Department of Psychological Sciences

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES Report of Management Committee held on Thursday 29 November 2012 (MC12/13.1) 1. Apologies were received from Harish Patel and Julie Radcliffe.

2. Minutes of previous meeting (MC11/12.3) It was noted that Clare Press is in Room 511 and not 517 as reported. With the correction of a couple of typographical errors the report was received as a true record of the meeting.

3. Matters arising From MC11/12.3 3.1 Fire marshall – Ted Barker (3.1): MO confirmed Ted had been informed. 3.2 L&T rep from Postgraduate programme (8.1): MO had spoken to Denis Mareshall about a PG rep for L&T. MO planned to reinstate a PG Teaching Committee to meet regularly each year from which a rep to attend the Departmental L&T would be identified. It was noted that Geoff Bird was leaving at the end of the term and JS pointed out that this would have implications for supervision loads.

3.3 CRG membership (8.2) This had been established and the group had met on Tuesday 13 November 2012. To offer a balanced programme in light of the new student bodies the group considered reducing Social Psychology to 15 credits, moving HPP to earlier in the course in response to student feedback that an overview earlier on in their studies would e useful and expanding on cognitive psychology.

4. Health and Safety A written report was received which identified various risks of low and medium risk including old furniture brought in by staff that would need to be sprayed to make them flame retardant.

5. Items from the Chair There were no items from the Chair.

6. Research Committee 6.1 Space Plan (32 and Labs) (2.1). MO reported on the College’s space planning which involves redeveloping the entire estate, knocking down and rebuilding the extension building, a new building by Senate House and extending 32 Torrington Square to join up with the Warburg Institute. Capital spend unlike recurrent spend was being approved and the development at 32 is almost certain to go ahead shortly although staff would prefer to prioritise additional lab space in the basement.

6.2 GTAs January 2013) (4.1) The decision on whether or not to appoint two additional GTAs will be taken in January. MO reported that he had been asked to do an interim budget report in December to see if this is affordable. The decision would not impact on REF as only completions can be included. 6.3 REF (dry run, whose in whose out) (5.1) The Dry Run submissions had been collected and would be examined in detail and recommendations made to the Master for approval. Any staff not selected will be informed by the Master.

7. Resources Committee 7.1 Report of remaining funds (button boxes) (3.2.2) AS reported that the button boxes had unexpected arrived with parallel ports rather than USB ports. HP would be checking with Heijo if which they could be changed to USB. 7.2 Laptops for data collection/student projects (4.1) – AGREED The purchase of 3 new laptops was agreed giving the department a total of five. Four PCS (not screens) had been purchased for the booths to maximise Matlab and Eprime. AviR was all set to purchase the licences.

7.1 Display boards for 32 Torrington Square (5.1) – Who pays The display boards will be used to showcase staff research to the public and speakers. The proposed size of the display boards would be cleared with health and safety first before proceeding. 7.2 Basement Bathroom at 32 Torrington Square (6.1, 6.2)) Whilst any refurbishment to the bathroom was a matter for Estates it was agreed that baby changing facilities could readily be provided at a relatively low cost estimated at around £100.

7.3 Use of an online system to process enquiries from those seeking unpaid research experience (8.2) AS reported that LT was keen that colleagues in the department should be given the opportunity to take on final year or graduate students who volunteering for unpaid research experience where they could not be accommodated by CBCD rather than being turned away. 7.6 AS reported that an EEG net had been donated to the department by DM. It was suggested it could be accommodated in a testing booth and could be washed in the basement between uses. Before accepting the offer AS would request costs and a clear indication of conditions needed to use the equipment.

8. Learning and Teaching Committee 8.1 Changes to Assessment (3.1) – SG reported that these had been agreed and that KR was monitoring the marking of first year essays.

