Poor University Education

furry_tractor

ok, look i don't want to be spoon fed,i just feel for the debt i will be in there should be more guidance. At times I genuinely don't know what i am paying for other than for someone to write an essay title for us and mark it. for instance, in preparation for a big assignment we had 45 minutes contact time in 5 weeks...however for guidance on how to use the library, we had a lecture and seminar within the same day taking 2 hours (which is the same module for the big assignment). The seminar repeated word for word what was said in the lecture and was also information we had been jammed with in the first year. Surely the time would be best used to guide us on the assignment as no one had a clue what to do and nothing was explained.
The email problem i had was because i had missed a lecture because i travel for over an hour to uni and it was snowing so because of road conditions in my area i couldnt get there. emailed 3 times as mentioned apologising and asking if he could send the lecture slides to me as it was the information needed for an essay (modules are normally supported by blackboard but this one wasnt) no reply until i said something along the lines of...do we need to do a cover sheet-oh by the way, still not heard off you. he basically avoided it and didnt help so i had to email a part time lecturer who met me with the slides and went through everything with me. the main lecturer i am on about is also the one that always says use us for what you pay us for, our expertise and if you need any help get in touch, WE WILL HELP.
Another example was a lecturer asking over 100 students to get hold of a research paper from the library (of which there was one copy) for the next day as it was important and not available on the net. this was not only impossible for most people but put too much pressure on the library (librarians words not mine) as it gets misplaced and not returned.

Oldernotwiser

furry_tractor wrote: »

ok, look i don't want to be spoon fed,i just feel for the debt i will be in there should be more guidance. At times I genuinely don't know what i am paying for other than for someone to write an essay title for us and mark it. for instance, in preparation for a big assignment we had 45 minutes contact time in 5 weeks...however for guidance on how to use the library, we had a lecture and seminar within the same day taking 2 hours (which is the same module for the big assignment). The seminar repeated word for word what was said in the lecture and was also information we had been jammed with in the first year. Surely the time would be best used to guide us on the assignment as no one had a clue what to do and nothing was explained.
The email problem i had was because i had missed a lecture because i travel for over an hour to uni and it was snowing so because of road conditions in my area i couldnt get there. emailed 3 times as mentioned apologising and asking if he could send the lecture slides to me as it was the information needed for an essay (modules are normally supported by blackboard but this one wasnt) no reply until i said something along the lines of...do we need to do a cover sheet-oh by the way, still not heard off you. he basically avoided it and didnt help so i had to email a part time lecturer who met me with the slides and went through everything with me. the main lecturer i am on about is also the one that always says use us for what you pay us for, our expertise and if you need any help get in touch, WE WILL HELP.
Another example was a lecturer asking over 100 students to get hold of a research paper from the library (of which there was one copy) for the next day as it was important and not available on the net. this was not only impossible for most people but put too much pressure on the library (librarians words not mine) as it gets misplaced and not returned.

I really still think that you're coming at this from the wrong angle.

At this level, you really shouldn't be guided through an assignment (although it does happen!) and as for wasting a lecturer's time asking whether you need a cover sheet! On the other hand, I think your complaint about the article would be reasonable.

As to what you're paying for - like many students you only see this in terms of contact time. What you forget is the overall costs of providing a university education; libraries, careers, sports facilities etc. In addition, of course the fees you pay only cover a minority of the actual costs as anyone who has to pay their own fees will tell you.

If you want to complain, I'd concentrate on issues like resources rather than on the grounds of poor teaching.

furry_tractor

sorry but you are misunderstanding me...i asked a medial question like do i need a cover sheet because i knew he had mentioned it in the lecture and was just a way to get him to reply to my original email asking for lecture slides and guidance with what i had missed.
as for the assignment, again im not asking to be told what to write and how to write it, but we were given an assigment title that was ambiguous and it was to be written in a style that no-one had done so far. we were literally told the title and sent on our way to research the area (which again had not been done before so no-one knew how to do that either as it was our own research, not reading books that had to be done)

DrScotsman

I echo the people above saying name and shame!

3v3

furry_tractor wrote: »

ok, look i don't want to be spoon fed,i just feel for the debt i will be in there should be more guidance. At times I genuinely don't know what i am paying for other than for someone to write an essay title for us and mark it. for instance, in preparation for a big assignment we had 45 minutes contact time in 5 weeks...however for guidance on how to use the library, we had a lecture and seminar within the same day taking 2 hours (which is the same module for the big assignment). The seminar repeated word for word what was said in the lecture and was also information we had been jammed with in the first year. Surely the time would be best used to guide us on the assignment as no one had a clue what to do and nothing was explained.
The email problem i had was because i had missed a lecture because i travel for over an hour to uni and it was snowing so because of road conditions in my area i couldnt get there. emailed 3 times as mentioned apologising and asking if he could send the lecture slides to me as it was the information needed for an essay (modules are normally supported by blackboard but this one wasnt) no reply until i said something along the lines of...do we need to do a cover sheet-oh by the way, still not heard off you. he basically avoided it and didnt help so i had to email a part time lecturer who met me with the slides and went through everything with me. the main lecturer i am on about is also the one that always says use us for what you pay us for, our expertise and if you need any help get in touch, WE WILL HELP.
Another example was a lecturer asking over 100 students to get hold of a research paper from the library (of which there was one copy) for the next day as it was important and not available on the net. this was not only impossible for most people but put too much pressure on the library (librarians words not mine) as it gets misplaced and not returned.

