ISSUES YOU MAY HAVE TO DEAL WITH AND SOME TIPS AND SOLUTIONS

Remember at all times that you are a volunteer, so you are not expected to deal with everything. You cannot be experts; you just need to be open and approachable. Reps should be wary; helping other students out may do more harm than good. In essence, a rep needs only to discover the issue, find out the consensus of opinion if this is something that affects the whole group, and then feed it to the relevant place or person.

If a rep does refer a problem, however, they should make it clear as to why they are doing so. It is also a good idea for reps to follow up on the problem at a later date. Both of these measures will show the students that the rep is there to help and give them confidence that their issues have been heard and raised in the right manner.

In all scenarios, the Students' Union can help reps to solve the problems with which they are being faced - just phone email or come into the Students' Union.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES

• Lecturers changing deadlines without consulting students

This can happen for a number of reasons. Find out the reasons for them having moved the deadline and the general feeling of the whole class. When would they prefer the deadline to be? Then speak to the staff in question as to whether or not they can alter the deadline to suit

LECTURE ROOMS

• Access may be difficult for disabled students, or the room may be unsuitable for the lecture

Speak to the staff members about the problem, either on a one-to-one basis, or at the first relevant forum. Ask them to investigate the possibility of moving the lecture. Beware though, this may affect the time of the lecture. Check with the group to see what suits the majority whilst considering the needs of the students with disabilities

READING LISTS

• Lecturers may ask the group to refer to books that are not available in the library

Check that the books are not available. And ask the Library staff At Deane or Chadwick, if they cannot help, inform the lecturers of this oversight and ask them to recommend another text, or a different course of action would be to raise this at an enhancement/subject meeting.

CANCELLING/RESCHEDULING LECTURES

• Lecturers may do this for a good reason, sometimes without consultation with the subject group

As always, ask why the change has been made and speak to the whole group about what they prefer. Then ask the staff member to reconsider moving the lecture.

LECTURERS SETTING UNSUITABLE COURSEWORK DEADLINES

Ask other students how they feel about the deadline, and then explain to the staff the uneasiness of the group. It may be that there has been another deadline set for the same day that the staff didn't know about. They may be willing to change it, to ease the burden - The University is committed to ensuring a good learning environment

HIDDEN COURSE COSTS

The University should advertise or tell you about costs you could incur while studying. Hidden cost are those these are sprung on you, and therefore are a struggle, problems occur when it is an essential part of the course, problems like these are monitored by the Students' Union.

EXAMINATIONS - ASSESSMENT

• The exam schedule or venue may pose serious problems for some students

If you are approached with this problem ask the person to speak directly their lecturer who will be able to direct them.

Again, ask the groups for comments in case it's a serious problem for the whole group, preferably written. Feed these comments into the lecturing staff and to the Students' Union, which will no doubt be able to assist. Individual assessment issues should be referred to the President of the SU.

The President of the Students' Union can support you in academic related issues whatever they may be contact the Students' Union.

FEEDBACK

• Lecturers may not return coursework on time or they may not give feedback on work completed

Inform the staff member that the class members would like feedback on their work, and the mark that they have received. If you have no joy, report the issue to the Union, which will help.

WORKLOADS

• Students may be overworked, which is not known to lecturers of individual modules

Ensure that staff members are informed as to what students' commitments are with respect to other modules, if the workload is becoming too heavy. This also relates to coursework deadlines that are set close together, or even simultaneously.