University complaints

[mk45]

My son recently completed a dissertation with a well known Midlands university but got a lower mark than expected. My son took his dissertation without any support or teaching from the course leader. The course leader has emailed my son to confirm he had no contact with my son. He said lockdown was hard for students and staff. This person was also his dissertation supervisor and he did not mark the draft dissertation so my son took the whole two module course without being taught. He had informed them he could not access course materials early on. He raised it three times throughout the course but staff did not follow their own complaints procedure and now the course is finished they want him to put it on a step 1 form. Is this usual for students trying to complete degrees and dissertations during lockdown? I know my son can complete the internal complaints procedure but has anyone experienced this process because his close friend, another student from the same university, recently committed suicide and it might be better to leave it rather than deal with a stressful complaints procedure that won't achieve much. Thanks

Was it that he couldn’t access the materials due to login issues, or was it because his internet was insufficient?

No, it's not usual. My DS also completed his degree in lockdown and had regular zoom catch ups with his supervisor, who also went over his draft dissertation. He also had to submit a mitigation report about how his course had been affected by lockdown. He didn't have many lectures this year as it was his masters project but he did watch some online.

It is interesting to see other people's perspectives. I too thought it was my son's fault initially. I thought he hadn't worked hard enough but I have read the documents, the policies and the course description and I no longer think it was his fault. I agree he could have made more fuss but the staff were unavailable. He did work independently and he did finish the course. It did happen the way I have explained.

You have not been clear enough in your explanations. You just haven’t.

In what way could he not access course materials?

@mk45

It is interesting to see other people's perspectives. I too thought it was my son's fault initially. I thought he hadn't worked hard enough but I have read the documents, the policies and the course description and I no longer think it was his fault. I agree he could have made more fuss but the staff were unavailable. He did work independently and he did finish the course. It did happen the way I have explained.

Yet you're still not answering any questions.

Can you please answer some questions and people will be able to help you and your son.

First. In what way was he unable to access course materials?

X post @ThreeWitches

@Tee20x

This doesn't make sense to me whatsoever. Like PP have said your son would be able to access uni materials whether this be e-library or course specific materials such as lecture slides/recordings and module content using a VPN and university log in details. If he was able to submit via turnitin I am struggling to see how he would be unable to access anything.

You say that your sons dissertation comments say he would have done better if he was able to access the course - are you sure it wasn't something along the lines of accessing a wider range of course material and demonstrating further reading? I.e. did the bare minimum in terms of reading and referencing and then got a low mark?

Like others have said depending on the course, there are either pre-set questions to choose from or the student is able to select an area of their own choosing - a dissertation proposal is then completed which accounts for something along the lines of 10% of the overall grade to ensure that the question, method of study and intended reading etc is suitable for the course.

Personally I don't see how your son could access nothing, didn't know he had a supervisor, didn't have any contact and didn't have any work looked at?

Also in relation to that common practice in some universities is that supervisors won't look at a complete draft but will look at perhaps a chapter.

It was a creative writing, English dissertation. It would have been a very different experience if not in lockdown.

You’re still not answering actual questions.

OP I'm sorry you're getting so many posts accusing you and/or your son of lying.

Universities all handle dissertations differently and I don't see anything weird about some of the things you're saying.
For example, that your son couldn't have submitted his draft without knowing his supervisor -- in our department students submit their drafts in one place and then supervisors go in and find the ones they are responsible for. So this is not weird.
The fact your son knew some things about the process and not others -- we had issues with our modules this year where sometimes basic webpages were visible but videos and recordings were not.
That your son only submitted one draft -- again, not weird at my university.

The supervisor has confirmed that he had no contact and did not mark the draft because he was on holiday. In my department, neither of those would be acceptable! Yes it is independent work but we are expected to check in on students who have not contacted us.

This year a few of our staff have been neglecting their dissertation students, sadly I don't find the OP's story unbelievable at all. I have encouraged students to submit complaints about absent supervisors but quite understandably, no one wants to do so before their work is marked.

If the university is encouraging your son to file this particular form, then I would suggest doing so but perhaps keep your expectations low that it will change anything.

I sympathise OP, but (as a student) I don't think you're being told the whole story.

You don’t need a degree to be a creative writer. Chill.

Thank you dreamingbohemian. This advice was really useful.

Submit in one place is via turnitin. If he couldn’t access the VLE and hadn’t seen any course materials how did he know where to go to do that?

How far in advance of the extended deadline did he submit his draft?

@ThreeWitches

He sent it to the course tutor. The course tutor confirmed after the course had finished he was the supervisor

So did your son attempt to find out who his supervisor was before the end of his course? Because surely you would email everyone possible early on in third year to find this out.

He did not know he had a supervisor. I asked him who his supervisor was and he didn't know he had one. He didn't even know he should have had one. He was an undergraduate and this was his only experience of doing a dissertation. Plus everything on his course had to be changed because of lockdown.

Did he not read his module handbook? That would give him all the information he needed.

I think materials were not loaded up on the learning platform and getting connected to the online live lecture and workshop was an issue. There were sound issues. He has a newish computer so it might have been internet issues.

@Datingandnoideahowto

Did he not read his module handbook? That would give him all the information he needed.

He read enough to pass so I believe so but my understanding is the course was changed due to lockdown and became 12 hours rather than 190 hours.

If there were sound issues he could’ve turned on close captioning for the lectures? If it was his computer or internet issues then that’s not the university’s fault.

If materials weren’t loaded up, that would have affected all the students doing the dissertation module? Although I’m not sure how much there would have been for a dissertation module - it’s not at all like a normal taught module.

There would also have been a reading list he could have accessed via the library website - did he do that?

He was a third year student. Not a first year. Didn’t he have a WhatsApp group or similar he could have asked other students about any issues in?

His module handbook for a dissertation module would definitely have told him he would have a dissertation supervisor.

I think materials were not loaded up on the learning platform and getting connected to the online live lecture and workshop was an issue. There were sound issues. He has a newish computer so it might have been internet issues

I’m really sorry OP I want to believe you but this is BS. If it was the case then EVERYONE would have had the same problem. Did they?

If they did then there’s a much bigger issue. If they didn’t then your son needs to take responsibility for not getting things sorted. It was the most important module of his degree.

What classification did he get? Seems weird he managed to pass the year when he had no support or idea what he was doing? How did he know to submit any draft and when he had to do it by?

He didn't even know he should have had one. He was an undergraduate and this was his only experience of doing a dissertation

Sorry, but I think most third year students are aware they'll have a supervisor during their dissertation Does he not speak to anyone at all? Nobody once ever mentioned their supervisors? No emails at all ever mentioning it?

I think the basis of your complaint is that his previous attempts at raising the issues were not resolved. That is what you should concentrate on. I agree with much of what PPs have said, the story of the dissertation and its supervision does not add up. However not responding to complaints is grounds for a further complaint, even if the grounds of those initial complaints are weak. The 190 hours referred to in your last post must be student hours, no course has 190 contact hours. Each of our modules has a notional 100 hours, a taught module has about 28 contact hours, the rest is personal study time. Our dissertations have an expectation of about 10 hours contact per student with the supervisor plus a couple of introductory lectures. I know of other programmes, in humanities, where the expected contact is much lower and the dissertation is very much seen as an independent piece of work.