proud of it.

Degree and year of study: 

Textile and Fashion Design Management – 3rd year

How have you been involved with representing students?

Last year I was Vice President of the SBC campus which marked my first real involvement in the SU. It was a fantastic experience and I’ve been hooked ever since!

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

I’m looking forward to working with the union and the students in a new way. I’m really excited about our new social space and how a new chapter is going to begin for HW students here at SBC.

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

I’ve been a freshers Helper twice before and loved it. I’m also a member of our fledgling magazine society which I’m really excited about and i cannot wait to put together our first issue!

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

Living the life of a full-time student once again, starting a whole new course and making new friends.

Civil/Structural Engineering

Scott Arthur, the new Director of Studies, introduced himself, and showed the Class Reps the NSS results; which within Civil Engineering were very good, coming 1st in Scotland, and 4th in the UK. There have also been notable improvements in the Feedback scores in the last few years; however Personal Development and issues surrounding the Library were identified, and will be looked into further.

Each year then went through and noted what was going well and what wasn’t so far this semester. Much discussion across all years was had around the subject of Timetabling, and how a good timetable can encourage students to study more, and a poor one results in excessive travel and wasted time.

Architectural Engineering

The NSS results were shared with the class reps and staff who hadn’t seen them. Being one of the few British universities with an Architectural Engineering course, the results fell into the Architecture category so couldn’t really be judged against other universities. The results in themselves were pleasing, scoring 85% overall but falling down on personal development. Staff will look to see how this can be improved.

We would like to organise staff/student social outings and it was discussed whether it would be best to do this in seperate years or as a whole depertment. A trip to the transport museum in Glasgow was suggested. Reps are to gather suggestions from classes.

Whole School Meeting

The whole school meeting was centred around a few key things, one of which was Wi-Fi.

It has been noted by several students across departments that Wi-Fi was becoming an issue, as it often didn’t work. This is to be investigated by the IT department, who will report back. Over the summer, wi-fi in the department was upgraded so it covered the whole department; however students should be aware that in SBE, only Eduroam should be used by students. The Guest network is for visitors only, however a setup utility is available from the login page of the guest network for Eduroam, which will set your device up to use the universities wi-fi.

The computers in the Resource Centre were also brought up, as its been mentioned by several students that they are always busy, and a large number of the people just want to print from them. IT will therefore try to make the resource centre the next stage of central ITs Wireless Printing trials, so students can print directly from laptops.

Communication with students keeps recurring as an issue, and the notice boards around the department are rarely updated. It was therefore decided that School Officer will look at how this can be improved, with the possible view to introducing screens around the department with easily update-able information.

BSc Computer Science, second year

How have you been involved with representing students?

I’ve started representing my fellow students straight as a school officer. But I hope my adaptation skills would help me succeed in this very important position.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

I am most looking forward to trying to get better communication links throughout the CS/IS department.  I am looking forward to trying to get the class reps more involved, thus provide feedback to the university. Which in turn should help to enhance academic experience of the students.

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

Last year I’ve been treasurer of Robotics & R/C society.  During the year the society was very focused on the two projects that we had: Jenga robot-arm and humanoid robot FRED.  This year I am continuing with the society but as secretary, we aim to start a tradition of inviting guest presenters from robotic-related businesses to give an inside view of different industries. Also we’re aiming to engage students from outside of the society in society’s activities.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

Looking forward to start my internship, either in the summer or part-time during the term. Learning new areas and experiences working in an industry.

Degree and year of study: 

Business Management Year 2

How have you been involved with representing students?

Last year I was a class representative for the first year Business class where I worked to objectively bring the views of the students to the attention of the staff.  I hope to continue doing this both on a day to day basis and at formal meetings.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

I look forward to trying to integrate the business programme more closely with the Heriot-Watt courses in Riccarton in that, we will share information.  I also look forward to raising the profile of the course both within the College/University.

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

I have been involved with the Freshers Helpers team in 2011, I currently sit on the Student Action Committee and am involved with the re-launch of the student magazine.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

Getting through my exams in one piece!

Degree and year of study: 

Fashion Design for Industry Year 3

How have you been involved with representing students?

I was a Class Rep in 2^nd Year and since progressed to becoming a School Officer in my 3^rd Year. I have represented the students in meeting with lecturers and offered their opinions on how to improve their student experience at Heriot-Watt.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

Working with the other School Officers in the Scottish Borders Campus and the Riccarton Campus to improve the student experience and being involved in all the fun activities and fundraising events we have planned!

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

I have been involved in organising our 2^nd Year Fashion Show, showcasing our work to date and also helped out at the Graduate Fashion Show in June!

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

To keep having fun in good old Galashiels!

