The overall role of Strand Leaders is to work together with the Course Director, Year Leaders, Deputy Strand Leaders and other teaching staff to develop a coherent and integrated strand of material to be taught to students through the visits to that system or topic during the preclinical years of the BVetMed course.  A Strand Leader is responsible for the organisation, content and academic quality of their strand and works with the Year Leaders and exam board chairs on staffing, timetabling and the setting and running of assessments.   

 A Module Leader is responsible for the organisation, content and academic quality of their module and the setting and running of its assessments. Whilst this may seem daunting, in practice you have a lot of help available to you and are mainly responsible for ensuring that the things outlined in this guide actually happen.   

Both, Strand & Module Leaders serve for at least three years.

Strand Leaders have a number of organisational duties, working independently, with each other or in collaboration with the relevant Year Leaders. 

The contact details of the overall Course Director and Year Leaders can be accessed here.

  

The UG Medicine Course Management Committee details: 

Committee	Chair	Secretary
UG Medicine CMC	Dr Steven Van Winden	Ms Ana Filipovic
	svwinden@rvc.ac.uk	aconnell@rvc.ac.uk

The Strand Leader will have to organise teaching activity occurring in different years of the BVetMed course.  They will therefore need to be familiar with the content of the strand in the different visits and will work closely with the Year Leaders of the years in which teaching occurs on their strand, and with the Graduate Year Leader as required.  This may require co-ordination of activity at a different campus.  The planner in Appendix 2 shows how the strands appear across the first four years of the BVetMed curriculum.  

Strand Leaders will also need to work closely with the organisers of related strands, particularly those with teaching that is taking place concurrently with visits to their own strands, to ensure both horizontal and vertical integration.  

Each Strand Leader will work with an appointed Deputy Strand Leader, and with a designated staff member from the academic department that neither the Strand Leader nor Deputy comes from.  The role of the Deputy is to support the Strand Leader in their role.  They will advise on the content of the strand, assist with organisational matters and deputise for the Strand Leader where necessary, e.g. if the Strand Leader were to be unavailable for the CMC they should deputise.  If they are based at a different campus from the Strand Leader this may be of assistance for certain organisational matters but it does not mean that the Strand Leader should expect them to be responsible for all matters relating to that campus.  The Deputy Strand Leader will normally come from a different department from the Strand Leader and this should help with organising activity in different years and at different campuses.  There will also be a named departmental contact for each Strand for the departments that do not provide the Strand Leader or their deputy.  This is again to support with organisational matters and to advise on the strand content. Close working between the Strand Leader and colleagues in other departments is essential if we are to realise the objectives of vertical and horizontal integration, with clinical relevance in the early years and basic science contributions to the later years.  

The Strand Leader or Deputy should provide an introduction to the strand at the first and every subsequent visit, enabling students to get a feeling for the content and the vertical and horizontal integration of the strand.

A module leader's organisational duties fall into three broad categories:

• staffing the module;
• getting the module timetabled;
• ensuring that appropriate equipment is available and working for the module.

Help is available with each of these tasks. Changes you want to make to your module should be discussed in your module review (see the Academic Quality section below for further details) and then presented to the relevant Year Leader and Course Director for approval. The Year Leader will then use the module review to inform their Annual Quality Improvement Report (AQIR) which will then be received and approved by the Annual Quality Improvement Group, a subgroup of the Teaching Quality Committee (TQC). The relevant Course Management Committee will receive the approved AQIR for information and TQC, LTAC, Academic Board and RVC Council receive a summary report of AQIRs and an action plan to address college-wide issues. . If you wish to contact the Chair and Secretary of the relevant Course Management Committee, their details can be found here. 

Strand & Module Leaders play an important role in the allocation of appropriate members of staff to teach on the strand/module. This will be done through discussion with the relevant Year Leaders or Course Director who will then submit requests to the Head of Department. Each Department has a Teaching Coordinator, who ensures appropriate distribution of teaching roles and identifies the need for additional teaching resource or redistribution in discussion with the Head of Department. Occasionally, expertise will be required that cannot be provided by existing members of staff, so an external lecturer may need to be invited. Again, discussion with the Year Leaders/Course Director and the relevant Head of Department and his/her Teaching Coordinator will be able to help identify suitable external lecturers. The formal request to these lecturers comes from the Head of Department.

