Terrible college and worse tutor makes it hard for me to stay motivated, advice?
Hey!
Sorry if this sounds ranty in any way but I need to vent and hopefully get some advice on what to do and how to keep my head above water...
I've been studying at a college I won't name for my HE course in a subject i will also not name but is digital art related, so I apologize if i get confusing by not naming specific software, and the college has been, frankly speaking diabolical, I'll only talk about the second year as after the first year already had a complaint filed against them for unfair treatment.
I continued on with the course thinking the second year might be better, I was wrong... very wrong...
I understand this might seem a bit arrogant in places, it's not meant to come across this way, it's genuinely been what has ended up happening and by all means i'm no expert, some software I'd been using for a matter of weeks.
We started the second year of the course with no dedicated tutors, as one had quit and two weeks before the second year was due to start, the other tutor was reassigned to another course, leaving us with the head of department, who, while he was nice and all, had no real handle on our subject matter and was also teaching other classes alongside us, the things I had also asked for in regards to my previous complaint were not followed through, I did not recieve counselling as I should have, I did not get word back on my mitigation as they promised they would, and I did not get word back on my AAA as they promised they would.
so for the first two modules of the course, we had no dedicated tutor, or even a room to work in, we were in limbo for the most part and it didn't seem to get any better at all, the course was disorganized and we had our course leader babysitting us helping in every way he could but he wasn't always available for questions as, like I said, he taught other classes and had little time as it was
for those first two modules, it was a case of me getting my work, getting kicked out of the only room with the software I needed to do any work at all on campus, then getting frustrated and going home.
For the third module a 'dedicated' tutor was brought in who apparently knew the things we needed to know, he has been honestly about as useful as a paperweight.
We ask him simple questions, he gives us ambiguous non-answers, and all through the third module, people would ask him questions related to some software, and he'd then come and ask me how to do it or he'd have to google it, because he knew very little about it. He unnecessarily forced people to use unsuitable software that they weren't familiar with throughout the module which caused MAJOR problems later down the line. I was familiar enough with something else and was able to easily do my own thing and help out my fellow students where he failed to. I saw him spend half an hour getting confused at this same software he supposedly knew before I got so annoyed at watching and cringing and offered some help and was able to do what was needed in less than 5 minutes because he was over-complicating the issue.
Our grades for the third module were two weeks over the 20 day turnover deadline, when I asked why they weren't in he pulled out an excuse from his backside and expected me to just roll with it, something about a person handing in late. Bearing in mind the course leader had to mark 3 classes worth of assignments and still managed to get our grades to us on time.
Then a day after I asked why our grades weren't in suddenly he comes up to us saying our projects have problems that need to be fixed for the external examiner, signalling to me he hadn't bothered looking at the project files until I reminded him that he was past the 20 day turnover, three weeks after we handed in. this was something he could've checked when we handed in, and let us know in a timely manner, but he didn't.
On top of this, the problems we were having was not our fault, (FYI, it was everyone's projects having issues) the software on the machines at the college was so outdated and unstable that they couldn't run our projects correctly, they're now 7 versions behind, with no prerequisites installed and the IT department refuse to install a stable working version because it would take too long (a whole afternoon, oh wow) even people using the college machines had issues, and he emailed all of us telling us there were problems and he expected us to fix these issues (that were beyond our control) or suffer penalization to our grade. Thankfully, our head of department posed an idea of recording a video of the project, and using that.
I had done mine entirely at home and ensured it was working on several machines (including college ones), and proved it to him, he had no counter argument other than a passive aggressive remark.
I had asked him if there was a word count or if I would suffer a penalization to my grade if I handed in a lot of written support work alongside my final piece, he said no, and I asked him to double check that the written work was good or if anything needed to be changed and he said no it was fine and well detailed but use something more snazzy than word to write up in, so I did, I also checked with the course manager if it was okay and he confirmed, I get my grade back and I was marked down because I was 'not concise' and it wasn't clear how the project panned out.
