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

How could you son not have read his course handbook and known that his synopsis was worth 10%? He will have been told that. Regardless of what the lecturer said it will have been down in black and white.

When did he decide on his topic? Or was the synopsis his proposal effectively?

He was an undergraduate and this was his only experience of doing a dissertation. I really don't think this is an excuse for a third year undergraduate. Being inquisitive and pursuing stuff you need to find out is very much part of doing your dissertation!

but who did he submit his synopsis to? did they not give feedback? confirm it was acceptable. How did he know WHO to submit that to if given no guidance.

What @burnoutbabe said.

@Datingandnoideahowto

How could you son not have read his course handbook and known that his synopsis was worth 10%? He will have been told that. Regardless of what the lecturer said it will have been down in black and white.

When did he decide on his topic? Or was the synopsis his proposal effectively?

Why would students not believe a lecturer who told them it wasn't marked? He obviously realised it was marked later but if a lecturer tells a class it is not marked I expect most students would believe the lecturer.

So none of the class had their synopsis included in their marks? That might have been part of a no detriment policy / change for COVID.

@burnoutbabe

but who did he submit his synopsis to? did they not give feedback? confirm it was acceptable. How did he know WHO to submit that to if given no guidance.

The course tutor. This person was the lecturer, the marker and the supervisor. My son did everything to fulfil the course requirements. There is nothing to suggest he didn't read the module. He submitted everything. He didn't get feedback for the draft.

Diagnostic/formative assessment
• 3,000 words of the project in development should be uploaded to the
xxx in February.

So where did he get that from? That info about where to upload and by when - where did he get that from?

OP you've had very good advice here.

I too work in a university.

There are so many holes in your DS's story it's like a sieve.

Of course he had the information on the dissertation. Of course he had to submit a proposal - how else would he have known what to write?

Regarding lectures, you indicated initially that he had none.

In fact, he had but struggled with his internet connection. That's hard, and we had students in the same boat. However, he needed to address this at the time.

He needed to improve his connection - plenty of ways to do this - or find an alternative location.

That doesn't really address the dissertation issues though. He absolutely would have been aware of his requirements. The idea that he didn't know he had a supervisor just doesn't ring true.

By how much has the dissertation brought down his overall classification?

Has he had a full breakdown of mark for all modules?

I suspect most of the blame lies with your ds and he is minimising his responsibility to you.

If his wifi speed was poor that was up to him to resolve. Not just sit back and fire off a few emails saying he couldn't view the lectures. Lockdown was Jan onwards He had no excuse not to arrange adequate broadband or an alternative plan to view lectures before then.

What was his final result? That will give you an indication of how hard he worked.

He has friends on the course. It would be common knowledge that you had a supervisor for the dissertation. I'm sure his friends would have discussed this too over the year.

I mean. Even if they weren’t doing a creative writing dissertation they’d be talking about dissertations and supervisory meetings.

I’m not surprised others weren’t doing them. They are generally discouraged.

The document that the extract you posted OP talks about groups students meeting in weekly workshops to progress their projects and each group would have a designated supervisor. Obviously this was pre Covid - are you saying that your son was not able to attend the workshops and therefore didn't know who the designated supervisor was? Or did they rearrange the process in another way?

I’ve just found it too.

The document is clear. With peers and with a supervisor.

He’s bullshitting you. He absolutely is.

Is your son neurodiverse?

Just wondering why he hasn’t read any of the supporting documents or addressed the fact that he didn’t know what he was doing.

By level 6 you would expect students to be independent in their ability to navigate their own studies.

If he wasn’t, it may be that he has organisational issues or is not engaging with his studies but doesn’t want to admit it to you.

@Datingandnoideahowto

I’ve just found it too.

The document is clear. With peers and with a supervisor.

He’s bullshitting you. He absolutely is.

I'm really not sure what you mean. The document states he should have had a supervisor and I have told you his work was not marked and he did not have anyone who acted as a supervisor. I can see from advice that there will be an email trail to show this and if he does decide to put in a complaint we can attach this. He clearly fulfilled the course requirements. He went to the library to get the work completed when this became available. Other students were at home . He lived alone in the city and not on campus.

what did the university do about the weekly student led workshops with supervisor 'drop ins' - how was that done under Covid - I'm presuming it could've been done via zoom/teams?

Has he passed? At the end of the day you haven't got the full story, and you're trying to relay what happened secondhand. So there are gaps in your knowledge, that clearly only your ds can answer - your responses show that quite clearly you don't quite know what's going on.

As others have said, work out what you want? A complaint to be upheld? Or his coursework remarked?

What will either give you? If he's passed with a decent grade, I'm not sure it's worth him pursuing tbh.

@myrtleWilson

The document that the extract you posted OP talks about groups students meeting in weekly workshops to progress their projects and each group would have a designated supervisor. Obviously this was pre Covid - are you saying that your son was not able to attend the workshops and therefore didn't know who the designated supervisor was? Or did they rearrange the process in another way?

This was pre Covid course information. It was online. He worked with two other students when they could attend the library. What the university offered on the course information wasn't what they delivered but we were in a lockdown.

I know it was pre Covid course information - I say so in my post - what I'm asking is how did the course adapt that element of the work programme - how did they deliver the workshop element, which could have been delivered online?

@myrtleWilson

what did the university do about the weekly student led workshops with supervisor 'drop ins' - how was that done under Covid - I'm presuming it could've been done via zoom/teams?

I don't think there were supervisor 'drop ins' as the supervisor confirmed by email he had no contact with my son. The Zoom didn't really work, he said people couldn't get in and there were sound issues. The more advice I read the happier I become that he actually passed so thank you! 😌

Why didn’t his group organise sessions on a different platform?

You said he didn’t know he had a supervisor. The document clearly says he should have had one. So it’s on him to chase what the scoop was with that.

Did he do that? All year? From week one or when he realised he hadn’t been allocated a supervisor?

@myrtleWilson

I know it was pre Covid course information - I say so in my post - what I'm asking is how did the course adapt that element of the work programme - how did they deliver the workshop element, which could have been delivered online?

I think they tried to put it online but people couldn't access it and/or didn't contribute. I think it would have worked better if they had shared their work beforehand. A writers blog would allow written feedback to be saved and might have worked better, plus a supervisor could check and add comments but that wasn't offered.