The second Online Student Forum of the 25/26 academic year was hosted by the Union of Students and the University of Derby Online Learning team.
The second Online Student Forum of the 25/26 academic year was hosted by the Union of Students and the University of Derby Online Learning team on Thursday 26th February. Thank you to everyone who attended, it was great to see so many people there.
There was a lot of discussion around learning and teaching and learning resources and these points have been summarised below:
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A student on a Computing and IT top up asked whether there would be improvements for student access to tutors. Ian Whitehead replied to this and said that he had spoken to the Head of Discipline for Computing and IT and they had discussed more synchronous activities as part of the programme or recorded if students couldn’t make it, and opportunities to bring online and in person students together. Additionally, they discussed more video content and opportunities for students to have a 1-2-1 with staff.
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A student asked for information and how to prepare for a dissertation at a master’s level. Derek Spalton replied that they do provide resources which include live lectures at the start of the dissertation but iterated they advise not trying to plan it while doing other modules. Hannah Stanley-Scott also shared a link to a library guide: Completing a Dissertation - Study Techniques - LibGuides at University of Derby
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A student asked about how to apply for a 7 day assignment deadline extension. Student can apply for a Request for Additional Consideration (RAC) via the Quick Action tile in UDO under 'Request an Extension'. The RAC team's email address is UDOL-RAC@derby.ac.uk for support with an application. There is also guidance via this link Student guidance for request for additional consideration policy - Academic regulations - University of Derby
Ethan Sales, the new Student Voice Coordinator mentioned that Josie Thorne has recently been appointed as the Head of the Online Student Community who will be working with online students to build up their student voice.
Other links which students may find useful that were shared during the forum are:
If you missed the Forum, you can catch up via the recording: Online Community Forum (2)-20260226_110143-Meeting Recording.mp4