Staff Student Liaison Committee - Meeting Notes

Notes from Department of Civil Engineering Student Staff Liaison Committee Meeting Tuesday 20 May 2003 1 pm

Present

Students
Andrew Reeves BE/BCom 5th Year
Drew Woodhouse BE/BCom 5th Year
Nathan Clarke BE 4th year
Brendan Walsh BE 4th year
Josh Baker BE 2nd Year:
Clare O'Connor BE 2nd Year:
Ralph Goninan BE 1st Year:
Adonis Moujjali BE 1st Year

Staff
Rob Wheen 1st advisor & HOD
David Airey 3rd Year Advisor
Tim Wilkinson Secretary

Apologies
George Slack Civil Engineering Foundation Officer
Noel Ings 2nd Year Advisor
Kim Rasmussen 4th Year Advisor
John Carter Acting 4th Year Advisor
Laura Chapman Undergraduate Student Advisor
Jerome Johnson BE 3rd Year
Mahala McLindin BE 3rd Year


1. Welcome: The Head of Department, Rob Wheen, welcomed all members - Ralph Goninan & Adonis Moujjali (first year) and Clare OConnor (2nd year) to replace Emily Burton.

2. Matters arising from last meeting October 2002

Fans had been installed in the Civil Engineering Drawing Office (refer to May 2002 meeting).

3. SCEQ (Student Course Evaluation Questionnaire)
David Airey spoke of the SCEQ (http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/sceq/). Engineering in general was performing reasonably poorly on the "good teaching scale". The results gave low scores on goals and standards, and expectations. It was thought a more effective SSLC could provide better feedback to improve teaching quality. This lead to the next agenda items

Tutorials
It was suggested that a change in approach to tutorials could aid in student understanding and improve the learning experience. There was discussion on participation marks, number of tutors, preparation of tutors, small v large classes. There appeared to be a majority opinion that smaller sizes would be more fruitful.

David Airey suggested smaller, less frequent, more intense sessions. Instead of 100 students for 2 hours every week, perhaps groups of 10-20, for one hour every fortnight, which may involve using later year students to help out.

Expectations
Students mentioned they were sometimes unaware of what was required in assignments, particularly "small" assignments that took several hours for only a small % mark. Having printed notes was considered beneficial.

SSLC
There needed to be wider/longer notice of meetings in order for student reps to get feedback for the meeting

General
There were some general comments relating to student satisfaction - particularly in earlier year science courses. Maths needed to be taught more in context. Huge dissatisfaction was noted in Chemistry 1E.

4. AOB

Rob Wheen talked about "official" elections of representatives to be organised by the year advisors.

Rob Wheen spoke of the 1st year camp was a great success - particularly breaking down social barriers.

There was some concern mentioned about some of the PEM courses - relating to lack of communication, and unsureness about the lecturer in charge as published in the handbook.

Staff availability at the beginning of Semester 1, when students were choosing thesis topics, was a point of concern. There was discussion on making thesis topics available earlier (the year before?).

It was announced that Drew Woodhouse had been awarded the Phil Jones award at the Engineering Ball.


5. Next meeting - Second semester 2003

Meeting closed at 2 pm