University costs

melancholly

most universities now require lecture notes to be available online before the lecture so that students with special needs have access to it and can print it out in a form that is useful to them. this online system is actually intended to benefit students!

and as an aside, if you can't concentrate for an hour or two in a lecture, i don't think university is for you - or most jobs for that matter, where often you have to work all day.... imagine that!

studentphil

melancholly wrote:

most universities now require lecture notes to be available online before the lecture so that students with special needs have access to it and can print it out in a form that is useful to them. this online system is actually intended to benefit students!

and as an aside, if you can't concentrate for an hour or two in a lecture, i don't think university is for you - or most jobs for that matter, where often you have to work all day.... imagine that!

It is an interesting point, but most students who need transcription tend not do it themselves but properly trained transcribers do in fact do it. But for some SEN students online handouts are useful that is true.
The thing is external research shows people find it hard to listen for really extended periods. Most jobs dont involve listening 9-5 so.

misskool

Sorry for being a party pooper but this thread is yet another classic studentphil rant on how the university has failed to give him an education.

Prudent

Gabriel-Ernest wrote:

When I was at Uni nearly 30 years ago, we had no lecture handouts and nothing electronic. We made notes by hand and we read books either bought or borrowed from libraries. Be grateful for what you have because frankly you have it easy now!

The same thought went through my head. Although I wonder if the expectation is higher since more resources are available. What I would like now, is the flexibility. It always seemed to me that key texts for essays were on restricted loan in the library and it meant having to write the essays in the library during library hours.

tr3mor

misskool wrote:

Sorry for being a party pooper but this thread is yet another classic studentphil rant on how the university has failed to give him an education.

Well, if he spent less time posting and more time working... :rolleyes:

studentphil

misskool wrote:

Sorry for being a party pooper but this thread is yet another classic studentphil rant on how the university has failed to give him an education.

It is that I object to the university passing its costs on to students and nothing to do with the quality of education.

[Deleted User]

No offence, but in my first year of uni we weren't given handouts for the majority of lectures, nor were notes available online.. you just wrote (fast)

I found it helped me stay awake

The last time I gave a lecture (ok, the ONLY time i did) I gave the students printed handouts after the lecture.

In the 2nd/3rd/MSc years of uni they were nice enough to give us i) printed handouts or ii) free printing. Yay liverpool uni

Gabriel-Ernest

studentphil wrote:

Even for the most interested person it does seem hard to say that a person could listen very well for 1-2 hours.

On the contrary, that was the norm in my day; anyone who couldn't concentrate through a lecture should never have decided to do a degree. Your point is more evidence that HE is dumbed down now. We were expected to apply ourselves and search out the info we needed; it wasn't handed to us on a plate, we were responsible for own education and progress, and the lectures were never that important beyond possibly pointing us in an unthought-of direction.

We read widely and (perhaps more importantly) we discussed on our own initiative amongst ourselves; we were passionate about what we were studying. I can remember well those all-night discussions with fellow students fuelled by coffee and biscuits as we bounced ideas around and explored ... we didn't even realise we were learning the kind of intellectual skills which would stand us in good stead later. That to me is what higher education is, not spoonfeeding and pre-printed cribbing notes. That's more suitable to lazy schoolchildren, and I don't see it as 'educational enlightenment,' just a drop in standards.

studentphil

Gabriel-Ernest wrote:

On the contrary, that was the norm in my day; anyone who couldn't concentrate through a lecture should never have decided to do a degree. Your point is more evidence that HE is dumbed down now. We were expected to apply ourselves and search out the info we needed; it wasn't handed to us on a plate, we were responsible for own education and progress, and the lectures were never that important beyond possibly pointing us in an unthought-of direction.

We read widely and (perhaps more importantly) we discussed on our own initiative amongst ourselves; we were passionate about what we were studying. I can remember well those all-night discussions with fellow students fuelled by coffee and biscuits as we bounced ideas around and explored ... we didn't even realise we were learning the kind of intellectual skills which would stand us in good stead later. That to me is what higher education is, not spoonfeeding and pre-printed cribbing notes. That's more suitable to lazy schoolchildren, and I don't see it as 'educational enlightenment,' just a drop in standards.

I think a lot of people still do that. Read and debate and talk about stuff. So it is not as clear cut as you think. You can not even get a pass if you just rewrite the few bullet points on a handout. So you still do have to do all those things you did to get a pass.

Impet_Limpet

our lecturers for physiology put power point presentations online 2 days prior to the lecture, i print these so there are 3 slides per page with space the write next to them, some slides are blank which is where the lecturer will hand draw a diagram and explain it. I don't mind printing them off as i'm at home with all the printer paper and ink i could ever need.

Another lecturer does both puts them online but then handouts other important things in the lecture which you will miss if you are not there.

They say at our uni that the information supplied in the lectures and handouts is ony good enough to get a 2:2 to get better you must research the topics and try out ideas. group work is difficult if you live miles off campus but us part timers manage by email