Computer Science and Creative Technologies

Computer Science and Creative Technologies

SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday2nd December 2014 in3Q68 at 13:00

Present:Josh Connor (Acting Chair, Deputy Chair) Leslie Anyawu, Asma Fayaz, Benjamin Brind, Ehichioya Isesele, Qasem Alkaraimeh, Kod Nguyen, Joshua Saracoglu, Joshua Wintersgill, Louis Geake, Andrew Mogridge, Robert Cook, Nicole Dwight, Jack Goodwin-Hayward, Jack Cookson, Ellie Goswell, Matthew Bedwell, Flynn Bastin, Niall Webb, David Cope, Sion Jones, Alexandra Nunns, Natasha Clarke, Zhiar Karim, Samuel Arogundade & Deborah Ojomo.

In Attendance:Edd Burrell (Secretary UWESU), JJ Clark (Vice President – Education)

Apologies: Marcus Griffiths, Robert Dewar-Robinson, SanayaKhambatta, Wai Yau, Dean Oliver, Charlotte Findlay, Jamie Maguire, George Ireland, Steve Cresswell, Dominic Howe, Anab Jama & Andrew Brown.

011/1415Welcome and Introductions

011.01Josh Connor (Deputy Chair, acting Chair of this meeting) welcomed Reps present to the second CSCT SU Forum.

012/1415Minutes of the Previous Meeting

012.01The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed by Reps present.

013/1415Matters Arising from the Previous Meeting

013.01See appendix 001. Please note an additional action has been added to 009/1415.01

014/1415Department Committee Member (Post Graduate Position)

014.01One member ran uncontested for this position. After providing a short speech, Leslie Anyawu was unanimously elected as the Post Graduate Rep for the Departmental Committee.

015/1415Report from SRC and ASQC

015.01The Acting Chair gave an update from the Student Rep Committee (SRC) to the forum. He reported that there were elections to Academic Board and AQEC, along with a representative from the library who spoke to the committee about proposed changes to the library loans system including term long loans changes, changes to fines and an increased loan limit. There was also a representative from the University who spoke about the assessment cycle and how to make it clear to students.

015.02The Chair was not in attendance of this forum and therefore did not update members on what had happened at the faculty Academic Standards and Quality Committee (ASQC).

016/1415Academic Personal Tutoring

016.01The Acting Chair introduced the topic along with VP Education, who gave some background and context to this agenda item.

016.02Reps for Forensic Computing level 2 report that many of their students have not been told who their Academic Personal Tutor (APT) is and have had no contact with them. They add they had it at level 1 but not this year, although some students seem to have their course leader as their APT but the rest of the cohort are unaware.

016.03A Rep for level 3 Digital Media reported that no one showed up during the scheduled time for their APT session. This was echoed elsewhere in Digital Media as the 1st Town Hall meeting was rescheduled and the lecturer was told the wrong time for the 2nd meeting. It was added that the Creative Tech cluster have Town Hall meetings rather than individual APT meetings.

016.04Reps from Games Tech level 2 report they have had a couple of the Town Hall meetings so far, with about 100 students attending one of them and so they have been quite busy. Reps report they have gone well, although there is a concern that those students who are less vocal may not get their voices heard through the larger meetings. The acting Chair asked if this meant the sessions were more announcement based rather than offering pastoral support. The Rep commented that in his mind it is better as the tutor doesn’t need to take issues back to other staff, instead all staff are available to answer questions to students in the room straight away. If signposting support is needed, students generally wait until the end of the session to speak to the tutors on a more individual basis.

016.05Post graduate members present report they have not experienced the APT scheme but feel they would benefit from the additional support that the scheme offers. This was particularly felt that it would benefit international students.

Actions:VP Education to collate feedback on APTs from across the University. He has scheduled a meeting on January 6th with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Jane Harrington and the Pro Vice-Chancellor Jo Midgley to review the collated feedback and decide appropriate action moving forward.

017/1415Student Rep and Student Led Teaching Awards

017.01The secretary informed the forum that nominations for the 10th Annual Student Rep Awards and Student Led Teaching Awards are now open. Full details about this year’s awards can be found

018/1415Student Rep Notices

018.01The secretary informed the forum of the upcoming Student Rep Payment deadline (midday 17th December) and that online based training is now available for those who haven’t been trained.

019/1415Student Matters

019.01It was reported that students have 1TB of space on One Drive, however it was commented that it would be better if computers could have sync folders installed so their data could sync straight to cloud based services. Another Rep spoke to IT who said they would look into it but haven’t managed to do anything yet. VP Education added Derick Norris has said they are looking into it.

Action:Any additional feedback on this topic should be sent to

Update:Derick Norris, Deputy Director UWE IT Services, thanked Reps for this feedback and will seek to address this in the short term as well as in the longer term. He will update VP Education on progress shortly, the outcomes of which will be disseminated to Reps.

