Vision and Plans
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Collecting Opinion Regularly | Collecting opinions through channels such as WhatsApp, Discord, and an anonymous message box. |
| Attending School Meetings | Attending Year 2 SSLC and full SSLC meetings to reflect opinions on course arrangements and school policies. |
| End of Term In-depth Survey | Conducting an in-depth end of TB questionnaire to collect student opinions and feedback on school policy and course arrangements. This will also gather crucial data for proposing policies, such as assessing students academic progress, their plans for future career paths, and their engagement in the data science community. |
| Post Exam Survey | Collecting opinions after exams each term to gather views on examination arrangements. |
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Online Learning Platform | Develop an online Google Drive to store past papers, lecture notes, and additional learning materials (e.g., study skills spreadsheets, calendars) to help students learn more effectively. |
| Roadmap Project | Create an online self-study roadmap that includes the necessary skills for becoming a data scientist, along with its specializations. This roadmap will feature custom resources tailored specifically for the entire program and will also include additional generic resources that cater to the desired specialization of the student . |
| Coding/Maths Surgery | Hold voluntary math and coding sessions at the end of the term to assist students with programming or mathematics-related problems. |
| Assistance on forming Study Groups | We encourage students to form study groups of 3-6 members. Assistance will be provided for those who need support, such as room booking and activity support. |
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Concerns on School Policies that improve learning environment | Focusing on various school policies that may affect students’ learning environment, such as suggestions to modify course arrangements and assessment policies; assess the teaching qualities of newly established courses; assess the impacts of the new term structure and the reduction in the number of notes available for examination; and suggestions on providing simplified Past Paper solutions. |
| Inquiry to School Authority | Sending inquiry letters to request the school to clarify its policies, so that we can better understand them. |
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Providing More Updates on Available Scholarships | We noticed several students have decided not to apply for a placement year due to financial concerns. We hope the school can provide information about applying for scholarships, so that capable students can have the opportunity to ease their financial burden. |
| Encouragement Students to Host Activities | We encourage students who are proficient in math or coding, or who are enthusiastic about organizing activities, to become tutors or event organizers in the future. We will seek to cooperate with different organizations, such as the Study-Skills Team and BDSS, so they can award credits to those serving as tutors or volunteer teachers for these events. |
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Concerns on Curriculum Modification | Through meeting with school authority to express concerns on possible modification on course curriculum, including: enriching the choices of electives during Year 3; increasing the elements of Data Management in the school curriculum; addressing the problem of overlapping for year 1 courses ‘Intro to Coding’ and ‘Algorithms and Programming in C++ and R’; assessing the impacts of the new school structure in affecting students’ foundations on statistics and coding. |
| Roadmap Project | The Roadmap Project, mentioned in section 2, serves as crucial supporting evidence for curriculum modification, including the necessary skills to become a data scientist. We expect the roadmap to be updated annually, allowing students to maintain their competitiveness by understanding their pathway clearly. |
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Promotion on Career Opportunities | Report present and future issues of interest, including career development opportunities and paid jobs on campus, such as chances to apply for student ambassador, to fellow schoolmates weekly via social media platforms like Discord. |
| Concerns on Industrial Placement Year and Integrated Masters | To request that the school authority provides the most recent updates on the integrated masters program and the industrial placement year. To evaluate the current placement year arrangements and provide suggestions for modifications. |
| Reflecting needs of more Internship Opportunities and Workshops for Data Science Students | To lobby the school to provide more internship opportunities specifically for data science students across various domain fields. |
| Collaboration with Career Service Team and BDSS | Collaborating with Career Services to introduce more internship opportunities and schemes for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Aiming for smoother integration with the BDSS to enable greater student participation in career-related activities. |
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Maintenance on Discord Community | To provide a platform for students to engage in real-time discussions, exchange ideas and information related to coding, math, and data science activities. |
