Youtube lectures

A student recently brought this to my attention.

At MIT lectures are put on Youtube for students to download and watch in their own time. Check out how it is down here.

I don't think there is much chance of this happening in Birmingham yet, but what are your thoughts on this?

Lee Saunders, Senate and a cold

These have been the highlights of my last week.

Last Wednesday was University Senate. Senate is the top academic body in the university and receives reports from the Learning and Reaching Committee and Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee. I cannot claim a whole lot happened and the meeting was over in just over an hour.

On Friday some of the sabbs met Lee Saunders, the new Registrar and Secretary at the University. We discussed quite a range of issues from students in the community and student safety to investment in estates on campus.

By no means a quiet week.

Did you HEAR about the new grading plan?

Currently students who graduate are awarded a first, second of third class degree. Recently though there has been concern from employers that this does not provide enough information about the achievements of a graduate nor allows them to distinguish between job applicants. In 2004 Bob Burgess, the VC of Leciester, led a review into the classification system and found that the current system had outlived its usefulness. In 2007 Burgess advocated a Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR). This will provide more detailed information then the final year transcript, showing individual modules and assessments. The HEAR is not designed to replace the current classification system but enhance it.

This year 18 universities will trial this new grading system for degrees. Last year Guild Council passed a motion supporting the Higher Education Achievement Report and the results of the pilot will be watched with interest.

Web CT

Last night at Guild Council I was asked a question regarding the performance of WebCT in the first few months of term. The University has recognised there some students are having problems logging-on and using the system. This is partly die to the fact that there has been at 30% increase in start of term log-ons by both students and staff. Some of the hardware is also reaching the end of its life-cycle.

The University are taking these issues very seriously and the performance of WebCT has already been discussed at the Learning and Teaching Committee. It has been decided to switch to Blackboard Managed Hostings which will have increased campacity and be more effective.

Feel free to email me any questions at t.marley@guild.bham.ac.uk

Finding your way to the library

Found this on Youtube...

Learning spaces

Last week I attended the opening of the Green Room in the Orchard Leaning Resources Centre. The OLRC is the main library on the Selly Oak campus. The Green Room is located on the ground floor. One half is a social space which facilities group work. The other half of the room has new IT facilities including whiteboards.

The University is currently investing £9 million over a three year period into upgrading learning spaces. What lecture theatres/seminar rooms/labs etc do you think need upgrading??

(please leave comments)

Do you know who your Student Rep is?

Student Reps exist to make sure the University knows what the real issues facing students in different departments are. Whether it is the length of time it takes for students to receive feedback on their assessment, the quality of teaching facilities or hidden course costs, Student Reps exist to make your voice heard. There are elected Student Reps in every subject area, both undergraduate and postgraduate, and they work to make the learning experience for other students better.

Student Reps canvass all students within their school to listen to their views and find any issues affecting students. They then attend Student-Staff Committee meetings to present these problems and work with staff to resolve them. In the last academic year Student Reps achieved significant changes across the University. As well as general improvements to modules, timetabling, assessment and lecture facilities, Student Reps have worked to ensure better IT provision for several subjects and new provision of counselling services to students on satellite sites.

Keep an eye on the Guild of Students website as the names of your Student Reps will be going up soon. Alternatively check out the Student Rep noticeboard in your school for the latest news.

Guild Council papers online

The papers for Guild Council, which will be held on the on the 23rd October from 6pm in the Guild Council Chambers, are now online. Check them out here.

Birmingham Uni: 75th in the world

The latest world rankings have been released in the Times Higher Education magazine and the University of Birmingham has come 75th. Yes, students at Birmingham are studying at the 75th best institution in the world!

The sabbatical team, 08-09

From left to right: James Ogden, Vice President (Housing and Community); Rich Walker, Vice President (Student Activities and Development); Hannah Lazell, Vice President (Democracy and Resources); Hollie Jones, Vice President (Welfare); Jennifer Larbie, President; Tom Marley, Vice President (Education and Access); Mark 'Sparky' Smith, Vice President (Sport).

Q, A, eh???

If you have been around my office over the past few weeks you will have heard me incessantly talking about an obscure acronym, the QAA.

Every four years the University is audited to measure the academic quality and standards by an independent body called the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). The purpose of this is to safeguard the public interest in sound standards of higher education qualifications.

This audit will take place between the 29th April and the 1st May. Before then the QAA will be visiting the University to prepare. As part of the audit process the University submit a self-reflection document informing the QAA of what they think are their strengths and weaknesses. The Guild also make a submission, the student written submission, highlighting what students believe to be the University's strong and weak points. This is due in Febuary though it is our intention to complete a first draft in November so it can go to students for consultation.

You will be hearing more on this issue in the future...

Getting ready for freshers...

Tomorrow students start moving into university halls. For over a week Selly Oak has seemed increasingly busy, students are coming back and gearing up for the new academic year.

