anyone know of services to ckeck essays?

Oldernotwiser

andyrules wrote: »

trouble is onw, schools will (justifiably) do any amount of spoonfeeding to get results. I think there is a happy medium some where between the 'laissez faire' of our day and the working to the mark scheme and re-submitting of coursework / Btech of today.

I agree with you about the academic spoonfeeding, although I disapprove.

However, I was thinking about the preparation for the practicalities involved. I remember when we started 6th form we were told that no notices for us would be given out in assemply, we should look at the relevant notice boards as we would soon be out in the real world of university or work. Things like that make the transition to adult life much easier.

diddlydum

I actually blame the tuition fee/student loan for the rise in students demanding spoon-feeding. Because they're paying a lot of money for their education they see themselves as consumers rather than scholars. So now, when they're politely pointed in the direction of the library and told to look there, they get all upset about the 'quality' of teaching.

Although the students aren't half as bad as their parents.

Teachers at school spoon-feed because, due to our inept politicians, points mean prizes. No results = no performance-related pay. They get marked on results, not on whether their pupils are able to wipe their own bottoms, so the focus is on getting good results.

surfsister

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You misunderstood me; I was saying that the schools should be preparing students better for university. If you're bright enough to be at university then you should be bright enough to find things out for yourself rather than expecting to be spoonfed information.

are you joking some people on my course don't know what a sentence is and had to have it explained where to put the full stops!!!

Theye were asked to put punctuation in a document and coped it to word and let the spell checker do the work!!! I try really hard to do all m y own work as I'm doing the degree for part enjoyment part jobwise.

Yes agree too much spoon feeding in schools I work in a senior school and the teachers spend hours coaxing kids (boys mostly) to even attempt any coursework which will help them as they then need lower grades in exams. They can't be bothered!! They also have grids with most of the essential words on!!

I don't think most people in higher ed have any idea what goes on in schools but if you do you can sympathise with kids encouraged up to degheree level to be dependent.= then suddenly thrust into a new ball game.

our lecturers asked for 6 essays by half term and the younger students nearly passed out! When they fpound out no help was available they started looking on google for help! Funnily enough the older people (like me sadly) had a go themeselves and at least know it is all our own work. Plageurism is a huge priblem and I know it goes on all the time by listening to the kids in class.

MrsManda

surfsister wrote: »

Yes do agree that unis can be ver bad at explaining things that are not academic. I've learnt things as I go along by trial and error and only learnt about asking for a deferral on the last day of term at an ed of term lecture by the course leader. Think he was shocked that nobody knew about it after 3 terms!!!

I find this strange. On every open day I've been to I've not only been told academic stuff but been taken around other facillities and given information packs about student support, the student union, clubs and societies etc...
Once a place was confirmed I recieved a pack with all of this information again, as did most of the students I know. Not all of them however read and took in the information. And on our first day there was a 2 hour lecture from Support Services, the Library, and the Union. Throughout Fresher's week there were library tours explaining how to use the library and how to study. These weren't compulsory but we got information about them before we arrived, there were notices all over the campus and they were mentioned to us again on our first day.
As for asking for a deferral or extension surely that's just common sense? If you are struggling to reach a deadline, you ask for extra time?

melancholly

surfsister wrote: »

are you joking some people on my course don't know what a sentence is and had to have it explained where to put the full stops!!!

Theye were asked to put punctuation in a document and coped it to word and let the spell checker do the work!!! I try really hard to do all m y own work as I'm doing the degree for part enjoyment part jobwise.

what's really frustrating is that most unis have dedicated people to give support on skills like 'essay writing', where students can get individual feedback on thinsg they have written.... it's offered from departments or student support or the careers service or continuinge education but almost always it's there somewhere....... sadly few students will go and use it because it requires that little more effort!

incidentally, most information about what to do if there's a problem is standardly produced in course handbooks - how many students read that or keep it beyond week 1 is a different question!

MrsManda

melancholly wrote: »

incidentally, most information about what to do if there's a problem is standardly produced in course handbooks - how many students read that or keep it beyond week 1 is a different question!

Plus this information (as with most information given out by universities) will be available on the university's main site or the intranet/departmental websites.

Oldernotwiser

melancholly wrote: »

what's really frustrating is that most unis have dedicated people to give support on skills like 'essay writing', where students can get individual feedback on thinsg they have written.... it's offered from departments or student support or the careers service or continuinge education but almost always it's there somewhere....... sadly few students will go and use it because it requires that little more effort!

incidentally, most information about what to do if there's a problem is standardly produced in course handbooks - how many students read that or keep it beyond week 1 is a different question!

It all comes back to that expectation of being spoon fed, doesn't it?

melancholly

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It all comes back to that expectation of being spoon fed, doesn't it?

just how cynical do we sound lol

Oldernotwiser

melancholly wrote: »

just how cynical do we sound lol

I often am cynical but this is just common sense.

surfsister

Well I think we may have missed this as we had to queue for 3 hours to enrole and then nearly missed our first real lecture. The admin people wanted us to regsiter the next day!!! after we had ben waiting in great heat with coats/bags/paperwork ready to show the admin staff. We had no drinks and neraly passed out with the heat. Some unis are obviously better than others can't se how they justufy al chargng the same. I go there as it's local and I have family/work etc.

By thent ime we had registered we had mssd all the talks etc but about 50% of people had done so too. We weren't late getting there either but the huge congestion and full car parks made us not as early as we had hoped. Then a wek later they wrote to many of us and said the registration hadn't worked could we go in to see them!!!

MrsManda wrote: »

I find this strange. On every open day I've been to I've not only been told academic stuff but been taken around other facillities and given information packs about student support, the student union, clubs and societies etc...
Once a place was confirmed I recieved a pack with all of this information again, as did most of the students I know. Not all of them however read and took in the information. And on our first day there was a 2 hour lecture from Support Services, the Library, and the Union. Throughout Fresher's week there were library tours explaining how to use the library and how to study. These weren't compulsory but we got information about them before we arrived, there were notices all over the campus and they were mentioned to us again on our first day.
As for asking for a deferral or extension surely that's just common sense? If you are struggling to reach a deadline, you ask for extra time?