Has anyone ever complained about a lecturer?

glider3560

We've had this lecturer for the last 5 weeks for one of my units. The exam on her material makes up about 3% of my degree, as I'm in my second year, so it is quite important that I do well. Most students taking this unit are in their first year so the score doesn't really matter to them.

From day one, her teaching has been appalling. She doesn't speak very good English and can be very difficult to understand at times (people are always stopping her and asking for things to be repeated). She also seriously mispronounces some of the key words.

Her writing on the blackboard isn't much better. It can be very difficult to read so we are always stopping her and asking her to write larger and more legibly.

The typed notes she puts online aren't much better. Again, the English in these is quite poor and the example are very disjointed.

During this course, we've constantly received feedback surveys (so presumably someone has realised she isn't very good at her job), but nothing has ever happened. Her lectures have never been observed by anyone else.

I haven't been able to fully complete more than one question on the homework sheets every week. Even my tutor has admitted he has difficulty understanding her. He is great, but we only see him for less than one hour every week so he can't go over everything she attempts to cover in the lectures.

Fortunately, we've finished with her course now and have moved onto another lecturer, but I'm finding the past exam papers near impossible as I never really grasped the basics.

I've had loads of books out of the library, but I still don't understand everything - it is more of a subject where you need things explained and shown examples.

I was thinking of speaking to my tutor and seeing if he can arrange some more tutorials - however he is a PhD student, so only gets paid by the hour.

Has anyone ever complained to someone more senior about a lecturer? What was the outcome?

Although we have negative marking, I know for a fact that it is very easy to identify papers, which kind of puts me off complaining (marking at my uni is not very transparent - who knows how they mark exam papers?!)

Indie_Kid

A friend did and got told to er, get lost. She still got nowhere when she complained again - he gave everyone a third for their coursework. Ok, some people may have got a third, but everyone?

mumps

sh1305 wrote: »

A friend did and got told to er, get lost. She still got nowhere when she complained again - he gave everyone a third for their coursework. Ok, some people may have got a third, but everyone?

We had one guy who was awful but we all did really well (not really but got good results, he basically told us what would be in the exam and the answers. I think he knew if we all failed he would have some explaining to do.)

melancholly

i did put in a formal complaint about the content of an entire course, if that counts....

just make sure you go through the correct channels (ie via student reps and teaching committees) and frame the complaint in a constructive manner (such as suggesting that pre-prepared slides would be easier to read/interpret than hand written notes on a blackboard).

realistically, the lecturer won't get sacked or stop teaching on the course, but they may get observed by other staff and given more training. it is difficult because people learn in such different ways and it can be argued that even if you don't understand her methods, other people will (language issue aside on that one!). i think that if you are annoyed about it, giving the feedback is important. making comments in the correct committees makes sense and at least that way you are doing something proactive about the situation (just don't make it sound personal or petty so that they can easily dismiss you - it's as much about the delivery as it is about the reasons behind it!)

Raggs_2

We had a terrible lecturer that was reported by others (and widely complained about in the survey at the end of the course). From what I could tell (my last year), nothing was done.

Best examples were that she had a strong accent, would state one thing, whilst writing another, would give incorrect answers (that one of the students would then correct), and best of all, in a subject mainly based on statistics, used different letters in the equations to the normal standard (best of all was the fact she used some of the same letters, but for different parts).

After about 2 weeks I just didn't attend the lectures, read the title, and description from the syallabus, went to the library and downloaded several papers and reviews on the subject. Then an hour later after the lecture finished, and everyone attending was more confused than when they went in, I would explain to them what she was supposed to.

Adro

Start a petition.

If you can get the majority of your class to put their names forward as an official complaint, you have a better chance of getting things sorted.

If they still don't take any action, at least you have some kind of solid evidence showing that people in your class have complained about the teaching. When your exam comes, if everyone fails, you can pull the "I told you so" card.

Personally, I would keep going over people's heads until I find someone who's going to do something. Arrange a meeting with the module co-ordinator. if they don't listen then meet with the head of the academic school/department, etc.

khublaikhan

Surely you guys have a student lecturer liaison panel? Students Union? Student reps? I would say that you, as a group of students, approach the course leader and air your concerns, including the problems you have encountered in understanding your tutor's material. You should also speak to your personal tutor and ask them to help in your issues.

You will need to handle this situation with guile and tact. You should look to resolve your predicament - an attack on the quality of lecturer, teaching or the given school will put the people who run the dept on the defensive, and make your cause much more difficult. Imo a petition will not be looked upon favourably.

