Poor University Education

furry_tractor

Hi folks, in a bit of a pickle about my university course...
I returned to uni at 22 after working in manufacturing!took me a little longer to realise what i wanted to do in life.
It is a 3 year course and i am mid way through my second year but i am really not happy with the quality of the course or lecturers-i don't think a week has gone by without wondering what i am actually paying for.
The first year was a waste of time as it was nearly exactly what i did in A level (4 years earlier). This year I have found new students who joined the course directly into the second year, which knowing what i do now, i wouldn't hesitate to do.
The lecturers seem to take advantage of the 'independent learning' method. Lectures are bare bones at best and i have to say i have pretty much had to teach myself a lot of the course. Lecturers also are useless at helping when i am struggling, sometimes don't even reply to the emails.
I am only in 2 days a week, which i think is ridiculous for me, who has left a well paid job for this, it is only the thought of the job i am aiming for at the end that gets me through. This may sound amazing to 17-18 year olds who don't care but i am doing this for a challenge and to do something to be proud of but when i hopefully graduate i can't say that i will feel like ive really earnt what i've got....basically i genuinely don't know what i am paying for or if it is worth it.
I know this will sound ridiculous but like i say, i am doing this for different reasons than the usual 'got nothin else to do with my life' students.
I am wary of rocking the boat at uni, as i fear it could bite me in the backside by complaining but i have heard that quite a few people feel similarly and have complained.
any advice?
cheers

giantmutantbroccoli

Hi folks, in a bit of a pickle about my university course...
I returned to uni at 22 after working in manufacturing!took me a little longer to realise what i wanted to do in life.
It is a 3 year course and i am mid way through my second year but i am really not happy with the quality of the course or lecturers-i don't think a week has gone by without wondering what i am actually paying for.

If you're unhappy with the quality of teaching you receive, take your complaint to your senior tutor, head of department or student advisor. They'll be able to tell you what you can do about it, if anyone else has complained and maybe take action on your behalf. They are not allowed to kick you off the course just for complaining!

The first year was a waste of time as it was nearly exactly what i did in A level (4 years earlier). This year I have found new students who joined the course directly into the second year, which knowing what i do now, i wouldn't hesitate to do.
The lecturers seem to take advantage of the 'independent learning' method. Lectures are bare bones at best and i have to say i have pretty much had to teach myself a lot of the course. Lecturers also are useless at helping when i am struggling, sometimes don't even reply to the emails.

It sounds like you took a foundation year, did you? In any case it's very common for the first year of a course to duplicate stuff you may have learned at school or college, to make up for the fact that different students attending the course will have done different a-levels or GCSEs. They're just trying to make sure that everyone starts the second year on an equal footing.
Independent learning is the fundamental principle behind a degree, the best you can do is to make sure that you attend all the lectures (but I'm sure you do!) and pick up all the recommended reading. They're trying to get you to develop your own study skills. If you don't mind me asking, what course are you doing?
The problem with emails is that lecturers get 100s of them a day, not just from students but from their departments etc. It can be very easy to lose an enquiry from a student in the vast influx of junk that piles up every morning If you have a question it's always better to deal with the person either in person or on the phone, so try to ask your questions after or during the lectures.

I am only in 2 days a week, which i think is ridiculous for me, who has left a well paid job for this, it is only the thought of the job i am aiming for at the end that gets me through. This may sound amazing to 17-18 year olds who don't care but i am doing this for a challenge and to do something to be proud of but when i hopefully graduate i can't say that i will feel like ive really earnt what i've got....basically i genuinely don't know what i am paying for or if it is worth it.

Are you really only in 2 days a week? If you are, and you're not missing out on any tutorials or anything, then it's pretty clear to me that the other 3-5 days a week are there for you to do your independant study. Use the library, the computers - whatever university facilities you have access to - and swot up on what you're meant to be doing. If you have spare time it's for studying - they don't actually give you time to goof off or work in a job, people just do it anyway.

I know this will sound ridiculous but like i say, i am doing this for different reasons than the usual 'got nothin else to do with my life' students.
I am wary of rocking the boat at uni, as i fear it could bite me in the backside by complaining but i have heard that quite a few people feel similarly and have complained.
any advice?
cheers

Complaining will NOT "rock the boat". Don't worry about doing that. So long as you don't insult people and are polite there won't be a backlash.

FYI Few people go to uni because they have "nothin else to do", and you won't make any friends in a student forum with that attitude.