020/1415Date and Time of Next Meeting

020.01To be confirmed. Most likely to be held in early February.

CSCT – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 2nd December 2014 Page 1

Appendix 001 – Matters Arising from the Previous Meeting

Number / Background and Action Point / Update
007/1415.03 / Reported that within 2Q52 most of the chairs are broken and the WIFI coverage is appalling AP: Reps from this course to take the issues of chairs to their SRSF meeting. / No update was given by Reps in the December Forum.
007/1415.04 / Feedback that Studio facilities in N block are often booked up by individual students for most of the week and therefore
Students often cannot use the facilities.
AP: Reps from this course to take the issues of chairs to their
SRSF meeting. / No update was given by Reps in the December Forum.
007/1415.06 / There is a lack of Linux labs
AP: Departmental Committee Delegates to take this to Departmental Committee. / No update was given, as the Departmental Committee hadn’t happened prior to this meeting.
007/1415.08 / lack of continuity between operating systems being run on machines around the faculty and University
AP: Rep to provide an update in the next forum. If the rep wants to escalate this further, the rep could email Nick Plant. / No update was given by the Rep in the December Forum.
007/1415.XX / AP: Vice President Education to collate all feedback on Study Spaces (007.xx) for consideration of the Study Spaces Group where appropriate. The outcomes of this will be disseminated to all students. / Update from VP Education: Thank you all for providing such insight and helpful feedback on Study Spaces. This was collated and taken to the Study Spaces Working Group I chair, made up of key stakeholders from faculties and various services across the university. The feedback was very well received and will be re-categorised to make it more actionable, so you should start to see changes soon to your local study space. This is just a small part of the Study Spaces project, which is one of my priorities for the year. Here’s some headlines for you from what we’ve achieved so far:
- Extensive research and insight in to the £4m investment in to social study spaces at UWE.
-Established working group with 25 members.
-Widespread student feedback via SU Forums
-Launch of ITMB project reviewing MyPC Booking System and sources of Study Space information.
-Student Opinion on Study Spaces feeding directly in to UWE Master planning Group (sub group of Board of Governors)
-Google Maps project which will provide mapping of university buildings and route planning for students to use.
-Wifi extended to cover all of Glenside Campus
-£80,000 proposal accepted to replace thin client PCs with Thick Clients (to solve many issues of slow PCs and lack of USB Ports etc.) in partnership with Library Services and ITS.
Also, keep listening out for an exciting announcement later this week, which is another result of the Study Spaces project and in response to student feedback. We’ll be releasing this via social media and the SU website so keep listening out!
009/1415.01 / Reps who are studying the CMOS module report that their
students are annoyed that caddies they are trying to
programme are often faulty
AP: Reps affected should take this issue to their SRSF
meeting. / A Rep commented that he had spoken to Stuart who spoke to module leader who claimed it was fine and not really problem. 2Q12 is the only room they can use, but other groups are also trying to get in to use the 15 computers. Another Rep added that staff blame them for the caddies not working for miss-programming. FurtherAction:Take to Nick Plant / Departmental Committee.
009/1415.02 / a concern that students who are studying on fallback degrees
are not properly represented by Student Reps
AP: Secretary to provide an update at the following meeting. / Student Rep Coordinator has worked with the department to resolve this situation. A rep is now in-place for fall-back degrees and support is available for this rep.
009/1415.04 / Level 1 Computer System Integration reps report that there
are some teachers who are in lab sessions who are viewed
Almost as token teachers.
AP: Reps affected should take this issue to their SRSF
meeting. / No update was given by Reps in the December Forum.
009/1415.03 / Reps from digital media report that many texts used on their
course haven’t been updated
AP: This issue should be taken to Nick Plant in the first
instance. If this isn’t resolved it should be escalated to
Departmental Committee. / A meeting between the Head of Department and Nick Plant / Andy King with all students from level 2 of the course has taken place to discuss a number of issues on the course. Action should be taken in due course.
009/1415.05 / session that lasts the entire day and is supported by only one
lecturer in a group of 25 students, therefore the students have
to wait a long time to get any support.
AP: Reps affected should take this issue to their SRSF
meeting. / No update was given by Reps in the December Forum.
009/1415.07 / Car Park 20 is “in a mess” with lots of potholes, which students
believe should be fixed especially considering the big price
increase to £5 per day.
AP: Feedback on Transport to be passed onto SU President
who liaises with Transport. / Update from SU President: I Will update facilities on the state of car park 20.
009/1415.08 / £3 minimum spend to be able use a credit card is unacceptable
in the Students Union shop.
AP: Feedback to be passed to UWESU Trading Services.
Rep in question to speak to VP Education if he wishes to
submit a motion to the SU AGM. / No motion to this effect was received for the UWESU AGM. Feedback passed onto SU President to give to Trading Services.

CSCT – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 2nd December 2014 Page 1

CSCT – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 2nd December 2014 Page 1