Almost entirely online uni education

[Lentilweaver]

Asking for a friend. Really. A friend's daughter is in a London uni, quite well known in its field but not Russell Group. Education is being delivered almost entirely online, with in person classes only once or twice a week. Friend's DD already had a hard time in Covid with entirely online classes, now having a even harder time. Uni staff also on strike.
Is there anything my friend can do about all this? Her DD is very timid and doesn't want to complain.

I'm studying through the OU and it's almost entirely online. Plenty of universities do it these days. What was she led to expect and how does the online learning affect the quality of the course? When I went to a RG uni in the early 2000s, 1-2 in-person lectures or seminars a week were the norm and the rest was to go away and do your own research/reading.

She was led to expect more in person classes, I think. She is studying politics and international relations, so yes, perhaps can be done online, but her DD finds it quite difficult to have so much online. And is losing what social skills she has.
I think the OU is different, no? I was wondering if other unis are doing this now to cut costs.

What's the percentage online versus in person? What was she told before joining, was it just vague and said blended learning?

My DC1 is in 2nd yr at uni.
Last year was 50/50 and this year it's 20% online, 80% in person.
Her friends from school are across several different universities and they all have a decent proportion of in person this year.

It does depend on the subject though. Some of the popular arts subjects have 100s in lectures so will offer online but seminars, tutorials, workshops, labs should be in person now

Not the same as OU. I don’t think it makes a difference if RG or not.
If she was expecting more contact time, lectures and tutorials then she should talk to the course tutors etc. I am sure she won’t be the only students who is feeling this they need to complain if it’s not what was outlined previously when they applied.
Not too late either to move course or university.
I do get that post covid some universities haven’t gone back to ‘normal service ‘ - they’ve realised it’s suddenly easier did them but they have left alot of students feeling lonely / not mixing. It’s also a financial issue - why would you pay your £9250 plus £6000 accommodation on top of you could just stay home .
It’s ok if you want to do Uni that way - but if they’d known some students may have chosen to stay at home not leave and go to student digs with more debt if they’d known.
I think it is very poor tbh.

I think that’s poor.

Dd is in her second year at one of the post 92 unis (which are much maligned on here)
Her first year was 25% online, 75% in person.
Her second year is entirely in person.

After having both years of A levels restricted by Covid an in-person uni experience is wonderful.

A couple of in person classes a week and the rest private study was the norm for Humanities and social science courses when I did my degree.

What contact hours did she think she was going to have?

The uni are doing the bare minimum to avoid being a pure online provider. DS is a first year student and he has at least one lecture in person every day (Wed is 9-1 back to back) plus the odd seminar and lab session (STEM). The lack of face to face also makes it harder to make friends & go for a coffee for example, which is a key part of the university experience.

A complaint has to come from the DD. Maybe going to the SU would be a good first step to see how others are responding to the situation?

@IsItBedtimeYetNope The difference is you signed up for predominantly online teaching. That flexibility used to be the unique selling point of the OU.

I can understand why that’s frustrating, does she have any course mates she can discuss with to see if they feel similar? She may feel more confident joining a group complaint, instead of making one all on her own.

That's very poor and this one of the main factors DS has taken into account whilst choosing his Uni this time.

Agree that they are doing the bare minimum.

Sorry, forgot to come back to this thread. Thanks all. I think it's poor myself, but neither I or my friend went to uni in this country, so was unsure. I will see if friend's DD is ready to go to the SU.

At my university, we try to require in-person only, but students are the ones who ask if they can Zoom in. Indeed, when my university announced the policy of in-person only, the student newspaper had 3 pages worth of outraged students complaining. One sad it would mean he'd have to get out of bed and dressed for a lecture and that this was bad for his health & well-being.

So go figure.

@BlueHeelers They thought teens wanting to stay in bed was newsworthy? Lol

Surely that's the minority though?

When we went to an offer holder day, we asked this question of a current student. I think it very much depends on the course...science or computer science subjects may require lab time but an actual lecture can be online which means it can be accessed multiple times. Arts subjects have traditionally had less contact time, more personal study/reading time. I agree that a largely online experience is poor value for money if you are living away from home and does not offer the same student experience leaving some students isolated.

Which university is it? And which course?

My sons did not meet a single person once ever on their law conversion course during covid- they did fine in the exams but it was certainly not the usual experience of masses of mixing with other lawyers etc.

There is some litigation starting for the way students have been treated., www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/more-law-students-join-class-action/5114951.article

When we went to an offer holder day, we asked this question of a current student

We asked this at the Open Days too. It must be awful to pay so much only to discover that you could have paid much less and done the degree through the Open University and had a similar experience.

I teach an Arts subject at a RG university and we are 100% in person. I would also be very miffed if I was doing a degree and much of it was online. Of course there are Universities like the OU that specialise in online, but it's not unreasonable to expect learning to be in person unless specified otherwise (i.e. distance learning).