Heads of Department
CBS	Professor Caroline Wheeler-Jones	Ext. 5237 cwheeler@rvc.ac.uk
CSS	Professor Daniel Chan	Ext. 6222 dchan@rvc.ac.uk
PPS	Professor Simon Priestnall	Ext. 635 spriestnall@rvc.ac.uk

   

Teaching Coordinators
CBS	Dr Stephen Frean	Ext. 5528 sfrean@rvc.ac.uk
CSS	vacancy
PPS	Mr John Fishwick	Ext. 6207  jfishwick@rvc.ac.uk

The timetabling department automatically roll-over the timetable for your strand from the previous year. Currently, the roll-over takes place over the Easter period.

You are required to notify timetabling of any proposed changes to your module (changes to teaching sessions, the timing of assessments etc.) in accordance with the Timetabling protocol (a link is provided at the end of this section) and preferably in writing or by email. The timetabling office will need certain information for them to be able to create the timetable including the names of any staff involved in the session, what type of session it is (lecture, seminar, etc.), the name of the strand or module and course it is taught on, the title of the session, the type of room you require and the estimated size of the group. The timetabling staff will then produce various draft timetables in consultation with all strand & module leaders to try and remove any clashes or other problems. It is worth noting at this stage that you can't make changes to the strand or module without the approval of the course management committee.

Timetables can only be issued to students once all of the modules on all of the affected courses have been signed off.

The strand / module leader is responsible for distributing the relevant schedules to the staff involved in teaching their strand/module and for confirming the lecturing staff for all sessions. 

Timetabling staff
Head of Course Support	Adam Hall	ahall@rvc.ac.uk
Timetabling Officer	Janice Williams	jawilliams@rvc.ac.uk

 

Useful links 

Timetabling Protocol

Timetabling Calendar

In your role of a Strand / Module Leader you need to ensure that the equipment you will need has been identified and can be provided. Some of this equipment will be easy to identify (data projectors for lectures, for example), though some of the equipment needed for practicals may be more esoteric. It should be possible to work out what is required by looking at the Learning Objectives for that particular class and by communicating with the staff who are scheduled to teach it.

Standard equipment like data projectors are provided in teaching rooms; a list of such equipment is available at IT Audio-visual Services (on the RVC Intranet - login required).  Non-standard equipment can be requested through the timetabling office, the request will be added to the booking for that session. If you are unsure or would like confirmation of equipment requested for each session, check it on the IT AV Calendar (on the RVC Intranet - login required) under Information and Services.

IT check and update computer programs over the summer break. If you need specific computer programs for your module, please check with the IT Helpdesk that these are set up in the rooms you have been allocated.

For cadaver material, contact Mr Andrew Crook (Camden) or Sharan Kane (Hawkshead) but note that at least three months’ notice will be required.

Equipment for practicals will need to be booked through practical classroom technicians or, if using the Clinical Skills Centre, the Clinical Skills Centre staff can give you a booking form. Please contact Nicki Coombes in the first instance directly to discuss a booking as these rooms cannot be booked through the usual room bookings procedure. They supply normal PPE and some consumables, so may need time to order items if your class is large. However, items not regularly stocked will need sourcing thorough your department Agresso user. Please note that the CSC does not have technical support staff so allow set-up time for your class. When undertaking any practical teaching, the member of staff who is taking the class should check that the equipment is there and operational before the teaching session. The CSC gets booked up to 12 months in advance, so please bear this in mind for any booking you would like to make.

If planning to use the TARC labs, please contact Katie Lovell to organise any necessary paperwork and equipment. Contact the IT Helpdesk for advice or to report faulty equipment. The member of staff delivering the teaching should also inform you of any problems they encounter. 

List of available AV equipment at each campus

Clinical Skills Centre	Nicki Coombes	Ext. 6665 ncoombes@rvc.ac.uk
TARC Labs	Katie Lovell  Becky Bristow	Ext. 9210 klovell@rvc.ac.uk   Ext.6075 rabristow@rvc.ac.uk
Cadaver material (Camden)	Andrew Crook	Ext. 5218 acrook@rvc.ac.uk
Cadaver material (Hawkshead)	Sharan Kane	Ext. 6958 skane@rvc.ac.uk
Practical Classes	Elaine Shervill	Ext. 5234 eshervill@rvc.ac.uk
IT Helpdesk	For any support in advance  of sessions that is not bookable through  timetabling e.g. a technician to be available at the start of a session etc.	Ext. 5181 helpdesk@rvc.ac.uk

Programme Support Coordinators can provide administrative help and guidance to Strand  & Module Leaders and will assist with many of the tasks outlined in this guide. 

