March 16 minutes.pdf - Swansea University

UNIVERSITY OF WALES SWANSEA
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
STUDENT/STAFF CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
16 th March 2006
Present:
Students: Simon Ockleston, John Evans (Level 0), Tim Mortensen, Robert Rickman
(Level 1) Rhodri Rees (Level 2), Richard Tebbs, Emma Geraghty (Level 3), Philip
Kenny, Robin Price (Level 4), Chris Baker (Post Graduate Experiment)
Apologies: Tom Newton, Jeff Ridgway
Staff: Prof. Mike Charlton (Chair), Prof. Tim Hollowood.
1. Minutes of the meeting held on 8 th December 2005.
These were approved.
2. Matters arising.
5.1. Done.
5.2. Done.
6.1. Done.
6.2. Done.
7.2. Done.
7.3. Done.
3. Health and Safety.
No issues were reported
4. Physoc/IOP
The committee was informed by the Chair of the introduction by the IOP of
questionnaires for final year students which will provide useful data on the career
paths of physics graduates.
5. Postgraduate student markers/demonstrators
The chair reminded postgraduate students that marking duties were purely voluntary.
6. Postgraduate
6.1 Students wanted to know when the remaining work in Room 607 would be
completed. The Chair reported that this would be done soon.
6.2. The experimental students requested that the internal seminar series have more
structure and focus. The Chair said that this feedback would help to reinvigorate the
seminar programme.

7. Level M.
7.1 Students wondered whether their room on the 5 th floor would be available after
Easter. They were reassured that suitable alternative accommodation would be made
available if necessary, but the Department was experiencing difficulties with space
after the recent increase in the staff numbers.
7.2 Students requested that the write-ups from some projects from previous years be
made available so that they would have a clearer idea of how to structure their own
write-ups.
Action: MC to enable this.
8. Level 3.
8.1 Projects: some confusion was reported regarding whether lab diaries had to be
handed in with the intermediate reports and more generally students didn’t feel that
the Guidance Notes for the projects were sufficiently detailed. The Chair advised that
students should talk to their supervisors about the specific requirements for each
project and that the Guidance Notes were adequate.
8.2 Assessment boycott: students wondered how the Department would deal with the
issue of the assessment boycott by certain lecturers. The Chair reported that each
Department had its own responsibility for dealing with the issue and that Physics
would evolve its own policy as the need arose.
8.3 Exam timetable: some students felt that the draft exam timetable had too many
exams bunched together. The Chair reported that students should bring this up with
the departmental secretary who could request that certain exams be moved.
9. Level 2.
9.1 Assessed sheets: some concern was reported over that fact that some modules
were issuing 6 assessed problem sheets rather than the usual 3. The Chair reported
that this was an experimental situation and part of an overall Departmental review of
assessment methods. In particular, the Department was becoming increasingly
concerned that students did not have enough practice in solving problems and the
issue had to be addressed.
9.2 PH-202 and PH-207: students felt not enough examples were presented in the
lectures and in PH-207 they were concerned that they didn’t have sufficient time to
take notes of the lecturer’s verbal explanations.
Action: MC to pass on concerns to the lecturers
9.3 Requests were made for lecturers to provide the answers (not the workings) for
problems in past exam papers.
Action: MC to pass the issue on to the teaching committee
10. Level 1.
10.1 PH-102: concerns were expressed over the delivery of the lectures; in
particular, the absence of worked examples. It was suggested that use be made of the
“tablet interface” in the Wallace Lecture Theatre.
Action: MC to pass on concerns to lecturer
10.2 PH-103: concerns were expressed regarding the marking of the assessed
problem sheets. Students had difficulties seeing exactly where they had made
mistakes.
Action: MC to pass on concerns to lecturer

10.3 The Chair invited comments on the current situation regarding the teaching of
maths at Level 1. Generally the feedback was the situation was currently satisfactory.
It was decided that a list of maths topics needed in physics modules be drawn up by
consultation with the staff.
Action: MC to facilitate the drawing up of a list of key maths topics
11. Level 0.
11.1 PH-002: concerns were raised over the fact that some students couldn’t hear
the lecturer clearly.
Action: MC to contact the lecturer
12. AOB
The Chair raised the issue of the affect on Physics of the merging of various
libraries. It was felt that the only negative aspect could be even more pressure on
limited working space.
The next meeting is scheduled for 4 th May 2006.