Student-Staff Expectations

You should…

We will…

Be respectful

• We ask you to be courteous to others, and treat all members of the University and local community with respect.

Remain professional

• The University is a formal environment and you should remain professional & polite when taking part in any activity associated with your programme. This includes in-person activity, all types of assessment (including groupwork), and when communicating via online platforms such as social media, Unitu or email.
• When contacting staff via email, you should always use your University email account – check this regularly, as it is the University’s primary form of communication.

Look after your space

• The Faculty aims to provide a safe environment for all students to work & study.
• In all spaces, appropriate Health & Safety regulations should be followed, and you should leave spaces as you find them. Please ensure all personal items and rubbish are disposed of in available bins.  

Be respectful

• All staff will treat members of the University and local community with respect and courtesy.
• Personal Tutors, Module Coordinators, Year Coordinators and instructors will aim to respond to emails within 3 working days, ideally sooner.
• Sometimes, staff may respond to you at evenings and weekends – but you should not expect this as normal working hours should be respected.
• Staff may reply to you about module content, but, for large modules staff may leave communications to other means (i.e. Canvas Discussion Boards)

Respond

• Personal Tutors, Module Coordinators, Year Coordinators and instructors will aim to respond to emails within 3 working days, ideally sooner.
• Sometimes, staff may respond to you at evenings and weekends – but you should not expect this as normal working hours should be respected.
• Staff may reply to you about module content, but, for large modules staff may leave communications to other means (i.e. Canvas Discussion Boards)

Act

• If a concern is raised regarding behaviour of an individual (staff or student), staff will act upon this appropriately and in a timely manner. This may involve signposting you to additional support teams or procedures.

Aim to…

We Will…

Attend

• You should aim to attend all teaching activity.
• If you miss a class, you are responsible for catching up on any missed materials and ensuring you follow appropriate procedures if a missed class is linked with an assessment (e.g. lab practicals).

Plan ahead

• You should be punctual for all learning activity, this is especially important for practical sessions as you may be prevented from taking part if you have missed initial briefings.
• If circumstances beyond your control prevent you from being at the start of a lecture or other activity, you should enter quietly (by a back or side door if possible).
• Top tip: We recommend aiming to be early, not on time. Getting to your venue at least 5 – 10 minutes before the class is due to begin allows you time to settle, and can make a difference to your ability to engage.

Be prepared

• You should read through any material relevant to the session beforehand, ensuring any guidance for attendance that has been provided by teaching staff is followed. This is especially important for some practical sessions, where lack of appropriate clothing (i.e. appropriate footwear, covered legs and arms) may lead you to being turned away from the session.
• During live classes, you should be quiet so that others can engage with the class, and should not undertake other activities (games, social media etc) which will cause a distraction to themselves or others.
• You should not eat or drink in any on-site sessions or computer labs (water in bottles is acceptable), as this can be distracting to others and post a safety issue.

Avoid distraction

• During live classes, you should be quiet so that others can engage with the class, and should not undertake other activities (games, social media etc) which will cause a distraction to themselves or others.
• You should not eat or drink in any on-site sessions or computer labs (water in bottles is acceptable), as this can be distracting to others and post a safety issue. 

Keep you updated

• Staff will offer as much notice as we are able if any classes are cancelled or rearranged.
• Staff will upload any material to Canvas at least 24 hours in advance of a scheduled session. There may be instances where it enhances the learning experience not to do so (e.g. formative quizzes), these materials will be posted after the scheduled sessions.

Provide resources

• Staff will upload any material to Canvas at least 24 hours in advance of a scheduled session. There may be instances where it enhances the learning experience not to do so (e.g. formative quizzes), these materials will be posted after the scheduled sessions.

Offer Support

• If, for any reason, your attendance and engagement is below the expected threshold established by the Engagement Monitoring policy for taught students, staff will reach out to discuss this with you, and offer support to help you re-engage.

You must…

We will...