Each Programme Support Coordinator’s role is broadly: 

• Compilation and editing of the course handbook and other guidance for students
• Organisation of headings within the RVC Learn for the course and populating the RVC Learn with lecture notes and other learning and self-testing materials provided by academic staff
• Timetabling of practical and other smaller-group activities
• Overall timetabling of the course in conjunction with College timetabling
• Provision of information to students in person and in other forms
• Making arrangements with guest lecturers
• Liaison with examinations section as required
• Support for the relevant Committees and quality assurance support as required
• Administrative arrangements for placements (where applicable)
• Administrative arrangements for projects and progressing their ethical approval
• Administration for the integration of study abroad students 
• To ensure the deadlines for submission of projects and other in course work  are clear to students
•  Administrative arrangements for module choice amongst students (modules only)

The Programme Support Coordinator can gather and upload lecture notes for your strand or module to RVC Learn along with other resources. Resources can be put together in the form of a handbook which would need to be ready for the beginning of the course.  In order to get the Handbook ready for the beginning of the strand, the Programme Support Coordinator will need all the relevant information handed in a reasonable length of time before the strand starts – please discuss deadlines with the Programme Support Coordinator. If some members of staff have not handed their information, you may need to help the Programme Support Coordinator chase them. The content of the handbook is listed in the Appendix 1 below. 

Please note that lecture handouts are not printed!

For further questions around programme support please contact Adam Hall, Head of Couse Support, ahall@rvc.ac.uk 

 

A Strand/Module Leader has overall responsibility for the setting of all assessments on their strand/module (written exams, assignments, etc) However, as with the end of year exams, in practice much of this work is undertaken by the Examinations Office working closely with the Strand, Module, Year Leaders and Course Director. Broadly speaking there are two types of assessment at the RVC; formative and summative. In formative assessments, the goal should be to see how students are progressing and to be in a position to give feedback to students to help them improve. Formative assessments are also used to allow students to gain experience of a new format of assessment, such as an OSCE or PSQ, ahead of being assessed summatively. While formative assessments do not count towards a student's final mark, summative assessments do count. It is crucial that Strand/Module Leaders inform students which assessments are formative and which are summative. The link to the Assessment & Award Regulations for each course is below as all the relevant detail is provided there. Please ensure you liaise with the Examinations Office as early as possible in order to allow the necessary arrangements to be made in good time for each assessment.

A Strand/Module Leader will automatically be a member of the relevant Exam Board. The Examinations Office provides organisational support for the in-course and end of year summative examinations. Further information about examinations and the functions of an Exam Board are provided here Exams & Assessment

When you are setting examination papers, please pay particular attention to the following documents: How Exams are Marked and Guidance for Design of Assessment in Modules  (for Module Leaders Only). Please do not hesitate to contact the Examinations Office who will be happy to offer guidance on assessment process should you require it.

The Exam Board

In a modular course, the Module Leader sets the assessment. The Course Director / Year Leader has overview of the summative examinations. Once External Examiner reports are received, the Course Director/Year Leader may ask the Module Leader for assistance with providing a response to points raised by the report.

An Exam Board is comprised of other Strand/Module Leaders, a Chair, Deputy Chair and relevant Internal and External Examiners and Assessors. A list of the Chairs/Deputy Chairs of Exam Boards and External Examiners can be found here.

Formative Examinations

The Module Leader needs to ensure that the setting, staffing, creating, organising and marking of formative examinations on their module takes place. Fortunately, you are not expected to do all of this yourself and the staff on your module should help you. These examinations can take many different forms, from written responses, multiple choice question tests or practical exams, depending upon what you want to achieve with the assessment. Development of online formative MCQ are encouraged. For more information about this contact Sonya Powney. The goal and method of the assessment should be made clear to students at the beginning of the module. The results of the assessment should be gathered quickly and according to the RVC Feedback policy and feedback given to students as to how they can improve (and praise for areas in which they did well). Reference to the Learning Objectives can help provide ideas for subjects on which students can be examined.

