This is to inform you that the Foundation Year Network Annual Conference will take place over a period of two weeks from Thursday 9 July to Wednesday 22 July 2020. The conference will, of course, be online. It will be open to all-comers (whether FYN members or not), particularly those involved in some way in foundation year provision, whether as teachers or in a support role, and will not incur any charge. During this two-week period, there will be daily live events (each weekday) lasting about 60-90 minutes, at different times each day. In addition, there will be asynchronous material available that participants can access in the days running up to live events and during that period. The live events will largely be led-discussions on themes around the asynchronous material, falling roughly into the following categories:
• Academic skills and the role of academic development modules in FY provision
• Widening participation in university admissions
• Considering staff and student experiences of FY provision
• Successful retention and transition
• Peer-assisted learning, tutoring and mentoring
• Examining our teaching methods
• Teaching maths and statistics
I don’t think it’s too late to offer a presentation of some sort. If you wish to contribute, please contact Mark Walmsley: conference@foundationyear.ac.uk. (Note that Peter Watts and the other editors of the Journal of the Foundation Year Network will be looking for articles, many of which will probably start out as conferences contributions. See www.jfyn.co.uk for more details, or contact peter.watts@nottingham.ac.uk.) In addition to these discussions, there will be an opening plenary event on Thursday 9 July and a closing plenary on 22 July. Mark will provide further details of all the daily events in due course, including information about how to join.
The daily event on Thursday 16 July will be the FYN AGM, from 2.00pm to approximately 3.30pm. This is open to FYN members only and it would be great to see a good number of you there! The AGM is an important part of our calendar, where we reflect on what the Network has done over the last year and decide on the priorities for the year ahead. If there is any business you would like us to consider at the AGM, please let me know as soon as possible, but certainly by 1 July so that we can consider whether to include it in the agenda or to add it as AOB.
It is also at the AGM that we elect members of the Executive Committee. As of last year’s AGM, Executive Committee members serve for two years, on a staggered basis. To facilitate this, it was agreed that some members of the Executive would serve for two years (and therefore these posts are not open for election this year), while others would stand for one year. These are as follows:
Two-year appointments:
• Doug Ingram Secretary
• Steve Faulkner Treasurer
• Camilla Priede General Exec. Member
• Nick Pearce General Exec. Member
• Steve Leech General Exec. Member
• Rachel Dunn General Exec. Member
One-year appointments:
• Willy Kitchen Chair
• Helga Bartels-Hardege General Exec. Member
• Tracey Coppins General Exec. Member
• Jan O’Driscoll General Exec. Member
• Sian Williams General Exec. Member
• Lucy Atkinson General Exec. Member
This means that we are looking this year to elect a Chair and five or six general executive members (depending on who is elected as Chair). Please consider if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else (and in the latter case, please ask their permission!). Note that a brief (100-word) biography is requested so that members know a little about the people they are voting for. The nomination form and instructions are available here: https://forms.gle/H6Lo6FxyB1SnxdV28. Nominations are open now and will close at 23.59 on 1 July. I have included below the narrative at the beginning of the form.
Note that there are also a number of non-executive roles. Appointment to these roles is made by the Exec. and they are not time-restricted in the same ways as the executive roles. I have attached a document that describes all the executive and non-executive roles. We encourage members to get involved in the Network in whatever ways they feel they can. Please feel free to contact any of the current executive or those holding non-executive positions (who may also be members of the Exec., but don’t necessarily need to be) if you would like to offer help in any of their areas of responsibility. The non-executive role holders are:
Membership Secretary Wendy Ashall
Communications Officer Nick Pearce
Workshop Coordinator Rachel Dunn
Journal Coordinating Editor Peter Watts
Journal Editors Sarah Hale and Doug Ingram
Paperwork for the AGM (including agenda, annual report and financial statement, biographies of nominees for posts on the Exec., copy of the constitution, etc.) will be sent out to members by email early in July.