Minutes of the Staff-Student Joint Committee Meeting held on Monday 13 May 2002 at 2.15 pm in the Board Room

Present	Dr A Al-Tabbaa		Mr JA Ma
	Ms SA Bird		Mr BR Martin
	Mr AJ Cable		Dr RJ Miller
	Mrs CB Drummond		Mr AJ Murray
	Mr ML Groombridge		Dr GT Parks
	Ms R Hanzal		Dr JA Williams
	Mr SJ Ingram		Ms AG Yetginer
	Mr M Jung

02.18 Welcome of new members

Dr Williams welcomed the new Chairman of the Engineering Society (Mr Ma) to his first SSJC meeting.

02.19 Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Dr DRH Jones, Mrs J Hawtrey-Woore and Mr TG Froggatt

02.20 Minutes of the meeting held on 4^th February 2002

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2002 were approved.

02.21 Matters arising from the Minutes

02.08(i) CUED local web page design

Mr Cable reported that he had developed an alternative design for the CUED Local Home Page that he hoped would make finding information on the departmental web pages easier. It was agreed that Mr Cable should discuss with Mr Matheson the possibility of installing this alternative home page on the CUED web server to allow more general testing and assessment.

02.08(ii) Fast Feedback Facility

Dr Parks reported that a web-based version of the Fast Feedback Facility (FFF) was certainly feasible, although it would inevitably be slightly less fast than the DPO version. It was agreed that Mr Love should be asked to develop a web-based version of the FFF, with a view to its introduction in October.

02.09(i) Introduction of Spanish teaching

Dr Parks reported that the Language Unit staff were keen to introduce Spanish teaching. Dr Williams reported that the Language Unit was to be relocated to space presently occupied by Electronics Development. This move would give the Language Unit the greater space it needed if it was to be able to support new languages. It was hoped that it would now be possible to plan to introduce Spanish teaching in the 2003-4 academic year.

02.09(ii) Timing of oral examinations

Dr Parks reported that this request had been conveyed to the Language Programme for Engineers.

02.10(i) MATLAB demonstration

Dr Parks reported that this request had been conveyed to the member of staff in charge of this activity.

02.10(ii) Part I laboratory handouts

Mr Groombridge tabled and spoke to the draft paper he had prepared. It was agreed that the issues highlighted were generic to all Part I handouts (not just Part IA). Dr Williams asked Mr Groombridge to provide as an Appendix to the final version of his report lists of the current handouts that were regarded as “good” and “bad”. Other members of the SSJC were asked to convey any comments they had on the paper to Mr Groombridge. In discussion, it was agreed that, at least for some experiments, the emphasis in mark-up sessions was too heavily focussed on checking calculations rather than learning outcomes. Concern was also expressed about the perceived lack of correlation between effort put in and marks received by students.

02.10(iii) Part IIA practicals

Mr Murray reported that he had found it impossible to identify any “all good” or “all bad” handouts, and had therefore decided that it was better to incorporate his findings into the more detailed/directed survey conducted by Mr Martin.

02.10(v) Good/bad laboratory experiments

Mr Martin reported that he had received a good response to the survey he had conducted. It was agreed that detailed comments on individual experiments should be conveyed to the relevant laboratory leader and Mr Martin undertook to send Dr Parks the complete list of comments for this purpose. Dr Williams asked Mr Martin to produce a summary of the key points arising from his survey.

In discussion it was agreed that it would be beneficial for the Teaching Office to solicit comments from demonstrators about practicals in a similar way to that in which feedback on Part I examples papers is already solicited from supervisors.

It was further noted that the marking regime currently used for Part IIA experiments is perceived to discourage students from asking questions at mark-up sessions because displaying ignorance is seen to be penalised by markers.

02.10(vi) Part IB oral presentations

Dr Parks reported that this proposal had been welcomed and supported by the Coursework Committee, which had agreed to seek to implement it in the 2003-4 academic year.

02.10(vii) Lengthy coursework activities

Dr Parks reported that this information had been conveyed to the member of staff in charge of the relevant activities.

