To think this is really rubbish from my University Tutor?

[RiskManagement]

I know the whole point is I'm supposed to work independently etc but I've paid a large sum of money for the privilege of having a tutor (among other things).

He hasn't been impressive from the start, very vague and on occasions downright wrong.

The structure of the course is such that there are 5 assignments to write, each in 5 parts. We can submit the first part of each to the tutor for comment then send the final assignment to the assessor. Tutor available for guidance.

Part 2 of my current assignment has me stumped. There a bit that refers to the "5 risks detailed in the unit workbook". The workbook refers to 4 risk categories on one page and on another has a list of more specific risks but there are more than 5.

I asked the tutor to clarify. First he said had I got the right question because he couldn't find my quote. I had and when I pointed it out he said he didn't understand it either and would refer it up. That was a week ago.....

Course is a Level 4 diploma at a "proper" University, but largely done by distance learning. Option to continue and finish a degree.

[DoctorDoctor]

When you say 'your tutor', is he your seminar/module tutor for the module that you're doing this assignment for? Or your personal tutor? You mention paying a lot of money for support, but that doesn't guarantee you an instant response if what you mean is you're signed up to pay 9k tuition fees.

My guess is that this is a fairly simple typo/error where the question should say '4 areas..' but actually says 5. I would email your tutor again asking if the person who set the assignment can clarify whether that's what's happened. You could also ask who the person is so you can contact them directly yourself. And in the meantime just get on with writing the assignment - clarification is needed but not to the extent that it stops you getting anywhere at all with your work.

[niceandwarm]

I would tackle the question by identifying the 4 risk categories and then go on to say that each risk category comprises a number of specific risks. I suspect that is what is meant by the question.
As long as you state very clearly how you've interpreted the question and why, i can't see how you could go far wrong.

If you are finding the question confusing, I assume other students are also finding it difficult.
Without wishing to sound patronising, I think at university level you should be able to think round a problem without expecting the tutor to know all the answers.

[RiskManagement]

His title is "facilitator" and he's the only contact have apart from a general admin (who helps with website access etc)

He's done 3 face to face workshops and the rest is via email, which I really haven't used very much.

[SorchaN]

The tutor won't have written the workbook and if he's new (or the course is new) he might not have been aware earlier of the discrepancy you mention. So he'll have to ask the person who is handling assessment for the course. If I were you I'd definitely contact him again and ask if he's been able to get an answer from the course leader or whoever is managing assessment.

To be honest it sounds like the question isn't very well worded in the first place - ideally it would explicitly identify the five (or four) risks you're supposed to be addressing.

Are you reading any other material for this assessment? Text books / journal articles / academic books? Is there any consensus in the academic literature about classifying risks?

Surely you can't be the only person with this question if everyone on the course is doing the assessment at the same time, so it's really important for the course leader to clarify this for the whole class.

[LividofLondinium]

So is it unreasonable to think he should have read an understood the question at some point before I started working on it?
Not at all Risk, he sounds a bit flakey to me. Unfortunately there are some pretty rubbish lecturers/tutors out there and they can have a massive impact on our confidence and ability as students. You are simply asking for clarification of an assignment question, not asking for him to help with the work itself. If a question is ambiguous you're at a disadvantage, and it adds extra stress you don't need when studying.

I currently have a rubbish lecturer (and it's most of us who think it so not me being princessy!) who forgets to email us important stuff after saying she will, gets dates and info wrong, says we can always ask for help but then belittles us when we do, and is generally a bad communicator so we're often in a state of confusion. As one of my fellow students has said, "she likes the prestige of being able to call herself a lecturer, but she doesn't much like the work or having to deal with students". Thankfully our other tutor is absolutely brilliant, best teacher in the world!

[RiskManagement]

Thanks Livid. There was a (considerably cheaper) option to do the course wholly by distance learning/self study without the tutor or workshops and I really don't know what I've gained by going for the more expensive option.

[ScottishProf]

Do chase, politely. But also try not to regard it as personal between you and the tutor - if there is a value for money problem it's unlikely the tutor can solve it. The tutor is not getting your £9k or whatever, nor controlling how many students are admitted. One lecturer may well be responsible to hundreds of students and expected to spend no more than 15 hours per week on all teaching duties combined (lecturing, marking, attending meetings, giving tutorials, in addition to answering student queries). Do the sums to see how much individual attention any one student will get...

