A chairde, You may recall that we submitted a document to Academic Council back in October outlining some simple steps we felt could be implemented to relieve the pressure on students. We called it a "Framework for Good Practice". The document was sent to the new Teaching & Learning Committee for its adoption. Although we were initially afraid that this would effectively "bury" our Framework, the committee has today adopted an amended version of our proposals. It is not perfect but if passed (as we would expect) by Academic Council on Wednesday, it will bring significant benefits to students. These include * Some legislation on timetabling for the first time - An hour off between 12-2 - Wednesday afternoons free from 2 - No more than 3 hours consecutive lectures / tutorials - A commitment to providing for learning missed through the abscence of a lecturer. * On workloads there will be - Designated people responsible for ensuring that there are no project clashes in a class group. - Limits to the number of assignments allowed on the same day / week. - A commitment to give all students their full workload schedule on the first week of term. * The document also includes - Better SU/College communication in the class rep allocation/election process. A member of academic staff will brief incoming class reps. - Each Module will have a minimum one hour period where students can informally chat to the lecturer. - Exam papers will be posted on the web. - No new module will be accredited without a sample paper being made available. The bright eyed and bushy tailed among you will notice that most of these practices are already in place in most courses. However class reps now have a checklist they can run through and a big stick to beat Programme Board chairs with when the provisions of the document aren't implemented. The full text is available at http://odtl.dcu.ie/wp/2000/odtl-2000-01.html We have (hopefully!!) done our bit in getting the college to agree to these rules. It is up to the class reps to make sure that these rules are implemented. There is no point in having a document enunciating fine principles if it isn't monitored (by you) to ensure that the punter on the ground isn't getting fucked over. Cheers, Dáibhí.