02.11(ii) Sustainable development

Dr Parks reported that the Teaching Committee had instituted a new Cross-Disciplinary Subject Group to take responsibility for the nurturing and development of teaching in topics of cross-disciplinary interest, such as Sustainable Development.

02.13(ii) Burger van

Dr Parks reported on behalf of Mrs Hawtrey-Woore that this proposal had been rejected on grounds of health and safety.

02.13(iii) Fair trade drinks

Dr Parks reported on behalf of Mrs Hawtrey-Woore that Fair Trade drinks had been trialled before and had proved uneconomic.

02.13(iv) Bottled water in lecture theatres

Dr Parks reported that the Faculty Board had agreed to allow bottled water to be taken into lecture theatres providing that there was no consequent increase in the amount of litter dropped in lecture theatres. It was noted that lecture theatres are not provided with waste bins, and that the provision of such bins would help to reduce the litter problem.

02.14 DABCE visit 4^th/5^th March 2002

Dr Williams reported that the DABCE visit seemed to have gone well, although, as yet, no official feedback had been received. He warmly thanked all the student members of the SSJC who had met with the DABCE visitors and also the more recent visitors conducting the General Board’s Preliminary Review of Engineering.

02.17(i) 3^rd year project selection

Dr Parks reported that it was technically feasible for 3^rd year projects to be allocated preferentially to students in the relevant Engineering Area and that the Coursework Committee would allow Subject Groups to decide whether they wished such priority to be given to their projects.

02.17(ii) CUES chairman

Dr Parks reported on behalf of Dr Jones that the CUES Chairman could become a voting member of the SSJC if the SSJC so wished. It was agreed unanimously that the CUES Chairman should have voting rights.

02.17(v) Best lecturer awards

Mr Murray reported that the certificates for the winners for 2001-2 had been prepared, but had not yet been presented due to a misunderstanding about the procedures involved.

Mr Murray reported that he would be meeting soon with Mr Love to activate the on-line system of voting for this year’s awards.

02.22 Modularisation of the 3^rd Year

Dr Williams updated the SSJC on the latest planning for the new modular Part II course (Papers SSJC:02.5.01, SSJC:02.5.02). He asked that members of the SSJC review the draft Requirements Specification for the on-line management system and let him know of any additional functionality that might helpfully be included.

Mr Ma reported that some Part IB students had found their preliminary choices of modules adversely constrained by the allocations of modules to clashing sets. It was agreed that the Teaching Office should survey current Part IB students asking them to identify clashes they found constraining when making their preliminary choices.

02.23 Date of next meeting

The next meeting of the SSJC will take place on Monday 28^th October 2002 at 2.15 pm in the Board Room.

02.24 Any other business

(i) Undergraduate common room

Dr Williams reviewed the current state of play with respect to the planned move of the Department to West Cambridge.

(ii) Windows in LT1

Mr Murray reported the receipt of a complaint via the SSJC Suggestions Box concerning the windows in LT1 being left open. Dr Parks explained that the cleaners were instructed not to leave lecture room windows open, so that students must be opening these windows; students were equally at liberty to close them again.

(iii) Men’s toilets in the Inglis Building

Mr Murray reported that the same message complained about the standard of cleaning of the men’s toilets in the Inglis Building. It was agreed that this matter should be referred to the Head Porter.

(iv) Soup bowls in the staff canteen

Mr Jung asked if it would be possible for soup to be served in bowls again, now that the staffing problems in the staff canteen seemed to have been resolved. It was agreed that this matter should be referred to Mrs Hawtrey-Woore.

(v) Tripos cribs

Mr Groombridge asked if the on-line versions of the Tripos cribs could be made accessible from outside Cambridge via a password-protected interface. It was agreed that this matter should be referred to Dr Long.

Mr Groombridge also raised concerns about the accuracy, legibility and relevance (to question finally set) of some Tripos cribs. The helpfulness to students of examiners’ comments was also highlighted. It was agreed that the Teaching Committee should be asked to review the process by which final versions of the cribs were produced.

(vi) Thanks to outgoing SSJC members

Dr Williams thanked the members of the SSJC for whom this was their last meeting (Ms Bird, Mr Cable, Mr Martin and Mr Murray) for their contributions during the year.