The lecturer concerned, whatever her background, has rights within employment legislation and the best a school can do, as soon as a problem has been identified and if it is not serious misconduct, is either conduct a review/appraisal of her work or further training - although this will help her and her future students it does not really help you. It will, however, allow the dept some maneuverability as to what marks are awarded to you guys at the end of the year. Removing her from work, unless she volunteers is highly unlikely. You will find that none of your other lecturers openly criticising her work - that is because it is very easy for them to end up in the same situation.

I would also look for material by lecturers who have taught that module previously, even talk to them if possible. At the end of the year most lecturers attend a panel meeting where marks awarded are reviewed - I would ask for your personal tutor to fight for mitigating circumstances when they meet (if you do poorly in this module)

glider3560

One of the reasons why I'm put off making a complaint is when I emailed a lecturer last year about an unfair deduction of our lab marks. Someone (or a group) failed to clear up their mess next to a machine in the lab, so everyone in the lab that day who used the machine got 20% deducted from their write-up. Fair enough, but I had proof that other people had used this machine 2 hours after I had left the lab (the machines stores the time and your username as part of the file name). All that happened was the lecturer sent a copy of my email (which I would have thought is confidential) to EVERYONE on my course, ALL of our lecturers, all the admin staff in the department and even to the lab technicians. The other students supported me, but I never felt comfortable about the lecturers in that department after this. Fortunately, I no longer take any units in that department.

khublaikhan wrote: »

Surely you guys have a student lecturer liaison panel? Students Union? Student reps?

Our students union is as good as a chocolate teapot. Last year, a group of students (about 100) got together and organised a petition about the location of one of our exams and the lack of transport provided by the uni. Nothing happened, apart from the union suggesting we buy a student bus pass :mad: Our uni is quite "old fashioned", so anything suggested in committees always results in some excuse about how they can't make any changes. AFAIK, all the reps on my course don't attend the meetings anymore as nothing was changing.

khublaikhan wrote: »

I would also look for material by lecturers who have taught that module previously, even talk to them if possible.

I know someone who took this unit last year. His lecture notes are even worse. I'm trying to see if I can get hold of notes from 3 years ago, as this lecturer was supposed to be quite good.

Adro wrote: »

If they still don't take any action, at least you have some kind of solid evidence showing that people in your class have complained about the teaching. When your exam comes, if everyone fails, you can pull the "I told you so" card.

The problem with this, is I believe that my uni can "scale up" marks on papers, without telling us. I know this happened last year on one of my exams, but it was dropped into conversation by my personal tutor. We never get our papers back or have any access to marking schemes, so we are completely clueless as to how papers get marked.

It does make me wonder sometimes what I'm paying my £3k for as we've had a few other bad lecturers (albeit for only one or two lectures at a time).

I think I'll just work at bettering my understanding, rather than complaining. Just make sure I do extra reading and practise the questions. At the end of the day, it makes up a very small percentage of my degree, which I could easily make up on another paper/coursework.

kai666

unless things have changed since my degree, lectures are only supposed to give you an overview of the subject, then you go and do you're own additional reading. Following only the lectures would give you no more than a third.

So assuming you want more than a third, surely the fact that the lecturer is not very good, should have little bearing on you're results, as you should be doing lots of extra reading anyway above and beyond the lecture.

glider3560

kai666 wrote: »

unless things have changed since my degree, lectures are only supposed to give you an overview of the subject, then you go and do you're own additional reading. Following only the lectures would give you no more than a third.

So assuming you want more than a third, surely the fact that the lecturer is not very good, should have little bearing on you're results, as you should be doing lots of extra reading anyway above and beyond the lecture.

This is the case with my degree, however the subject in question is a unit called Mathematics for Scientists. I would expect them to at least go through the methods that they are using in a way that allows you to understand them. TBH, the course organiser said at the start that no extra reading would be required for this unit. She simply recommended practising the methods given in the lectures.

khublaikhan

Hi glider3560,

You are in a tricky situation - I can empathise because I recently finished my degree (in which I had similar experiences - more than once) and then went onto to teach that course the following academic year! So I can see both sides in this debate.

I would stick to the following:

1) Talk to the course leader - get someone from your group to speak for all of you. Also talk to the lecturer you have currently - you can do this as a group at the beginning or end of a lecture.

2) Talk to your persoanl tutor - make sure they bat on your wicket! You will have to work them to ensure you get results!

3) Have you approached the lecturer with whom you are having issues? This will be the first question you will be asked by senior management should this escalate. Think about this. Can you meet them? Discuss your issues? Tell her about the problems you have with their teaching style. Get the reading list from the library and ask her what parts of the reading list is relevant to what she taught.

4) Seek out someone who has successfully completed this module - somebody will know of someone - get them to help/advise if possible.

5) However poor your students union is I would still make an appointment and discuss and record your grievence. Even if they do not do anything it will show that you took reasonable steps to seek help.

6) Speak to the academic skills tutor and get their help

Don't forget - use tact

Hope this helps