You said that arranging to meet with teaching staff can sometimes be difficult. The Course Leader and Assistant Course Leaders are now using the Calendly platform to simplify arranging meetings with you. Set times are available for you to book each week, and you can also find a ‘how to’ on your course dashboard on studentcentral, as well as tutors’ office doors and within email signatures.
You felt that the availability of electronic resources could be better. A system developed on the final year Biomedical Sciences course, in which a virtual microscope is used to analyse pathology slides, is now being utilised by the final year Blood Sciences module.
Don’t forget you can find key resources using your subject guide on the Online Library.
You have told us where you feel assessment loads are heavy or close together. As a result, we have reduced the expected size of some assessments, to help you plan your studies.
Your feedback helps us to review the topics taught across your course. As a result, we continue to work with you to provide more options in your study.
You asked for more even distribution of assessments over the year. We created an Assessment matrix at the start of the year, including all of the compulsory and optional modules to help even your workload, and this is available on your dashboard on studentcentral.
You wanted a better sense of community within your course, and to be more informed of our research within the School. We developed the Ecology Newsletter as a result of this, and have included students on the editorial team.
Additionally, you can find our subject specific blogs, in which we share news, events and student success stories:
Your feedback helps us to continually review and refresh all of your courses, to make them clearer and help you achieve your best.
Several of you have raised concerns about the assessment load, in the first semester and second year. We have taken this feedback on board and a new course structure has been devised to dramatically reduce the assessment load, to help you manage your studies.
You highlighted a need for more constructive feedback, to help you improve. We have introduced weekly Eco-skills drop in sessions as a way of providing more constructive feedback, as well as the opportunity to discuss any other course related issues.