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The University and College Union at The University of St Andrews

Calendar

STRIKE DAY 1
Wednesday, December 1st

  • 8:30-10:30 – Pickets
  • 9:00-10:00 – Virtual Picket (Gather, email kirsty.graham(at)protonmail.com for help)
  • 10:00 – “Live from the Picket Lines” UCUS event
  • 14:00-15:00 – Anti-casualisation Teach Out with Jasmeen Kanwal

STRIKE DAY 2
Thursday, December 2nd

STRIKE DAY 3
Friday, December 3rd

More about some of theses events…

Why is assessment rarely ‘for learning’?, Thursday at 3pm

During the 2021/22 strike, the Universities and Colleges Union at the University of St Andrews is holding ‘teach out’ sessions as part of the Alternative University so that lecturers can share insights through their work into issues around precarity or the marketisation of higher education. Mark Carver is a lecturer in the International Education Institute whose research is on assessment and feedback. In this session, he will explain some of the ‘behind the scenes’ problems with assessment due to how workload is managed across UK universities. The main argument of the lecture is that too much of assessment practice is to serve the needs of institutions, league tables, and to provide a protective veneer to discourage student complaints. The research literature on Assessment for Learning (AfL) offers us some hope for what assessment might look like if it was instead designed with student learning as its main focus, including how we might try to respond to the NUS’ call for greater student partnership in assessment. The session ends with some tips from the research about the implicit biases in assessment that students may wish to take advantage of, plus an explanation of some of the key flaws in how assessments are conducted that students may not know about but could use as powerful leverage in complaints or appeals.

A recording will be made available to all those who register. If you do not wish to appear in any recording, please turn off your camera.

“Pride” watch party, Thursday at 7pm

Join members of UCU, SaintsLGBT+, and ISNBS for a watch party of the movie “Pride”. We’ll kick it off with a short intro from some members of these groups discussing their own LGBTQIA+ activism, before watching the movie together over zoom. Be sure to bring popcorn and a handkerchief!

(In)accessible St Andrews – Teach Out/Discussion, Friday at 2pm

We invite staff and students to join in and imagine what an accessible St Andrews would be like. What would we change about the buildings and other physical spaces? What would we change about the virtual spaces? What could the university change tomorrow to improve the experiences of disabled staff and students? How can we as a collective get us there? This event builds from our discussion on the Day of Action for Disability Equality in Education, but you don’t need to have been to that discussion to join us here.

This event includes a BSL interpreter. Unfortunately, our live captioner was unavailable for this event. This is another area that our UCU branch (and the university more broadly) can improve! We look forward to making our branch and university more accessible together.

You can also engage through our padlet here.

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