People say Uni is about learning and being taught really well
Okay, I'm only in my first year but the teaching standard at my Uni is AWFUL. I could smack a metal wrench into my face and still not feel as much pain as I do when listening to some of my lecturers. If you can even call them that... One of them is covering someone on maternity leave and is as nervous as a little 7 year old boy getting ready for a ballet show, he just reads exactly what's on the slides and makes terrible jokes about what's written whilst stuttering out other options we could do ourselves to the examples on screen but he says them so quickly he may as well be in a club full of wide eyed nutters.
I have loads of free time so are lecturers normally expecting us to teach ourself things that they haven't set us to do? I'm going to do that anyway but seriously my primary school teachers could TEACH better than these dudes. I fear for the money going into their research projects I really do. They're probably looking into different ways to make an ice breaker session more awkward than they already are - by not explaining the ice breaker properly.
I have loads of free time so are lecturers normally expecting us to teach ourself things that they haven't set us to do? I'm going to do that anyway but seriously my primary school teachers could TEACH better than these dudes. I fear for the money going into their research projects I really do. They're probably looking into different ways to make an ice breaker session more awkward than they already are - by not explaining the ice breaker properly.
Teaching standard isn't always the focus of universities when hiring staff. Better researchers help them up the league tables, better teachers do not.
There's nothing to say that someone couldn't do both, but masters of both teaching and research are quite difficult to find compared to someone who is passionate about one or the other; generally a teacher likes to teach and a researcher wants to work, ergo teaching is something of a distraction and in addition, could take them out of their comfort zone. All the **** teachers I've had have been brilliant academics.
It's usually the case that, in order to get the best grades, you need to do your own reading and research. This is true whether you're being taught by a stuttering slide-reader or a dynamic natural speaker. Lectures are the introduction to the topic. University is more about taking responsibility for your learning than having it fed to you, lecturers should introduce the topic and explain what you need as a guide, but the learning would come either from your own reading of the sources/reading material they advise, any other material you find yourself, reading journals, or from lab work, projects and researching for essays and exams.
There's nothing to say that someone couldn't do both, but masters of both teaching and research are quite difficult to find compared to someone who is passionate about one or the other; generally a teacher likes to teach and a researcher wants to work, ergo teaching is something of a distraction and in addition, could take them out of their comfort zone. All the **** teachers I've had have been brilliant academics.
It's usually the case that, in order to get the best grades, you need to do your own reading and research. This is true whether you're being taught by a stuttering slide-reader or a dynamic natural speaker. Lectures are the introduction to the topic. University is more about taking responsibility for your learning than having it fed to you, lecturers should introduce the topic and explain what you need as a guide, but the learning would come either from your own reading of the sources/reading material they advise, any other material you find yourself, reading journals, or from lab work, projects and researching for essays and exams.
Original post by b0x3s
What Uni do you go to?
Exeter...
Original post by pnorm
Then why do we have to pay so much money to be there? D: Granted it's not really my money but still.
Lol .. Good point
Original post by pnorm
Exeter...
Why are you complaining then?
Of the people who can actually teach undergraduate degrees, the vast majority who can also do research are bound to go off and go to Oxbridge/Imperial. Once you get to the likes of Sheffield/Durham/Exeter of course you're going to have ****ty lecturers.
Original post by pnorm
I have loads of free time so are lecturers normally expecting us to teach ourself things that they haven't set us to do?
As a general rule at university you will do most of your learning outside the lectures. The lectures should give you a scaffold or framework to do further reading, solve problems, write essays and whatever it is you have to do. Teaching is not like at school where you sit in the class and expect to be spoon fed.
Original post by russellsteapot
masters of both teaching and research are quite difficult to find compared to someone who is passionate about one or the other; generally a teacher likes to teach and a researcher wants to work
I believe there is a small positive correlation between teaching ratings and research quality i.e. better researchers tend to be better teachers.
Original post by chazwomaq
I believe there is a small positive correlation between teaching ratings and research quality i.e. better researchers tend to be better teachers.
Is it purely a correlation without causation (e.g. from a teaching survey and a research assessment on a rankings website)? It's quite possible that a university with higher research levels also scores highly on teaching quality, however I wouldn't use that to assume that it means researchers are better teachers, more likely that the higher-ranking institution has more money and can also provide more contact time, etc.
It might well be the case that ability-wise, they do have the potential to be better teachers. But the case from organisations like the IFUT is that they have insufficient time to be effective in both roles, and research pressure takes huge amounts of focus away from teaching in the more intensive institutions. It's nice to have your UG dissertation supervised by a talented academic in your field, who can give excellent advice, until he disappears without notice in November to go on spontaneous research leave and you're shunted to someone who's only associated with your topic by being in the same academic department.