 Complete and submit all work

• It is your responsibility to ensure all continuous assessments associated with your modules are completed and submit before your deadlines. For all work, you will receive proof of submission – this is dependent on the type of submission.
  • For Turnitin, you will receive an 8 digit ID number – keep a record of this.
  • For Canvas, a confirmation will pop up on the submission screen, we recommend taking and saving a screenshot of this.
  • It is recommended you keep your evidence until marks are confirmed at the end of the year.
• If you are unable to complete an assessment for reasons beyond your control, you should submit an extenuating circumstances request within the appropriate timeframe. All requests must be supported by evidence, please see the Extenuating Circumstances guidance for further information.

Back it up

• You are responsible for ensuring work is saved and backed up in case of issue.
• You should aim to start assignments as soon as you feel able once they have been received. This allows you time to reach out to your lecturers (i.e. via office hours) if you have questions.
• Once you have completed and checked your work, submit it – this sounds obvious, but we recommend not leaving it until just before the deadline to do so. This way, if an IT issue preventing you from submitting arises, you have time to reach out to support and resolve it.

Don’t leave it until the last minute

• You should aim to start assignments as soon as you feel able once they have been received. This allows you time to reach out to your lecturers (i.e. via office hours) if you have questions.
• Once you have completed and checked your work, submit it – this sounds obvious, but we recommend not leaving it until just before the deadline to do so. This way, if an IT issue preventing you from submitting arises, you have time to reach out to support and resolve it.

Take the opportunity

• You should take up any opportunity to complete formative assessments (not counting toward your module mark). Although these are not assessed, they are a chance to practice for assignments which will count towards these, to ensure you understand the content of your modules, and highlight weaknesses.
• Office hours provide an excellent learning opportunity where you can get very significant feedback on your progress in each module, by bringing along questions & difficulties with exercises etc. 

Offer guidance

• Staff will provide a form of marking guidelines for all assignments, allowing you to know what is needed, but not going so far that it is an instruction on how to get marks.

• Staff will signpost to additional academic support within the Faculty, and that which is available through the library and the Centre for Academic Success.

Returning your work

• Staff will return your work to you within 3 working weeks of your assessment deadline.

Office Hours

• Staff will offer you opportunities to ask questions during scheduled office hours - but recommend you do not leave this until just before the deadline. 
• Staff will publicise their office hours and will ensure they are available in their office or online (as appropriate) at that time. These should be within the normal teaching hours or times that fit within the timetables of students. 
• If staff receive module-specific queries (e.g. by email), it is quite acceptable for these to be directed to the Office Hours, but staff should endeavour to provide support to students as expediently as possible.

You should...

We Will...

Be available

• Assessment periods are provisionally confirmed by the University at the beginning of each Academic Year. It is not possible to provide an exact timetable until a few weeks before the exam period. Therefore, you should plan to be available for the entire assessment period, and not book any holidays or avoidable conflicts in this time.
• If, for reasons beyond your control you are unable to attend an exam, you can submit an Exam Deferral Request within 5 working days of the exam date.

Prepare for success

• You can take the opportunity to familiarise yourself with exam question style by using the resources provided (e.g. past papers). However, it is not recommended to depend solely on past papers for exam preparation. Past papers can be used as a guide, and as a way of assessing your own understanding.

Demonstrate understanding

• Exams are designed to test your understanding of the material you have been taught throughout the module. It is best to make sure you understand the module you go along, rather than learning exam questions and leaving preparation to the end.

Familiarise yourself with what you need to pass

• Some examinations have minimum marks or requirements outside of the standard assessment pass mark of 40%, it is important for you to ensure you understand not only what you need to pass any individual assignment or exam, but the entirety of the module. Further information is in your Part 2 Handbook, under each module and in the online assessment regulations.

Offer resources

• Staff will offer you support to prepare for your assessments, including access to some prior exam papers or ‘typical’ exam questions if the module or content is new.
• Staff may offer you answers to one past exam paper, but are not required to provide answers to all papers available. This is known to encourage ‘question spotting’ and ‘answer-learning’.
• Staff will offer advice on exams during scheduled revision sessions.
• Staff will provide some support for students prior to exams, through Office Hours, but will not be expected to explain large parts of a module to individual students just before the exam.

Supplementary Exams

• Please note, staff are not required to provide support for supplementary exams, but may opt to do so at discretion. All module content will have been covered in term-time – it is therefore important to take effective notes that you can refer back to.