Assignments: Do you have a course handbook? That should tell you what is expected from your essay (format, referencing styles etc). Does your university have a student learning support office? They can be extremely helpful with advice on assignment styles. Also, what weighting is the assignment? If it is only 20%, then give it 20% of your overall time.

Vague/ambiguous essay questions: That is not unusual (afaik). Pick the question apart and do the best you can from your understanding?

Research Paper: Difficult, but not impossible. A bit of thought, organising, team work/effort and that one paper could have been photocopied among the groups.

Travelling time: I also travel an hour each way to get to university but that was a factor to be considered in the decision making process when I accepted a place, not with hindsight. I had to factor in road delays, adverse weather conditions and how I would deal with that before I made my final decision.

If you are as unhappy as you sound about your course, you should either speak to your personal tutor, or the module convenor.

MrsManda

furry_tractor wrote: »

sorry but you are misunderstanding me...i asked a medial question like do i need a cover sheet because i knew he had mentioned it in the lecture and was just a way to get him to reply to my original email asking for lecture slides and guidance with what i had missed.
as for the assignment, again im not asking to be told what to write and how to write it, but we were given an assigment title that was ambiguous and it was to be written in a style that no-one had done so far. we were literally told the title and sent on our way to research the area (which again had not been done before so no-one knew how to do that either as it was our own research, not reading books that had to be done)

Was the essay worth much towards your final degree mark? Or even towards your final mark for the module? We've done essays where they've given us a lecture or two on a subject, then given us an essay title with a word count and sent on our way. These were worth 4% of the module, so less than 1% of the year and even less than that of my final degree. There was no further guidance on the writing as it was a learning experience. We got feedback alongside our marks so that we could improve. In a class of 20+ giving individual help takes forever and is simply not feasible - this is why when you do large projects such as your dissertation your dissertation tutor will have a max of 4 students.
But as I said before, if you're not happy, speak to the degree programme tutor, or if you have lectures in different departments talk to the course tutors of the different courses.

MrsManda

3v3 wrote: »

Travelling time: I also travel an hour each way to get to university but that was a factor to be considered in the decision making process when I accepted a place, not with hindsight. I had to factor in road delays, adverse weather conditions and how I would deal with that before I made my final decision.

Ditto, it feels a bit silly travelling for two hours to go to an hour's lecture BUT can't complain about the travelling when you chose the university you go to, and where you live. Really cannot expect the timetable to fit around you and your travel arrangements.

Lil_Me_2

MrsManda wrote: »

Ditto, it feels a bit silly travelling for two hours to go to an hour's lecture BUT can't complain about the travelling when you chose the university you go to, and where you live. Really cannot expect the timetable to fit around you and your travel arrangements.

However in the OPs case I think his timetable should suit his circumstances! He's complaining that he's only in for 2 days a week, yet I bet if they spread the teaching out over more days he'd only complain that he has to travel in for a higher number of days. From a timetabling point of view you just can't please some people!

In general I agree with everything that MrsManda has said on this thread, she's given some very good advice.

Oldernotwiser

DrScotsman wrote: »

I echo the people above saying name and shame!

But nobody's said that!

bestpud

furry_tractor wrote: »

sorry but you are misunderstanding me...i asked a medial question like do i need a cover sheet because i knew he had mentioned it in the lecture and was just a way to get him to reply to my original email asking for lecture slides and guidance with what i had missed.
as for the assignment, again im not asking to be told what to write and how to write it, but we were given an assigment title that was ambiguous and it was to be written in a style that no-one had done so far. we were literally told the title and sent on our way to research the area (which again had not been done before so no-one knew how to do that either as it was our own research, not reading books that had to be done)

You obviously speak to other students so are you saying every student on the module is clueless but nobody has spoken up? And nobody has managed/tried to clarify the title with the tutor - not in person, by email, after a lecture...?

Or, you've all talked about it but nobody has suggested you contact the tutor as a group and ask for clarification...?

And could you not have asked one of them to go through the slides with you? It's not really a lecturers role to be helping students catch up after an absence - especially when you are after a mini one-to-one lecture!

If a question is ambiguous, you just need to ensure you explain in your introduction why you are answering as you are. Acknowledge there may be an alternative approach and say why you are going for that one. That's what I would do anyway!