Academic Reps and Student Voice
We aim to provide students with an excellent experience and know that gathering students' feedback is an integral part of this.
Academic Reps
Academic Reps volunteer to be a point of contact for students in the Department and provide feedback at Student-Staff Committee Meetings. Academic Reps can be contacted at any time in the academic year to raise concerns and influence change about your learning and teaching and student experience.
Academic Reps will attend the Department's Student-Staff Committee, a forum for Academic Reps and staff to discuss topics related to learning and teaching.
If you are interested in becoming an Academic Rep in the Department, you can still register your interest and find out more information here.
Academic Rep Contact Details
Academic Rep contact details are below.
BA/Digital Media and Society
Level 1 - Bianca Beatriz Esguerra Sevidal, besevidal1@sheffield.ac.uk
Level 2 - Vacant
Level 3 - Tianyi Sun TSun14@sheffield.ac.uk
BA/Sociology with Social Policy
Level 1 - Vacant
Level 2 - Vacant
Level 3 - Vacant
BA/Sociology
Level 1 - Vacant
Level 2 - Montgomery Corr, mcorr2@sheffield.ac.uk
Level 3 - Marina Farhan, MFarhan2@sheffield.ac.uk
BA/Sociology with Criminology
Level 2 - Vacant
Level 3 - Vacant
BA/History and Sociology
Level 1 - Vacant
Level 2 - Vacant
Level 3 - Vacant
B/A Politics and Sociology
Level 1 - Vacant
Level 2 - Vacant
Level 3 - Erin Griffiths, ehbgriffiths1@sheffield.ac.uk
MA/Social Work
Level 1 - Amee Bartle, ABartle1@sheffield.ac.uk
Yutong Chen, YChen504@sheffield.ac.uk
Level 2 - Emma O'Neill, emoneill2@sheffield.ac.uk
Chante Rio Sanderson-Williams, csanderson4@sheffield.ac.uk
MA/Sociology
Vacant
MA/Digital Media and Society
Vacant
If you do not currently have an Academic Rep, you can use this form to submit feedback for Reps to review ahead of Student-Staff Committee.
Updates from Student-Staff Committee (SSC) 2022/2023
The second Student-Staff Committee took place on Monday 20th February. Brief updates are included below.
It was shared at SSC that the Student Union has created a form to gain perspective on the disruption caused by industrial action. If any students are thinking about making a formal complaint, it is important to keep records and track how much learning and teaching missed. This helps the SU in providing the best support possible.
The Head of Department attended SSC to respond to queries and concerns raised about the industrial action. FAQs can be found on this Google Doc.
The Student Wellbeing Service promoted the launch of a new Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) service in the Faculty of Social Sciences (previously paused due to staff illness). This scheme will now be relaunched with the SVLO being present in the Portobello Centre on Thursdays between 12pm and 1pm. The SVLO will provide support for students if they want to disclose or are worried about a friend. They will offer advice and guidance for any situation that occurs. Students can book an appointment or drop in - students should see this link for more details.
The Tell US response was high this year and the Department wanted to thank students for this - Module Convenors are looking at feedback.
There was some feedback on the third year dissertation module and staff will look into whether it's possible to arrange drop-in sessions to support with dissertation writing. 1-1 sessions from the ELTC are available to students. The committee also discussed and signposted to support for referencing (from the Library). The movement of a deadline in third year was also discussed (and subsequently actioned).
Representatives from Athena Swan attended SSC to speak about a new survey that they hope to circulate to students.
The committee discussed the challenges around gathering feedback from students - for both staff and Reps - and discussed actions to take to help improve this, including staff promoting Reps in academic commitments if Reps prepare some information to share.
The first Student-Staff Committee took place on Monday 7th November. Brief updates are included below.
The Student Wellbeing Service provided some information about support for students and this information will be circulated to students in due course.
The committee reflected on Student Week - You Said, We Did. The committee discussed the challenges of seeking feedback from students and plan to discuss this in the next SSC.
The committee discussed how there are still many vacant Academic Rep positions and discussed the benefits of the role and how to promote these to students. Academic Reps will look at organising a Q&A session for students.
The committee discussed support available to students in terms of academic preparation and assessments. Staff plan to review SCS1000 but also highlighted that assessment sessions were included in Student Week and that guidance is available in the Assessment Handbook. Students can also book appointments with the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) or 301 Academic Skills (see the pages in the Handbook for more information).
Student Feedback
The Department values student feedback provided via mechanisms such as Tell US module surveys (completed by all taught students in autumn and spring semester), the NSS (completed by UG final year students in February - April) and Student-Staff Committees.
Below are some of the implementations by the Department in response to student feedback, from this year and previous years.
Student Week - You Said, We Did
In response to feedback gathered in Student Voice Week in the 2021/22 academic year, during the week commencing Monday 31st October 2022 we ran a range of sessions to provide support to students:
An informal Q&A on postgraduate study where students were able to ask about what postgraduate study involves and how to apply
General tips and guidance on assessments for undergraduate students
Information from SocSoc on how to get involved with the Department and the University community
We also made a comment box available at Elmfield for students to contribute ideas about what they would like to see in Student Voice Week next semester.
Improved information about the Department
A new Department Student Handbook providing information, opportunities and support accessible to all students via any SCS module on Blackboard was introduced in September 2021. Academic Reps provided positive feedback about the Department Student Handbook in the Student Staff Committee Meeting 1 in 2021.
Improvements to the marking and moderation process
Improvements were made in response to student feedback to make this process more transparent. See details of assessment marking and moderation processes in the Assessment Handbook for further information.
Organisation of Blackboard pages
To improve the organisation of module content on Blackboard, the Department implemented a standardised template for Module Convenors to use. This was to ensure that the information on each module page is consistent and easy to navigate for students.
More academic study skills support
The Department provided a range of additional academic skills support to students in autumn semester. This included academic skills sessions from the Library and English Language Support sessions.