Chair L4 Project Moderators#

Responsibilities:

• to chair the yearly moderators meeting. This is where all issues related to the Level 4 Project oral examinations are discussed, along with prize nominations.
• to write a report on this meeting and feedback to BoS/BoE any issues arising.

Chair Laboratories Committee#

This role involves the following responsibilities:

Management and resources#

• Chair the Teaching Laboratories Committee, which collectively formulates a strategy for organising and teaching Physics in Laboratories and related skills, and presents recommendations arising to the Education Committee;
• Represents the financial needs for the teaching of Laboratory Physics to the Facilities and Education Committees;
• Responsibility for agreeing budgets with Laboratory Level Leaders;
• Formulation of proposals for changes to assessment criteria and mark proformas for consideration by Education Committee;
• Allocates additional departmental funding for experimental L4 projects in consultation with Lab Technician Supervisor;
• Co-ordinates provision of Christmas lecture tours;
• Co-ordinates entries for Florence Nightingale Graphical Excellence Awards, and provides list of winners to Prizes Committee;

Training#

• Responsibility for delivering general training to all laboratory demonstrators at the beginning of each academic year. Liaison with Communications Support to arrange recording of Training Session

Committee Membership#

• Member of Health and Safety Committee (unless there is a Level Leader on the Committee)
• Member of Facilities Committee
• Member of Education Committee
• Member of Student Voice Committee

Co-Chair of the Student Voice Committee (UG)#

Responsibilities:

• Chair (in conjunction with the Student Co-Chair) regular meetings of the Student Voice Committee (SVC);
• Report information, concerns and points of discussion to Education Committee;
• Make recommendations based on student feedback to Education Committee;
• Ensure engagement of Course Directors with informal meetings with Level course representatives;
• Co-ordinate with the Director of Education, Directors of Student Experience and Learning and Teaching Team to promote Module Evaluation Questionnaires (MEQs), National Student Survey (NSS) and Programme Evaluation Questionnaires (PES);
• Report on the results of MEQs and PES to the Annual Review of Teaching.

Director of Student Experience (events)#

Responsibilities:

• Organise Events to promote student inclusion within the department. These can include (but are not limited to) highlighting departmental research to undergraduates, promoting the provision of student feedback, improving inclusion and belonging throughout the student body.

Director of Student Experience (social media)#

Responsibilities:

• To use social media tools to publicise activities and otherwise support student wellbeing, inclusion and information.

Welcome and Orientation Week Group Project Leader#

Responsibilities:

• Organisation of the Group Projects in Welcome and Orientation Week;
• Ensuring the smooth delivery of Welcome and Orientation Week Group Projects;
• Updating projects and their delivery patterns as needed.

Induction Week Talks#

This comprises several talks during the induction week, which also include a Q&A session:

• SVC Co-chair presentation
• EDI presentation
• DoSE presentation

Course directors#

This document is intended to give an overview of the duties of a course director. It is not a prescriptive list, but should be used as a guide, especially by those who are new to the job. Similarly there will also be tasks which arise which are not covered here.

General Duties of all Course Directors#

1. Attend and report to each meeting of the Education Committee.
2. Maintain a good familiarity with the Department’s teaching programme and module structures, particularly at the individual’s own Level of responsibility.
3. Review the students’ responses to the module questionnaires in April/May, particularly for modules involving tutorials or any others for which the Course Director has special academic oversight.
4. Participate in the analysis of Performance Indicator Statistics, which forms part of the Annual Review process.
5. Provide academic oversight and monitoring of each of the lecture courses. In practice, the delivery of each syllabus is left to the individual lecturers, but the Course Director needs check that changes that do occur do not have an impact on progression or other courses (particularly true for the teaching of mathematics).
6. If changes are to be made to the modules, then the course director is responsible for coordinating these changes, along with the relevant lecturing staff and the Teaching Administrator, and/or the Board of Examiners.
7. Arrange a meeting, typically once a year, for all staff teaching at that level (including tutors and lab staff). Even though it may appear that everything is running smoothly, these meetings are very useful for bringing up relatively minor issues which can usually be rectified by the Course Director. The date and location of these meetings is normally set centrally.
8. Using the results from 3. and elsewhere, be proactive in trying to continually improve all courses as well as the general organisation of teaching across all levels.
9. Attend the meetings of the Staff–Student Consultative Committee (Undergraduate) and the “satellite” meetings with the students of the corresponding level.
10. Provide input to the Teaching Administrator and/or Director of Education with regard to individual student cases such as concession requests.
11. Deal with student complaints, if necessary and appropriate, on behalf of the Director of Education.
12. Advise the BoE Chairman, if necessary, on cases of alleged plagiarism.
13. Prepare written guidance on registration and module choices, for publication to students prior to the relevant registration period each year, deliver a corresponding talk to students and be available to answer related queries.
14. Liaise with academic advisers on advising students where necessary.

The Course Directors are accountable to the Director of Education, who is normally the Chair of the Education Committee.

