[SSC] Notes from meeting 04-04-2012

[Joss Winn]

Dear all,

Here are my notes from last night's meeting. I'd be grateful if other members attending could ensure their accuracy and assist towards their completeness!

Thank you
Joss

1. Apologies from John Andrew, Richard Hall, Laura Stratford. Attending: Mike Neary, Richard Keeble, Joss Winn, David McCleavey, Sandie Stratford, Ed Bacon, Sarah Amsler (arrived late).

2. David has been distributing flyers. Richard has had interest from the local press. 

3. We ran through and agreed the minutes from the last meeting.

4. Catering for the open day has been arranged by David. 

5. Meeting Agenda: Open day, publicity, Goldsmith's discussion, membership, venues for teaching.

At this point, we discussed how we would respond to typical questions on the Open Day:

6. What will be taught in the first year of the SSC?

Core for first semester: Introduction to social science, academic literacy, a creative project,  an introduction to main interest. Need to ask people on the mailing list to indicate what they can teach in more detail. Please add to this form:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnDuUd71vXr4dExuanQ5X1ZET0pfdVBkbkhRUUZIWlE

7. We should develop a calendar of guest lecturers and events once classes have started. Held at The Collection, Usher, Pathways, Croft street.

How will learning be assessed?

8. Indicate how the courses will be assessed. Negotiated between tutor and student. Not qualification driven but objective is higher learning. Entry and exit statement. Dependent on student aspirations. 

9. How to keep track of who is participating, who is mentoring who, etc.?

How many hours committment is the SSC?

10. 2hrs meeting per class per week. What do we call them? Modules? No. Language is difficult. Discuss with members. Two modules run in parallel for ten weeks with a one week break. 

Start date is October 1st and January 14th for ten weeks. Third term is Summer school.

Where will classes be taught?

11. Nomadic around city. Free access to Collection and Usher during working hours. Free access to Pathways. Mint Lane lease has been renewed for 7 years. Space available for £10/hr.

12. Insurance quoted as £291 with Richard Hatcher and co. (Manchester). What does it cover? Members are covered across all venues? Mike to investigate further.

13. SSC membership: 91 people on discussion list. 40 signed up members of SSC.

14. The Social Science Research Council has recognised the eligibility of SSC students for their prizes. 

15. Goldsmiths article. https://goldsmithsleu.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/lincoln-social-science-centre/

Difficulty of maintaining activity outside work. Formal structure of SSC gives us stability. Shouldn't be too demanding on our time so that it exhausts us. Individual contributions differ over different times. 

16. Mike will visit Toronto to give a paper about the SSC on April 27th. Talk is about ownership. "The University is ours." There will be a writing workshop at Sarah's on Monday 16th, 6.30pm. RSVP. 

17. Schedule for next few months:

Next Meetings: 

Wednesday April 25th, 7.30pm, Pathways. 
Saturday 19th May The Collection, 12-4pm. 
Monday 11th June, Mint Lane, 7.30pm. 
Saturday 30th June, Croft Street, 12-4pm.