Your voice matters

• We introduced new degree schemes to expand our placements programme.
• We have started teaching R instead of STATA.
• We introduced PAL mentors, who are final year students with high grades in maths and stats, to help other students with the content of first year maths and stats modules.
• We now schedule all tests at times reasonable for both UK and International students.

Undergraduate

• Students requested additional skills training, which led us to design a data skills workshop which was included into our introductory GV110 module.
• Students requested more politics-related events on current topics, and we have strengthened our work with the Politics Society and the Model UN to organize and promote events on timely issues in politics. For example, an event with the Model UN on October 24 drew 70+ students, a populism event with Politics Society on October 29 drew 40 students.
• Students returning from placement years requested re-introduction session, which has led our senior advisors to hold such sessions in the Autumn term.

Postgraduate taught

• Students requested more employability events, which led us to add additional short courses and alumni speaker events to our program calendar.
• Students requested a practical alternative to the research dissertation, and we now offer a PGT portfolio option which students can select.
• Students requested additional understanding of assessment expectations and marking criteria, and we have responded with a department-wide review to ensure clarity across all modules.

Postgraduate research

• Students requested inclusion in departmental communications where relevant to their studies, which led the PGR director to incorporate regular meetings with PGR student representatives, so that matters affecting them are communicated in a timely manner.
• Students asked to revive their student-organized speaker series, Heroes. The PGR director and administrator are now providing them with logistical support.

Students from all levels

• Students from or studying Africa requested Africa-related events, which led us to invite Africa speakers as well as organized student conferences on Africa-related research.

• We provided 5 extra headsets and microphones to be used in the phonetics labs.
• It has been arranged for future UG & PGT Student Voice Groups for the ‘pre-SVG’ to take place directly before the main SVG so students can discuss and collate their ideas before staff arrive, instead of attending both events.  

• We provided extra seating in the department common room and improved signage for kitchen facilities.
• We added new assessment options to First Year modules Origins and Transformations in Literature and Drama (LT111), and Shakespeare Across Media (Lt151). Allowing submission of a creative response, critical essay, or drama performance has made modules relevant and accessible to students across LiFTS disciplines.
• We diversified our regular department social events and writing competitions, after students told us they wanted greater variety. Our programme now includes screenings, open mics and poetry nights, with students invited to submit fiction, memoir, film pitches, news stories and reviews to our competitions.

• We developed new modules to help students gain specialist insights associated with their future career goals.
• We provided additional support sessions following feedback from students about specific aspects of the course that they were struggling with.
• We have reduced the time between students submitting coursework and receiving marks/feedback. We have also changed the way we release the marks for January exams – these are now received with the same turnaround time as other assessments.
• We have taken extra care to separate out coursework deadlines wherever possible.
• We provided guidance to GLAs on how best to create a positive learning environment in lab classes.

• Students wanted more information about the dissertations in the final year. We organised it to be a standard part of the UG year 2 business meetings.
• Students wanted the optional module list to be reduced but designed to be nuanced to course potential career options. We reviewed and reduced module options on UG courses and created Module fares for UG year 1 and 2 students as well as a Module Brochure and a sheet 5 for each cohort with their particular options on it. At the module fair all students are offered 1:1 or 2:1 advice with a member of PPS on the right modules to take in relation to employability and career options.
• Students said they are really happy with the Module Fair and the Module Brochure but wanted assignment deadlines for each module on the cohort specific sheet so that when they pick options they can also take into account deadline – we did this.
• PPS module supervisors and course leads were asked to look at deadlines being close together to see if that can be tweaked. We did this and tweaked them where we could to give as much space as we could.

• We have a bunched deadline policy that offers students more flexibility with submissions.
• From October 2025 we have diversified our student volunteer roles (and currently have the largest cohort of student volunteers yet!).
• We have a ‘Cohort building group’ with a variety of engagement events and activities. We have introduced events/study groups in the Sociology Study Centre. We also have a Department Festive Social in collaboration with the Criminology Society.
• Late submission claims are now automatically approved if students have 3 or more deadlines within a 4 day period which are weighted 20% or more.
• We have created a Dissertation Library – browsable file to see titles, topics and methods of final year projects from 2019 onwards.
• From Spring (2023) there will be a ‘Re-Induction Programme’ with Welcome back activities open to all UG and PGT students to cover basics of using Moodle, MyEssex, and more.

