[Academic] Teaching consolidation over the Summer

[Brian]

Dear All,

In order to prepare those students who are progressing into the new 
Academic Year, or who may wish to in subsequent years, we are putting in 
place some additional support which will require your input. (This does 
not apply to the labs PH180, PH280 and PH350 and perhaps less so for 
PH185 and PH285.)

Firstly, all materials from 2019/20 should remain available on Myplace 
until the new year begins. Please see attached from Learning 
Technologies for details. Students will be advised to use this material 
to consolidate this year’s learning before the start of the new 
Semester. This should allow students to transition smoothly into the new 
academic year.

Secondly, Lecturers are asked to provide and communicate to students, at 
least two, time-limited question and answer forums per module, probably 
via Zoom, to help clear up any questions students may have before the 
start of the semester. Please see below the email which will be sent to 
students in the next couple of days. We would encourage this to be done 
over two separate hour-long Zoom sessions, separated by ~ 2 weeks, 
during the last two weeks in Aug. and the first week in Sept., where 
students can tune-in and ask questions. You may wish to direct them to 
topics you know they will be weak in, by giving them some additional 
assessment-type questions for them to try around mid-July. Lecturers may 
want to ask students to provide an outline of the assistance they 
require at the Zoom sessions in advance, either on Myplace or via email. 
A Doodle poll is available here: 
https://doodle.com/poll/df22c9ibrw2rrc5r , to assist you arrange the 
Zoom sessions so that they are well spread out.

Thirdly, and as detailed on the Physics Covid-19 Info Myplace page, for 
Year 1-2 students who have not had any formal end of module 
examinations, a short multiple choice test for each module 
(PH181/PH182/PH183/PH184 and PH281/PH282/PH283/PH284) will be run in the 
'Welcome Week' of the new academic year. Lecturers should therefore 
prepare such an assessment. These will assist students in gauging their 
level of learning consolidation. They are not a formal assessment and 
will simply allow students to be directed to appropriate areas of 
further self-study. Further feedback sessions can be considered into the 
new semester if required.

Can Lecturers please get these measures in place and communicate the 
Zoom and assessment details to the students by end of June - the Year 1 
& 2  multiple choice tests for Welcome Week can wait until nearer the time.

Thanks & regards,
Brian.


> Dear All,
>
> The covid-19 lockdown has ensured a difficult teaching and learning 
> environment for all last Semester. To help you transition smoothly 
> into the new academic year, all this year’s course material will 
> remain available on Myplace. You are advised to use this material to 
> consolidate this year’s learning before the start of the new semester. 
> This should not be too onerous a task and should be able to be done 
> with a few of days study.
>
> Lecturers will provide a time-limited question and answer forum, 
> probably via Zoom, to help clear up any questions you may have before 
> the start of the semester. Details will follow for each module.
>
> As mentioned on the Physics Covid-19 Info Myplace page, for Year 1-2 
> students who have not had any formal end of module examinations, we 
> will run short multiple choice tests for each class 
> (PH181/PH182/PH183/PH184 and PH281/PH282/PH283/PH284) in the 'Welcome 
> Week' of the new academic year. The purpose of these tests is to 
> assist you in gauging your level of consolidation and to support your 
> learning. They are not a formal assessment and will not affect any 
> degree or progression marks. They will simply allow staff to be able 
> to direct you to the appropriate areas for self-study in order that 
> you can manage the more advanced material you will get in the new 
> academic year.
>
> We hope this will help you to progress to next year confident in the 
> knowledge that you have the appropriate/necessary learning required 
> for future study.
>
> Regards,
> Brian McNeil, Director of Teaching 


-- 
-----------------------
Dr. Brian WJ McNeil
Department of Physics, SUPA & Cockcroft Institute
University of Strathclyde
107 Rottenrow East
Glasgow, G4 0NG
Scotland

Tel:    0141 548 4727
Fax:    0141 552 2891

The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC015263

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MyplaceClasses.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 212027 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://phys.strath.ac.uk/pipermail/academic/attachments/20200602/10966cb9/attachment-0001.pdf>