Perhaps experience made me bitter
Original post by pnorm
Then why do we have to pay so much money to be there? D: Granted it's not really my money but still.
As fees rise, there isn't a change in what your are provided with. Blame the government for the rise is tuition fees.
As others have said, uni is about independent learning, with the help of lecturers who set the framework and answer your questions if you have any. School is all about being spoon fed and chased up if you don't do your homework.
Original post by russellsteapot
Is it purely a correlation without causation (e.g. from a teaching survey and a research assessment on a rankings website)?
The correlation was at the level of the individual staff members, not institutions. I don't have a reference though, I was told it anecdotally.
Original post by SilverstarDJ
As fees rise, there isn't a change in what your are provided with. Blame the government for the rise is tuition fees.
^^This. Remember that the increase in fees doesn't mean that universities have more money to throw around. Lecturers still get the same salaries etc. The burden of cost has just been shifted slightly away from the taxpayer onto the graduate.
Also, remember that lecturers are not qualified teachers. They just need to be good at their subjects. I'm lucky that I'm going a teaching course, so all my lecturers are actually all teachers 
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Well I guess I've been pretty lucky so far, I'm in second year and the majority of my lecturers have been pretty interesting to listen to. Even the ones that waffled or spoke rather dully for the most part seem to genuinely care about teaching us, encouraging feedback/questions/meetings etc.
Even so, you still need to put in the hours yourself. Look over the lectures in your own time, do the suggested reading as you go along and ideally do some more reading outside of that - other textbooks, journal articles etc. You can also probably find teaching resources from other universities online which might help. If you feel like you need something cleared up then try actually visiting the lecturer in their office hours or sending them an email.
Even so, you still need to put in the hours yourself. Look over the lectures in your own time, do the suggested reading as you go along and ideally do some more reading outside of that - other textbooks, journal articles etc. You can also probably find teaching resources from other universities online which might help. If you feel like you need something cleared up then try actually visiting the lecturer in their office hours or sending them an email.
Only one of my lecturers is good, He actually goes into great depth when doing his lecture and he doesn't rely on lecture slides for his information, I mean like he will have a bullet point on the slide, let's just say for a random example .Winter of Discontent, and then he will go on to talk about it as opposed to other lecturers that basically are just ****. Fact of the matter is as everyone else has mentioned to some degree is that pretty much all your learning is done independently and it's actually better this way. If you're like me and enjoy learning your subject so much and enjoy writing essays to some extent because the topics are interesting then you will find that you actually want to read all the books in the library on your subject. (Well mine is History& Politics so i'm not sure whether someone doing Maths would feel the same way but nonetheless.)
Original post by pnorm
Okay, I'm only in my first year but the teaching standard at my Uni is AWFUL. I could smack a metal wrench into my face and still not feel as much pain as I do when listening to some of my lecturers. If you can even call them that... One of them is covering someone on maternity leave and is as nervous as a little 7 year old boy getting ready for a ballet show, he just reads exactly what's on the slides and makes terrible jokes about what's written whilst stuttering out other options we could do ourselves to the examples on screen but he says them so quickly he may as well be in a club full of wide eyed nutters.
I have loads of free time so are lecturers normally expecting us to teach ourself things that they haven't set us to do? I'm going to do that anyway but seriously my primary school teachers could TEACH better than these dudes. I fear for the money going into their research projects I really do. They're probably looking into different ways to make an ice breaker session more awkward than they already are - by not explaining the ice breaker properly.
I have loads of free time so are lecturers normally expecting us to teach ourself things that they haven't set us to do? I'm going to do that anyway but seriously my primary school teachers could TEACH better than these dudes. I fear for the money going into their research projects I really do. They're probably looking into different ways to make an ice breaker session more awkward than they already are - by not explaining the ice breaker properly.
Bad teaching is irritating but don't become disengaged with that module because of it. You'll surely have access to all of the slides so you can study it in your own time.
Depending on your course, lectures can range from a loose study guide (arts and humanities) to almost everything you need to know (some sciences, maths etc). I did maths and you could get a first purely by learning all of the lecture material and doing the problem sheets. I found the teaching quality only affected the amount of time it took me to understand things - I just had to spend more time figuring the concepts out myself if the teaching was poor.
At university the onus is on you to control your learning.
