UDOL Student Forum - June 2023

The third and final Online Student Forum of the 22-23 academic year was hosted by the Union of Students and the University of Derby Online Learning team. There was a lot of discussion around learning and teaching and opportunities and careers. These points have been summarised for you below:

• There was a discussion about whether online students are missing out compared to campus students in terms of academic performance. Ian Whitehead, the Head of Online Learning, reassured students that the most recent assessment board data indicates that the first-time pass rate for online students was slightly ahead of campus students. However, in general, there are similar attainment trends across both online and campus modules.
• Questions arose regarding the Turnitin platform and how many times you can submit, and whether the plagiarism score was deemed “fair”. Academics reassured students that they could submit to the Turnitin Submission Box as many times as they need (just be careful that you don’t check the box that says “submit to repository”). Further to this, academics discussed the issue of a high plagiarism score. They say, if you know it is your own work and you are seeing a high score, have a look at what is being highlighted. If you have concerns, speak to your module tutor.
• Students were advised that live sessions should always be recorded (except under certain circumstances) so those who may not be able to attend due to work commitments can watch the recording back. If this is not happening on your module, please speak to your module tutor or programme lead. Furthermore, if you would like 1-2-1 sessions or additional content on your modules, please speak to your module tutor in the first instance.
• Finally, on learning and teaching, if students who are studying online would like to move to a campus-based programme, they can, provided there is a campus-based option for that programme. Please contact the Online Learning Advisors via onlinelearning@derby.ac.uk for more information.
• In relation to opportunities and careers, if you would like to support other students on their academic journey, please contact Eve Newitt at the Union (eve.newitt@derbyunion.co.uk), who can provide more information about the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) Scheme, where you can get involved with supporting students in first or foundation year (geographical restrictions apply).
• If you are interested in supporting other students within your specific College (Arts/Humanities, Business, Law and Social Science, Health, Psychology and Social Care or Science and Engineering), please contact the programme lead for the programme you are interested in to seek advice. Depending on what you would like to do, may depend on what qualifications you might need or which students you can support.

For information on the PAL Scheme, please visit our PAL webpages. 

If you are interested in becoming a student representative, please contact your module tutor or programme lead to register your interest. You can find out some more about the role bu clicking here.

• The Online Learning Team recommend that students regularly check their programme pages to ensure that they are not missing important updates and announcements. For example, you will receive an email with an opportunity to submit questions for the next Online Student Forum when the date is released in the next academic year.

This was the last student forum for Rachel Tulloch, who will be stepping down in the coming weeks. She has said that being the Online Student Officer has been a fun and worthwhile experience, and she has enjoyed being able to support the online student voice and thanked the Online Academic Team for their support during her role. Saul Ssekadde, who will be your incoming Online Student Officer, is on hand to support all online students in their studies; you can contact him via email here: edu.online@derbyunion.co.uk.

If you missed the Forum, you can catch up via the link here