MINUTES
MEETING: RSCS Convenor Meeting
Meeting No. 1: Semester 1 2016
VENUE: N101 CSIT Building
DATE: Thursday 3rd March 2016
CONTACT: Sandra Harrison
APOLOGIES: Ben Swift, Marcus Hutter, Henry Gardner, Peter Christen
ATTENDANCE: John Slaney, Ramesh Sankaranarayana, Shayne Flint, Lynette Johns-Boast, Bob Edwards, Alistair Rendell, Miquel Ramirez, Weifa Liang, Bindi Mamouney, Lexing Xie, Alexei Khorev, Marian-Andrei Rizoiu, Eric McCreath, Cheng Soon Ong, Tom Worthington, Tony Hosking, Sandra Harrison
1. Formal Items (all items are confidential)
1.1 Report from the Chair
Ø Course Representatives: Most convenors were able to put out a call for course representatives. Student responses were slow so Student Services sent emails directly to students asking for volunteers. Most courses now have representatives, with only a few still looking for students. The aim is for one representative per 100 students, and linked courses should have at least one student for each course level. An informal meeting for all course representatives has been scheduled for Tuesday 8th March. Miquel will advise Student Services of replacement course representative for his course due to student withdrawing.
Ø Second Examiners: Second examiners should check assignments, exams and marking guides prior to release to students. Convenors are asked to ensure all second examiners do this. Second examiners are also to check boundary results.
Ø Hurdle Assessments: All requirements for Hurdle Assessments must be clearly indicated in assessment specifications. The term “Hurdle Assessment” must be used and clearly available for students to recognise. Students who receive a result of 45 and higher are to be offered supplementary assessment, and if this is failed, then a result of NCN must be recorded.
Ø Year Based Convenor Meetings: It was suggested that meetings for year based convenors be introduced and held up to 3 times each semester to discuss common issues. Another suggestion was to group Year 1 and 2, Year 3 and 4 and Post Graduate Course convenors to reduce the number of meetings. Convenors to decide if this is appropriate and will work with Student Services to arrange suitable times and locations.
Ø Assessment Scheme: Convenors are asked to ensure that all assessment information is available to students by the required due date. This includes all assessments, lab examinations and any mid-term examinations (not being organised centrally). This does not include end of Semester Examinations.
1.2 Report from Convenors
Ø Antony Hosking - COMP1100
Student numbers have risen significantly from 2015. Attendance at lecture theatres has dropped so that there is now room to fit all students into the originally scheduled times without having to hold repeat lectures. There appear to be approximately 100 students not attending lectures, although ther is high viewership of the Echo360 recordings available online. Tutors are tracking attendance in labs, and there are still 5 students who have not signed up for labs. Assessment schedule for COMP1100 will be available shortly.
Ø Lexing Xie - COMP1030
There are currently 5 more students enrolled in COMP1030 than can fit into the timetabled labs. Students have been advised to bring laptops so that all are able to access a computer during tutorials. Lectures are going well.
Ø Eric McCreath - COMP2100/2500 & COMP2300/6300
Labs are running well and attendance is fairly typical, running at 50-60%.
Ø Alexei Khorev - COMP2140
There have been some changes to assessment. A mini version of the final examination will make of the lab test. Some lab session times have been a lot more popular than others. Would like it if labs were more expandable in physical size.
Ø John Slaney – COMP2620/6262
Enrolments are up by 20% from 2015. Attrition is normal and the year has gotten off to a good start. Group of students are slightly more subdued.
Ø Alistair Rendell – COMP3320/6464
Nothing to report, no issues, all going well.
Ø Tom Worthington – COMP7310
Currently only 7 students enrolled in course. Considering changes for 2017, including rebadging the course from a 7 series to a 6 series, and allowing some undergraduate student enrolment. Currently progressing well, one student is studying online and is topping the class.
Ø Weifa Liang – COMP3710
The majority of Individual projects are now organised and Independent Study contracts signed. COMP3710 numbers have increased from last year. Seeking clarification regarding submission dates for Summer Projects as one is still outstanding.
Ø Marian Rizoiu – COMP3420
Enrolments are up from 2016. The class has been split into 3 small tutoring groups and approximately 50% of students are attending lectures. The assessment schedule has been made available to students and the first assignment is due this week. Attendance at labs is not assessed.
Ø Cheng Soon Ong – COMP4670
The course has proven to be very popular, with numbers increasing from 2015. Two tutorials are currently scheduled, with one being moved to avoid a clash. Course is going well, with good students.
Ø Miquel Ramirez – COMP3620/6320
Course requires students to submit a total of 3 out of 5 assignments, the first of which, a warm up task is due this week. Previous feedback from students was that there were too many assignments and that tutorials were too wooden. In order to make changes following this feedback students were given the opportunity to drive tutorials themselves – this was met with silence and not much of a response so there will be changes made to this approach.
Ø Bob Edwards – COMP3310
The course has doubled in size from 2015, so 5 lab sessions have had to be scheduled instead of 2. Students are given the opportunity to score a maximum of 5 marks through participation at labs. Participation is almost 100% with all labs full. Using Gitlab which is great.
Ø Lynette Johns-Boast - COMP3120 COMP4130
COMP3120 enrolments are up by 30% from 2015. Attendance rates at lectures are at around 60-70%. Has been using an online Clicker for classes (Socrative) which is working really well. Second class for COMP4130 was held this week and everything seems to be going well.
Ø Shayne Flint
Systems Engineering numbers are up from 2015. This year’s third year students are very engaged and proactive. Lecture attendance has been good and tutorial attendance is running at 100%. Very impressed with student cohort.
TechLauncher is going well, with a large turnout at the recent Team Formation Day. Student self-selected teams on the day without guidance and out of 70 projected proposals, 30 projects were selected at the end of the day. The only issue is finding enough tutors.
Ø Ramesh Sankaranarayana – COMP2410 & ENGN2219
COMP2410 is going well with an increase in student numbers from 2015. A large number of masters students are enrolled in COMP6340.
Ø Peter Christen – COMP8400
45 students currently enrolled, all is going well, no issues.
2. GENERAL ISSUES
v Computers labs not being available prior to the start of the semester was problematic for some staff. This won’t be an issue in future as renovations are complete. Computers were available for staff to test course content on.
v Some courses using peer assessment, which is going well
v Honours student numbers are down slightly, and some students are enrolling quite late. These students are now behind those who commenced early February and therefore may request extensions later in the year. Short topic presentations are to be held week commencing 7th March.
v Late arrivals/enrolling students are showing some concerns about assessments being due already.
v Supplementary examinations to be held in week one of the following semester if assistance is required through the examinations office.