On this event page you will find full descriptions of the workshops and activities within this room. To explore other rooms, click on the links to the right, or return to the Southern Conference home page here. To access your chosen activity click the timetable below to be re-directed to the Zoom Call for your session.
Workshop: The Faculty Structure at ARU Students' Union Fraser Luther-Yarwood and Amanda Campbell-White, Vice Presidents, ARU Students' Union This session will take a look at the rationale behind ARUSU making the move to a faculty-based structure and the impact it has on the course rep system. We will be breaking out into groups to discuss and compare the different roles and responsibilities as well as the pros and cons that a Faculty VP may have compared to an activities officer or welfare officer. The big hot topic of the last couple of months has been coronavirus so we will spend some time looking at the role the faculty structure has played in support students and working with the university. Again, we will break out into groups to discuss the impact of differing officer roles during this Coronavirus crisis.
The Sussex Buddy Scheme recently launched a Virtual Buddy Up, to help students to connect with each other across the globe. A Buddy Scheme during the pandemic was requested by students at Sussex and we responded by creating this new scheme that is both beneficial and fun for the lockdown period. How did this project come about and what have we learnt from this new way of buddying?
Home from home: this session will cover the journey of an international student; from moving not only homes but countries, these students face unique problems not faced by other demographics of students. Here at ARU, 39% of our students are classed as International- a huge number in comparison to average figures from other UK universities. We will be sharing our areas of best practice for delivering a welcome period for International students and for building a sense of community and we will be looking at areas we would like to improve and upcoming challenges we may face in delivering this programme.
Project Planning: this is not a sales pitch! Students’ Unions are forever juggling multiple projects and working across departments to provide a great service for their students. Monday.com has allowed ARU Students’ Union to manage these projects in a more effective and timesaving manner. By utilising a range of boards, dashboards and third party programme integrations, we are able to improve the method, process and ultimately the delivery of each one of our projects. In this session, we will share with you our experience, both good and bad, of this platform.
Belong: In this session, we will consider how SU's can engage students if the traditional welcome week format is restricted by social distancing regulations or online delivery. And if we can use data and digital solutions to generate a sense of belonging to an SU that exists mostly in the Cloud. - What happens on results day? - What is the purpose of your fresher's fair? - How can we use KYC data segmentation to better engage students?
Social Media: As social media changes it is hard to keep up with how you should and shouldn’t use social media. In my handover pack, I remember being told not to use hashtags as they were seen as cheesy, and going out of fashion. All it took was one update to the Instagram algorithm, and a rise in influencers being unafraid to use hashtags' power, for this to do a complete 180. Now, a post without a hashtag would be a cardinal sin! Meaningful activity is more important than likes and basic engagement, especially for a charity organisation. Building trust will never change, and should always be a focus. This session will explore how you can keep trust in an ever changing world using social media.