Summative Examinations

As mentioned above, the end of year/module summative examinations are set in conjunction with the Course Director/Year Leader. Some modules also have in-course summative assessments. As with formative examinations, it is the responsibility of the Module Leader to ensure that these are organised, set, staffed, run and marked (although this should be done with the approval of the Course Director/Year Leader acting on behalf of the Board). In practice, the Examinations Office will assist with administration, set-up and running of the examinations, so it is imperative that a Module Leader communicates with them at an early stage to ensure that the examinations go smoothly. The Exam Board Chairs should remain remote from the day to day organisation and running of the examinations but they are responsible for overseeing that the process is completed appropriately and within the regulations. Each course has a designated member of the Examinations Office who can be contacted on:

For further questions on examinations and assessments, please contact generic Exams Office email address of exams@rvc.ac.uk   

Examinations must be set in accordance with the requirements of the relevant Assessment & Award Regulations. Along these, advice and guidance on policy and procedures for assessment, appeals and extensions to deadlines can be found under Exams & Assessment section of the Academic Quality Regulations and Procedures. .

The RVC takes the quality of its courses seriously, and must demonstrate this when reviewed by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) or other external bodies, such as the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) etc. However, academic quality is about far more than simply providing information for reviews; if used properly it can help inform decisions taken about developments in the strand and help ensure that you have communicated the content of the strand to the students. Further information and guidance is available on the Annual Quality Assurance and Enhancement pages of the RVC website.

Learning Objectives

Learning Outcomes form a framework that help students see what they should be learning on each visit to the Strand and how this relates to the things they have already learned. It is the responsibility of the Strand Leader to devise and monitor the Learning Objectives, updating them in the light of any changes that are agreed at the Course Management Committee. A Programme Support Coordinator will provide the overall Learning Objectives for each strand in a handbook for students. In order to do this they will require them before the start of teaching on a visit to the strand.

Strand Review

The Strand Leader is responsible for completing the strand review form and should do so in collaboration with the strand teaching staff. This will occur annually after the conclusion of all visits to the strand in that academic year and within 20 working days of teaching on the strand ending.

Strand review form templates are available from the website and also from  AQOfficerSE@rvc.ac.uk.  Once completed the review form should be returned to the Academic Quality Administrator (AQOfficerSE@rvc.ac.uk) so that they may be forwarded to the relevant Year Leader and be published on the intranet here. The results of the review, including proposals for changes, feed into the Annual Quality Improvement Report (AQIR) for each BVetMed Year Leader, which will then be received and approved by the Annual Quality Improvement Group, a subgroup of the Teaching Quality Committee. UG Medicine CMC will receive the approved AQIR for information, and Learning, Teaching and Assessment committee will receive the approved AQIR action plan.

The strand review is where all organisational, assessment and academic quality aspects of the strand are considered. The strand review allows those teaching on the strand to:

• discuss whether the strand operated according to the Learning Objectives and identify improvements (if any) that could be made to the strand or if there is duplication of material on another strand.    e.g. the removal or addition of teaching sessions, to help the strand deliver its goals more effectively. 

• respond to student strand survey results. In particular, a response must be provided to any low scoring questions.
• identify problems and steps taken to remedy them (staffing or shortages of space, for example).
• consider feedback from External Examiners and any changes made accordingly.
• assess how successfully the strand has run and to formulate proposals for any improvements, for example – the removal or addition of teaching sessions to help the strand meet its goals more    effectively.
• allows problems to be identified, such as duplication of material within the strand or on another strand or omission of relevant material.
• outline steps to be taken to remedy any problems identified (re-allocation of staff or space, for example).

Strand leaders are responsible for disseminating information on assessments and feedback within their strands. The opportunities for feedback table in LEARN must be filled out before the start of a Strand leaders should also endeavour to meet with students face to face at the beginning of the strand to outline the exact nature of the assessments and feedback opportunities available to them within the strand, the turn-around times involved and the member of staff responsible in each case. Please refer to the RVC Feedback policy for further details.

In addition to the formal review it may be useful for the Strand Leader to convene a more informal meeting of teaching staff, perhaps when a particular visit to the strand is complete, to make some notes to help inform the review carried out at the end of all visits for that academic year.

