HWU Your Voice and Class Rep Recruitment

Hello everyone! It’s Connel, your Vice President Education here from your Student Union. Whether you are a new or continuing student, I hope everybody is settling in well so far.  

I have a couple of announcements to let you all know about – all of which are SUPER important in making sure you can have your voice heard on any positive and negative aspects to your learning and teaching experience.  

HWU Your Voice 

If you have not noticed already, when you are logged into your student account on TEAMS, you should have access to a channel called HWU Your Voice. This channel is the primary forum for you to provide feedback to your Class Reps and Department Officers, and allows any academic issues to be Raised, Discussed and Resolved, helping to close the feedback loop. Want to find out more? Click on the SharePoint link below to access a more in-depth outline of the channel and its purpose.  

https://heriotwatt.sharepoint.com/sites/StudentVoiceplatform 

Overall, the main features of the channel are: 

• Anonymous: Any feedback that you give about your courses on your programme to your Class Rep on the channel is completely anonymous. Only you, and your reps can access and view this.  

• Enrolment: You are automatically enrolled on to the channel on teams. No extra work on your side is required.  

• Programme-Specific: You are only on the channel which is relevant to your programme. You will not see anything unrelated on other courses posted.  

It is incredibly important to make sure to raise feedback on this platform, so that your Class Reps and Department Officers can work together to close the feedback loop – i.e., making sure any issues you raise are adequately addressed and then you are fed back to on the outcome – but also to escalate broader issues affecting multiple programmes with your School MP.  

If you have any questions at all about HWU Your Voice, please get in contact with your Class Rep or Department Officer. Or again, click on the SharePoint link to understand clearly the ins and outs! 

Class Rep Recruitment 

Now, you might be thinking, what is a Class Rep? Simple – a class rep is the official representative of a class or year group. In this role, you can create change and improve your course for you and your classmates. You can do this by collecting feedback from your classmates, attending meetings with your Department Officers and representing their views and network with other class reps to learn and share best practice. Class Rep recruitment is NOW OPEN! If you are interested in the role or would like to find out more, please speak to your Year Coordinator or any of your course lecturers about putting your name forward!  

Once you put yourself forward, a small election – if more than one student has expressed interest - will be held on Canvas. Do not worry about this too much, you just need to submit a short 200-word paragraph about why you would be great in the role! Voting will then happen and, if elected, you’ll be the class rep! 

If you are reading this and thinking ‘but I don’t know how to be a class rep!’, once elected into the role, you will receive training from sparqs, an organisation specialising in class reps. This training will cover the role of the class rep, how to collect feedback from your fellow classmates and how this feedback fits into the Student Learning Experience.  

So, does this sound like something you would like to get involved with? 

• CV Experience 

• Volunteering hours logged with the Student Union (which go on your enhanced academic transcript when you graduate for employers to see) 

• Networking/Meeting other students in the role 

• An invitation to an exclusive VIP Rep Event  

• Skills Development 

• A warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that you are helping to provide a voice for students 

You will be supported throughout the year, so don’t worry if it feels a bit much right now. We’re here to help you get the most from being a class rep.