| Collaboration with BDSS/Study Skills Team | We encourage all students to join the BDSS activities as well as and participate in relevant study skills sessions, such as the coding club, and we will provide weekly updates on Data Science activities mainly through community whatsapp group. |
| Building a Data Science Whatsapp community group | We coordinated with BDSS in 2024 summer to develop a Whatsapp community group consisting of Year 1-3 groups chats, along with BDSS channels that share activity promotions and career opportunities. We encourage all Data Science students to join, with the aim of building a strong Data Science network by creating a platform for data science activities can be promoted more effectively, and to let students to exchange information and participate in regular community activities based on their needs. |
| Activity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Collaboration with the School and Promotion of the Programme | To explore opportunities to collaborate with the school to promote our program on various occasions, such as Open Days, Offer Holders Events, and Freshers Welcome Week. |
| Explore the Possibilities on In-depth Research | To explore possibilities for collaboration with the school to conduct in-depth surveys and analyze the results to regularly trace students views, and to conduct research on special topics during the summer vacation, such as coordination in the Road Map Project. |
Timeline of Activities
- Getting Elected on Course Rep Elections
- Building up on Online Learning Drive, Discord Group and Message Box
- Attending First Year 1 SSLC Meeting
- Attending First FULL SSLC Meeting
- Requesting modifications on the course arrangement of the “Applied Analysis A” with providing extra practice paper
- Attending Second Year 1 SSLC Meeting
- Conducting In-depth Year 1 Survey
- Holding Maths/ Coding Surgery
- Initialize meeting with the Data Science Director
- Attending Second FULL SSLC Meeting
- Raise the concerns about how the change of school plan in 24/25 affects on students performance
- Conducting TB1 Post-exam Survey
- Publishing Post-exam Survey Results during the Second FULL SSLC Meeting
- Attending Third FULL SSLC Meeting and we discussed curriculum design course arrangements and overlapping problem in coding course
- Attending the meeting with the Data Science Director, which discuss curriculum design, career development and the data science community
- Publishing the result of the end of TB1 In-depth survey
- Attending Third FULL SSLC
- Attending Third Year 1 SSLC Meeting
- Promotion on Career Events (Explore Data Science Workshop)
- Attending the meeting with the Data Science Director and Alyce, which discuss about students’ career development and the data science community
- Raise concerns on Open Book exams and modifying exam arrangements on course Applied Analysis B and Statistics
- Raise concerns on modifying procedures in Offer Holder Event, Discuss with Data Science Offer-Holders during Offer Holder Event
- Attending the Fourth and Final Year 1 SSLC Meeting
- Promotion on Career Events (Maths at Work - student and industry engagement event)
- Conduct End of the Year Survey
- Attend BDSS AGM and provide suggestions on BDSS Future Plan
- Holding Maths/ Coding Surgery
- Attending the final FULL SSLC Meeting
- Attending the meeting with the Head of School and expressing the opinion that the policy on the availability of notes for exams should remain unchanged
- Providing a End of Term Evaluation Report assessing the teaching quality of each Year 1 course
- Raising concerns about Year 3 Elective Issues
- Coordinating with Alyce on promoting the Maths at Work Session
- Attending the BDSS AGM
- Holding the Coding Surgery
- Conducting the End of TB2 In-depth Survey
- Conducting the TB2 Post Exam Survey
- Organising an End-of-Term Celebration Dinner
- Publishing the results of the End of TB2 In-depth Survey and Post Exam Survey
- Updating the Online Learning Materials
- Discussing future plans for career development with Alyce
- Proposing plans for Welcoming Events
- Discussing with BDSS with year plans on how to build a strong student community
- Establishing the WhatsApp community group with BDSS
- Providing tips for academic arrangements and career development before term starts
- Confirming TB1 plans for career development with Alyce (Project Coordinator from the Science Faculty Office), Matrix, and BDSS.
- Attending Welcoming Week Orientation Talks and introducing the Data Science Community to freshers.
- Coordinating with BDSS to promote Data Science events such as the orientation party and Song Liu’s Sharing Talk.
- Providing voluntary coding support during Year 1 Algorithms and Programming in C(++) and R lab sessions.
- Encouraging Year 1 students to participate in Course Rep elections and elect their course reps.
- Coordinating with Alyce, Matrix, and BDSS to promote the Internship Panel and the Maths at Work Event.
- Attending the Faculty of Science Autumn Forum and addressing concerns regarding SCIF coding courses, while suggesting the idea of setting up a Faculty of Science Teams Group.
- Attending the first Year 2 SSLC and raising concerns related to modified calculator policies and the attendance policy for the reading week.
- Meeting with elected Year 1 Data Science Reps to discuss the Year Plan and share supportive learning materials.
- Coordinating with Year 1 Reps and providing support during voluntary Programming Surgery sessions.
- Attending the first Full SSLC to address concerns regarding the teaching arrangements for MATH 20017, calculator policies, the setup of microwaves and hot water pipelines in the Fry Building, and teaching quality for the AML course.
