November 2022 TLD Bulletin
- Policy updates
- Support for student assessments during 2022/23 – IT issues
Following the information in last month’s Bulletin regarding the support put in place this year for students, we can also confirm that IT issues are still being accepted as a possible ground for mitigation. Guidance is available to assist Schools in identifying evidence that may be considered in IT-related mitigation cases. Information is provided for students on help with assessment issues (including IT matters), as well as general information on mitigating circumstances and extension requests.
- Guidance on References
A document entitled Guidance to Staff Providing References for Students was originally produced by Student Support but had not been recently updated. Members of the Teaching and Learning Delivery (TLD) team have worked with colleagues from Careers, ITL and Schools, as well as liaising with the Information Governance Office, to update the document. The updated wording has also had input from the Senior Advisers’ Network.
As part of this, work also took place in producing draft templates for students to use in seeking references, which have subsequently been added to the Careers website. The Academic Advising Toolkit has also updated accordingly.
The updated guidance can be found at: Guidance to Staff Providing References for Students
- Regulation XIX: Academic Appeals Procedure
One change has recently been agreed by Senate to Regulation XIX. This relates to an increase in the total time allocated from submission of formal appeal to completion of procedures to 90 calendar days (in line with the OIA’s Good Practice Framework). Note (x) on the first page of the Regulation contains this new statement.
The updated Regulation is available at: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=1872
More substantial revisions to the Regulation are expected to take place during this academic year, for implementation in 2023/24.
- Consultations on mitigating circumstances
Consultation has recently commenced around the area of mitigating circumstances. Discussion has been ongoing as part of the Student Experience Programme (SEP) which may impact on the current Policy on Mitigating Circumstances and Mitigating Circumstances Procedures. This provides an opportunity to review the current arrangements for considering mitigating circumstances, alongside the work ongoing as part of SEP, and will result in an updated set of practices and systems that will support a consistent and efficient approach to the consideration of mitigating circumstances and, consequently, a better student experience.
An online feedback form has been produced to gather feedback on the current Mitigating Circumstances arrangements, with some general questions and some other more specific questions stemming from proposals made by the SEP management groups, based on good practice already taking place in some areas of the University.
However, Faculties will be carrying out their own consultations, with the aim of producing a Faculty-specific response. If you are based in one of the 3 Faculties, please therefore look out for notification from your own Faculty in relation to the consultation and you will be invited to feed into your own Faculty’s consultation response.
If you would like to provide an individual response, however, the online form is available at: https://forms.office.com/r/7mQvWYptUd with the deadline date for submission being Monday 9th January 2023. (Faculty collated responses are to be received by Wednesday 18th January).
- Consultation on a new Student Pregnancy, Maternity and New Parent Policy and associated Procedures
Currently, there is no specific University policy or procedures for taught students in relation to arrangements for pregnancy, maternity and adoption, and arrangements have generally been dealt with under the Policy on Mitigating Circumstances and/or the Policy on Interruptions to Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Programmes of Study. The University is not legally obliged to have a policy in place, but it is considered good practice and an increasing number of institutions are following suit and introducing such policies. (PGR students are covered under the Change of Circumstances for Postgraduate Research Students Policy).
A draft Student Pregnancy, Maternity and New Parent Policy and associated Procedures for Supporting Student Pregnancy, Maternity and New Parents has been produced, alongside a Student Pregnancy, Maternity and New Parent Support form to guide discussions when making arrangements and adjustments during a student’s pregnancy and/or maternity.
Consultation on earlier versions of the draft documents took place in 2016, led by the Division of Campus Life. However, the approval of the documentation was delayed due to a number of reasons including the Covid-19 pandemic. Work has now recommenced on the documentation, including transferring them into the new format for formal University teaching and learning related Policies, Procedures or Guidance documents.
An online feedback form has been produced to gather feedback. However, Faculties will be carrying out their own consultations, with the aim of producing a Faculty-specific response. If you are based in one of the 3 Faculties, please therefore look out for notification from your own Faculty in relation to the consultation and you will be invited to feed into your own Faculty’s consultation response.
If you would like to provide an individual response, however, the online form is available at:
https://forms.office.com/r/QN7HAv1Jr7, with the deadline date for responses being Monday 9th January 2023. (Faculty collated responses are to be received by Wednesday 18th January).
A background paper, which provides links to the draft documents, can be found at: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=64405.
2. Scheduling (Timetable and Examinations)
- Timetabling Policy
Following university wide consultation, Senate has now approved the new university timetabling policy and supporting code of practice. There is also an ongoing survey for all academic staff and students, asking them to rank the items which they want the university to consider when designing the timetable.
The deadline for the survey is 14th December and we would encourage everyone to complete it if they have not already done so.
3. Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) team
From everyone in the TEF team, we just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been helping us collect data for the TEF submission – we have received lots of fantastic evidence of teaching excellence from across the University. We have moved into the writing stage and now need to condense the vast amount of information into just 25 pages. We are anticipating that the first draft will be available on Monday 5 December to be shared across University and Faculty Senior Leadership Teams as well as the AQSC sub-committee of Senate with the final version being submitted to OfS by the Tuesday 24 January 2023 deadline.
4. Institute of Teaching and Learning (ITL)
- The Institute of Teaching and Learning Monthly Roundup
Check out our ‘What’s New in ITL’ page on Staffnet at the start of each month, to see what Teaching and Learning tools and resources we have published recently.
We have a number of Workshops coming up this month, as our Open Workshop Programme gets underway, and our TEA Blog posts weekly content on Teaching and Learning. New posts on a range of topics every Friday.
Workshops this month:
- Wednesday 16th November 13:30-14:30, on campus – Inclusive Feedback led by Dr Nick Weise
- Tuesday 22nd November 13:00-16:00, online – Class in the Classroom led by Dr Leonie Smith
- Wednesday 23rd November 12:00-13:00, online – Reimagining ‘international’ students led by Dr Zhuomin (‘Min’) Huang
- Teaching Excellence Awards celebration
The 2022 Teaching Excellence Awards celebration was held on 20 October. The 2023 call for nominations next round will be announced early 2023 via TALON, StaffNet, TLD bulletin and Faculty Comms.
- UK Advising and Tutoring
The University has become an institutional member of UK Advising and Tutoring. All members of staff who act as Academic Advisors or Tutors can therefore sign up to become an Affiliate Member and access online resources and training and the UKAT network. We'd also like to remind you that anyone can sign up to the UoM Academic Advisors' Support Network on Yammer, to connect with other advisors, share resources and ask questions about the Advising model and processes.
- Differential Attainment Project Findings
Topics include:
- International students
- Commuter students
- BAME students
- Placements
- Student Societies
- Appeals
Check them out for some recent insight into Differential Attainment.
5. Contact
If you are aware of other staff members who would like to be added to the TLD Bulletin mailing list to receive future editions of the Bulletin, please contact Miriam Graham (email m.graham@manchester.ac.uk).
If you are from a Collaborative or Validated Partner and you are having difficulties accessing any of the linked documents or web pages, please also contact Miriam Graham.