Undergraduate Teaching 2016-17

Part IIB briefing notes - general information

Part IIB briefing notes - general information

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Table of contents

Link back to main IIB briefing notes.


Course material on Moodle

Most courses in the department have a page on the University's Virtual Learning Environment Moodle.

These pages are maintained by course lecturers. Students registered to these courses are automatically enrolled at the start of the course and can engage in the course activities, including coursework submission when appropriate.

Other members of the University, staff or students, can self-enroll as observer and gain access to handouts and other documents made available to the students by the lecturers. This access is provided to students so that they can make an informed decision regarding their course selection. There might be copyright restrictions to the course material; any use of the course content that is not related to students education is not allowed. The material should not be redistributed by the students in any circumstances.

A key is needed to self-enroll on any course. By using this key, you indicate that you agree with the condition above.

Enrolment key: cued_moodle_access

NB. If you wish to unenrol yourself from a page that you have enrolled yourself on, please look for the Administration block within the course (usually lower down the page on the left) and click 'unenrol me'.


Rearranging coursework & allowances

Students are expected to make every effort to attend timetabled coursework sessions and meet coursework deadlines.  If a student believes this may not be possible, they should first read 'Rearranging coursework & allowances: general rules'.


Plagiarism avoidance: expectations of all students

The range of penalties for cheating in University examinations and coursework includes disqualification from the BA and MEng degrees.  Ignorance of the seriousness of plagiarism will not be an acceptable defense. 

The University's Discipline Regulation 6 states: "No candidate shall make use of unfair means in any University examination.  Unfair means shall include plagiarism* and, unless such possession is specifically authorised, the possession of any book, paper or other material relevant to the examination.  No member of the University shall assist a candidate to make use of such unfair means." 

* plagiarism is defined as submitting as one's own work, irrespective of intent to deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement.

To ensure that you understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it through good academic practice you are required to read:

If you do not fully understand the information in these documents you must seek clarification at the earliest opportunity from your Director of Studies or supervisor.

All work submitted electronically may be subjected to checking for plagiarism using Turnitin text-matching software software. You are required to:


Prizes, Scholarships and Awards

There are a large number of Prizes, Scholarships and Awards available: some are awarded for excellent performance on the course, others are open competitions (in particular, note the Head of Department's Annual Design Competition).  Details of all prizes and awards are on the CUED Prizes and Scholarships webpage.


Examinations

You are reminded that all Part II exams will take place at the start of the Easter Term.  For further information see:

The Form and Conduct Notice and the Coursework Notice will be issued later in the Michaelmas term.


Module lecture survey

The online course survey covers Part IIB lectures and courses, and your feedback is very important. Please do take the time to complete the survey. In addition, the fast feedback facility is available for rapid communication with staff .


Additional course costs

This link describes any additional costs that students will be expected to pay to complete the course.


Accreditation of the MEng

All students are encouraged to become student or affiliate members of one or more of the professional engineering institutions, and hopefully later become full members. This link contains details of the accreditation of the Cambridge Engineering degree.


Feedback from students

We are keen to hear what students think of the courses that we give, and so encourage students to complete the online survey and vote for the 'best' lecturer.  They can also use the 'Fast Feedback' to send messages anonymously.


Dyson Centre for Engineering Design

The Dyson Centre for Engineering Design will be opening during the Michaelmas term, providing a modern design-and-make space at the heart of the Trumpington Street site.  More details are available here.

The vision is to provide a modern workspace for engineering students to develop their creativity and enthusiasm for engineering, providing a home not only for the design, build and test projects that are a core activity within the undergraduate teaching programme but also for the extracurricular student-led projects and the school outreach schemes. The large projects will have bases here, but the aim is also to provide facilities for students to explore individual or small-group projects.

Students will be able to come together to think, exchange ideas, design, experiment, and build. They will have access to facilities for prototyping and making, using traditional hand- and machine-tools and also modern computer-controlled machinery, 3D printers and laser cutters.


Inclusive teaching

The Equality Act (2010) requires higher education institutions to take positive steps to make their education accessible to disabled students and to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to provision to ensure that disabled students are not disadvantaged. Disabilities may include physical or mental impairments: the majority of these students have specific learning difficulty (SpLD) in the form of dyslexia. Cambridge University Disability Resource Centre has some standard recommendations for appropriate academic support for such students. Further provision may be required in particular cases.

In an organisation of our size and complexity, individual variations in provision are potentially disruptive. However, many of the suggested adjustments are just good educational practice, so represent things we should be doing anyway as a Department that takes pride in the excellence of its teaching. Indeed, we already follow many of the recommendations (e.g. provision of cribs). The approach we have adopted is therefore to aim to have inclusive standard procedures for all teaching activities. Students are expected to make use of available resources to suit their needs, and to contact staff themselves (e.g. lecturers, lab leaders) if additional material is required.

The syllabus pages will give you lecturer details for part IA and part IB lecturers.  Lab leader details can be found here for IA and IB.

Contact details of part II lecturers can be found on the relevant syllabus pages.

Any enquiries should be addressed to the CUED Director of Undergraduate Education.

The following recommendations have been agreed by the Faculty Board (12 November 2012):

  • Electronic versions of handouts should be made available on-line 24h in advance of lectures or other teaching sessions (e.g. labs). [This allows students who do have special requirements to produce their own customised hard copy if they wish: e.g. single-sided; large format; non-white background].
  • Filled-in versions of notes should be made available on-line after lectures.
  • Recording lectures (audio) is often recommended to students as a learning aid. They must sign an agreement to use the recording only for their own personal study, and acknowledging IP and copyright. The agreement form can be found here, and students are asked to provide the Teaching Office with a copy. Lecturers are asked to consent to their lectures being recorded under these conditions. A list of students who have completed agreement forms can be made available on request.
  • In labs, instruction should be provided in both written and verbal form.
  • Lecturers should remember to pay attention to ‘signposting’ e.g. statement a start of each lecture of what is being covered; tracking progression throughout lecture; summary of main teaching points at end.
  • All staff should make particular effort to put new vocabulary into context and explain new concepts. It is helpful to provide some repetition.

In 2016-2017, the department is trialing a lecture capture system for IA and IB. More information will be added to this guide in due course.


Undergraduate Teaching Office contact details

The Undergraduate Teaching Office organises and oversees the provision of undergraduate courses, projects and teaching activities.  The Office is located on the office floor of the Baker building.

Individual contact details of Undergraduate Teaching Office staff are as follows:

Dr Claire Barlow, Deputy Head of Department (Teaching), tel: (3)32627

Dr Alexandre Kabla, Director of Undergraduate Education, tel: (3)32883

Alison Burgess, Administrative Officer, tel: (3)32619

Sonia looks after examinations and much of the teaching administration, including TODB, teaching allocations and timetabling.  Her normal days in the office are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but she is contactable by email every day.

Madeline McKerchar, Administrative Officer, tel: (7)62423

Madeline looks after Faculty Board and Teaching Committee, and will be in the office Mondays, Wednesdays (morning only) and Fridays.

Mary Wilby, Senior Administrator (Teaching Office), tel: (3)32704

Teaching Office Manager

Sally Kwong, Administrator,  tel: (3)32807

Supports examinations, TODB, the Faculty Board and room bookings.

Klara Cichovska, Administrator (Teaching Office), tel: (3)32625

Production and distribution of examples papers, Teaching Office enquiries.

 

Last updated on 01/10/2015 12:24