School of Health and Social Sciences

Next week your lecturers will be handing out evaluation forms which will ask you to give feedback to us about each of the modules you've been working on. What you say is extremely important to us - the summary of what you say goes to your tutor who reflects on what you've said and then posts a response on the MLE. All the summaries and responses go to the School Learning & Teaching Group and then on through the School's various committees. We're always looking for appropriate actions, things we should be doing about what you're saying.

This time the forms are rather different, though. It struck us that the old ones really gave you space to be answering the questions we think you might want to be answering but we've never actually asked you what you want to be commenting on. To that end the Learning & Teaching Group asked the student mentors whether they'd be interested in redesigning the evaluation form, and that's what two of them, Zoe Stanley and Sarah Hiscock, have done - and we're really grateful to them for that. We added one or two questions that we needed to ask but basically this is an evaluation form made for students by students - and we hope you find it useful.

If you'd like to have a look at it beforehand you'll find a copy attatched to this posting. Actually there's nothing to stop you starting to fill it in if you're really keen!

Just a reminder of next week's Open Seminar which takes place in room G102 in the Rathmall Building at 5.30 on Tuesday the 4th March. Dr Jill Annison will be presenting "Views from Inside: A Review of the Changing World of Probation" All are welcome.

Mentors play an incredibly important role in the life of the School, and we're recruiting again. You'll find further information attached to this post. If you'd like further information or an application form contact Hannah Topping, Student Retention Officer on 01633-432527 or by email. 

You can now gain access to the National Library of Wales electronic resources.  You will need to apply for a National Library of Wales reader’s ticket using the following link http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=readerstickets, which gives you the opportunity to apply for a National Library of Wales Athens account.  Once you have a National Library of Wales Athens account you will be able to access many of the National Library of Wales electronic collections of books and journals, including JSTOR

As dissertation hand-in dates draw closer, make sure you get the support you need before it is too late.    We will answer any study skills questions you may have regarding structure, punctuation, grammar and Harvard referencing.  
Make an appointment sooner rather than later!   
For individual chapters we will look at up to 2 pages of your work or selected areas that you consider needs further work. 
If the dissertation is complete we will look at up to 10 pages only (cut off date for submission to us is 7 days before your hand-in date). 
Alternatively, you could bring a list of study skills questions related to your dissertation. 
The Study Zone Advisers will not proof read your work, but will work with you to develop your proof reading skills.

You'll find contact details for the Study Zone here.

The School Interim Exam Board sat on the 19^th February in order to review the progress of students within the School. You will have already received your provisional results and feedback for these assignment/assessments. However, result letters will be sent out and where necessary retrieval information will be included. Please note the information below for students who have received an E4 grade or below.  

 Undergraduates Programmes (excluding Social Work and Probation)

If you have achieved an E4 for an assignment/assessment there is the possibility that you may still pass the module but you would have to achieve an overall aggregate result of a D5 or above, if your average result for the module, once complete, is below a D5 then you will have to retrieve the module. If you have scored an E4 you do have the opportunity to retrieve this element of the module and retrieval questions are posted on the MLE system. The retrieval hand in date is the 14^th March 2008 but please note that the cut off time is 4pm on that date. You may decide not to retrieve at this stage and wait until later in the year so that you may assess what your overall module result will be. If this is the case, you will have the opportunity to retrieve (if necessary) after the summer board when another retrieval question will be set. Please note that you only have one opportunity to retrieve but you do have a choice of when you take that one opportunity.

Summary of your options – assignments/assessments with an E4 result

1)     Retrieve by the 14^th March 2008, 4pm cut off time, please note that the mark for the retrieval piece of work will override the E4 result even if the result is a lower grade.

2)     Wait until you complete the module in the hope that your average grade will be a D5 or above.

3)     Retrieve after the June exam board, if necessary, when a new retrieval question will be set.

If you have achieved below an E4 you will need to retrieve this element of the module and as above you will have the opportunity to either retrieve by the 14^th March 2008, hand in before 4pm or you will be able to retrieve the assignment/assessment in the summer after the June exam board. Please note that you only have one opportunity for retrieval but it is your decision whether you take that opportunity now or in the summer retrieval period.

Summary of you options – assignments/assessments with a result below an E4

1)     Retrieve by the 14^th March 2008, 4pm cut off time.

2)     Retrieve after the June exam board when a new retrieval question will be set.

 Social Work Students

Social Work Students, you need to pass all elements of your modules so if you have scored an E4 or below, you will need to retrieve but as above, you may retrieve now or have the option to retrieve in the summer retrieval period. Please note, as above, you may only retrieve once.

Summary of you options – assignments/assessments with a E4 result or below

1)     Retrieve by the 14^th March 2008, 4pm cut off time.

2)     Retrieve after the June Exam board when a new retrieval question will be set.

Probation Students

 Probation students, you also need to pass all elements of your modules although your results are reviewed at exam boards later in the year and retrieval times will be set accordingly.

You will need to inform the School of your retrieval intentions by emailing heather.collins@newport.ac.uk , you should state whether you intend to retrieve work now and if so which modules you will be retrieving or whether you are going to wait for the outcome of the summer exam board.

Very shortly we'll be posting the minutes of the Diversity Committee onto this blog. In the meantime we thought it would be useful for us to post the URL of the Equality and Human Rights Commission here - it's http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/pages/eocdrccre.aspx

We're keen to have student representation on this committee - we didn't today, though we usually have - so if you have a particular interest in this area do contact us.

You will have had this information already, but we're trying to make this blog as comprehensive a source of information as we can, so here goes -
Please note that as of this year your degree classification will be calculated in 2 different ways and the highest resulting grade average will be used for your degree classification. This is just to keep you informed of the changes within the University and requires no action on your part; the 2 calculations will automatically be carried out for all final year students.
The 1^st calculation will be carried out as has been the case in the past where equal weighting is given to both your level 5 and level 6 results i.e., year 2 and 3. The 2^nd calculation, which is new to this year, will be a different weighting and that is 1/3 to level 5 and 2/3 to level 6. This change has been brought about so that students’ accelerated learning can be taken into consideration. As mentioned the best grade average from the 2 different calculations will be used for your classification. You can find more detail about these calculations if you go to the QA Unit’s Assessment and Regulations WebPages

http://www3.newport.ac.uk/displayPage.aspx?object_id=2997&type=PAG

Included below for information is an extract from the Assessment Regulations which states:-‘For classification purposes, the student's average performance should be calculated both on the basis of a 1 to 1 weighting of penultimate to final level, and on the basis of a 1 to 2 weighting. The student would then be classified according to whichever of these overall averages is the better.3'