Assessment Feedback

On Friday 29th May, the Times Higher wrote an article called “Academics ‘distressed’ by anonymous student feedback”. This refers to a feedback campaign run by the Students’ Union.
The Campaign was simple; we asked students to score lecturers on their feedback on a scale between 1 – 10, the Students’ Union delivered the postcard with the score on it to the lecturer. The lecturer did not know why they had received the score they did or how to improve the score without feedback. Just the issue some students face!

There was wide support for the campaign from a number of University staff and, most importantly, a large number of students. The idea of the campaign was run past the Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr Peter Marsh, who did not express any concerns.

The campaign intended to:
I. highlight the problem the University of Bolton currently has with assessment feedback,
II. get University staff discussing the issue,
III. convince the University that the way in which assessment feedback is done institutionally needs to be changed, as does the attitudes of some staff members towards assessment feedback.
I regret to hear that some members of University staff were distressed by this approach; however it is important to approach this from a student perspective. With each student paying upwards of £3k to attend the University, should the headline perhaps have read “Students outraged by the lack of assessment feedback”.

In my role as UBSU President I have to ensure that students’ views are heard. I have felt that for too long the issue of assessment feedback at the University of Bolton has not been dealt with and needed to be addressed.

The Times Higher Education original article can be found at:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=406775&c=2

Mark Higgins
University of Bolton Students’ Union President

feedback

well its time for our first ever campaign, and if you've read the title you have ruined the surprise, its about feedback. its simple, the National student survey for the past 2 years has shown that the standards of the feedback you are receiving on your assessments is not good enough and because of this the UBSU would like to ask the students to come out in force and show the university that this is unacceptable.

all we are asking you to do is to fill out a postcard available from the su or any of the su representatives. all you have to do is write you tutors name, the school that they work for and also the score you give them out of 10, simple. You cant give any reason for the score and lets see how they feel about getting graded without any guidance on why or how to improve.

this should mean that we are able to show the university that this is a major issue to a lot of our students and hopefully will mean that the university will update the assessment feedback policy for all students and then you should know what you have done wrong and how to improve

if you have any questions about this or anything else we do please contact me on supres@botlon.ac.uk

Students' Union Radio Bolton

For those of you who are unaware the students' union will be launching its first ever radio station soon! It will be an internet radio station and will cover all topics that are important to students. I will keep you posted on the launch date exactly, there is still some work needed to create a studio for the station. If you would like to be involved in the radio station please contact surb@ubsu.org.uk to get involved.

Money Matters

Money Matters more and more in this day and age and a lot of you have come to the union, or a union official to complain that in your opinion the bar prices are too high and i thought i would have a go at explaining why the prices are as they are and what we do with the money.

I think the most important thing worth noting is that the students union, and included in that banner is the shop and bar, is a non-profit charity. This is to say that all the money we make from the shop and bar is spent again in the students' union on enhancing the student experience, unlike other bars and shops where the owner would simply take the money home for their personal gain.

So yes, our bar prices are higher then some of the other bars in town but all the money we make is spent directly on the students not for the personal gain of any one individual.

I think it is also important to note that we are the only "Student only" bar in town and therefore feel that this means we are able to offer a safer environment for our members.

I hope that makes it a lot clearer about how the students union operates and why we do what we do. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call or email me.

Get Involved...

With our new constitution we are trying harder then ever to get students involved in what we are doing as a students' union. So if you think we aren't focusing on the area that your concerned about then don't hesitate to come and see me in the students union and let me know, if no one come to tell me they are unhappy with what we are doing how am I suppose to know?

One great way to get your voice heard about an issue is to come along to one of our senate meetings and tell us what it is that you want, don't panic it sounds fancy but its basically a meeting of students who you have elected (either to the union executive or via the course rep system) who will decide what areas the SU should be focusing there time and effort. If you do have an idea for a campaign we should run, like one that is due for the next senate meeting is a motion to get the SU to lobby the university about getting Wednesday afternoons free for sport and if the senate approves it then that is exactly what the SU will do. Or if you just feel that as an SU we don't offer a service you think we need, like a radio station, then the senate is the place to get backing for that idea and to get the SU mandated to make that change.

If you are interested then please email me with what it is you think we are doing wrong or aren't doing at all, or if you really want you can let me know what you think we are doing well, even if your not sure about how to deal with the issue i will let you know and help you to get your ideas/issues heard and hopefully dealt with.

Sports & Societies Council

earlier in the week saw the first sports and societies council of the new year, and indeed the first to be held under the new constitution. Although i feel we achieved a lot in sports and societies council im still concerned that the new constitution doesn't have a sports and societies bye law and that's where i need the officers help.

If you are an officer of a sports team or a society and are interested in the way in which this is run by the students' union then you will have your chance to change it. Before the next Sports and societies council i will be sending every officer whose email i have a copy of a draft sports and societies bye law and would really appreciate it if you read it and at the next meeting let me know what you thought was OK and what you thought needs changing