Does anyone actually like online lectures ?

[Grandealmondmylklatte]

Just that really?

I feel so disconnected, unmotivated and resentful of uni rn. This isn't my first degree, and knowing what it was like before (not the going out, but the engagement, talking about reading with your friends, helping each other stuff) is making it worse. I have an essay due 7 January which is about theory we touched on in the first week of the semester online, I can't even remember it.

I don't think any student should be forced to put on a camera. I refuse just about all requests for zoom calls as clients are lucky to hear my voice and certainly don't need to see my face.

I like the ability to revisit them, it's helped me to engage more with assignment writing as I can go back over any points that I need clarity with or didn't pay attention to the first time but I'm also desperately missing the interaction with my peers. I miss the way conversation flows properly when you're in the room. I hate the fact that one person in particular dominates every blasted conversation and shouts down anything any of the rest of us say that they disagree with, that has made me disengage massively. I am looking forward to the coming semester much more because I don't have any modules with this person!

The lecturers and tutors have been phenomenal, and I have seen how hard they've worked and the huge difficulty they've had with the lack of cameras/mics on. As a mature student, it has only been other mature students and one younger one who's bothered to speak a real word throughout.

I hate it, this is my 3rd year in a 4 year course, I'm not engaged or motivated in any way. I know there's not much choice for the universities but it is tough.

There's 12 people on my course and we'd normally go over lecture notes or problems in our breaks and I think I underestimated the value of that.

Also not assisting is the lack of any quiet time, especially now I'm home schooling 2 children and I can't send them to grandma and grandads who always helped out around exams and deadlines.

Again, nobody's fault, it's just shit.

@Xenia

I don't think any student should be forced to put on a camera. I refuse just about all requests for zoom calls as clients are lucky to hear my voice and certainly don't need to see my face.

While I never insist my students out their cameras on I make sure they know that I prefer it if they do. Otherwise I feel like I'm talking to my bedroom wall.

Although, there is onw module where I will insist on cameras as it's focusing on counselling skills which included body language!

I agree. I have given talks where people have talked in the back row etc. It is very annoying. However not everyone wants someone to see into their bed room.
[I am against all mandatory CV 19 measures however and would allow everyone back into the classroom as normal even if our and indeed my risk of death increased by 10x]

I found out from one of the few who does that the class are all busily chatting away on the cohort's WhatsApp group while we run the seminars and try to get them to engage: there is basically a discussion carrying on entirely separately from the seminar that they refuse to engage in. I'm starting to think that some of it is a deliberate strategy to undermine online teaching

I find this self-sabotage just so frustrating! Students (and their parents) moan about the fees (although compared with a lot of other countries, our degrees are cheap!) but then don't take up the opportunities we offer them.

My students last term were uniformly lovely online - engaged and open. The only time they took cameras off was when they were suffering dodgy broadband speeds. I had a genuinely great time with them.

Just to let you know, "being put into groups" has always been disliked by many people. Long before this pandemic and long before the internet even. It is always a challenge to work with people who are different from yourself and have different ways of working even, as well as different attitudes to work

And it really is the way most modern workplaces operate. It's really not condescending to say that. You really don't get to choose who's on your project team or whatever, unless you're the boss!

I often think that it's a very useful set of skills, and the self-knowledge it can bring is also valuable. I give my students a list of the Belbin team roles, and get them to think about how they fit in terms of those categories (I don't teach management, btw!)

Exactly Queen

@AaahWoof there was no intention to be condescending. In almost every group situation - coworkers, suppliers, customers - some people behave badly. Learning how to deal with it is part of the experience. Your lecturers should help on this.

Re cameras, I don't think you can compel students to turn them on, I would just hope that basic human consideration would encourage people to do so.

As an academic who's spent pretty much every day since March 2020 trying to provide a good online learning experience from scratch, it's depressing to hear that you're feeling resentful of the university, OP.

Whilst I can acknowledge and understand your lack of motivation, I'm not sure what else you expect your lecturers to do, really, given that we're in the middle of a pandemic?

My module evaluation was outstanding though, so I guess not everyone dislikes online lectures.

The 'cameras on' thing is tricky. I would love it if all (or even most) of my students turned their cameras on but I also understand why they might not want to.

found out from one of the few who does that the class are all busily chatting away on the cohort's WhatsApp group while we run the seminars and try to get them to engage

WRT this may be due to the students' anxiety. I know I prefer to ask other students as most of my lecturers and seminar leaders can be very much 'there are no stupid questions' then give the most withering look when you ask a question to better understand. Which is incredibly disheartening. Ensuring that there are ways to ask questions anonymously and that students know about them may increase participation from even before online teaching

Our what's app group convo during lectures goes...

