Manchester University - permanent move to ‘blended learning’??

[BramStoker]

The article below implies that lectures will no longer be face to face unless there is an interactive element

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jul/05/manchester-university-sparks-backlash-with-plan-to-keep-lectures-online

Very worrying for current students at Manchester and those hoping to go there in September (my DD)

There is no official statement on the University website or social media

Just because Sajid Javid waves his magic cock and says we're all free to infect each other from 19 July, that doesn't mean every institution is absolved from responsibility to protect its employees and - in the case of schools, universities, etc. - its students.

Absolutely.

I wish that students would look more carefully at the mode of delivery and think about what suits them best, because there is obviously huge variation in the sector
Perhaps they should state the method of delivery clearly on their subject website pages, would definitely be of interest

@captainpantbeard

Just because Sajid Javid waves his magic cock and says we're all free to infect each other from 19 July, that doesn't mean every institution is absolved from responsibility to protect its employees and - in the case of schools, universities, etc. - its students.

Absolutely.

If the law changes then every employer needs to abide by it. My employees wouldn't be very happy if I imposed my own version of the law on them.

I agree @KingscoteStaff, in my view whats the point in going if there isn't a decent amount of face to face interaction.

I wish that students would look more carefully at the mode of delivery and think about what suits them best, because there is obviously huge variation in the sector.

I completely agree and this point came up earlier on the widening participation at Oxbridge thread. My ds school were excellent in pointing this out as it can vary a lot for his subject which has few contact hours typically . One university , highly rated , campus based , stood out for having a more seminar based approach , and as a ‘speaker out’he was very impressed . Ultimately he chose somewhere else as he didn’t want campus based living but I do think it should be stressed more .

So if they have separate days for online and face to face teaching, for 2 or 3 days a week they stay in their rabbit hutch bedroom?

That would be their choice. They could use the study spaces on campus if they preferred.

@Etulosba

So if they have separate days for online and face to face teaching, for 2 or 3 days a week they stay in their rabbit hutch bedroom?

That would be their choice. They could use the study spaces on campus if they preferred.

So all sit together in a study space looking at tablets and laptops rather than all sit together in a lecture theatre looking at a human being. Right. Not sure how that's helping social distancing.

So all sit together in a study space looking at tablets and laptops rather than all sit together in a lecture theatre looking at a human being. Right. Not sure how that's helping social distancing.

Some of my students have been doing exactly what I suggested throughout this mess, lockdown restrictions permitting.

Perhaps they should state the method of delivery clearly on their subject website pages, would definitely be of interest

They should do.

I think they do , how else would I have found the information which I quoted earlier , however I am not sure that applicants always give it the attention it deserves .

Why on earth are universities doing any of this considering all restrictions are being lifted before September

I began timetabling and room booking for this coming September last November. I work in a huge RG university and the level of complexity involved in timetabling for my programme to fit neatly into the competing demands of the rest of the university is mind-blowing. We had no idea what the Covid landscape would look like and we had to make decisions well in advance of the reality.

Many of those decisons cannot just be un-made - much as it would be wonderful to have that level of flexibility we do not have the staff, the resources, the rooms, the capacity to suddenly switch around the teaching arrangements for 25,000 students just because Boris is bored of managing Covid and Sajid wants to be the new broom.

I understand the frustration being voiced on this thread but do please try to understand it from our perspective too. We are trying to give our students the best experience we can when rugs are constantly being pulled out from underneath us, the situation is still uncertain (and will probably have changed for the worse by Sept / Oct) and literally nothing we do will please everyone.

NC for this. The lectures and seminars of the courses I taught went fully online last year.

Like elsewhere, students reported to us that they felt online teaching worked less well, and they connected less with the material. Then marking started, and the grades told a different story. I can only speak of my own classes, but the quality of the submitted work was much, much higher than it had been in pre-Covid times. The majority of students absolutely aced my class, putting in a tremendous amount of effort.

In terms of student performance, general grasp of the material, and attendance rates, the past year was the best one yet in my career.

@englandplayingdenmark

NC for this. The lectures and seminars of the courses I taught went fully online last year.