8.2 Training of GTAs (3.2) – Commend KR KR reported that the training of GTAs went ahead and went well. She added that the aim was to repeat the sessions every year, and that the college was now running its own more general, accredited version, which GTAs were also free to take up. A follow up session would also be arranged for any GTAs who had missed the original session. 8.3 Internal Review (3.5) SG reminded the committee that this will occur next term, probably in mid-March 2013. Staff will be kept informed of preparations, and are reminded that they should be available on the date of the Review. SG told the committee that a panel from college would review all courses (pre-degree, Foundation degree, BSc programmes, postgraduate courses), visiting the department for one day of meetings. The exercise requires the organization of a vast amount of information which the department has to provide before the visit, and the matter would be further discussed in the Management committee. He added that students would also be consulted as part of the process, and that it was important that the department came out of the process well, to bolster the reputation of its teaching in line with its excellent reputation for research.

8.4 GTA workloads (3.6) – Needs cost-benefit monitoring (studentships better?) RB told the committee that GTA workloads had become more manageable this year and that Nick Rendell has been appointed as a full-time GTA.

8.5 Examination re-sits (3.7) – Need to be expanded SG reported that these were becoming complicated, and, as a result, the department was taking advice from other departments on the matter. He added that one possibility was for full-time students who failed modules to be advised to not to register for the following year, and to catch up on failed modules as examination only. SG told the committee that September resits would continue to take place with the aim of getting as many people as possible through examinations in a single academic year. ACTION POINT: MV to see if students who are registered as exam only get access to Moodle space.

8.6 Assignment word length for Masters courses (3.8) – Why is WL a factor? SG expressed concern that some Masters programmes features 2,500-word essays as part of their assessment. He pointed out that some BSc modules had 3,000-word essays as part of their assessments, and that the committee should consider whether a change needed to be made. TB pointed out that it could be more demanding to answer complex questions in 2500 words than in 3000 words. Action point: SG to check on range of requirements on MSc programmes

8.7 UCAS Year 3 issues (6.0) – CRG KR reported that students were worried about the workload in year three of the full- time BSc, with the need to complete the mini-project as part of the assessment for Advanced Research Methods (PSYC011H6) and the Project (PSYC046H6) in one year a source of particular concern. SG responded that plans were being made to equalize each year of the part-time and full-time programmes in terms of credits taken per year. KR offered to provide more time management sessions for students.

8.8 Report from LSO and LSO post (7.0) – Commend KR KR reported that she was seeing a lot of students, and that inductions had gone well, She added that the Student Union was being active in encouraging certain aspects of the student experience. She added that a replacement for Jennifer Fraser has been approved, and RB offered to take charge of advertising the post.

8.9 SSSEC third year issues and Moodle issues for final year modules (9) – Wait until 2013-14 First years were happy, and their seminars were going well CP reported that second year Research Methods was progressing well. Third years had complained that there were too few computers with E-Prime software installed, and that more licenses should be purchased. Third years had complained that a guest lecturer had been sub-standard. Final year students had some concern about materials being added to Moodle in a timely fashion.

ED told the committee that E-Prime licenses were expensive, and that current problems could be resolved with better scheduling. CP suggested that the mini project, currently a component of Advanced Research Methods (PSYC011H6) be moved to Research Methods . SG suggested that the relationship between materials for second and third years be looked at in detail at the next meeting of the Curriculum Review Group. Action point: SG to contact module conveners over third year issues, and to check with finalists over issues with Moodle.

8.10CRG: social psychology length, timing of HPP and more Cognitive Psychology. Inadequate feedback from first marker for MSc core options. (10.1) – Need to break up Social and Ind Diffs and expand Cognition -> Personality & Social; Clinical Psych; Learning & Memory; Cognition. SG reported on the latest meeting of the Curriculum Review Group. Matter included:

o A suggestion that the Social Psychology (PSYC067S5) module be made shorter. o A suggestion that History and Philosophy of Psychology (PSYC076S6) occur earlier in the BSc Psychology. o That the teaching of Cognitive Psychology be expanded.

During a general discussion KR told the committee that she had found it difficult to accommodate her support groups during the current academic year. This meant she was having to do more one to one work with students, which was not desirable.

ED told the committee that he had received a message from an MSc Psychology student complaining that they had received a two word comment as feedback on one of their essays. He added that on investigation, he had found that some of the feedback from essays was similarly not up to expected standards. Action point: SG agreed to take the matter to Anne Richards.