Tuesday 30 October marked the first Course Rep Forum of the academic year. With a focus on student retention and student recruitment, the event saw over 50 Course Reps attend.
Head of Strategic Educational Projects, Will Bowen-Jones, and Director of Communications and Participation, Jane Britton, formed the Forum's panel alongside the Pro Vice Chancellor Students, Ross Renton.
The Forum's Chair and Vice President Education, Euan Morrison, opened the event. This year, each Forum will be aligned with a key priority of the University, the first being retention and recruitment. The Forum in December will focus on assessment and feedback, and the Forum in March will focus on teaching excellence. These Forums enable Course Reps to have a real influence on University decision-making in key priority areas of the University.
Will Bowen-Jones spoke to Course Reps about the link between attendance and academic success. University data implies that students who regularly attend classes are more likely to achieve academic success than those who have poor attendance records. After a briefing about the new Student Attendance Policy, Reps broke off into groups to discuss their views and opinions. Reps will now be asking their cohort about retention, attendance, and the new Policy and will feed back their cohort's view at their next Course Management Committee meeting.
Jane Britton noted that the Communications department are always interested in hearing student perspectives on a range of matters such as why students chose to study at Worcester, how the University describes itself (and whether this is an accurate portrayal), and through what means the students first found out about the University. Clickers were distributed to students and a series of interactive questions were asked with the aim of gathering instant feedback. Students also had the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the session.
For a more in-depth overview of October's Forum, please read the minutes.
Our next Forum will be held on Thursday 6 December 2018 at 13:15-14:15 in Cotswold A (EE1106) and will focus on Assessment and Feedback.