As others have said, most universities hire their staff due to previous research output rather than teaching ability. Cover lecturers on temporary contracts are usually at the bottom of the pile regardless. If they were any good, they'd have got a permenant contract somewhere. Most lecturers (in my experience) prefer a permenant contract at a lesser university to a temporary contract at a higher ranked one.
If it is just poor teaching in one module, stop going to the lectures for that module, and teach yourself the content. This is perfectly doable, especially in first year.
If you're having problems with the teaching across all modules, it's probably that you haven't adapted to the university style of teaching yet. In lectures, you usually do just get talked at, with occasional questions asked of the audience, and questions answered at the end. If you're struggling to understand the material, you should talk to your tutor or someone else about what you could be doing outside class to help you. Most lectures will be referenced, and useful reading should be highlighted. This is a good place to start if you are unsure about what to do outside of class.
What are your marks like so far? How are you doing in comparison to everyone else?
If it is just poor teaching in one module, stop going to the lectures for that module, and teach yourself the content. This is perfectly doable, especially in first year.
If you're having problems with the teaching across all modules, it's probably that you haven't adapted to the university style of teaching yet. In lectures, you usually do just get talked at, with occasional questions asked of the audience, and questions answered at the end. If you're struggling to understand the material, you should talk to your tutor or someone else about what you could be doing outside class to help you. Most lectures will be referenced, and useful reading should be highlighted. This is a good place to start if you are unsure about what to do outside of class.
What are your marks like so far? How are you doing in comparison to everyone else?
Like with teachers when you were at school, you will have some excellent lecturers, and some really bad ones. A lecturer will lecture you on a particular topic because it is their area of research expertise, so they know most about it. It's luck of the draw whether they're good or bad at teaching it or not. Regardless though, unlike at school, you are expected to do a lot of the learning in your own time.
Universities do tend to be pretty receptive to feedback on things like this (at least mine is anyway) so you should make the most of that.
I'd agree with this too. You're probably used to a more interactive style of teaching, like when you were at school - the teacher might spend half the lesson explaining a concept and then you'd spend the other half doing questions on it or whatever. Lectures are generally listening to someone talk for 50 minutes (or however long yours are) and I know I found that difficult to get used to in first year (I still struggle to concentrate in them in 3rd year!). Lecturers are generally pretty happy to help if you're having problems with their material though.
Universities do tend to be pretty receptive to feedback on things like this (at least mine is anyway) so you should make the most of that.
Original post by SlowlorisIncognito
If you're having problems with the teaching across all modules, it's probably that you haven't adapted to the university style of teaching yet. In lectures, you usually do just get talked at, with occasional questions asked of the audience, and questions answered at the end. If you're struggling to understand the material, you should talk to your tutor or someone else about what you could be doing outside class to help you. Most lectures will be referenced, and useful reading should be highlighted. This is a good place to start if you are unsure about what to do outside of class.
What are your marks like so far? How are you doing in comparison to everyone else?
If you're having problems with the teaching across all modules, it's probably that you haven't adapted to the university style of teaching yet. In lectures, you usually do just get talked at, with occasional questions asked of the audience, and questions answered at the end. If you're struggling to understand the material, you should talk to your tutor or someone else about what you could be doing outside class to help you. Most lectures will be referenced, and useful reading should be highlighted. This is a good place to start if you are unsure about what to do outside of class.
What are your marks like so far? How are you doing in comparison to everyone else?
I'd agree with this too. You're probably used to a more interactive style of teaching, like when you were at school - the teacher might spend half the lesson explaining a concept and then you'd spend the other half doing questions on it or whatever. Lectures are generally listening to someone talk for 50 minutes (or however long yours are) and I know I found that difficult to get used to in first year (I still struggle to concentrate in them in 3rd year!). Lecturers are generally pretty happy to help if you're having problems with their material though.
Original post by Melthusa
Why are you complaining then?
Of the people who can actually teach undergraduate degrees, the vast majority who can also do research are bound to go off and go to Oxbridge/Imperial. Once you get to the likes of Sheffield/Durham/Exeter of course you're going to have ****ty lecturers.
Of the people who can actually teach undergraduate degrees, the vast majority who can also do research are bound to go off and go to Oxbridge/Imperial. Once you get to the likes of Sheffield/Durham/Exeter of course you're going to have ****ty lecturers.
That is the most ridiculous statement I've ever read. So basically the only Uni's with Secondary School equivelant skill of teaching is at OXFORD. Okay. But on another note... why are we, the undergrads, paying so much for Uni then if it's not really about the undergrads, it's about researchers pursuing useless research projects?
(edited 10 years ago)
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