Posted on 13 May, 2020 by Rebekah

Guidance on using chat groups

As we begin to use social media and online communication more than ever, we explore some of the risks and dangers students may encounter when using certain mediums.

Social media is a now a part of everyday life and is a great tool to enhance students’ learning experience through the sharing of knowledge, the discussion of ideas and the development of professional and social networks. It can be a useful part of your learning experience to set up course ‘chat’ groups on social media, for example on Whatsapp, Moodle or Facebook.

However, despite the opportunities presented by social media, there are some risks to be mindful of. Sometimes the informality of social media can encourage us to be less cautious than we would be using other more traditional methods of communicating and interacting. These social media guidelines are aimed at students who use, or intend to use, social media as part of their studies. We also have a Social Media Policy which can be found here: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/registry/policies/documents/social-media-principles.pdf

Top ten tips

Be clear on the purpose of the group – for example to share ideas about a theory
Remember that this is an academic community – although you may be friendly with people on your course, it is important to use appropriate language
Be considerate of others – be careful about what content is shared particularly if it could cause offense or be upsetting. (i.e. videos and pictures etc.)
Think before you post – take time to create an appropriate response as once you post a message then you cannot take it back. Don’t argue online.
Be careful about sharing too much personal information.
Always ask permission before sharing private details about your fellow students. Such details could include private contact details, pictures or details of private discussions.
If you see something on a social media group that concerns you, you can report it to your programme director or on: bbk.ac.uk/ask
Chat groups can be great for debating and thinking through ideas. Don’t use social media to attack others who might disagree and remember to respect other people’s privacy and feelings. If you break the law on social media sites (for example by posting something defamatory) you will be personally responsible.
If someone asks you not to message them directly, respect their request.
Remain mindful of the College’s Dignity at Work and Study Policy and the Social Media Policy.

Although staff at Birkbeck will not monitor the groups, the College will:

Ensure these guidelines are accessible to staff and students.
Investigate complaints regarding students’ behaviour on social media in line with the University’s Student Disciplinary Procedures. (Please note that social media is not recognised as an official channel via which to make a formal complaint).
Take disciplinary action where inappropriate behaviour is exhibited in accordance with the College’s Student Discipline Procedures and Dignity at Work and Study Policy.
Periodically review and update the guidelines and any other associated policy and guidelines. Staff and students will be notified of any significant changes.

Any misconduct on social media will be dealt with through the Student Discipline Procedures. This could include:

Foul and abusive language
Discrimination
Violence and threats
Bullying and harassment
Hateful speech
Inappropriate graphic content
Inflammatory comments – those arousing or intending to arouse feelings of anger or violence
Deliberately misleading or defamatory comments – those damaging the good reputation of someone, slanderous or libellous
Phishing and spam.

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Posted on 26 March, 2015 by Bryony

The future’s bright for Stratford

Professor Matthew Weait is Pro-Vice-Master (Academic and Community Partnerships) and the man responsible for developing Birkbeck’s provision in east London. Here he tells us of his vision to widen access and welcome a greater number of students.

University Square Stratford (USS) is a £33m state-of-the-art campus situated at the heart of Stratford’s cultural quarter. It’s also home to hundreds of Birkbeck students who are undertaking a wide range of programmes from undergraduate (Honours, Foundation and Certificate levels) to postgraduate courses.

Aiming to widen access and encourage progression into higher education for non-traditional students, USS is attracting growing numbers of students who see the value of the Birkbeck way of learning. A recent survey of students at the campus indicated a high level of satisfaction with the experience of learning there, although it is clear that there remain opportunities for enhancement and increasing use of the building.

Since October 2011, I’ve been fortunate to have been Birkbeck’s Pro-Vice-Master (Academic and Community Partnerships), a role I’ve held in conjunction with my work as Professor of Law and Policy in the School of Law. That has allowed me to develop and introduce the College’s Institutional Partnership Agreement (IPA) with support from the Widening Access and Student Engagement team. The IPA has resulted in a significant increase in progression from FE Colleges to undergraduate degrees, with enrolments across all programmes doubling since 2012/13. This is certainly an encouraging growth, and we can only see greater opportunities as we move forward with our plans for the campus. And no, it won’t be without its challenges!

USS is a wonderful place to study – a beautiful building with excellent facilities and support. I would like all students at Birkbeck – especially those living or working in East London – to use it more, whether or not they are registered on courses at USS. After all, it’s something they are entitled to do! I would encourage my Birkbeck colleagues to make this more widely known.

In addition to thinking about ways in which more programmes might be offered at USS, I’m also in the process of developing a Centre for University/Community Partnership there. The Centre would provide a space for community organisations to explore and develop collaborative learning and teaching and research opportunities with the College, and is something I’m particularly excited about. I think there is great potential here – the Centre will, I hope, create opportunities for enhancing the impact of our research through knowledge co-creation, and contribute to our internationally excellent research reputation while at the same time being consistent with our Mission. Watch this space!

Development of this great asset is an important undertaking and I’m very happy to discuss any aspect of USS and the opportunities available there for staff and students, and I’m always keen to hear ideas for its future growth.

Posted on 6 March, 2015 by Bryony

Going for Gold: just the start

This post was contributed by Bryony Merritt from Birkbeck’s Department of External Relations.

