DS rang last night, really upset/angry. Another of his modules is now online only. That's ALL 3 of his current term modules now fully online. What the hell is going on? I thought covid restrictions had now officially stopped, so what possible reason is there for a Uni to being moving onto Online at this moment in time? He thought it was bad enough in January when he found out 2 of his 3 modules were online, but did get some comfort in knowing 1 would be face to face.
He's sent a very strong complaint to the dept.
He's in year 2 and had an awful first year with literally nothing face to face for the entire year, and thought it had turned a corner in September (start of year 2) when everything was face to face.
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Surely Unis should be F2F as default again now?
39 replies
user1497207191 · 23/02/2022 11:48
OP posts:
bumblingbovine49 ·
23/02/2022 12:40
@poetryandwine
Not defending this, but even before COVID removed F2F the trend was for lecturers to put vast amounts of material online and to record the lectures themselves so that lecture attendance was optional. Part of personalised learning. Quality of these materials was variable. The idea that something happens in the room that cannot be replicated was thought quaint.
Then with COVID this effort stepped up hugely and the quality of the materials became by and large exemplary AFAIK. But the cost in time and therefore to academics’ careers has been enormous.
So now IMO unis are continuing the personalised learning trend and also trying to give academics a bit of time back by continuing the use of all this highly developed material. It is cheaper than a decent raise.
Again, not defending this. I think you can put maybe 80-90% of learning online but the magic, when it occurs, is almost always F2F.
And of course students have legitimate needs for ordinary intellectual give and take with their seniors, which can and should be part of modern lecturing technique.
I understand the frustration of your DS. But many academics lost 18 months of a career and are also in a bad way. If things had not gotten so adversarial before COVID I do wonder whether they might be different now.
Then with COVID this effort stepped up hugely and the quality of the materials became by and large exemplary AFAIK. But the cost in time and therefore to academics’ careers has been enormous.
So now IMO unis are continuing the personalised learning trend and also trying to give academics a bit of time back by continuing the use of all this highly developed material. It is cheaper than a decent raise.
Again, not defending this. I think you can put maybe 80-90% of learning online but the magic, when it occurs, is almost always F2F.
And of course students have legitimate needs for ordinary intellectual give and take with their seniors, which can and should be part of modern lecturing technique.
I understand the frustration of your DS. But many academics lost 18 months of a career and are also in a bad way. If things had not gotten so adversarial before COVID I do wonder whether they might be different now.
This post is obviously written by someone who doesn't work in a university. The reason lecture materials were more often being put online pre covid was because lecture attendance was so poor despite continued efforts to monitor students attending lectures. No one can compel adults to attend. Materials were put online therefore because so many students didn't attend the face to face lectures and were asking for online versions. Since these were done as well as doing a face to face, the amount of work is much more - and no , good online materials do not consist of a video of the lecture. Presentations designed to be given online are as much if not more work than delivering this face to face so doing both ( which is what most students are asking for at the moment) is a phenomenal amount of extra work . Extra work which many lecturers are doing anyway post Covid ,just to be told they are putting lectures online to suit themselves
Some universities may be only offering online teaching and this is not on but many are offering both face to face and online options which is much more work than offering one or the other
All the students demanding face to face teaching now may well believe they would have attended all of the lectures and seminars/ tutorials but actual past experience in actual universities tells a very different story .
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