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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Mistake on uni transcript. Aibu?

61 replies

QuestionableMouse · 04/07/2019 10:54

I'm not happy. Our grade transcript was released today and I've just seen I've been given 58 for both assignments in one module. I have had no feedback on this module and have been waiting 7+ weeks. I've contacted the lecturer repeatedly and had no reply from him (as far as I was aware)

I've just been poking around on Canvas on my laptop and seen that feedback has been uploaded. It's one file attached to the grades bit whice has feedback for both assignments and says I should have 68.

Wibu to contact the course leader and complain? I've no idea how long the feedback has been there or even if it's been counted towards my official grade. 58 will bring my overall grades down quite significantly (everything else is 70+) but I'm not even sure if it can be corrected now?

OP posts:
HerSymphonyAndSong · 04/07/2019 12:18

I was going to say the same about ratifies/unratified. The mark in Canvas is likely to be the unratified grade. The one on your transcript is the ratified one. You need to find out whether the discrepancy is a mistake or whether your grade was reduced, and if the latter, why (it is a significant discrepancy)

30not13 · 04/07/2019 12:18

I had a mistake on my end of 1st year grades, a d that should have been a b.. I was told I had to wait til the end of this second year for it to be corrected Hmm

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 04/07/2019 12:41

I rang the lecturer and actually managed to speak to him.

It is a mistake. Everyone on the module has been given the same grade do to a computer glitch and it is being worked on.

He didn't elaborate past that so I'm still not entirely sure what the problem was or the time frame for getting it fixed.

He also kept dodging my question about the feedback but at least I know the grades are being worked on. Still worried but not flat out panicking like I was earlier!

OP posts:
HerSymphonyAndSong · 04/07/2019 12:43

You should all have been informed of that officially, not via a lecturer on the phone

FatherBuzzCagney · 04/07/2019 12:59

I wouldn't trust the lecturer, he will be trying to cover himself - double check with the administrators/board chair. Less likely to be a 'computer glitch' than a lazy fucker lying about what he's done (or hasn't done).

Socksey · 04/07/2019 13:09

wouldn't trust the lecturer, he will be trying to cover himself - double check with the administrators/board chair. Less likely to be a 'computer glitch' than a lazy fucker lying about what he's done (or hasn't done).

Because that's all lecturers do.... actually if you can't trust them to do their jobs.... why bother.... in reality.... our wonderful modern systems frequently do this kind of thing, and usually at the worst time possible.
Most lecturers and university departments want their students to do well and if they had noticed that there was an error it would be getting dealt with as your lecturer had mentioned. I'm surprised that an email wasn't sent out to let people know there was a problem but they will deal with it as quick as possible

Isthisafreename · 04/07/2019 13:24

@FatherBuzzCagney - I wouldn't trust the lecturer, he will be trying to cover himself - double check with the administrators/board chair. Less likely to be a 'computer glitch' than a lazy fucker lying about what he's done (or hasn't done).

That is an absolutely pathetic post. Do you have any experience of working in a university? "Lazy fuckers" are few and far between amongst the academic (and administrative) staff.

This year, on one module, two students had marks transposed by the system, so a 75 became a 57, for example. This was spotted by the course leader before results were released. It is possible to spot these on a small course if the lecturer or course leader has the time to check, bearing in mind they have returned the marks correctly and it is not their job to double check the system. It is impossible for an individual to check this on a large course.

Last year, I noticed errors created by the system. I had returned results correctly but double checked the marks before release, something that is not part of my job. However, I did it as the system can create errors and I care about my students, as do my colleagues.

FatherBuzzCagney · 04/07/2019 13:27

Because that's all lecturers do.... actually if you can't trust them to do their jobs.... why bother....

No, not all lecturers, but two or three in every department I've worked in or been otherwise involved with. There are three or four in my current department who just don't give a shit about marking (or doing any other bit of their job that doesn't immediately advance their career and/or reflect their self-appointed status as research gods). When I was board chair it was a surprise to them every single year that they had to give feedback, mark work within the required time, respond to student emails, hold office hours. They are one of the worst bits of being an academic because they create huge amounts of work for their colleagues, who often have to do things like step in and finish their marking becuse they've fucked off to another continent for the summer, leaving a pile of unmarked exam scripts in their office.

And they always, always claim that a glitch in the software has accidentally wiped out the mark and detailed feedback they've given. It's the lecturer equivalent of "the dog ate my homework".

FatherBuzzCagney · 04/07/2019 13:43

Is this, as I said above, I'm an academic. I've been exam board chair at department and faculty level, external examiner at another institution, and teaching director for our BA programmes at department and faculty level.