Student Strand surveys 

From 2022/23, the following strand surveys will be conducted:

 

a. 1 survey with Year 1 at the end of term 1 to gather feedback on all 1st visit strand teaching

b. 1 survey for each strand during Year 1+2, normally at the end of all teaching

c. 1 survey for each strand during Year 3+4, normally at the end of all teaching

d. in addition for:

• ‘Principles of Science’ to conduct a survey for each Year group, in relation to teaching received each term

• ‘Professional Studies’ to conduct a survey for each Year group, in relation to teaching received each academic year

• ‘Population Medicine and Veterinary Public Health’ to conduct a survey for Year 2, 3 and 4.

 

Strand leaders/year leaders will be contacted by the Academic Quality team just prior to the start of each academic year, to confirm if there are compelling reasons as to why their strand survey should be scheduled at an early point during Year 1+2 or Year 3+4.  

 

Surveys are administered through the RVCs online survey system and are normally issued on the date of the last synchronous/face to face teaching session for the strand.  

On the survey live date, students receive an email containing a link to the survey. Students can also access their surveys via a link to the survey on the RVC App and their LEARN course homepage.

 

Surveys contain 2 parts:

i. overall satisfaction question – provide overall evaluation of the module as either very satisfied/satisfied/dissatisfied/very dissatisfied (Fig 1 below)

ii. full survey – provide response to specific questions (Fig 2 below).

 

Strand surveys usually remain open for 10 calendar days. The Academic Quality Office will attempt to process strand survey results within a week of the survey end date.

 

Results

 

A response rate of below 25% will be considered low and consequently no analysis of the results will be conducted.

 Low scores are defined as;

i. overall satisfaction question - 79% or below responded as either ‘very satisfied’ or satisfied’ (as a % of total respondents)

ii. full survey - in the case of any questions with limited choice answers, the questions with median of 2 or below are considered to be a low score. If the overall median is 4 this will normally be considered excellent.

 

The Chair of the Teaching Quality Committee will draw to the attention of the relevant members of staff instances of low response rate/low scores.

 

The Strand Leader is required to respond to the results of the strand survey, particularly any low scoring questions, through completion of their Strand Review form. The Teaching Quality Committee will consider responses to low scoring questions in the Annual Quality Improvement Report.

 

The results of strand surveys are returned to:

• Course Director and Deputy Course Director

• Year Leader

• Strand Leader and Deputy Strand Leader

• SU Course Representatives for the appropriate year

• Chair of Course Management Committee

• Strand Leader’s Head of Department

• Programme Support Co-ordinator

 

The results of strand surveys are published on the Academic Quality intranet pages (excluding open comments). Student course representatives are encouraged to direct their year group to the results as published on the intranet. They are also encouraged to discuss results with a relevant Strand Leader.  

Summaries of survey results will be retained by the Academic Quality Office in a form such that they can be used in appraisal and offered as evidence in promotion applications, Institutional Audit, quality assessment and accreditation.

   

Fig 1. Strand survey template: ‘Overall satisfaction question’ as viewed by student recipients of survey    

Fig 2. Strand survey template: ‘Full survey’ as viewed by student recipients of survey              

Strand Leaders play an important role in:

• supporting students to understand the important role their feedback plays in improving students learning experience
• ensuring students know when their survey goes ‘LIVE’ and encouraging them to take part 
• reassuring students that all surveys are anonymous
• document changes that have been implemented in response to student feedback and forward this information to the Academic Quality Officer ‘Student Engagement’ AQOfficerSE@rvc.ac.uk  for publication on the LEARN pages for ‘You said..We did…’. This is very important for closing the feedback loop and ensuring that students continue to be willing to provide feedback to the RVC.  

Please read Student, Graduate and Employer Evaluation Surveys for further information on student surveys.

The RVC takes the quality of its courses seriously, and must demonstrate this when reviewed by the Quality Assurance Agency, (QAA) or other external bodies such as such as the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE), the Royal Society of Biology etc. However, academic quality is about far more than simply providing information for reviews; if used properly it can help inform decisions taken about developments in the module and help ensure that you have communicated the content of the module to the students. Further information and guidance on quality monitoring and enhancement is available on the AQA & EP pages of the RVC website.

