UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH WALES

PRIFYSGOL DE CYMRU

MINUTES OF THE IMMERSIVE LEARNING PROJECT STEERING

GROUPHELD ON 02.11.15

TY CRAWSHAY BOARDROOM, A30

IN ATTENDANCE: / ROZALIND GREEN-INNES (RGI), , HAYDN BLACKEY (HB), ANN CROSS (AC), NORMAN WOOLLEY (NM), HUW SWAYNE (HW),KAREN FITZGIBBON, LOUISE PENNELL JONATHAN JONES (JJ),
APOLOGIES: / BEN CALVERT (BC), SAM SENIOR (SS), SUE SMITH (SSM),
AGENDA ITEM / MINUTES OF MEETING / ACTIONS
1 / It was noted that HB would chair the steering group on this occasion in BC’s absence. Three members of the group were unable to attend the meeting.
2 / Budget codes will be taken off the course list in future circulations. 32 Courses are involved. Attention was raised towards the Theatr a Drama course over the lack of students currently enrolled in the first year. Schools are to be added to the course list to make identification easier. There will also be an addition to the Faculty of Business and Society concerning the courses attached to Business Management. The list will be extended to include other degrees that are include under the Title of ‘Business Management’. In order to balance the faculty list. It was noted the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education had extended the list of involved courses since the last steering group meeting. Additionally the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science has also updated their list to include more courses.
3 / Meetings are taking place over the month of November. The questionnaire will be administered to students by hand. Course teams have been made aware to leave the room once the students begin the questionnaire. Course Questionnaires should come to a finish by the end of November/Early December. Including focus groups. Transcribing the date is likely to take place at the beginning of January with the view to finish between February and March. It was noted the online Course Evaluations were also beginning at the same time which could course confusion.
4 / The questionnaire is based from Mantz York’s work on the ‘What Works’ project. The questionnaire looks at belonging, Engagement and Self Confidence. RGI noted that response rates are higher when face to face. The Steering Group has made it clear that some of the data collected should be processed by an external company for the reasons of time keeping and quality of data. KF will ask Donna Whitehead for a company that could process the data.
5 / Faculty focus groups will begin at the end of November/ Early December. One student from each course within one faculty will attend the Focus group.
6 / There are two points where the HEA meet with the Project team. The meeting went well and the HEA were impressed with the project so far. The HEA are also looking at linking other institutions projects together as a measure of networking and best practice sharing. 4th April is the next meeting date with the HEA. RGI noted that the report should be in its final stages by this point. Plymouth University are currently continuing with their ‘Curriculum Enhancement’ project which mirrors the Immersive Learning Project. Additionally Anglier Ruskin are have also began a project based around a themed period of six weeks. Coventry university are focusing on STEM courses, particularly on Engineering with an intensive course start. The HEA also noted that only 2 institutions in Wales had received funding from the HEA. Bangor are the other institution to receive funding.
7 / It was noted that RGI would flag issues or potential problems to HOLTSE’s over the course of the project.
8 / AC has made sure that contact has been made with all courses. Out of the 32 courses involved, work has already started with at least 18 courses from the list. AC noted that it was difficult to understand whether courses already involved had validated and that library and study skills had been included with course curriculum. AC also stated that some courses where new to Library and that this was positive, additionally it was felt that Study Skills were struggling in some cases to meet additional courses. RGI will link course teams to Library and Study skills through email to continue work over the following year.
9 / There are three nominations being taken forward for the NTFS scheme. Karen Fitzgibbon, Jo Smedley and Simon Jones have been selected.

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