Minutes of the SSCC Meeting

Held on Wednesday 23rd November 2005, Room 114 Foster Court at 1.00 p.m.

Staff Present:                 

Graham Roberts (Departmental Undergraduate Tutor, Chair), Robin Hirsch (MScCS Course Director), Nicola Jarvis (Undergraduate Administrator, Secretary), Peter Rounce (Director of Services), Jill Saunders (Departmental Manager), Neil Daeche (Technical Support Group).

Student Representatives Present:

Naveed Ahmad (MSc IS), Zarraq Ahmed (Year 2 UG), Sally Chiu (MSc CS), Andrew Cox (Year 2 UG), George Diamantidis (MSc SSE), Steve Edwards (MScCS), Ben Evans (MSc IS), Stefanie Foerch (Year 1 UG), Adamos Loizou (MSc DCNDS), Andy Maule (PhD), Marios Panayides (MSc VIVE), Nikolas Pontikos (Year 3 UG), Asset Tarabeyev (Year 1 UG), David Tatarata (Year 3 UG).

1. Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Steve Hailes (Director of Studies), JJ Giwa (Senior Dept Officer), Neil Hirani (MaCS).

2. Notification of any other business

Student representatives on committees (Jill Saunders)

Heating in new building (George Diamantidis)

Web forums (George Diamantidis)

Hardware problems (Steve Edwards)

3. Approval of minutes of the last meeting

The previous minutes were approved as an accurate record of the last meeting.

4. Matters arising from the previous minutes

4.1 Lockers

Jill Saunders will investigate the possibility of being allocated some lockers on the 5^thfloor of the Roberts Building. Action JFS

4.2 Quiet lab

Ideally, students should be policing this themselves, but a member of staff or the helpdesk will act if necessary. Suggestions regarding better signage were noted.

Students find it difficult to find space for group-work which adds to noise in the labs. Jill agreed to ask about space in the Roberts Building once it is refurbished. Action JFS

4.3 Tutorial arrangements

Steve Hailes is currently holding meetings with undergraduates regarding tutorial arrangements.

4.4 Late return of coursework

In the case of seriously late coursework, students should approach the lecturer concerned. Year tutors and course directors can be approached if the work is still not returned in reasonable time.

4.5 1B10 test feedback

No problems have been reported this session.

4.6 Recycling bins

Bins are now positioned by each printer station.

4.7 Scholarships

Applications for the scholarships from MISYS and Microsoft have significantly increased this year.

5. Lab and Computing Issues (Andy Maule, Ben Evans, David Tatarata)

5.1 Servers re-booting every night

This is necessary to keep the machines up to date. Students who wish to run programs over several days can do this by individual arrangement via the Helpdesk.

5.2 User shell changing not supported (changing default login shell)

This is a resource issue, supporting it would be a lot of administration. The current arrangements are in place to maintain smooth running of the system.

5.3 Public key authentification with SSH

Graham Roberts reported that this does work. A public key may need converting to the correct format, depending on which version of SSH is being used.

5.4 Lab computers not running SSHD

To run SSHD on lab machines would mean a lot of additional administration for which resources are not available.

5.5 Interaction with helpdesk difficult

Students should not expect an instantaneous response when they send an email to the request account. The emails are worked through in turn but it can take several days before a response is received.

5.6 Cost of additional printer quota excessive

The department does not make a profit from printing – all charges are for covering costs.

5.7 Quicker response by helpdesk for installing software

See item 5.5, above.

5.8 Wireless network

It had been intended that the whole building would have wireless access, but this has not yet happened. David Tatarata suggested that an access point be installed in computer labs. Graham agreed to put in a request. Action GAR

6. Email Issues

6.1 Users setting up their own forwarding (Ben Evans)

Students’ were advised to use IS accounts for this. Some discussion ensued about the why students had both IS and CS accounts. This practice is re-examined periodically. Currently the CS accounts ensure the best way for all students to stay informed via email.

6.2 Email being sent to request from external account being ignored (Ben Evans)

Emails received from external email accounts do not receive an automatically generated response, but are still allocated a job number.

6.3 Automatic subscription to email lists (Andrew Cox)

It is not possible to offer this service due to the large numbers of students who change their mind about options early on in the term.

Naveed Ahmed asked whether use could be made of a product such as Blackboard. GAR replied that WebCT is used at UCL, although its use depends on the preferences of individual lecturers.

7. Building issues

7.1 Coffee, machine, drinking water, etc. (Andrew Cox, Stefanie Foerch)

Facilities are now available next door on the 5^th floor of the Roberts Building.

7.2 Bigger common room (David Tatarata)

There is no space available within the department for a larger common room. Jill will investigate what facilities will be available in the Roberts Building once the refurbishment is complete.

7.3 Wheelchair lift and key (Steve Edwards)

This has been out of order now for some time and all agreed that the situation was unacceptable. It was felt that the Estates department is not taking the issue seriously enough. The department will continue to pursue the problem.

8. January exams (Andrew Cox)

The department does not have the resources to run exams in January. It is felt that having all the exams at the end of the year also gives people a proper chance to absorb and understand concepts (in programming, for example).

9. Marking of PLINC101 (Prolog) exam capped at 80% (David Tatarata)

The department can not control local rules in other departments. CS Students will no longer be taking this course.

10. Capping of resit and repeat marks at 35% not fair (David Tatarata)

Marks are capped to give proper credit to those who passed the examination first time. However, under the new harmonization scheme, capping may disappear.

11. 2009 HCI Coursework deadline – moved a month forward (Andrew Cox)

This issue had been resolved before the meeting.

12. Z26 Professional Practice, assessment for SSE students (George Diamantidis)

The students wanted to know if the assessment would be the same for DCNDS and SSE students. Graham suggested that students resolve this issue with David Rosenblum.

13. Workshops for GS02 Advanced Analysis and Design (George Diamantidis)

The students need practice with UML tools, but there are licensing issues with Magicdraw. This was noted.

14. Summer research programme (David Tatarata)

Subject to funding the summer research programme will continue this year. Applications are received and dealt with in the same way as any other recruitment procedure, which explains why some students who applied were not interviewed.

15. Any other business

15.1 Student representatives on committees (Jill Saunders)

Anyone interested in sitting on other departmental committees should contact Jill.

15.2 Heating in new building (George Diamantidis)

Problems had been reported specifically in rooms 1.04 and 6.12. The matter has been reported.

15.3 Web forums (George Diamantidis)

Steve Edwards reported that the MSc CS course had set up some web forums and agreed to circulate the URL for other reps to view.

15.4 Hardware problems (Steve Edwards)

The mice in the computer labs need replacing. Hardware problems may also be reported via the request email account.

15.5 BCS/ IEE Accreditation visit (Jill Saunders)

The accreditation panel will meet in February. Any student reps who wish to be involved should contact Jill.

THE MEETING CLOSED AT 1.55 P.M.