School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Science Staff/Student Consultative Committee – Computer Science Pathways
Notes of the meeting held on Wednesday, 24th October 2007 @ 1.30 pm, Ashby Boardroom, Ashby Building
Present:
Staff:
Ms A Chapman, Mr P Crookes, Mr D Gault, Dr P Hanna, Dr R Lyttle, Dr I Spence, Dr D Stewart (Chair), Dr A Bouridane, Mr R Kane, Dr W Liu, Dr P McMullan, Mr J Busch, Dr A Stewart
Students:
Ms S Crossen (L3 BIT), Mr K Taylor (L1 CIT), Ms E Elliott (L2 CIT), Mr D Shaw (L4 MCS), Mr M Goodall (L1 CS), Mr M Robinson (L1 Games), Mr M McAlynn (L2 CS), Ms A Simmons (L3 CS), Mr M Hackworth (L2 CS), Mr N Shaw (L1 CS), Ms E Watterson (L1 CS), Mr D Kieran (L3 MCS), Mr A Nicholl (L2 BIT), Mr D Wong (L2 BIT),
1. Apologies
Apologies for absence were received from:
Staff: Ms A Doris,Dr P Corr, Prof S Scott, Dr P Middleton, Mr M Mckeag
Students: Ms T Doyle (L1 MCS), Mr S Mckenna (L0 CS), Ms L McCluskey (L1 MCS)
2.Matters arising from previous meeting
Dr D Stewart reported that the complaint about cigarette butts littering the back entrance of the Bernard Crossland Building had been reported to John Ashe and that he had agreed to look into finding a solution.
3.Outline operation of SSCC
Dr D Stewart briefly outlined the new processes for SSCC within Computer Science, including the new surveying process introduced in the previous year. He stated that in most cases issues raised on the surveys should be handled directly between the SSCC reps and the lecturers concerned outside the SSCC committee meetings. He requested that the issues discussed at the committee meeting be restricted to broader issues relating to the school or university rather than module specific issues. However if something module specific could not be resolved after direct discussions with a lecturer then this may be something suitable for discussion at the committee meeting.
4.Discussion of student and staff representative comments
Dr D Stewart reported that the surveys for almost all modules had been completed very efficiently and that the feedback for most modules seemed to be very positive with only small and easily handled issues being reported in most cases.
Level 4(MEng)
Mr D Shaw reported that students were unclear about how to access the Bernard Crossland Building outside normal hours. Mr D Gault agreed to send out an email to all L3 and L4 students to remind them how to request the necessary pin codes.
Action: Mr D Gault
The lack of wifi availability for laptops with Vista installed was raised. Mr P Crookes reported that Computing Services were responsible for the Odyssey client software and wifi system and that he was not aware of plans to make it compatible with Vista in the near future. He noted that Mr W Coey was responsible for liaising with Computing Services. Dr D Stewart said he would inform Mr W Coey of the problems.
Action Dr D Stewart
Level 3
Ms A Simmons reported problems students were having problems with parking near the university but recognised that this not something the university could do anything about. She also stated that the students wanted to have more access to wifi across the various sites in the university. Mr P Crookes stated that the university had a plan to roll out wifi across the university in the future. The timescale for this was not clear.
Ms Simmons requested that J2ME be installed on computers in the open access centres for people doing Mobile Computing assignments. Mr P Crookes said he would request that this be done.
Action: Mr P Crookes
Ms Simmons reported that Room 1.15 in BCB was too warm in the Mobile Computing lectures and that the room was not suitable for large classes because it was flat. It was noted that this has been raised in the past and so Dr A Bouridane agreed that in future years he would request a different venue for the lectures.
Action: Dr A Bouridane
Ms Simmons requested an explanation of the rise in printing costs this year. Mr P Crookes explained that the increases had happened uniformly across the university. Dr D Stewart suggested that the cost increases may affect Computer Science students more than others because they are requested to print their work more frequently than students studying other subjects. Mr P Crookes reminded the students that the new printers were equipped for duplex printing and suggested that using this would reduce the print credits required. Dr D Stewart asked if the default setting for printing on these printers could be set to double-sided and Mr P Crookes said he would do this.
Action: Mr P Crookes
Ms Simmons asked for clarification of reasons why placement students are required to pay £600 student fees. Dr P Hanna and Mr D Gault explained that the fees covered a range of activities which supported the organisation and management of the placements, the career guidance service provided by Ms A Doris and the time and effort involved in making placement visits etc. by academic staff.
Ms Simmons noted that the L3 and L4 students seemed to be unaware of the induction lectures at the start of term and asked that in future there would be better notification of these events. Dr P Hanna said that he would ensure this would be done in future.
Action: Dr P Hanna
Ms S Crossen stated that the L3 BIT students had no further problems or issues beyond those which had been raised by Ms Simmons. However she wanted to commend the excellent teaching on the Data Processing and Database Systems module (110CSC322).
Level 2
Mr M McAlynn and Mr M Hackworth reported that the L2 CIT students had had difficulty with an assignment for the Networks and Databases Module (110SC208) due to the level of Java required. Dr P Hanna explained that although the CIT students would not be required to program at the same level as the CS students who have modules such as Games Programming, they would still be faced with programming in various modules on the CIT pathway and he noted that the Programming Fundamentals module in L1 which all students had to pass, covered Object Oriented principles and enough would have been covered in this module to be able to tackle the assignments in 110CSC208.
Dr A Stewart apologised for missing the programme review meetings the previous day and then asked Dr Hanna if the Computation Theory module (110CSC205) was being changed to a L3 module in future years. He stated that if this was the casethen he would have grave concerns about the effect this would have on the retention of L4 students and on the moral of students in L3 given that the Formal Methods module would follow it in the second semester of L3. These concerns were supported by Mr P Sloan. Dr P Hanna said that there would be a second round of meetings were the Programme Review details would be discussed further and that these concerns would be considered.
Mr R Kane told the L2 students and the committee that a problem had been encountered with setting up Autoreply messages to students when they submitted there assignments via email. These problems stemmed from the new Outlook Exchange migration which was carried out recently and that various work-arounds were being investigated to provide a similar facility. He would report back to the committee if progress was made on this.
Level 1
Mr Robinson said that the students had been complaining about the seats in the lecture room LG115 in the David Keir building. The seats are very uncomfortable and one student was having back pain after sitting in them during lectures. Dr Stewart said he would contact the Estates department about this.
Action: Dr D Stewart
5.Social Networking Websites
Dr D Stewart raised this topic on behalf of Dr P Middleton. Dr Middleton had suggested that the school should perhaps be using sites such as Facebook or Bebo to encourage more socialising amongst students and to improve the image of the school to potential students. It was also noted that last year students had discussed the need to improve the sense of community among the students in the school. Dr Stewart asked the students representatives for their views on this. Mr D Kieran, Ms Simmons and Mr Shaw stated that the L3 and L4 students had already been discussing the idea of starting a Computer Society in the school for a similar reason. Dr Stewart asked the student representatives to consider the options further, discuss them with their classmates and perhaps bring some ideas to the next committee meeting. Ms A Simmons, Mr D Shaw and Mr D Kieran agreed to do this.
Action: Ms A Simmons, Mr D Shaw and Mr D Kieran
6. Any other business
Nothing was raised.
Dr D Stewart reminded everyone that the next meeting would be held on the 21st November at the same time and in the same location.