Surely Unis should be F2F as default again now?

[user1497207191]

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.

I do however think it's incredibly cheeky that f2f lectutes, or even smaller tutorials are deemed too much of a risk for the lecturers and academics but it's fine to expect students and lower paid invigilators to sit exams in person. Either having a large group of people indoors breathing all over each other for several hours is too dangerous or its not.

I do get this but just playing devil's advocate the students can and will be offered the choice of an interruption if they feel unsafe so they have choices.

The university as an employer has a duty of care to their employees and has to risk assess. If OH say an employee has to work from home there's not much the uni can do. Yes, they could say well can someone else cover that person's lectures but people don't have the workload capacity to do it.

Also it may be a question of expertise. For instance for one of my modules you need a professional qualification to teach it and I'm the only person in the university who can can teach it. Luckily I'm happy to teach f2f and am still doing so.

Our students though are keen on online stuff. And oddly enough 3 or 4 weeks ago were complaining they have too much f2f and they don't feel safe (it was going round the cohort like wildfire) and were asking me to move some stuff online.

Many teaching and support staff at universities will have had a thoroughly rotten time over the past 23 months and many have had to work really hard in difficult situations in lockdown. However, that is also true for many students and their families. As pp have highlighted, two issues are coming to a head.

One is the disconnect between the corporate pitch made to prospective students and what is actually happening on the ground. This is not acceptable given the 'once in a lifetime' choices student have to make regarding university and course selection. The reality is that no one has clear information on the current state of play - who is making real efforts to deliver and who is not. Unless the HE sector gets its collective act together, intrusive measurement and reporting of actual 'delivery' will come. Many academics will hate it and the only way to forestall that is to be more honest with prospective students.

The other issue is a too frequent subordination of students' interests to the needs of the university, departments and individual staff. To have three modules online, as flagged by OPs son, could be the product of a series of unfortunate incidents; on the other hand it could be the sign of a department whose priorities are out of kilter.

What is most disappointing to observe is universities exploiting the power imbalance between themselves and their students to justify an approach which is about making excuses, pointing to the small print but still expecting students/parents/tax payers honour their side of the contract. 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds are having to pluck up the courage to make individual complaints against big institutions staffed by articulate, experienced people; the very people who also will evaluate their performance in assessments and exams. All the while, the student loan is accumulating and the clock is ticking in relation to the 'window of opportunity' that is their university years. I suspect discontent is far wider than many realise.

Over time, it may become clear who has really rolled their sleeves up to do their best by their students and who has not. The fear is that it will come too late for current cohorts.

[quote user1497207191]@poetryandwine

But many academics lost 18 months of a career and are also in a bad way.

Yes, I understand that, but the academics will have 20+ years of their career, so can make up a "lost 18 months". Students normally are only studying for 3 years, so 2 of those badly impacted by lack of face to face teaching can seriously disrupt their Uni experience that they'll never get back.[/quote]
I take your point, OP. One example of a lack of give in the system is the high fees being paid by the DC of posters here for a substandard experience. Another is that the academic workload in recent years has increased hugely. Piling COVID on top of this is why people are exhausted.

But I agree with the academics here that in person exams simply prioritise the need for robust invigilation. I am not slow to pick up on double standards in this country but I don’t think this is one of them.

I do however think it's incredibly cheeky that f2f lectutes, or even smaller tutorials are deemed too much of a risk for the lecturers and academics but it's fine to expect students and lower paid invigilators to sit exams in person. Either having a large group of people indoors breathing all over each other for several hours is too dangerous or its not.

There's nothing cheeky about it. Lecturers are employees and will have individual risk assessments where necessary. Individual students can go to disability services if they also need adjustments. The assumption is that unless told otherwise both students and staff can attend in person.

I was giving F2F seminars in October 2020 and then was told I couldn't use my office (where only I sit) in April 2021 so I am not quite sure what we as lecturers are supposed to do. Students complain when something isn't online, I set a piece of coursework based on an in person class and then 10 people complained that they wanted to do it but hadn't been to the class (which was discussion based so they couldn't catch up on a video).

We still aren't having in person exams, either, so I've had to write a huge extra set of exam questions (quantitative so it's not a case of "add an extra essay question) because otherwise we get plagiarism - if exams are remote, we can't reuse questions.

And as for "you have 20 years to catch up", the part time and fixed term teaching staff will probably never catch up.

We have the same problem with our son who is also in the second year of his degree course. I only found out at the weekend that the lecturers are on a semi strike and that he only has lectures three days a week.
Surely we should have some of his fees back? This is NOT Lancaster either.

I would love to know from someone more knowledgeable if we are able to claim back any of the fees. I certainly don’t think that my son’s Uni is giving good value for money.

The uni I work at is F2F and has to be as very equipment dependent

For PPs interested in the question of refunds, this is arbitrated by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA). It was a hot topic about a year ago: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-56245074

The gist of the article is that, surprise, it's complicated. There have been some small, partial successes but nothing dramatic is mentioned.

@PerpetualOptimist, thank you for conceptualising the competing demands of the current environment so beautifully.

I think your post @worstofbothworlds is very helpful in understanding some of the difficulties you and others face on the teaching frontline. On the one hand, a possibly supine and unimaginative central or departmental management is closing off opportunities for a more 'can do' F2F approach. On the other hand, students are getting confusing messages about the relative focus on F2F or remote delivery and so you end up with a spectrum of demands and expectations. I can quite see it is exasperating and difficult. Whilst 'Covid circumstances' have been dynamic, it is the responsibility of the university and departmental leadership to set the tone, explain 'the stance' and so the parameters for individual action. The presence or absence of such leadership is probably what differentiates the better performing from the poorly performing universities and departments. I have a lot of sympathy for your DS's situation @user1497207191 and hope he can channel his frustrations into an effective case that forces his department to reflect on the decisions it has recently taken and change its approach. Your support will help him and your efforts to gather intelligence on what is happening elsewhere is a really practical step.

@poetryandwine Thanks for that link.

I strongly believe that Unis should be back to face to face
And definitely not on strike

The strike sucks, OP, but it is a reflection of workers' desperation. Another tension that long predated Covid and was allowed to fester. Another reason I am glad to be out, as the choice of whether to strike would have been excruciating.

In my institution it's not anything to do with lecturers not wanting to teach face to face ( It's way more enjoyable than trying to be some sort of cable TV presenter from your dining room table) It's far more to do with not having the classroom/lecture theatre space to fit in the massive expansion of students.