- Coordinating with the Chair of the Maths FSSLC to establish a Course Rep WhatsApp group.
- Attending the Faculty FSSLC and raising concerns about Data Science coding courses and the hectic schedule brought on by the new TB1 SAY schedule.
- Coordinating with Alyce to promote student participation in the Data Science mock interview sessions.
- Conducting the TB1 Post-Exam Survey and publishing a post exam report.
- Addressing the School of Maths regarding the abnormal circumstances surrounding the AML examination.
- Highlighting concerns about coursework overload caused by the new SAY structure.
- Conducting inquiries into the School Rep Reform and providing suggestions on how the Student Union could further support Course/School Reps in communicating with students.
- Attended a meeting with the Director of UG Studies to discuss the ALM exam arrangements, the impacts of SAY, and plans for consolidating the student community.
- Attended the Second Year 2 SSLC and provided opinion on how feedbacks are used to improve learning
- Attended the Second Maths FSSLC and raised issues such as extending the ALM exam to 2.5 hours in TB2 and suggesting modifications to the Year 3 Group Project arrangement for 2025/26.
- Attended the SAY Forum with other School Reps on 25th January, expressing concerns about the impact of SAY to SU staff and Faculty Reps.
- Proposed making Teaching Support Roles (TSRs) available to Year 3 students for future MATH10017/MATH20017 courses, which received positive feedback.
- Attended an online meeting with the University Quality Team to provide general feedback on administrative issues within our School.
- Attended the Second Faculty SSLC and addressed issues regarding Year 2 unit choices.
- Conducted a consultation regarding the election plan for course reps in 2025/26.
- Discussed potential unit choice arrangements with the Director of UG Studies.
- Assisted the Faculty Rep in collecting hundreds of survey responses for the university-wide SAY survey.
- Attended the Third Maths FSSLC, raising concerns about the quality of lecture notes in ALM, teaching quality in the Perspectives in Data Science course, and providing detailed feedback on improving the unit choice mechanism.
- Attended the Second Science Rep Forum.
- Attended the Third Science FSSLC, raising concerns about extending the deadline for the BLUE survey to include exam feedback, ways to strengthen coding foundations for Year 1 DS students, and potential faculty support for Data Science students in developing their coding skills.
- Coordinated with Alyce, Matrix, and BDSS to promote the TB2 Maths at Work event.
- Attended the third Year 2 SSLC meeting.
- Provided advice during the Unit Choice drop-in session and communicated with the school regarding the procedure for Year 3 group project unit selection, offering helpful feedback.
- Canvassed over 70 Maths and Data Science students in Fry to understand their academic support needs and concerns.
- Attended the Final Math SSLC meeting and raised issues regarding the new microwave in Fry and the accessibility of Fry after 6 p.m. during the exam period.
- Coordinated with Faculty Rep, DS and Chemistry Course Reps to address concerns about insufficient time for completing SCIF10002 coursework, resulting in a deadline extension.
- Held voluntary Maths and Coding Surgery sessions with Year 1 and 2 students.
- Coordinated with Alyce, Matrix, and BDSS to promote the Maths at Work event.
- Attended the BDSS AGM and contributed suggestions for the BDSS Future Plan and Strategy.
- Supported Alyce Griffith, our Project Coordinator to attain Bristol Teaching Award (Outstanding Support Award) and collected at least 10 endorsements from coursemates
- Provide revision notes and advices for Year 1 Students to prepare Statistics 1 Exam
- Formed Study Groups and purposed a drafted ALM past paper solutions for Year 2 coursemates
- Met with the Year 1 Data Science Course Rep and shared useful non-assessed online learning materials.
- Supported and nominated Phong, the BDSS President in getting the Lynne Walling Student Prize, for recognition of his contributions to developing solid Data Science communities within our school.
- Promoted the survey regarding the proposed new Artificial Intelligence Master’s programme at the University.
- Attended the End-of-Year School Rep Reflection Event to provide overall feedback on the impact of the new SAY structure, the quality of assessment feedback, and financial aid for academic societies under the Faculty merger.
- Attended the BDSS EGM and expressed willingness to continue maintaining strong coordination with BDSS in the next academic year.
- Attended the final Faculty SSLC and raised concerns regarding exam difficulties, measures to reduce the negative impact of SAY in TB1, a request to issue the exam timetable earlier in TB1, and recommendations on reviewing the 2026/27 term dates.