Staff Student Liaison Committee - Meeting Notes

Notes from Department of Civil Engineering Student Staff Liaison Committee Meeting Tuesday 19 August 2003 1 pm

Present

Students
Drew Woodhouse BE/BCom 5th Year
Nathan Clarke BE 4th year
Brendan Walsh BE 4th year
Adam Patterson BE 3rd year
Mark West BE 3rd year
Patrick Bilan BE 2nd Year:
Michelle Englert BE 2nd Year:
Ralph Goninan BE 1st Year:


Staff
Rob Wheen 1st advisor & HOD
David Airey 3rd Year Advisor
George Slack Civil Engineering Foundation Officer
Noel Ings 2nd Year Advisor
Kim Rasmussen 4th Year Advisor
Laura Chapman Undergraduate Student Advisor
Tim Wilkinson Secretary

Apologies
Adonis Moujalli BE 1st Year
Andrew Reeves BE/BCom 5th Year


1. Welcome: The Head of Department, Rob Wheen, welcomed all members - particularly the new members, Mark West, Adam Patterson, Patrick Bilan & Michelle Englert.

2. Matters arising from last meeting May 2003

With respect to tutorials, Rob Wheen referred to the number of tutors available in Introduction to Structural Design. Comments were made about the tutorials for "Foundations of IT".

3. Course Changes 2004
David Airey spoke of the course changes for 2004. This would involve changing all courses to 6 CP, and give more options for electivity starting from Sem 2 in 3rd year. There would be some transitional arrangements, and there should be no change for current 3rd year students (4th year 2004 unchanged). The department would be producing documentation later to help students with preenrolment for 2004. It was generally agreed that this was a positive step.

4. Tutorials
This item was continued from the previous meeting. Some of the items discussed were

this was part of a push for teaching improvement

interactivity with students required

students need to be more involved

for some computer based tutes, more information for the students was required

there were some issues with overcrowded tute rooms

some specific good/bad teaching examples from the students would be beneficial to staff

how seriously do students/staff take the end of semester evaluations.

5. Work Experience
George Slack, Foundation Officer, spoke about work experience for 3rd years. While the Department could help finding industrial placement, the onus is on the student to find work experience.

5. AOB

Tim Wilkinson spoke about the upcoming Courses and Careers Day - some volunteers were needed for the "Tower of Steel".

David Airey mentioned the "Curriculum Mapping" project, and that some student might be needed for a focus group. Curriculum mapping is designed to help students see the progression path through the 4/5 years of their degrees and the links between the various units of study.

Tim Wilkinson asked what was the best way of communicating with students, citing a recent work experience seminar with little attendance. Was email/noticeboard etc best. Students said email was good, but overhead at the beginning of class was probably the best.

6. Next meeting - October 2003??

Meeting closed at 2 pm