12-10-2012, 03:23 PM
School of Chemical Sciences Teaching Policy Document 2008-2011
School of Chemical Sciences.pdf (Size: 135.54 KB / Downloads: 62)
Role of School Programme Chairs/Coordinators
The positions of School Programme Chairs/Coordinators are open to all permanent academic members of staff within the School and are appointed by the Head of School based upon appropriate expertise and experience. The usual term of office for each Programme Chair is three years, although the positions are renewable.
The School recognises the important Role School Programme Chairs play in the planning, organisation, delivery and assessment coordination of the School’s degree programmes. The School will act to support these positions of responsibility where and whenever necessary, including personally through recognition within the equitable workload model. The School will seek to strengthen the role of School Programme Chairs in the future, with additional support, including funding allocation where appropriate, for the coordination of activities for continual development and updating of the School’s degree programmes
Role of the Module Coordinator
The Module Coordinator is responsible for the day to day organisation, delivery and assessment of the module. The Module Coordinator in most cases will be personally involved in the delivery of the module for that particular academic year, and the Head of School will assign Module Coordinator roles to all teaching academic staff during the annual teaching allocation process.
General requirements for the Module Coordinator are as follows.
1. To update on an annual basis the module descriptor, to ensure module details, including indicative syllabus, assessment procedures and Coordinator details are correct. To ensure the correct descriptor is available to students via the Faculty web site.
2. To liaise with fellow lecturers (particularly in the case of junior colleagues and post-doctoral staff teaching) on the module, to ensure appropriate division and coverage of the module syllabus.
Teaching Allocation
Allocation and authority over the delivery of teaching duties within the School is the responsibility of the Head of School. The Head of School will undertake the allocation of teaching duties following, where appropriate, consultation with individual academic staff and the School Teaching Convenor, with attention paid to the fair and equitable distribution of duties, taking into account each academic staff member's additional administrative and research activities. The use of an equitable workload model, detailed below, will inform the above allocation process.
The model will only be applied as a guideline for the Head of School when assigning teaching duties, and does not diminish the authority of the Head of School in the assignment of teaching duties amongst the academic staff. In all cases, the overriding emphasis in the allocation of teaching duties shall remain the provision of a quality educational programme to the School's undergraduate and postgraduate students. In distribution of teaching allocation, and specifically modules, to academic staff, priority will be given to ability and experience of the subject matter, avoiding, where possible, continuous periods spent delivering a specific module of <3 yrs and of >10 yrs.
Maternity leave
The School wishes to state its concern over the University Policy which fails to compensate the School for academic staff maternity leave. Where possible, the Head of School, in consultation with the maternity leave applicant, and School Teaching Convenor, will reschedule or reallocate the applicant’s teaching allocation, to suit all parties and limit the impact upon the delivery of the School’s degree programmes. In the above case, the overall teaching load of the applicant will be reduced, according to their length of leave on a pro-rata basis.
Employing external lecturers
All use of external lecturers/tutors/demonstrators should first be discussed and cleared by the Head of School and School Teaching convenor. Employment of external lecturing staff should be kept to a minimum and only take place where there is clear lack of internal available expertise, either (i) within the School, (ii) the Faculty and (iii) the University.
Development of new Chemical Science based modules, where internal expertise is limited or unavailable, should be avoided. Awarding of contracts to external lecturers should focus completely on teaching ability and relevant experience. The School will attempt to ensure that, where possible, there should be no Chemical Science based modules which require >50% delivery from external lecturers.
Lecture material availability
The use of e-learning technologies has increased the expectation of students that the content of lecture courses will be made available in electronic form. The School asserts formal lectures are not simply a mechanism for the dispersal of lecture notes but rather a means where students can obtain a deeper appreciation and understanding of the subject area. The School views attendance at lectures as important, and that acquisition of lecture notes is not an adequate compensation for non attendance at lectures. The School will issue advice to all students that they are expected to attend lectures and that there is no requirement for any member of the lecturing staff to make his/her lecture notes available in electronic form. Students should be made aware of the dynamic nature of the material delivered within a module and that attendance at lectures is the only mechanism to ensure accurate coverage of the delivered material. The school recommends that any materials/lecture notes provided to students should be dated, and if supplied electronically, given as pdf format (file protected where possible to avoid electronic plagiarism).