Four ways to work in partnership with your students in 2019-20

Together with your students, you can create a sense of community and ensure a better educational experience for all. 

Here is a summary of opportunities for you to work in partnership with your students.

Improved Annual Student Experience Review (ASER) process 

Changes to the process will draw together undergraduate and postgraduate cycles and shift the focus from a static annual report to a live document which can be referenced and updated throughout the year. 

Lead Departmental Student Representatives will be encouraged to play a more central role in the ASER discussion. Progression on the ASER plan should also be made a standing item on every SSCC. 

This gives departments the opportunity to share priorities more widely and help students to understand what actions are being taken and demonstrate the value of their feedback.  

Further information: 

• Staff will receive full details on ASER process changes in the following weeks. 

Departmental ChangeMakers projects

UCL ChangeMakers supports staff and students to work together in a project team to develop an idea to drive positive change. 

From this academic year, every department is guaranteed £850 funding for a project of their choosing which supports their aims of improving the student experience. 

Reviewing sources of student feedback such as previous SSCC minutes, ASER plans and survey results can help spark project ideas. Project proposals must be discussed at the SSCC and then approved by Departmental Teaching Committees. 

Further information: 

• Funding and application support is available on the ChangeMakers Departmental Project moodle site.
• Attend the Arena Centre for a short Q&A-style event focused on taking positive action through SSCCs, on 30 October at 12pm and 13 November at 4pm. 
• Contact the ChangeMakers team at changemakers@ucl.ac.uk.

Student Quality Reviewers

Student Quality Reviewers work with departments across UCL to examine different areas of academic practice in-depth and offer their perspective on what’s working. 

Students already work with us as part of Internal Quality Review (IQR) and Programme and Module Approval Panels (PMAP).

Staff may also choose to work in partnership in other ways: 

• Student Reviewers of Teaching Practice work with staff to build a reflective dialogue about teaching practice and the learning experience of students. 
• Student Curriculum Partners work with staff to look at the inclusivity of curriculum materials, specifically in relation to race/ethnicity.

Further information:

• Visit the UCL Peer Dialogue page for opportunities to work with students to review your teaching
• Visit the all the Students’ Union UCL webpages for more information on all Student Quality Reviewers activities
• Contact Sukhi Bath s.bath@ucl.ac.uk to discuss participating in an inclusivity health check.   

More Effective Staff-Student Consultative Committees (SSCCs) 

SSCCs are a vital forum for listening to students, discussing all of these initiatives, commissioning work such as ChangeMaker projects and keeping students in the loop with activities.  

Planning the SSCCs can help make sure you are using the limited time effectively, for example coming prepared with a proposal idea for a ChangeMakers project or an update to the ASER.

Taking some time to meet with your new Student Academic Representatives before or between SSCCs will also give you a chance to discuss the ideas together and plan how to take action at the meeting. 

Further information: 

• For ideas on running effective SSCC see the staff resources page. 
• We will also be distributing an SSCC guide to all SSCC co-chairs next week.
• Attend the Arena Centre for a short Q&A-style event focused on taking positive action through SSCCs, on 30 October at 12pm and 13 November at 4pm.