Most academics are conscientious and competent but a handful in every department absolutely are lazy fuckers when it comes to marking, or any other bits of teaching, or any admin that they don't think will get them promoted quickly. They are often also the ones who make a big show of being research stars but make sure that most of the work is actually done by junior co-authors. They almost never suffer the consequences, because it's more effort than it's worth for senior management to deal with them.

That said, things are better than they used to be before teaching quality structures got introduced, pain in the arse though they can be. One now very senior academic (not in my university) is legendary for having done no marking at all in his first job in the 1990s. It's said that after he moved on (with a promotion, of course) to another university, the cleaner who went in to sort out his office opened up a large cupboard and a floor-ceiling stack of unmarked essays fell out. He hadn't marked a single essay in the couple of years he was in post and the students had never complained because he'd given them all firsts. No-one had queried it. That couldn't happen now, but I can think of a couple of colleagues who would definitely do it if they thought they could get away with it.

Booboostwo · 04/07/2019 14:44

FatherBuzzCagney
He hadn't marked a single essay in the couple of years he was in post and the students had never complained because he'd given them all firsts.

Of course that happened...in a department with no second markers, no examinations committee, no external examiner and no exams office looking at statistics.

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 04/07/2019 14:51

@HerSymphonyAndSong I agree. It also shouldn't have taken multiple emails and calls to find out.

I do believe him though. The module and course leaders and involved now and they're all saying the same thing.

OP posts:
FatherBuzzCagney · 04/07/2019 14:53

Yes, that was my point. Well, there would have been an external I assume, but this was before TQA.

The person in question is also the most extraordinary blagger, wich probably helped - he once got his (not wealthy) UK university to fund a conference about the work of a prominent European figure in his field in a country on a completely different continent with which the figure had never had any connection, because he felt like going there. In a way, it's quite impressive.

FatherBuzzCagney · 04/07/2019 14:55

OP, sorry to derail, glad to hear it's getting sorted out. Congratulations on what sound like an excellent set of results.

DonkeyHohtay · 04/07/2019 14:56

Complain. My degree certificate had the wrong name on it. Said (for example) Marion Smith rather than Maria Smith.

I was livid. They printed me another one right away but that's not the point. All of my friends were sipping champagne on the lawn and I was arguing the toss with registry that I was Maria, not Marion and yes it needed fixing NOW.

Birdrib · 04/07/2019 15:26

My transcript had a mistake on it and they charged ME for the replacement Hmm

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 04/07/2019 17:44

That's terrible.

They're all aware of it and working to get it fixed, though no one can give me a time frame for it to be done. I'm not paying a penny for it to be fixed either.

OP posts:
Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 04/07/2019 17:45

@FatherBuzzCagney

Thank you. I've worked really hard to get the marks I have so being marked down like this is especially galling.

OP posts:
HerSymphonyAndSong · 04/07/2019 18:09

“It is possible to spot these on a small course if the lecturer or course leader has the time to check, bearing in mind they have returned the marks correctly and it is not their job to double check the system. It is impossible for an individual to check this on a large course.”

Actually at my institution it is the responsibility of the module leader to double check the marks on the system. They have to check them and sign them off prior to ratification. It doesn’t eliminate errors entirely and it does add to module leaders’ workloads, but it is part of our regulations. And I work on an extremely large course. The entry and checking and double-checking of marks is incredibly onerous but as seen here, it makes a huge difference to students if just one mark is wrong

Snowy81 · 04/07/2019 18:26

You should have an email to say ‘sorry there has been a problem, ignore the marks, it’s being worked on’. Something simple could have prevented this. Good luck for next year!

Isthisafreename · 04/07/2019 18:29

@HerSymphonyAndSong - I'm not talking about signing off on the marks we submit to the exams office. Obviously we do that. I'm talking about checking that the mark we submitted and signed off on is the mark given to the student.

HerSymphonyAndSong · 04/07/2019 19:35

I realised that - I’m saying that at my institution exactly that happens. But of course we all have different systems, processes and regulations

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 04/07/2019 19:43

@Snowy81

One was sent but only after I'd kicked up a bit of a fuss. I'll just be glad when it's sorted because this module could be the difference between me getting a first or not.

OP posts:
kidsmakesomuchwashing · 04/07/2019 19:57

Just contact them - your admin team. It will just be a mistake. If your 68 Mark was changed to 58 after exam board moderation that should have been clearly communicated to you.

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 04/07/2019 20:27

It's being sorted now thank you. 😀

OP posts:
Snowy81 · 04/07/2019 20:29

@QuestionableMouse You shouldn’t have had to kick up a fuss though, it should have been picked up and you all notified as soon as they were aware there was a problem. I’m guessing you aren’t the only one, where these marks will make a difference to the classification, and therefore panicking.

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