Like elsewhere, students reported to us that they felt online teaching worked less well, and they connected less with the material. Then marking started, and the grades told a different story. I can only speak of my own classes, but the quality of the submitted work was much, much higher than it had been in pre-Covid times. The majority of students absolutely aced my class, putting in a tremendous amount of effort.

In terms of student performance, general grasp of the material, and attendance rates, the past year was the best one yet in my career.

My DS has done well, but he's spent a huge amount of time doing the work, far more than he'd have done in a normal year, simply because there was nothing else to do when they're stuck in their flats. There's no way he'll be able to spend so much time next year - he'll be back to normal when he has other commitments, such as socialising, working, etc. Not to mention the end of year exams etc were all online/open book, so he could spend up to 23 hours on each of his exams rather than the usual 3 if it had been in the exam halls!

Not surprising they all did well in their exams this year - dd had hours to do hers and they were open book.

Then marking started, and the grades told a different story. I can only speak of my own classes, but the quality of the submitted work was much, much higher than it had been in pre-Covid times. The majority of students absolutely aced my class, putting in a tremendous amount of effort.

We had this. Call me a cynic, but the stellar improvement was much more easily explained by a switch from traditional closed-book exams to sitting the exam online at home with access to notes, the entire internet, and cutting & pasting!

DS has fantastic first year grades. I think he'd swap a level for music societies, a rugby season and the opportunity to get to know even one other person from his course.

with access to notes, the entire internet, and cutting & pasting!

As a bonus, guaranteed to get high score from the plagiarism checker too.

@MurielSpriggs

Then marking started, and the grades told a different story. I can only speak of my own classes, but the quality of the submitted work was much, much higher than it had been in pre-Covid times. The majority of students absolutely aced my class, putting in a tremendous amount of effort.

We had this. Call me a cynic, but the stellar improvement was much more easily explained by a switch from traditional closed-book exams to sitting the exam online at home with access to notes, the entire internet, and cutting & pasting!

And essay mills, in some cases.

Still not clear what the Scottish Government want universities up here to do but I do know that Glasgow University is having blended learning for the first semester at least.

Mine had 6 proctored exams. Timed, videoed and v stressful. No allowances made at all for doing them in tiny bedrooms with loud students all around. System went down, they forgot to include a vital booklet and lots of wifi issues. If anyone tells them it was 'easier' they are likely to punch them.

@mumsneedwine

Mine had 6 proctored exams. Timed, videoed and v stressful. No allowances made at all for doing them in tiny bedrooms with loud students all around. System went down, they forgot to include a vital booklet and lots of wifi issues. If anyone tells them it was 'easier' they are likely to punch them.

Plus, in one of my son's flat mate's case, a fire alarm in the middle of an online exam. That only affected his college, not the other colleges on campus, not those working at home or offsite. Apparently, the Uni are "thinking about" how they're going to deal with that. It's a shame they didn't think about it as it was happening and allowed those affected to have more time to compensate and allow them the proper time to complete it.

Proctoring is a horrible practice, I think it's really unethical to spy on people in their own bedrooms or homes.

@GCAcademic

Proctoring is a horrible practice, I think it's really unethical to spy on people in their own bedrooms or homes.

And pretty easily defeated anyway. It's very easy to hide notes and checklists from the camera. It just adds to the anxiety of already anxious (and usually rule-abiding) candidates, and doesn't really stop the more inventive cheats!

DDs finals were proctored - she came home for them because she trusted DH's ability to have the Internet in as good a shape as possible including a 4G backup. She didn't want to be in her house sharing the bandwidth with 4 others, some with exams at the same time.

I don't think it felt like 'spying', it's not as if the students didn't all know it was happening. But it was stressful. But better than the previous years open book exams - their department, caught between between 'no detriment', maintaining standards and the possibility of cheating decided they wouldn't issue grades, they've just got their transcript for the 3rd year.

Mine had 6 proctored exams. Room had to be videoed first and camera on at all times. Everything off bedroom walls. Some went ok but a few had hiccups as Uni system crashed and then in another they forgot to send a vital booklet. But she's passed so on to next year. Hopefully to actually see a human member of staff.