Student Rep Learner Voice! | Hand In 2019

See below a guest post by two members of our lovely Student Rep team, Tom and Laura, who have put together a response to the first ever Learner Voice survey run by our Student Reps! 

After everyone submitted their work a couple of weeks ago, students took part in a Learner Voice specifically for the Student Reps! Here are the results of that feedback...

New/Better guillotines:

This comes up as a big issue in many of the learner voices. The guillotine downstairs was fixed recently - meaning there are currently four in the department - and there currently isn’t enough budget to be able to purchase anymore. Until then if there are any direct issues with any of the guillotines letting a student rep or staff member know will help any problems fixed as soon as possible.

Printing credits:

This is another issue that comes up in almost every learner voice. We are trying what we can to get more printer credits for Art, Graphics and Photography students, but for the moment it will have to remain the same.

Disruption/disrespect within the classrooms:

This has been a growing issue recently within the department. Most commonly there seems to be a problem within the downstairs studio, making it an uncomfortable environment for other students to be in. The student reps and staff are currently trying to solve this issue, and are planning on implementing some studio rules to help tackle this problem in the near future. Until then we ask people to be respectful and considerate of the facilities and classes within the department, it is a high-stress time for many right now and we ask you to be respectful of this. If you have any suggestions on how to tackle this issue or have a specific issue to report you can speak to the student representatives anytime and we can try and help! There is only so much disruption that can be tolerated however sanctions will start to be put into place if this issue doesn’t start to be resolved!

Cheaper supplies:

This was a surprising common response within this student voice, particularly with people asking for cheaper glue sticks. Many things within the studio such as inks, paints, newsprint and printing tools are free to use, and everything sold within the shop is sold at the same price it was bought so we cannot do anything about this! In comparison to other shops, the art shop at college is so much cheaper!

More space within the department:

Sadly we can’t just magic up space or build extensions onto the department. We’d love to hear any more suggestions on how this could be tackled without knocking down walls or compromising space for the classes being taught!

More drying racks: 

We don’t have the space for more drying racks unfortunately. If anyone has any ways that we could put in more drying racks by using less space in the studios we’d love to hear them!

Lessons learning more techniques:

This was mentioned by quite a few people within this learner voice and is something we definitely want to consider - particularly for next years students during the exploring media project. If anyone has any suggestions for what new techniques we could consider/what they would like to have extra lessons on learning, let a student rep or staff member know and we can discuss it within a future meeting! We’d love to hear what things you guys want to learn and what things you feel would benefit you more in the exploring media project, especially skills that we can continue with and use in the coursework and exam project!

Price list:

A new price list has recently been emailed out to everyone, and will be going up around the studios! Remember the art shop is closed on Wednesdays, and certain materials on the list may need to be ordered. Patience has recently done a fancy new sign for the office door with all the prices on too!

Other smaller mentions: 

We are currently looking at ways in which we can put a bin in the darkroom safely, where people won’t trip over it! 

And finally: some people wrote on learner voice that they wish the department was open out of lessons - it is! The department has always been open out of lesson time for students to work on their homework or class work. In the downstairs studio this area is the computers and in the upstairs studio it is to the right hand side of the class. Please remember to keep noise at a minimum though, as mentioned before noise and disruption is getting to be a larger issue in the department.

Tom and Laura :)