On Thursday, June 30th, the Union of Students and University of Derby Online Learning (UDOL) hosted their final UDOL student forum of the 2021/22 academic year.
We were delighted to see so many students joining or submitting questions to the final student forum of the year, hosted by the Union of students and the University of Derby online learning. In the best attended and liveliest forum yet Ian Whitehead (Academic Head of Online Learning) and the team of academic leads and online learning advisers answered questions around:
- the challenges of balancing the desire for live teaching against the diversity of student geographies as well as academic commitments
- the support available and being considered for neuro-diverse students
- the opportunities for online students to join and create University societies (watch out for Dr Justin Steele-Davis's caving club - you are now committed Justin!)
- the challenges of interlibrary loans and other ways to get to the article you need
- and more (so you should listen to the recording!)
Outgoing student officer Ian Danton was impressed once again with the willingness displayed by the academic leadership and university staff to engage with every topic raised with an authentic desire to listen to and improve the student experience. Your incoming student officer Rachel Tulloch (who is already working to support an enhanced induction experience for students) will host the first forum of the new academic year in October. Information on how you can get involved will be shared nearer the time. As a reminder, there is a Discord server for part-time and online students here (with apologies to students in China and elsewhere who struggle to connect to social networks). Thank you to everyone involved with all forums this year!