In the Guild a lot of preparation has, and still is, going on for Welcome Week. On Monday will be the Wellbeing fair which is your opportunity to find out about healthy living and sport. On Tuesday there will be the Community Fair where you will be able discover more about the area where you live. Also on Tuesday is the Change the World Fair where you can find out about the various campaigning opportunities in the Guild to make the world a better place. Wednesday sees the Volunteering Fair, the first opportunity student have to find out about the ways to get involved in volunteering. On Wednesday and Thursday there is the Jobs Fair, for students who think they will have to earn while they study. Also on Wednesday up at the Munrow Sports Centre is the Sports Fair.

On Tuesday and Wednesday is the Freshers Fair. This is your opportunity to pick up all the amazing freebies you think you need but may eventually throw away. There will be a range of local and national companies with amazing offers for various bars, nightclubs and entertainment. On Thursday and Friday is the Societies Fair. This is the big opportunity students have to see all the societies within the Guild, sign up for emails, and get involved! With over 160 societies there is something to suit everyone...

Whatever you do over the next week, make sure you pop along!

Manchester United now sponsored by the US Federal Reserve

HE funding: Broke and Broken

The NUS have produced a new report on the state of Higher Education funding in England and Wales. Entitled Broke and Broken, it is an damning inditement of the consequences of variable fees and the marketisation of HE. This report has been written in anticipation of the 2009 review of HE funding. It lays out the pitfalls in the various aguments that may be used by those who want to see the cap lifted.

Over the next few weeks I will write a series of blogs setting out the main themes of Broke and Broken. At some point over the next semester this issue will also be coming to Guild Council.

The most interesting part of my job so far...

...signing cheques. I have now personally seen off over £100,000.

Black history month

Black history month is October and in anticipation of this the Guild is planning a number of events and campaigns. We will be particularly looking to increase involvement of BME students in the Student Rep system. BME students make up very few of the Student Reps and for the system to be fully representative all groups, whether it be postgraduate, international or ethnic shoudl be represented. Also, at Guild Council we will also be looking to renew our committment to anonymous marking. It has been shown that where anonymous marking is in place the results of BME students improve by 12%. Keep an eye out for those campaigns.

Liberation is at the heart of the mission of the Guild of Students. While collectively we strive to defend and improve student rights we all seek to empower those very students with the ability to access a world class education. Despite this some groups still suffer discrimination because of their gender/sexuality/disability or ethnicity. While this discrimination exists at a university and national level we have a responsibility to make the case for equality. I hope everybody takes an interest in the upcoming black history month.

Is it really that long since I blogged?

With it being over a month since I made a post on this site I thought it about time I added something.

Towards the beginning of this month I spent two weeks on annual leave. The occasion was an extended family holiday to County Cork in Ireland. The weather was nice and the food was good. I came back to Birmingham at the end of it refreshed and ready to go.

The I went on the second of my two NUS training courses. This one was called Action through Advocacy and held at the University of Hertfordshire (again). Whereas the first training course I attended (Active Political Leadership) was designed for all officers these sessions were designed to be useful for education/welfare/housing sabbaticals. Accordingly me, Hollie and Oggy went. I found this training particularly useful - the apathy staicase, communication action networks, a better understanding of the Bologna process - most of which I think should be helpful to me during the coming year.

Then finally I had my first day in the office. I have now replied to a huge backlog of emails and and started planning my campaigns. Importantly I have made the resolution to keep adding to this blog regularly.

So what have I been getting up to in July?

Many people assume that as there are no students around the summer is a quiet time in the Guild. This has certainly not been the case. Throughout the month of July the officer team for 08-09 have been receiving training. This has included a behind the scenes tour of the guild building and sessions with the various departments. This week I attended 'Active Political Leadership', a training event run by the NUS. This was an intensive course in skills which are relevant to running a students' union.

On Friday Baroness Amos officially opened the Amos Room in the Guild of Students. Lady Amos is an alumni of the Unversity of Birmingham and was the first black female cabinet minister.

Below are a few pictures to give you some idea of what has been going on.

Why I ran for election

This is a question I get asked on a regular basis.

On the right is a picture of me making a speech at a hustings event outside Avanti. My speech was about whether students are getting value for money in their time at the University of Birmingham. Although they pay fees of over £3,000 they still question the quality of feedback on their work, why they feel they do not get enough contact hours and why there are not enough core texts in the library.

I was a Student Rep and a Guild Councillor for history. Those were the kind of issues I used to raise. Now as Vice President I will campaign on those same issues and more.

My aim is to create a vibrant and responsive Student Rep system. Representation should exist at every level (from the lecture theatre to the Vice Chancellor's office) but it is in every school and department where students should feel empowered to be able to have an impact on the issues that affect them.

My election website

When I was running for election I created a website to display my policies.

Check it out here.

Feel free to pull me up on any of my promises which you feel I am not working on...

The Manifesto

My new blog

Hello and welcome to my blog. As the Guild's Vice President (Education and Access) it is my job to represent students to the university on academic issues. This blog will be a forum for feedback on what I am doing and the education campaigns that the Guild is running.