Module Outlines

Module Leaders are responsible for ensuring that the Module Outline is up-to-date.
Further details about approving changes to Module Outlines and the approval of new or replacement modules can be found at the Module Development and Approval webpage here.

Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes form a framework across the entirety of the course that help students see what they should be learning in each part of the course and how this relates to the things they have already learned. Learning Objectives provide a more detailed description of the module. It is the responsibility of the module leader to ensure that this information is up-to-date and that the module meets its stated Learning Outcomes. The Learning Objectives should be updated in light of any changes to the module agreed on by the Course Management Committee. Once updated, the module leader should send these to the relevant Course Director and the Programme Support Coordinator (to be placed on the Intranet and/or Learn). This should be done by the beginning of August at the latest. The Learning objectives will be linked to electronic resources that will usually include slides, Echo360, handouts/lecture notes. Module leaders are also encouraged to communicate to staff that they can link further reading, useful websites or learning activities. To comply with copyright laws do not embed copyrighted material in notes, provide a link to the original source instead.

Module Learning Outcomes  These can be found in the Student Handbooks (available on RVC LEARN).

Module leaders are responsible for disseminating information on assessments and feedback within their modules. The opportunities for feedback table in Learn must be filled out before the start of a module. Module leaders should also endeavour to meet with students face to face at the beginning of the module to outline the exact nature of the assessments and feedback opportunities available to them within the module, the turn-around times involved and the member of staff responsible in each case. Please refer to the RVC Feedback policy for further details.

Module Review

The Module Leader is responsible for completing the module review form and should do so in collaboration with the module teaching staff. Module review form templates are available from the website and also from  AQOfficerSE@rvc.ac.uk. Completed Module Reviews should be completed within 20 working days of the teaching on the module ending. Once completed the review form should bereturned to the Academic Quality Administrator (AQOfficerSE@rvc.ac.uk) so that they may be forwarded to the relevant Year Leader and be published on the intranet here.

The results of the review, including proposals for changes, feed into the Annual Quality Improvement Report (AQIR) for each BVetMed Year Leader, which will then be received and approved by the Annual Quality Improvement Group, a subgroup of the Teaching Quality Committee. UG Medicine CMC will receive the approved AQIR for information, and Learning, Teaching and Assessment committee will receive the approved AQIR action plan.

 The module review is where all organisational, assessment and academic quality aspects of the module are considered. The module review allows those teaching on the module to:

• discuss whether the module operated according to the Learning Objectives and identify improvements (if any) that could be made to the module or if there is duplication of material on another module.    e.g. the removal or addition of teaching sessions, to help the module deliver its goals more effectively. 

• respond to student module survey results. In particular, a response must be provided to any low scoring questions.

• identify problems and steps taken to remedy them (staffing or shortages of space, for example).

• consider feedback from External Examiners and any changes made accordingly.

• assess how successfully the module has run and to formulate proposals for any improvements, for example – the removal or addition of teaching sessions to help the module meet its goals more    effectively.

• allows problems to be identified, such as duplication of material within the module or on another module or omission of relevant material.

• outline steps to be taken to remedy any problems identified (re-allocation of staff or space, for example).

Student Module Surveys

Administration  

Each module is evaluated annually. Surveys are administered through the RVCs online survey system and are normally issued on the date of the last synchronous/face to face teaching session for the module.   A standard survey is issued by the Teaching Quality Committee to evaluate modules within the BVetMed, FdSc/BSc Veterinary Nursing, Biosciences, Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate and Postgraduate courses.   On the survey live date, students receive an email at around 9:00am containing a link to the survey. Students can also access their surveys via a link to the survey on the RVC App and their LEARN course homepage. 

Surveys contain 2 parts:

i.     overall satisfaction question – provide overall evaluation of the module as either very satisfied/satisfied/dissatisfied/very dissatisfied (Fig 3)

ii.      full survey – provide response to specific questions (Fig 4).  

Module surveys usually remain open 10 calendar days. The Academic Quality Office attempt to process module survey results within a week of the survey end date.  

Results  

A response rate of below 25% is considered low and consequently no analysis of the results will be conducted. 

Low scores are defined as:

i.     overall satisfaction question - 79% or below responded as either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ (as a % of total respondents)

ii.    full survey – in the case of any questions with limited choice answers, the question with a median of 2 or below will be considered a low score. If the overall median is 4 this will normally be considered excellent.  