Mankysteve

What course and which uni?

furry_tractor

I realise all this, what the independent study time is etc but be pretty much teaching myself...if i wanted an open university course i would have done so and i wouldnt be travelling for an hour there and an hour back.
On the emails, i emailed the lecturer 3 times over a space of 2 weeks to get some support with an essay and he only bothered replying when i asked about some medial thing that he had mentioned in the lecture to which he was very snotty in a "if you were listening in the lecture" kind of attitude.
Im sorry i dont mean to offend with what i said but of my experience, the percentage of students on my course that know what they want in life/from the course and genuinely want to be there to learn is very small. and that goes for many of my friends who went to uni at 18, they did a course for the sake of doing it because they didnt know what they wanted to do and now...they are in a job nothing to do with what they studied.

surfsister

think yourself lucky i do English and we are in every day! Lots of homework/essays/presentations all the time!

vaporate

furry_tractor wrote: »

I realise all this, what the independent study time is etc but be pretty much teaching myself...if i wanted an open university course i would have done so and i wouldnt be travelling for an hour there and an hour back.
On the emails, i emailed the lecturer 3 times over a space of 2 weeks to get some support with an essay and he only bothered replying when i asked about some medial thing that he had mentioned in the lecture to which he was very snotty in a "if you were listening in the lecture" kind of attitude.
Im sorry i dont mean to offend with what i said but of my experience, the percentage of students on my course that know what they want in life/from the course and genuinely want to be there to learn is very small. and that goes for many of my friends who went to uni at 18, they did a course for the sake of doing it because they didnt know what they wanted to do and now...they are in a job nothing to do with what they studied.

This is very common.

Oldernotwiser

furry_tractor wrote: »

I realise all this, what the independent study time is etc but be pretty much teaching myself...if i wanted an open university course i would have done so and i wouldnt be travelling for an hour there and an hour back.

It's not just a question of independent study; HE should be about you learning rather than being taught. I think that if you could get your head round this concept you might be happier.

One year of my degree I only had to be in for an hour a week!

vaporate

OP What course/university?

Volcano

At some point, you may find yourself going in for weeks at a time without attending lectures. This'll be known as revision time or time spent on your dissertation. If you struggle with independent study now, then this is the time to hone it to a fine art for exam time and your final year.

MrsManda

Complaining about teaching standards is not rocking the boat if you have a valid complaint. Judging this may be difficult as it depends on the subject and course structure as to whether it is poor teaching or just not what you expected from your degree programme. You need to compare like with like - how is the same subject taught in different places, how are different subjects taught in your department. If you feel you do have a cause to complain, speak to your personal tutor. If you feel you can't, speak to the university union

furry_tractor wrote: »

The first year was a waste of time as it was nearly exactly what i did in A level (4 years earlier).

1st year is for bringing everyone up to a level playing field. A-level syllabuses change, not everyone will have done the same subjects, same exam boards, same syllabus.

furry_tractor wrote: »

The lecturers seem to take advantage of the 'independent learning' method. Lectures are bare bones at best and i have to say i have pretty much had to teach myself a lot of the course. Lecturers also are useless at helping when i am struggling, sometimes don't even reply to the emails.

As far as I understand it, at least at my university, lectures are meant to be the bare bones. They give you just enough to grasp a basic understanding so you can get a pass. If you want anything more than that you need to put the effort in to reading around the subject, reading the reference material etc... Do you have access to anything like WebCT? - Online course material and forums?

furry_tractor wrote: »

I am only in 2 days a week, which i think is ridiculous for me, who has left a well paid job for this, it is only the thought of the job i am aiming for at the end that gets me through. This may sound amazing to 17-18 year olds who don't care but i am doing this for a challenge and to do something to be proud of but when i hopefully graduate i can't say that i will feel like ive really earnt what i've got

This entire paragraph I don't get. 2 days of face2face time a week on a FT course means that they're expecting you to put the other 3 days a week to good use putting flesh on those bare bones. The difference with a job is you get prescribed hours and tasks to do. At university you're expected to organise your own time and do as much as you personally feel you want to do. If you're doing it for the challenge and something to be proud of, why do you want to be spoon fed? If you do graduate, with a good degree, then you should know that you've actually worked for it, and had to search things out for yourself rather than getting a degree based on being spoon fed everything.

You are entitled to have help if you are stuck, but I'm interested in how you address your issues to your lecturers. As already said stated, your lecturers probably get loads of emails daily so aren't going to reply to every single one immediately. You said he only replied when you asked a medial thing. Could it be because this is the only precise question you asked him? My lecturers don't respond to general cries of help as they feel they've given you the basics and if you have an issue with some of it just saying I'm stuck on Bipolar, they're going to ignore you. But if you explain that you understand that GABA has an effect on x and y receptor but don't understand how Li affects them both then they'll explain in further detail.

bestpud

We have three hours contact time per module per week, and a full time course is 4 modules per semester. As a general guide, we were been told to add 7 hours private study to each module, making 40 hours a week in total.

Lectures are suposed to be the bare bones.

Do you have seminars?

How much contact time were you expecting? There wouldn't be much independent learning going on if you were all sat in a classroom 5 days a week...

I think you need to be clear which part of the course you feel is poor before you consider complaining.

As I see it your contact time is normal (although the subject will make a difference) and your lectures seem to be normal.

Is it mainly about the lecturer not responding to emails? Do they have times when you could go in person to see them instead? Or, as suggested, it may be that you are asking too broad a question...