"is it my connection or is he breaking up"
"nah it's his end I think cos mine's crap"
"fuck you blackboard"
"tell the room I'm trying to reconnect cos I can't type in the proper chat"
"tell him I'm having issues and I'm going to kick the router"

None of us even chat anymore. No one interacts. We just sit through recording after recording.

So interesting to hear from students on this thread. I'd really like to know if you have any feedback about how we could make online sessions better? How could we get you interacting more in a way that you wouldn't hate?

I quite like using the collaborative whiteboard to pool answers together (assuming you have a course cohort who aren't going to draw penises on them - we're responsible and sensible and crap at drawing)... really good to grab a screenshot of and add into lecture notes for later as a record of the discussion.

The one I did manage to get them to implement was giving us a warning before pulling us back from breakout groups - otherwise everyone has their mic and camera on mid-conversation - it lags up the main room, people hear about someone's hangover and if we've used things like the whiteboard it gets lost unless someone screenshots it (our online software is a steaming turd)

@AaahWoof That's helpful, thank you

I've been trying to get the course to help move the collaboration stuff that we tend to get up to like "made this revision sheet if it helps anyone" OFF FB and whatsapp so that students not on those aren't locked out - it's taken a while but they've finally got Teams set up for us. When we're not all totally burnt out and fucked off with the whole thing - we tend to do a lot of informal collaboration on there now it's available.

And for those feeling irked by people - I'm fucked off at the university - my own course staff have been bloody amazing throughout (despite some amusing disagreements with the technology) and I did message the course lead to ask her to pass on my appreciation that they'd had to flip the entire bloody thing for online and it was a hell of an epic task to pull off... the university body as itself - they can fuck off to the far side of fuck, and their IT infrastructure to support it all IS STILL SHITE!

I mentioned the webcam matter to my son. He says that some of his online lecturers told them not to turn on their webcams as the Uni's wifi system couldn't cope if too many students use their webcams. So none of them bother as they don't want to be the "only one" on camera.

@Kazzyhoward

I mentioned the webcam matter to my son. He says that some of his online lecturers told them not to turn on their webcams as the Uni's wifi system couldn't cope if too many students use their webcams. So none of them bother as they don't want to be the "only one" on camera.

Yep - ours melts down if people get pulled back from breakout groups with cameras on without warning to turn them off. The uni software can't cope.

Kazzy, yes that reminds me of something my son said along the same lines. The institutions' tech could not cope with all the webcams. I think there are 1000 people doing the course (law conversion) my son is doing on-line in London for example although they are divided into groups for workshops.

I'm thoroughly miserable. I should be in labs playing around with equipment, not sat in front of a laptop doing point and click labster stimulations.

I have the same issues with breakout rooms. Many students seem to log in, mute and bugger off and more than once I ended up in a group where no one responded! My frietnd had same issues.
Funnily, it's the students who never engage and keep texting in class chat about how shit the seminar (happening at that time) is because it's online, or the ones who you NEVER hear a word from, who complain the most about online teaching not doing it for them!
Shut up, engage and it's not that bad. Obviously it's better even for tutors to be f2f in classroom, but nearly a year of whining from people who openly joke about not bothering with work and then complaining they are not getting anything from it, would break me if I was the tutor.

@Ncdforreasons
It's actually really good to hear that perspective and think somebody gets it!

I have gone into a breakout group, seen it's a bunch who never contribute and expect others to carry them in there - and buggered off to load the washing machine cos I'm completely sick of doing all the work for them to be honest.

If it's a group without this little core in the group in I'll contribute and more than pull my weight but after week after week after week - and them never bothering to do any of the prep work and assuming that a few of us will land in their groups and carry them - I took a couple of weeks to sit back - and they absolutely shat their pants when pressed for an answer from the group.

@AaahWoof same issue here. There are few of us who properly contribute. Tbh we have the same issue in f2f seminars, but this has amplified it. I genuinely feel for the tutors because it is awkward and they must feel so undervalued. Ours gave a bit of a speech recently after I sank the group and actually said that there was no one there and that I am not doing all the work anymore. I then went on a strike with submitting my seminar work by email and just be on seminars. 3 of us did in fact. It made few others talk, but again, the ones I suspect are not even there were still. Well, not even there.
This is why I couldn't teach. I would be kicking people out of the call if they haven't replied when called by a name and marked them absent🤷🏻 It's rude considering how much work our tutor puts into our course!