Online Course Gone Awry

catchercolx

Hello Everybody,
Due to the fact that I work from home, I decided to pursue an online HND; I choose a provider that seemed very popular at the time. However, the reality was quite the opposite, even if I am not an English native speaker I could notice lots of errors on their online material (just text, nothing else). When I tried submitting my first assignment they failed me, couple of reasons were provided and none had to do with the contents of the work. I thought it was my fault, since English is not my first language. So before resubmitting asked English speaking friends, who are at University level or above, to go over my work and specify the parts that required improvement. So after a process of reviewing and correction, I thought I had decent piece, so I resubmitted my assignment and then again I was failed. Not many reasons were provided, so I sent a message requesting a complete feedback. They replied that in a couple of days I should have my answer, yet the days kept piling up and nothing came.
So, I started investigating and found a lot of bad reviews regarding this online courses provider. Amongst the comments the main issue raised was that even if you are dissatisfy with their service you are not able to stop the payment or revoke the contract, one of the reason was that the legal residency is located in a different country outside UK. From the comments nobody has been able to get a refund so far.
This is not the first online course I have done, but this is the first time a course have become a tortuous experience. Specially because the investment so far in terms of time and cost has been very hefty, but it seems that besides a terrible memory, I will not get anything out of it.
Can somebody please explain how can I proceed from here? Is there any hope to stop this nightmare?

susancs

catchercolx wrote: »

Hello Everybody,
Due to the fact that I work from home, I decided to pursue an online HND; I choose a provider that seemed very popular at the time. However, the reality was quite the opposite, even if I am not an English native speaker I could notice lots of errors on their online material (just text, nothing else). When I tried submitting my first assignment they failed me, couple of reasons were provided and none had to do with the contents of the work. I thought it was my fault, since English is not my first language. So before resubmitting asked English speaking friends, who are at University level or above, to go over my work and specify the parts that required improvement. So after a process of reviewing and correction, I thought I had decent piece, so I resubmitted my assignment and then again I was failed. Not many reasons were provided, so I sent a message requesting a complete feedback. They replied that in a couple of days I should have my answer, yet the days kept piling up and nothing came.
So, I started investigating and found a lot of bad reviews regarding this online courses provider. Amongst the comments the main issue raised was that even if you are dissatisfy with their service you are not able to stop the payment or revoke the contract, one of the reason was that the legal residency is located in a different country outside UK. From the comments nobody has been able to get a refund so far.
This is not the first online course I have done, but this is the first time a course have become a tortuous experience. Specially because the investment so far in terms of time and cost has been very hefty, but it seems that besides a terrible memory, I will not get anything out of it.
Can somebody please explain how can I proceed from here? Is there any hope to stop this nightmare?

You need to look at the terms and conditions you agreed to when you signed up for the course to see if you have any recourse in regard to a refund.

Most learning providers have a complaints procedure that you should follow if you are not satisfied with the course materials and tutor support provided.

I expect that you must have a personal tutor who marks your assignments and if you have a telephone number for your tutor, it might be best to ring them to discuss with them what you need to do to improve your assignments. Have you course forums or facebook course pages for other students studying the course that you can use to discuss how they approached the essay you failed to achieve a grade in?

catchercolx

susancs wrote: »

You need to look at the terms and conditions you agreed to when you signed up for the course to see if you have any recourse in regard to a refund.

Most learning providers have a complaints procedure that you should follow if you are not satisfied with the course materials and tutor support provided.

I expect that you must have a personal tutor who marks your assignments and if you have a telephone number for your tutor, it might be best to ring them to discuss with them what you need to do to improve your assignments. Have you course forums or facebook course pages for other students studying the course that you can use to discuss how they approached the essay you failed to achieve a grade in?

Thank you for your response. It is very much appreciated!:)
I will reread the terms and conditions; however it seems like a one sided deal.
The tutors is the one that grades the assignments. Unfortunately, the tutor, has just provided a very general comment that does not leave room for improvements, and it has referred me to other staff for suggestions. In turn, I have requested a complete feedback to be able to manage their expectations. The staff stated they were going to provide an answer in a couple of days, but so far have not.
There is not a direct number, just an internal asynchronous messaging system.
I have taken into account their blog suggestions when preparing the assignment, I have asked other students for assistance via the forum and even email, but they have never replied back and as mentioned I have resorted to external feedback/suggestions/criticisms from my friends in order to improve my work.
I do understand your point of view, but it is very hard to work when you do not know what exactly you are expected to produce, specially taking into account how low quality is the material they have provided, and the fact that there is not real feedback or support.

susancs

catchercolx wrote: »

Thank you for your response. It is very much appreciated!:)
I will reread the terms and conditions; however it seems like a one sided deal.
The tutors is the one that grades the assignments. Unfortunately, the tutor, has just provided a very general comment that does not leave room for improvements, and it has referred me to other staff for suggestions. In turn, I have requested a complete feedback to be able to manage their expectations. The staff stated they were going to provide an answer in a couple of days, but so far have not.
There is not a direct number, just an internal asynchronous messaging system.
I have taken into account their blog suggestions when preparing the assignment, I have asked other students for assistance via the forum and even email, but they have never replied back and as mentioned I have resorted to external feedback/suggestions/criticisms from my friends in order to improve my work.
I do understand your point of view, but it is very hard to work when you do not know what exactly you are expected to produce, specially taking into account how low quality is the material they have provided, and the fact that there is not real feedback or support.

It is unusual that you were not given tutor details such as email and telephone number so you can contact them for direct support. I would email the course provider and ask for these details to be provided so you can directly email or ring the tutor for more detailed feedback. It is probably very difficult for your friends to give you accurate feedback unless the HND is in their particular subject. If it is an essay type assignment it could be that you are trying to cover too much on a subject and not being speciic enough for critical discussion, plus maybe not backing it up with theory and signposting points back to the essay question. For example in the introdution you should say what you will discuss, narrowing it down to three points and maybe give any definitions required e.g. x is defined by y(2014 p12) as "xxxx" Then disuss your three points by having a for and against type of discussion using theory e.g. x (2014 pg10) states "XXXXX", however Y (2014 p14) argues that "xxxxx". Then summarise it all in a conclusion. If you had an email for your tutor you could email a rough plan for approval before starting it, so you know you are on the right lines. With distance learning courses you are often expected to do extra reading around your subject in addition to using the course materials and should have been given a list of recommended books. If you look on www.amazon.co.uk there are often useful course books. You can often buy them second hand cheaply and also read reviews on how useful these books were to the students.

Have a look at the thread link I have posted below, as although it is about a University course, it might provide you some useful sugguestions from other posters on eassy structure etc.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4993871=

You could also google Hnd essays in what ever you are studing for examples of essay structure, just be careful not to use any of the contentto do your essay as you could be accused of plagerism. The studentroom.co.uk may have tutors and students who can offer advice. The problem sometimes with asking you fellow course students is that most are given warnings about sharing chunks or ideas from their current working essays due to the risk of someone using this in their essays and accusations of plagerism.

catchercolx

Hello again!:)
Their contact procedure works like that, I am not allowed to email any of their staff directly.
Some of my friends study similar subjects at a university level and even one is a tutor. Reason why I very much appreciated their criticisms of my work and use them in order to improve my assignment. I did a very thorough research as well. I really enjoy this subject and as a matter of fact is not the first course or online course I have done; however it is the first one I have had so many issues to satisfy requirements and just because to me they are not clear.
Indeed, I could be making so many types of mistakes, but without a complete feedback from their side and samples it is very tough to understand what they want and thus manage their expectations.

Thank you again for your kind advise and providing so many useful links.