Vote ADAM #1 for UG Education. Vote for: Lecture Capture, Mental Health Support, Building an Academic Community. Let's make education better together.
DETAILED MANIFESTO
1.0 Introduction and Experience.
Hi! I’m Adam, I’m currently in my third and final year of studying my undergrad in History and International Relations. Why vote for me?
Student Community:
I love being active in the student community, being part of a number of great societies, most often with the Literary and Scientific Society (Literific), as well as supporting and attending a number of events run by other societies throughout my time at QUB. Most notably, helping the Philosophy Society plan their annual formal, which I had organised as a fundraiser for QUB RAG (Raise and Give), as I was the Vice Chair last year. I love working with clubs and socs, chatting to students about pressing issues, and loved putting the work in to fundraise for RAG’s two excellent charities last year.
Academic Work:
On the academic side, I was elected to be a Student Rep for the School of HAPP (History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics) as a School Rep, and the Faculty of AHSS (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) as a Faculty Rep. Through this I regularly engaged with many students in my school and faculty, chatting about some of the real issues that were going on with their education. I had to host feedback sessions with students and Course Reps, chatting to teaching staff to keep them accountable and resolve those pressing issues last year.
I’m a big advocate for recorded lectures and an improvement to online learning, as well as having a diverse and inclusive educational experience, which I want to continue to support as your Undergraduate Education Officer.
2.0 Advocate for Lecture Capture.
I believe lecture capture is a very important policy, which I aim to continue to support and advocate for, stressing the importance of having lectures recorded. Recorded lectures can be great for students who have a harder time with learning. International students might have trouble understanding their lecturers, students with mobility difficulties might have trouble travelling to lectures all the time, and many students might learn at different paces. Having lectures recorded means students can rewatch lectures online and work at their own pace, which is very important in providing an equal and inclusive educational experience. I also believe long classes should have regular breaks to accommodate some students, especially those who are neurodivergent, who find it hard to stay focused for long periods of time.
I want to continue supporting not only lecture capture as a policy, but also ensuring that teaching staff develop a significant “digital learning environment”, making their Canvas pages more “interactive”. Students learn in different ways. For module staff to provide students with not only significant reading material, but also visual learning tools like documentaries or supplementary videos, and audio learning tools like podcasts can make their learning experience more enjoyable and accommodating a wide range of teaching styles. Whilst advocating for these improvements, I want to gather student feedback on these changes and ensure the educational experience is as helpful as possible for all students at QUB.
3.0 Mental Health Support/Workshops.
Mental health is a very important cause to me, which I personally struggle with daily. From personally experiencing assignment stress and difficult life issues that get in the way, I believe it is crucial to always have an excellent support network available for students so they can get on with their uni work and do what they enjoy, without their mental health getting in the way. I want to make sure that existing support networks remain as permanent fixtures of QUB and create new channels for mental health support in the Student Union.
As part of these new channels for support I want to set up regular training workshops to raise awareness of mental health issues amongst students and educate them on how to recognise if their friends are struggling and what they can do to support them. These workshops could be in collaboration with mental health charities, who have trained professionals who deal with these issues on a regional basis. There could also be opportunities to collaborate with societies. For instance, some societies organise arts and crafts days, movie nights, or just relaxing events, which could be therapeutic for students.
Dealing with mental health issues by yourself can be difficult, and even recognising if your friends are struggling may not be so obvious. Having an excellent support network and plenty of opportunities for students to wind down is the least we can do!
4.0 Academic Community.
Building an inclusive and welcoming academic community for all students is an important goal of mine. Everyone should feel supported at all times during their time at QUB, which is why I want to ensure all students know exactly who to go to when their struggling or have an issue with their education.
I want to ensure all students know who their Student Reps are, by making sure each school has them clearly advertised. I also want to host regular ‘town halls’ for feedback collection, on a school-by-school basis where possible, for students to get to know the staff and students who are responsible for providing support and making changes in the schools. This also creates a great communication channel between staff and students, where students can get real feedback personally from academic staff and see real results when issues are brought up.
As part of the Academic Community, I want to help advertise and ensure that all academic support services, such as Student Skills Assistants are advertised well and encourage students to attend such events to help them with their studies.
I also want to personally reach out to as many societies as possible to gather feedback about their own education issues, particularly to societies that represent ‘minority’ groups at QUB, to ensure our education is equal and inclusive. I want to personally put the effort in to make sure that all voices and opinions are heard and considered relating to issues across the university. One of these groups who tend to feel isolated are international and GB students. I want to make sure that there are plenty of opportunities for them to feel welcome and mix with some more local students to ensure they enjoy their time at QUB from the moment they arrive.
5.0 Support for Working Students and Students with Families.
I also want to stress the importance of providing support for students who have other responsibilities, who have less free time for lectures and completing assignments. I aim to provide as much support as possible to students with families and students who must work alongside their studies.
6.0 Support Efforts to ‘Decolonise the Curriculum’.
I believe it is important to continue to support efforts to “decolonise the curriculum”, giving students opportunities to learn more about a diverse range of cultures and hearing from scholars from all over the world. This is especially important for courses such as history, where students can learn about some incredible civil rights leaders and equality efforts from around the world, away from the Eurocentric based teaching that has existed previously.
7.0 Continue to Support Efforts to Lower Tuition Fees.
Additionally, I want to continue supporting efforts to lower tuition fees for students and advocate for more financial support for students.