Specific Additional Duties of the Level One Course Director#

1. Deliver a talk and question and answer session outlining the structure of the first year courses, their delivery and assessment during Induction Week.
2. Be available to answer telephone/online queries regarding module choice and registration for two afternoons (2.45 hours per afternoon) prior to the module registration deadline and the start of term.
3. Respond to student queries by both telephone and e-mail with regard to academic aspects of module choice and registration.
4. Organise the departmental aspects of Welcome and Orientation Week, including liaison with Student Voice Committee, Student Societies and relevant colleagues.
5. Liaise with the Teaching Administrator on arranging the L1 Tutorials. In practice the Teaching Administrator does most of the prescribed work, but invariably there are many small issues which need to be solved, and both need to be proactive in this.
6. Checking and confirming the content of the Level 1 Course Booklet.
7. Maintain the document on the duties of L1 Tutors (check it is up to date).
8. Vet inexperienced Level 1 Tutors to determine their suitability for the role (this is split with other Level 1 colleagues).
9. Liaise with the L1 Lab leader to identify and help solve any problems that arise.
10. Arrange a meeting at the beginning of the year with all L1 Tutors to explain to them how the tutorial system works. Attendance at this can be optional for experienced tutors (but they still need to be made aware of any changes).
11. Oversee the setting and vetting of the Level 1 Collections Examination.
12. Check marks and feedback for the Collections Examination and provide feedback to students, at cohort level, on performance.
13. Respond to queries by students and staff regarding the Collections Examination.
14. Interview students transferring to Physics at Level 1 from other Departments.
15. The L1 Course Director is also the Departmental APL Coordinator (APL = Accreditation of Prior Learning). This involves analyzing cases whereby students request that courses taken prior to coming to Durham (at other Universities) can be used to avoid taking certain modules in Durham. There is a departmental policy on this with further information.
16. Look at ways of improving our provision in regards to helping students make the transition from school to university.
17. Advise the Undergraduate Admissions Team as necessary on the academic aspects of applications from students with unusual qualifications or applications for direct entry into Level 2.
18. Act as a point of contact for staff teaching at that level who are unfamiliar with, or have queries about, the procedures.
19. Liaise with the Department of Mathematical Sciences on the content of relevant Level 1 Maths Modules.

Specific Additional Duties of the Level Two Course Director#

1. Liaise with the Teaching Administrator on arranging L2 Workshops. This includes attending and/or delivering the training sessions for L2 workshop supervisors and demonstrators.
2. Liaise with the L2 Lab leader to identify and help solve any problems that arise.

Specific Additional Duties of the Level Three Course Director#

1. Responsible, where necessary, for assisting the Level 3 computing leader in the academic oversight of the poster sessions and for judging the posters for the poster prizes.
2. Liaise with the Teaching Administrator on arranging L3 workshops. This includes attending and/or delivering the training sessions for L3 workshop supervisors and demonstrators.
3. Liaise with the L3 Lab leader to identify and help solve any problems that arise.
4. With the help of the Exchanges Coordinator, approve study programmes of students replacing their level 3 modules by a year of study abroad.

Specific Additional Duties of the Level Four Course Director#

1. Evaluate Level 4 Project submissions from colleagues to ensure their suitability (including that sufficient staff members are able to examine the projects).
2. Ensure that information is provided to students related to Level 4 project, including organisation and examination.
3. Attend a number of L4 project seminars (Epiphany Term) with the aim of ensuring equitable marking between sessions and to check the smooth running of the system.

Natural Sciences Liaison Officer#

1. Attend and report to Physics Education Committee on issues relating to the Natural Sciences degree.
2. Attend the Management Board of the Natural Sciences degree, reporting to it on significant changes to the structure of Physics modules, and passing back to Physics Education Committee relevant Natural Science matters arising.
3. Register the new cohort of Natural Science students in October, providing advice on Physics module choices.
4. Register continuing Natural Science students in June, providing advice on Physics module choices.
5. Send out an email to Natural Science students taking Physics modules at the start of each academic year, introducing oneself as Advisor and giving contact details if students experience problems.
6. Act as a point of contact in the Department for Natural Science students taking Physics modules and, if required, provide academic references for such students.
7. Attend the meetings of the Scrutiny Panel of the Board of Examiners in Physics, in June and August/September.
8. Attend the meeting of the Natural Sciences Board of Examiners in June to provide input on Serious Adverse Circumstances cases, and other details related to degree classification and progression.

Student Employability Representative#

The role involves:

• acting as a liaison between the department and the university Careers, Employability & Enterprise Centre.
• informing the students on a broad range of activities - workshops, meetings with potential employers, competitions etc. concerning career and employability.
• filtering the information from the centre to select those relevant for physics students and passing them on.
• advising the Careers Centre when they organise events with focus on physics students
• answering queries by current or potential students about issues concerning employability.
• attending meetings with the Careers Service, usually once a term. These meetings are used for sharing good examples of employability practice inside departments and news about future changes or plans in the Careers Centre.

Last updated 2026/03/29