• The SU café at Roding has new equipment such as sofas, blinds, tables and floor cushions to make a better student common room space and provide more room.
• Access to kitchen facility is now available to students. 

• Students asked for a more optional and tailored experience at level 6, to assist them with future careers e.g spending 2 weeks in finance or sales.
  Action - the level 6 students now have the option to shadow a Head of Department (HOD) for 2 weeks, they are now in finance, event sales and F+B Management.
• Students wanted to know what HODs days looked like and what they did other than operationally.
  Action - We are now interviewing HODs and getting a picture of their typical days and producing video clips and graphics to bring this to life.
• Students wanted to be able to have easier access to their shift patterns and to be able to track their attendance.
  Action - We gained free use of Planday and all students can now see their shifts and any changes as well as attendance.

• Module Leaders now upload lecture slides in advance so students can follow along on their own devices.
• Guidance has been issued to ensure greater consistency in the quality and quantity of assessment feedback across all modules.
• Lecture slides now include comprehensive and well-structured references.
• Teaching pace has been adjusted to allow sufficient time for students to take notes during lectures.
• Lecture content is now presented in a clear, sequential, week-by-week format.

• Both teachers meet weekly to ensure that the support and guidance given is in line with each other and to discuss how to best support specific students who needed it. We will continue this good practice.
• The Department will continue to provide timely and constructive feedback.
• We will continue to make connections to politics as it unfolds.

• We invested in online resources like Law Trove to give you greater online access to Law texts. This provides students with access to a much greater supplier of texts online, so students can save money on buying books and can access material remotely with greater ease.
• We have developed an enhanced peer mentor role to better support students. The School has a large pool of students called ‘Law Stars’ who have helped the School develop support activities for our students who need them.
• We have invested in a Director of Student Support, whose role is to directly support academic skill development for Law Students and who meets regularly with students 1-2-1 to offer additional support where needed.
• We have created a new support programme for any student who is undertaking reassessment during the Summer. We have created a Summer programme of revision sessions to support students who have been offered reassessment over the Summer. These sessions aim to set students up with the skills they need to prepare for their assessment and give them a place to ask questions and seek help.
• We are publishing submission deadline schedules at the start of the academic year so people can take these into account when making choices for optional modules.
• We have improved guides for writing essays and how to understand feedback.

• You asked for clearer definitions of grade boundaries. The Deputy Head of School and Director of Education ran a Student Voice Hour session where they discussed grade boundaries and how to achieve top grades. A document was also produced and circulated.
• You asked for a wider variety of guest speakers, from more diverse fields to the School. We worked with our Director of Employability Development to provide a more diverse range of speakers. We welcomed Fatim Habbab speaking on “Improving REITs Time Series Prediction Using ML and Technical Analysis Indicators”, CSEE’s Anasol Peña-Rios took part in a panel discussion on “Exploring Trustworth AI” and 2Dr Haris Khan, Assistant Professor at Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, UAE , led a session on “Enhancing Model Calibration: An Important Step Towards Reliable DNN-based Vision Models”.
• Students asked for more coding challenges and quizzes. We issued a coding challenge in NewsBytes and embedded more Moodle quizzes as standard.
• Students said they would like more guidelines on the upcoming projects. Action – This was fed back in the first lab session.
• Students expressed concerns about the level of maths in their course. Action - We ran weekly voluntary support classes.
• Students want more / all sessions available on Listen Again. Action - We fed back in NewsBytes and the Student Voice Hour session and clarified this to be the case.
• We introduced a ‘you said we did’ section in our student newsletter, NewsBytes to keep students up to date with any recent feedback and actions. Each Student Feedback Session would also include feedback on any actions taken from the previous Student Voice Session.

Lifelong Learning

• We moved an OSCE assessment online to save AP apprentices travelling time and cost.
• We’ve created programme lead lunchtime drop-in sessions whilst AP apprentices are on pathway modules to allow feedback and programme updates.
• We’ve opened our calendars to students and apprentices via the “Book With Me” function to allow greater access and flexibility for Student Advisor appointments.