In weeks 1 and 2 all the class reps were appointed for each year and training took place in the union for all the class reps. I gave all the class reps the task of gathering feedback from each of their respective years before the SSLC meeting which took place on Wednesday of week 4. All the class reps took their own approach to gather this feedback depending which way suited them; questionairres, feedback forms, sending emails and chatting to fellow students. Everyone was really successful at finding out lots of information which was then brought to a very active SSLC meeting where lots of different areas were discussed.

A few general points which came up at the meeting were:

• We had a discussion about when Maths students should learn how to write maths properly as at the minute it is in year 3 however we (the students) feel this is a bit too late and it should be something implemented in first year.
• Similary we enquired about LaTeX being taught for typing third and fourth year projects.

A full copy of the minutes and reponse to the minutes can be found here;

• Minutes
• Response

This week I am meeting up with all the class reps to find out if any of the changes have been made since the meeting and to see if they can see an improvement. We are also going to discuss different ways of communicating our feedback from the meetings to our fellow students.

This week I also met up with Nick Gilbert (Learning and Teaching director for MACS), along with the 2 other school officers in MACS (Anna McMullen and Konstantin Devyatov). We chatted about what sort of things are going to be discussed at next weeks Learning and Teaching committee over some coffee. We also talked about NSS and how we can improve on last years results.

The next plan for me is to attend the Learning and Teaching Committee next Wednesday. Information about what exactly this entails will be in the next blog from MACS (once we actually see what it is all about).

Bye for now

Kaylea

Something which is new to SML this year is the concept of having 2 class reps per year and the overall consensus from the 4 school officers was that it was a lot easier to get information out to students having a wider range of class reps to get in contact with but on the other hand, it was also said to be quite difficult to get everyone to meet together.  The aspect of uniformity and team building is a lot easier with a bigger group.

The main points which were discussed were as follows:

• Feedback – a new leaflet has been put together concerning feedback and its many different forms.  This is looking to improve the NSS results and there was an overall feel that although students were getting feedback that we maybe didn’t always recognise it in its many forms.  This document is currently being printed and should be making its way out to students in the near future

• Paperless Lectures – class reps and school officers gained opinions regarding paperless lectures and the overall consensus was that many people like to have a hand-out in the lecture to build their notes upon.  It was concluded that paper should be reduced by having more slides on hand-outs etc and students should be encouraged to make use of laptops where possible in order to reduce paper usage.

• Andrea Sosa-Martin also attended the SSLC meeting and she is the President of the SML society.  The School Officers are going to be working in close proximity with the SML society and encourages everyone to get involved.  They are going to be a bit more academic based this year therefore linking in more with SSLC discussions and topics arising from these meetings.

School Officers work to improve student life for you; but often we need data to show what the problems are, and to spot problems that students may not actually have noticed.

The National Student Survey (NSS) is incredibly useful for this. Every final year student at Heriot-Watt is invited to take part in the NSS, answering the same questions as final year students at universities across the country. The questions cover every aspect of academic life at university, and can be an excellent barometer as to how much students enjoy their course, and which elements need improving.

Questions ask about everything from Feedback to Academic Support, and from Learning Resources to how much you feel you’ve developed over the course of the degree.

School Officers can therefore use this data to question staff about these scores, and work out why the scores are either good or bad. When scores are good, School Officers can share best practice across the university, and when they are bad, we work with staff to find out why, and work on plans to improve the scores.

Across the board, Heriot Watt has done very well in 2011, with many departments coming either top in the UK (Chemical Engineering) or top in Scotland (Psychology, Chemistry, Civil Engineering and Urban Studies)

If you want to find out more about NSS, either take a look at unistats.com, or speak to your School Officer. If you are in final year, you will be hearing much more about the survey, and how you can take part in Semester 2.

Most people know who their School Officer is, and hopefully most people are aware of what we eventually do.  It’s the pieces in between that are somewhat ambiguous, and so we thought it about time we filled you in!

Every Monday evening, all the Riccarton Campus Officers meet in our union, where we take apart the affairs of the university discuss progress that has been made, and plan further progress.  To briefly exemplify how we actually progress, we can contrast our first meeting in September with our most recent meeting.  Our first meeting was centred around issues like Class Rep and School Officer Training, Platinum Volunteer Awards, and NSS.  At this stage, all the training has been done and dusted, and  the Platinum Volunteer Awards first social event is being held today (24.10.2011).  However new discussions have replaced these, such as the suggestion of having our Semester One exams after Christmas, and the expected appropriate time to wait for feedback from a lecturer (two weeks).

School Officer Meeting

Once we have discussed the general issues applicable to several schools, we go ‘around the schools’, where we sit in with the other officers within our school and report back to the rest of the meeting.  This is actually a really interesting exercise, as even though our schools can seem disjointed, we are often able to come up with practical suggestions relevant to the issues of other schools.

Normally at this stage, 7.15 is looming, and so we wrap it up with any other issues not yet discussed.  Our meetings are actually really interesting and useful in giving a unique look at how the cogs of other schools are working, and always a bit of banter!