Birkbeck currently holds an Athena Swan Bronze award

On Wednesday 5 March, Professor Tom Welton, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and formerly Head of the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London, shared his story of achieving an Athena Swan Gold award for his department, and the journey that his faculty continues to move along. Athena Swan awards, awarded by the Equality Challenge Unit, recognise commitment from universities to combatting the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

Identify a starting point

When Professor Welton took up post as Head of the Chemistry Department at Imperial his advisory board asked him what he wanted to achieve. He replied that he wanted “to make his department the best chemistry department in Europe”. In order to understand how he could achieve this, he then asked his staff: “If you had just walked into the best chemistry department in Europe, how would you know?” They told him that it would be the place where the brightest and the best researchers wanted to work; the brightest and the best students wanted to study; and the biggest and the best funding bodies wanted to fund research.

Immediately, Professor Welton knew that the Department was not living up to his vision for it. He says this was clear to him because having one female professor out of 20 within the department does not show the brightest and the best, unless you believe that by nature men are 20 times better at chemistry than women.

Find out where your pipeline is leaking

Universities have, in the past, shirked responsibility for low representation of particular groups within their institutions or particular departments, saying that it is the responsibility of schools to provide a steady pipeline of talent from diverse backgrounds. However, analysis of gender diversity at Imperial showed that at undergraduate, master’s and even PhD level the gender balance held up. At post-doctoral level there was a huge fall in the number of women within the chemistry department. Therefore, said Professor Welton, we had to accept that this was our problem, and something that we were (or weren’t) doing was causing women to leave the department (and possibly the field) at this stage. This provided a focal point for where to begin and after a series of focus groups with female and male PhD students, they discovered that at the start of their doctorates women said that they wanted a career in academic research, but by their final year they said that they didn’t want the life of a post-doc, as well as identifying particular negative behaviours that they’d experience during their PhDs.

Make mistakes and learn from them

Having identified that the life of a post-doc was off-putting to many female PhD students, Professor Welton talked to his post-docs to see how their work life could be improved. Initially, this involved providing more social opportunities involving wine! However, a Malaysian student pointed out that she and other Muslims could not attend events where there was alcohol. Professor Welton recognised that you can’t create an inclusive environment in which you are inclusive to only particular groups – it has to be inclusive for all; and so evening socials with wine became “Friday Doughnuts” – an opportunity for staff to get to know each other as people, rather than ‘just’ scientists. It also has the advantage of taking place within school hours so that those with children were able to attend.

Small acts change a culture

It is through the introduction of many small acts (such as Friday doughnuts, or leaving office doors open) that a culture can be changed, believes Professor Welton. He set out to achieve the best chemistry department in Europe by creating an inclusive environment, not to win an Athena Swan Gold award. However, he stressed that Athena Swan and business objectives are not in opposition to one another.

Using performance metrics

While acknowledging that there are mixed opinions about the role of metrics in diversity work, Professor Welton demonstrated how he has been able to use them to good effect. When asked “What do I need to do to be promoted?” he can point to the metrics of those that are operating at the level that the individual is aiming for (publications, citations etc). By having this information available for staff in the department it also enables Professor Welton to identify people that should be encouraged to apply for promotions, or those that are narrowly missing hitting the necessary numbers, so that their workload can be assessed and ways to help them achieve promotion are identified.

Professor Welton’s final message was “Good management for diversity is good management full stop.”

. Reply . Category: Higher education, Science . Tags: Athena Swan, equality and diversity, gender equality, science

Posted on 30 January, 2015 by Bryony

Achieving career aspirations as the economy improves

This post was contributed by Mohsin Aboobaker, Birkbeck’s Careers and Employability Manager.

A lot has been written in the last week about the increasing number of graduate opportunities for 2015 with bullish predictions of an increase as large as 18% higher than in 2014. This is good news and alludes to an improving economy. The financial services sector is like to be at the head of the opportunities offered to graduates with figures indicating that recruitment will be up by 42% through the summer.

There has been much debate over the last few months as to whether, while the number of opportunities increases, the right calibre of graduates is available. Often, forward thinking businesses and organisations work quickly to ‘snap-up’ the right profiles but similarly, the Association of Graduate Recruiters also identified that 23% of employers did not manage to fill their vacancies in 2013 and this trend continued in to 2014 which of course may mean more of the same for the coming year.

What has become increasingly clear over a period of 18-24 months is that businesses are no longer just interested in academic backgrounds and much is made of the right ‘personality fit’. More value has to be added and this is explored through student employability, attitude and passion. Equally, students and graduates have become much more interested in finding the ‘right type’ of company pertaining to a list of criteria. Mission and values are becoming a big part of the search process, so too the culture of the organisations and whether these synergise with expectations.

The start-up industry has also disrupted the landscape for graduates. The opportunity to be involved at the incubator stage of a business is becoming increasingly popular, due to the benefits that come with these types of opportunities; flexible working, equity options and being able to have a key influence in the direction of the business, to name a few.

There is a long-standing connection between study and career development, however the way in which students are able to manage their aspirations boil down to circumstances. In the case of Birkbeck students, being able to develop your career while studying usually means being able to dictate the direction their careers will take. The key tool of our Careers and Employability Service helps graduates restructure their local environment and their self-development so that it best suits and works for them to make them more employable.

Our unique offer of studying in the evening while working during the day allows for a greater flexibility of options post-study. It also ensures that the level of employability among Birkbeck students is far more interesting – our students have a variety of backgrounds as well as life experience.

Though there is not a universal definition of employability, there is an understanding of its process and how it can benefit graduates in their search for a career. For Birkbeck and our students, employability is not just about the requirement of key skills for a particular career or job, but is also about the application of a mix of personal qualities and beliefs, understandings, skilful practices and the ability to reflect productively on experiences and to bring these qualities to a career.

. Reply . Category: Higher education . Tags: careers, economy, employability, work