Occupational Therapy

• We have incorporated HCPC and OT apprenticeship standards into slides for the BSc and OTDA sessions to ensure students are clear what each session is focusing on.
• We have created documents related to research supervision expectations, so students and supervisors are clear what support is available.
• We have provided students with introductions to the academic year at the start of each year so students can plan their time more effectively.

Nursing and Nursing Associate

• In HS197 we inserted an introductory session in year 2, where students are encouraged to support a learner (s) in practice prior to getting to year 3, ensuring that they are better able to complete the assessment which is a reflection on their teaching and learning experiences.
• We have added optional, additional practice skills sessions ’60 minute skills’.
• We have provided simulation scenarios adapted to reflect both adult and mental health fields of practice.
• We are now using mid-module review to tailor the April – June timetable to meet requests.
• In HS195/246) we have moved the assignment workshop to Day 1 of the module, from the mid-point, for both BSc and NDA students.
• Third year students requested more input on SafeMedicate – we organised two zoom events and opened to all BSc and NDA students.
• In HS602 we revised and streamlined the portfolio documents into a more concise format. Levels 6 and 7 have been amalgamated, as they contained overlapping content.
• We relocated the online assessments to on-campus settings.
• We introduced an optional on-campus day to provide students with opportunities to network, engage with peers, and access campus facilities.

GPH

• Organised a Summer Term social event for students to enable socialising and networking with teaching staff and across the two programme cohorts.
• Provided a series of online and in-person induction events to include international students who start the course late due to visa delays.
• In HS908, following module feedback, we introduced interactive seminars to practice learning from the taught methods lectures in small groups.

SLT

• Programme Lead now conduct pre-SVG meetings with student representatives from their individual programmes to better gather their feedback and have in-depth discussions.
• We have increased the adult and paediatrics communication lab bookings with timetable for these clearly communicated via Moodle.
• We continued with using Qualtrics for students to select their HS340 dissertation topics; their literature review formative deadline is also much later after their return from Placements so that they have more time to work on them.
• Online drop-in sessions have been made available for MSc research modules to support a range of research skills and knowledge.
• There is assessment load reduction with all learning outcomes still being met in the SLT's new curriculum.
• The KSBs are presented via Duties, to support SLTDA students with their OTJ recording.

• Discussions have been initiated between the Grounds Manager, Estates and Student Voice Group representatives for students to be involved in rewilding some sections of campus.
• The curriculum is being reviewed to see whether ‘R’ tuition should be incorporated into year 1 so that it is sufficiently covered for these modules in year 2.
• We have produced set guidance on Essay writing for the final year Issues Modules. All assessment for the Issues Modules is currently being reviewed for next year. Existing essay writing guidelines are being reviewed to identify possible improvements.
• A WhatsApp group has been created to organise social events. PGRs were invited to a zoo trip in the Spring term. An end of year celebration was organised plus the Graduate Forum event will be held in-person. 

• We have put together a repository or list of links to datasets, which will be added to the student handbook. This is to have real examples of data so Students can better understand data processing.

• PGR students requested more informal opportunities to get together with staff and other students. We have planned events each term to facilitate this.
• Art History students struggled with the number of reading summaries alongside other assessments and work commitments, so we reduced the number of modules containing reading summaries in Art History.
• Assessments were revised in CS111 and CS112 to help students build writing skills in first year.
• Students requested that we retain the tutorial system in PY114, even when facing the need to streamline the curriculum in the face of a budget constraints and staffing shortages. We have done so.
• On the final-year undergraduate module on the history of witch-trials, the following changes were implemented in response to student feedback:
  
  • We introduced a seminar participation mark to reflect the importance of seminar contribution/discussion.
  • We set aside more time in seminars to explain and discuss assessment tasks.
  • We introduced a stronger focus on case-studies in seminar teaching.

• During a Student Voice Group meeting it was highlighted two deadlines were close together for ‘Sports Performance and Coaching’ and ‘Sport and Exercise Science’. These were both moved to ensure students didn’t have both deadlines so close together.
• All final year students have been informed of how to contact their supervisor to arrange meetings and we set up a survey so that students could to let us know they had met with their supervisor and everything was okay.