Complaining about teaching at university

fuzzybear01

I'm coming up to the end of my second year of nurse training and feel that the quality of teaching has been poor this year. I understand that higher education is about self-directed learning but one of our lecturers frequently cancels sessions or finishes teaching early without going over the required material. By early I mean finishing at 11.30-12 when the lectures should fill the whole day (until 5pm).

People may wonder why i'm complaining (all the free time!) but I'm getting fed up of leaving the room feeling that i've learnt nothing. He sits there joking around for around half an hour before starting to open the powerpoint presentation. It doesn't seem as though he looks over the subject prior to teaching, as he comes across words that he is unsure of (e.g. erythrocyte) and looks them up on google. At one point he gave us a handout which was a print-out of the wikipedia blood glucose page.:mad: We would be slated for using wikipedia in an essay!

I have looked up the university's complaints procedure, so I know what I need to do, but would like to know if anyone else has experience of making a similar complaint.

Paul_c_7

i had to following a !!!! up after an op which ment i needed notes delivered to me. never arrived and i coplained as a result and the tutorsa close ranks and make life as hard as possible. i managed to get my notes 8 hours proir to my exam whioch i then failed with a 37% not bad with only 45 percent of the work read.

best bet is to talk to the union

Casati

Talk to your union and keep written records of your lessons i.e. what hours you are actually being tought and inadequacies of the lecturer.

See if you can get any of your classmates to also complain, the more of you the better. This is a really tough one, I have been there. Can you make an appointment to see your course leader and discuss your concerns?

lilacclaire

Will watch with interest, am having similar problems with a lecturer, as a result today most of the class failed an assessment spectacularly (results back today).
We are generally a very good class in that respect

fuzzybear01

Other classmates feel the same about it as me but not sure they would want to complain properly. Unfortunately I haven't kept records of the times we've been in, but the university has a swipe system to record attendance so they will be able to see how long we've been in for. The other lecturer we have for the module is great, and is quite aware that the whole class is p'eed off as we keep moaning to him about it.

The module finishes quite soon but will keep a record of everything until then.

Thanks for the advice about union, tend to forget about them as we are based in a satellite campus and don't see much of them. Not sure what outcome to expect, maybe an apology?

The_One_Who

Can you go to the head of department? Or head of your course? Dean of faculty? All of them? Write a letter if you don't want to go see them. Ask your student union or student services for advice on what to say. If you can get more of your classmates together then you'll probably be more successful.

La-Cara

not sure if all universities have this, but do you have a class rep you could complain to? They have meetings with teaching staff to discuss this sort of thing, and if the rest of your class is p'eed off with the situation get them to complain too as it will add weight to your argument.
As far as an outcome is concerned, the uni will probably apologise, and may even replace your lecturer if they get many complaints, because after all he isn't doing his job properly!

fuzzybear01

Yes we have a class rep, who is a good mate but she doesn't really have much of a role. She has had no meetings with staff at all, it just seems to be a title.

My Plan

1. Find out who will complain with me
2. Keep a record of teaching sessions
3. Book appointment with union
4. Write a letter of complaint and await reply

salesadmin

We complained to our personal tutor about one of our module lecturers and he said he would mention it (again) to the right people but told us if we didn't like it, we should boycott the lesson! :rolleyes:

fuzzybear01

salesadmin wrote: »

We complained to our personal tutor about one of our module lecturers and he said he would mention it (again) to the right people but told us if we didn't like it, we should boycott the lesson! :rolleyes:

That's an interesting idea...

Fire_Fox

If you don't feel comfortable complaining, perhaps you could phrase it as comments to improve the course for the future? What does the other lecturer say? Do they have any advice on how to handle the situation?