The Chair of the Teaching Quality Committee will draw to the attention of the relevant members of staff instances of low response rates/low scores.   The Module Leader is required to respond to the results of the module survey, particularly any low scoring question, through their Module Review. The Teaching Quality Committee would consider responses to low scoring questions via the Annual Quality Improvement Report.  

The results of surveys are returned to:

·      Course Director and Deputy Course Director

·      Year Leader (if applicable)

·      Module Leader and Deputy Module Leader

·      Student Course Representatives for the appropriate year

·      Chair of Course Management Committee

·      Module Leader’s Head of Department

·      Programme Support Coordinator

The results of module surveys are published on the Academic Quality intranet pages (excluding open comments). RVCSU Course Representatives are encouraged to direct their year group to the results as published on the intranet. They are also encouraged to discuss the results with the relevant module leader.   Summaries of survey results will be retained by the Academic Quality Office in a form such that they can be used in appraisal and offered as evidence in promotion applications, Institutional Audit, quality assessment and accreditation.  

Module Leaders play an important role in:

supporting students to understand the important role their feedback plays in improving students learning experience

ensuring students know when their survey goes ‘LIVE’ and encouraging them to take part 

reassuring students that all surveys are anonymous

document changes that have been implemented in response to student feedback and forward this information to the Academic Quality Officer ‘Student Engagement’  AQOfficerSE@rvc.ac.uk for publication on the LEARN pages for ‘You said..We did’.. This is very important for closing the feedback loop and ensuring that students continue to be willing to provide feedback to the RVC.

 

Fig 3. Module survey: ‘Overall satisfaction question’ as viewed by student recipients of survey  

Fig 4. Module survey: ‘Full survey’ as viewed by student recipients of survey

Please read Student, Graduate and Employer Evaluation Surveys for further information on student surveys.

Module/Strand Leaders will be expected to participate in the periodic review of the course and any other review or accreditation visits, as requested by the Academic Quality Manager or Course Director.

Please visit Periodic Review of Courses for more info. 

Contents of Course Handbooks

What are course handbooks for? Students see themselves as relating to their course. Their ‘map of RVC’ emanates initially from the course. So the handbook needs to show the ‘core’ – their course – and then signposts to the rest of RVC. Each course/year handbook needs to include the information, and needs to be kept up to date, therefore links to policies etc. are encouraged.

Course Specific

• Introduction from the course leader for the first year of each course or introduction from the year leader for other years
• Update the who’s who to reflect current staff
• Outline of the year of the course
• Details of optional choices and how choice will be operated where the course-year has this for BSc courses. Include the Rotation handbook for BVM3 onwards
• Details of each module/strand 
• Learning objectives (include a separate page with them listed together)
• Project details – how they are chosen and how they work where the course-year has this. Projects and ethics, health and safety, travel and insurance
• Tutorial system in the course
• Formative feedback table

Standard to all courses

• Harvard Referencing system (standard copy)
• Placement arrangements and ethics, health and safety, travel and insurance (cross reference to other book if needed, eg. EMS handbook/other placement handbook)
• Friendly standard information about Assessment and where to find information including a link to the exams timetable
• Programme specifications – add a link to external website
• Award and Assessment Regulations
• Common Grading Scheme
• General Assessment Regulations
• Rules about submission deadlines
• Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct
• RVC Charter (replaces Code of Professional Standards and values)
• Explanation about why we have a charter
• Student Administration – fees, debt, records and data protection – some of this is found in the general regulations – use links
• Student engagement
• When things go wrong with you: Sickness, Academic Progress Committees 
• When things go wrong around you: Complaints
• Student representation at the course management committee
• External examiner details with link to their reports
• The role of the external examiner from the student’s perspective
• Other College Committees and SUS (eg. use links to Academic Quality)
• Library and IT Services and links to their web info
• Advice Centre and links to their web info
• Learning Support and links to their web info
• SUS and links to their web info.
• RVC Learn and links
• Health and Safety as relevant to the course with links to Health and Safety web
• Rules about animals on campus
• Car Parking and Travel
• ID Cards and Security
• Where to find RVC information – A to Z with links

BVetMed Strands Survey Planner