Personal Issues

If and when a student comes to you with personal issue, the most important thing you need to know is that all information given to you is confidential. Students need to know that they can trust you and have confidence in your discretion. You may fell like you need to escalate the issue, but you must ALWAYS ask the student’s permission before revealing their personal information.

Do not try to take serious cases on by yourself and remember, YOU ARE NOT A COUNSELLOR. You can always refer the student to someone with more authority on the matter such as your Education and Welfare Officer, or indeed any relevant officer if the students’ union. DCU provides a support network for people facing difficulties during their time here, so be aware that you can refer students onto someone with more expertise. Support services include the Health Centre, Counselling Service, Financial Assistance, the Chaplaincy and the Career Guidance Office. It’s not always about solving problems; sometimes students just need some guidance. See the back of the handbook for a full list of all services.

Assignment/Examination Issues

Related to the issue of personal cases is the issue of extensions or deferrals often, due to personal circumstances or in more serious cases, he/she may want to defer an exam until the next suitable diet of examinations. It is not your duty to organise an extension/deferral for a student, however you can advise them on what they should do.

The first step is for the student to contact the relevant lecturer and explain the situation. In the event of illness or injury, a student will generally be required to present a medical cert/doctor’s note. In any case where documentation can be provided to support the student’s case, it should be handed in.

The following forms may be useful in the above cases. The forms themselves, along with further details, are available on life.dcu.ie and www.dcu.ie/registry/forms.shtml

Extenuating Circumstances Form (R30)

This form can be used if a student experiences any difficulties throughout the academic year, personal or otherwise, which make it hard to attend class, study, complete assignments, or sit exams etc. The forms ensure that these circumstances are taken into account when the exam/assignment is assessed. It should be handed into the registry at least seven days before the Programme Board meets. (These dates are specified on the form). Any appropriate documentation such as a medical cert should be included.

Appeals Form (R31)

If you fail an exam or feel a result is not accurate then you may appeal in the Summer Appeals Board.   Its important to note that you only appeal your result (from semester on e or semester two) once you have received your results for semester two. You cannot appeal your first semester results are formally announced.

Note that appeals must be lodged within 14 days of the posting of results on the web. There is no way to change your results from semester one or two if you do not appeal within this time. You should also leave a few days to get things like your transcript together and do all the photocopying, so that you have a clear week(five days at least) to complete your appeal form if/when you decide to appeal.

Deferral Of Examinations Form

A student may wish to defer a particular set of examinations due to illness or circumstances which make it difficult or indeed impossible to sit exams.

This form should include brief details as to why the student is seeking a deferral and must include any relevant medical and/or counselling certificate in support of the application. This information should be attached to the application in an envelope marked `confidential. For the attention of the Programme/Examinations Office; it must also be signed by the head of the Student’s Programme Board.

Deferral Of Academic Year Form

If it arises that you wish to defer an entire academic year, you must fill in the form, get it signed by the chairperson of your course and give reasons for your deferral.

Student should be aware that in most cases lectures will try to facilitate the student, however, the granting of extensions is entirely at the lecturer’s discretion and cannot be guaranteed.

Timing/Workload

If your class finds that time given to complete a given project or exam is insufficient or that the workload at a certain period during the year is too much, you can speak to the lecturer of the module/modules concerned. Again, if you can’t get in touch with the lecturer, or feel the lecturer isn’t able to help you, you can speak to the Faculty Convenor, the Head of your school year or the Students’ Union.

Timetabling

It is generally your responsibility to sort out any timetabling issues that arise; this can be anything from wanting Friday afternoons off to having a six-hour day without a break. Sometimes this can be sorted without your intervention if for example you are not in the module and the students can sort it out themselves with the lecturer. The normal procedure for dealing with timetabling issues is as follows:

• The first thing is to ensure that a majority of your class want the timetable, don’t do anything on the word of one student as you could land yourself in a lot of trouble – you can’t change a timetable just because one individual wants to go home early on a Friday!

• To see if your class agrees, organise a class meeting (make an announcement

at the end of a class) or send a class email and ask people to vote on how they want the timetable to be changed. This can be done by typing the name of your class and year followed by the list.dcu.ie. For example, if you’re in BS2 the address is BS2@list.dcu.ie

• Remember that a lot of lectures are mixed and you may share certain modules with other classes so speak to Class Rep in question about this and make sure you have the agreement of the other class.

• Once you have the agreement of your class, examine your timetable and find suitable gaps, then organise a meeting with your lecturer and see if any of these times suit him/her.

• If you and your lecturer can agree on a new time, you will then need to contact the timetable administrator in your faculty office (we have included a list of these in appendix). The timetable administrator will then ensure there’s a free room for the new time.

• Once this is done make sure to run it by the entire class to see if they’re ok with new the new time.

Distribution Of Marks

If you and your class feel that the distribution of marks for one module does not accurately reflect the balance of workload (e.g. 25% for project work and 75% for exam) you should try to do the following:

Talk to your lecturer and explain your concerns. Lectures are usually more than happy to help and they will try and address the issues raised by your class. If it happens that you are unhappy with the help you receive form the lecturer, you can bring it up with the Students’ Union, the chair of the Programme Boards, or at the Programmes Board themselves. Even if you can’t change the layout for your particular year, you may be able to do something for the years coming after you. If the issue concerns a particular lecturer you can seek assistance from the Union, the Faculty Convenor or your Head of School.

Organising Class Parties

One of the most visible roles of a Class Rep is to facilitate the organisation of Class Rep parties. A good way of introducing yourself at the beginning of the year is to email the class and ask them for ideas for class parties – some classes will be more forthcoming with ideas than others but don’t let that set you back.

It’s a good idea to try and organise class parties once or twice a semester – but if your class is interested enough there’s no reason not to make it a weekly event! Come back and talk to the Students’ Union Events Co-ordinator for ideas on venues and drinks promotions etc. Then pick a date, tell your class and you’re all set.

N.B Never put your own money down as a deposit for anything. If you’re asked to put money down on a bar, it’s probably not worth it. Remember, you are doing the pub/club a favour by bringing in customers. If you are booking places/tickets for an event such as the theatre or ice-skating, keep in mind people are likely to pull out at the last minute and you will be left short-changed get money from the interested people up-front.

For more advice contact the Students’ Union Event Co-ordinator, Shea McNelis,

at Shea.mcnelis@dcu.ie or on 01 700 8188.

Computer Problems

Internal system supports (ISS) is responsible for maintaining all computers in the university. Any computer hardware or software problems should be reported to them directly by emailing helpdesk@dcu.ie or calling 5007 from any phone in the university. This logs your problems with ISS. Alternatively you can report a

problem in person at the ISS helpdesks, which are located on the top floor of the Henry Grattan Building and on the ground floor of the library. N.B placing an out of order sign on the computer will not solve the problem!