[TaintedAngel]

you are NBU. far from it. I completed my degree as a ft student and my lecturers were nothing short of phenomenal when it came to guidance and advice. That's not being spoon fed. that's them doing their job. I then applied for a distance learning course after my degree for a ower level qualification I needed. I knew I wouldn't have the same support via DL but it was really terrible. The tutor was also responsible for a few FT classes so I understood her time restrictions to dealing with the DL's but the responses I had back were shockingly bad. resulted in me walking away from the entire course and wasting the few hundred pounds I put on a credit card to pay for so I really see where your coming from.
And its not appropriate IMO to state the discrepancy found in the workbook as part of your response in your essay to justify only 4 out of the 5 criteria being discussed. I would be following up with a firm but polite email stating where you are right now. if no response in a few days then go to the department head. you are paying for the service. your not asking to be spoon fed your asking for the correct Info to be provided so you can do the work. My lecturers encouraged us to see ourselves as customers because we are paying for a service so we deserve to get what we are paying for. good luck!

[ScottishProf]

I didn't say otherwise. But it is, sadly, possible that the tutor has been given an impossible job, in which case blaming the tutor for failing to do it would be unhelpful and a complaint to the administration more appropriate. Of course, ideally, the tutor should be either delivering the service students need or complaining loudly that it is impossible until it gets fixed - hence my remarks on the importance of time management, prioritisation, and saying no, to an academic on another recent thread. However, it's a fact that university lecturers are appointed principally not for having stellar organisational skills but for ability to do ground-breaking research: the absent-minded professor is a stereotype for a reason.

OP should also double-check that she hasn't missed mail or another form of announcement about this.

[dostopdroningon]

It's of course not acceptable wait for a week for clarification of an unclear question and your uni probably has guidelines for tutors / students on such matters. So I'd:

• email them again, reminding them that they'd get back to you and could theyclarify the question in the next couple of days please?
  
• I guess you have a VLE eg Blackboard or similar, post on there and see if other students can help. Maybe other people have received guidance that they can share?
  
• if you don't hear back, email the module co-ordinator and cc the tutor restating the question and that you've not had your initial query dealt with.
  

This could be an issue with the individual or it could be workload - this is the exam marking period and workloads are ridiculous so it's easy to forget something relatively minor. At institutional level, a lot of tutors are also hired on zero hour contracts, meaning they're paid only for contact hours, don't have much input on materials and essay questions, and have no office or clear expectations about how / when they are meant to manage additional admin. At the end of the course, put this in the course feedback, it's rubbish that students have to put up with this. If nobody complains, nothing improves.

[TherapyRequired]

OP, is there not a course forum or a VLE where you can ask this? It's usual for most of the distance learning programmes I've been involved with and is usually a great resource.

I agree with what ScottishProf says too: people working outside of HE have very little idea of the pressure we're under. And we get the blame but none of the £9K. Yes, you should get support, but things get overlooked because there's just so much to do. Teaching is supposed to be a quarter of my lecturer role and yet I've spent my whole weekend marking.

[Lweji]

Do chase it up. It could be an error in the assignment.

You should also have a Course Organiser (or similar) to whom you could refer problems with tutors or response time.

Also pointing out that "proper" Universities are not necessarily the best for distance learning.

Don't you have a student forum where you could ask about it?

[Guiltypleasures001]

Out of interest it's not a level 4 counselling diploma is it?

[sykadelic]

Agree with chase it up.

I will always ask questions after a particular incident at Uni. We had an assignment that included a "big word" (I didn't really think it was, I only found out later that others felt that way) in the question/instruction. It turns out the lecturer had used entirely the wrong word (and admitted it to me). I was the only one who hadn't asked what this particular word meant, and because of that, I was going to fail the assignment and there was nothing he could or would do. He said if more people had got it wrong then he would be able to do more. Instead he allowed me to run to the computer lab, rework my Powerpoint presentation and assignment during class, and present it at the end of class. He had another class after it though so I had to be back 10 minutes before class. I did "okay" but I know I could have done better if he'd just written the CORRECT word for the assignment or if I'd just asked to make sure I understood.

DEFINITELY follow-up.

[ChucksAhoy]

YANBU - I'm studying a degree via distance learning this year - of the three modules I have to complete (each with a diff tutor), I've only received useful advice on one. The other two don't answer my questions (i.e. generic response that doesn't relate to the original question!), haven't gotten back to me, have advised they'll check the answer and then haven't gotten back to me, just generally give me the impression that helping students isn't what they signed up for and it's all just a bit too much trouble

Just seems to be the way it goes, despite paying extortionate fees. Do you have an online forum you can post your Q to other students about instead of relying just on your hopeless tutor?

[SunshineAndShadows]

Online University course tutor here. I would expect that your query would be answered directly by the assessor or course organiser. Def chase it up.

Do you have an online discussion forum etc where you can also post assignment queries? Can you check in with other students to see what their take on it is?

Def push it, a week without a response is not acceptable. Yes the 9 K you're paying doesn't come to 'us' but that doesn't mean we have an excuse to give you a poor experience.