The major dispute I have with that was, it was concise, I worked to a proven algorithm of background, activity, justification. I had just done so much over the course of the module because I genuinely enjoyed it, that there was consequently a lot to write about, I kept it as brief as possible while including justifications as I was told to do.
And secondly, I noted at the very start that the write up I had written was in chronological order detailing the first thing I did to the last and a document was at the beginning that I followed to get time management correct. I noted alongside this that the screenshots I had taken were from later on in some cases but the book was in chronological order.
A classmate of mine was accused, without evidence or founding, of plagiarism as well, and when my classmate questioned it, my tutor became very apprehensive, bearing in mind my classmate had asked calmly why she was being accused of such and what evidence he had.
I'm now being asked to teach my fellow students for this module because I know the software we're looking at and he doesn't, which has become a trend since day one, and I frankly think shouldn't be happening, it's not my job to do. but in the same breath I feel it's my moral obligation to do so as my classmates are my friends and I don't want them to fall behind because of sub-par tutoring
To put it simply, all of this frustration and anger has built up and i'm stressed out, really, REALLY stressed out, I feel like I've just crashed into the dust and I just can't move; we have 4 modules on the go, running parallel and I just can't budge myself to get anything done. I'm drained completely and all I can think about is how much I feel like I'm getting screwed over, I can't trust my tutor to give me an honest and straight answer about anything. I've also become highly pre-occupied in making sure my fellow students don't fall behind because of the mess we're in, it's not their fault at the end of the day. I've become severely depressed again and the resulting depression and pressure has left me self destructive and quite volatile.
I think I'm burnt out and I need to suck up the motivation out of somewhere to drag myself through these last 4 modules, thing is, my motivation has gone, and I honestly don't know how I can claw it back.
I'm also conflicted as to whether or not I should file another complaint and ask for my tuition money back at the end of the year, I wanted to study an honours degree at the same institute (they have different tutors who know what they're doing, I've met them) I've already been accepted on the condition I attend 80% of lessons but a complaint and refund request may put this at risk, and I want to keep my options open.
I'm looking for any and all advisory, please, it's kind of desperate.
Thanks in advance
Sorry if this sounds ranty in any way but I need to vent and hopefully get some advice on what to do and how to keep my head above water...
I've been studying at a college I won't name for my HE course in a subject i will also not name but is digital art related, so I apologize if i get confusing by not naming specific software, and the college has been, frankly speaking diabolical, I'll only talk about the second year as after the first year already had a complaint filed against them for unfair treatment.
I continued on with the course thinking the second year might be better, I was wrong... very wrong...
I understand this might seem a bit arrogant in places, it's not meant to come across this way, it's genuinely been what has ended up happening and by all means i'm no expert, some software I'd been using for a matter of weeks.
We started the second year of the course with no dedicated tutors, as one had quit and two weeks before the second year was due to start, the other tutor was reassigned to another course, leaving us with the head of department, who, while he was nice and all, had no real handle on our subject matter and was also teaching other classes alongside us, the things I had also asked for in regards to my previous complaint were not followed through, I did not recieve counselling as I should have, I did not get word back on my mitigation as they promised they would, and I did not get word back on my AAA as they promised they would.
so for the first two modules of the course, we had no dedicated tutor, or even a room to work in, we were in limbo for the most part and it didn't seem to get any better at all, the course was disorganized and we had our course leader babysitting us helping in every way he could but he wasn't always available for questions as, like I said, he taught other classes and had little time as it was
for those first two modules, it was a case of me getting my work, getting kicked out of the only room with the software I needed to do any work at all on campus, then getting frustrated and going home.
For the third module a 'dedicated' tutor was brought in who apparently knew the things we needed to know, he has been honestly about as useful as a paperweight.
We ask him simple questions, he gives us ambiguous non-answers, and all through the third module, people would ask him questions related to some software, and he'd then come and ask me how to do it or he'd have to google it, because he knew very little about it. He unnecessarily forced people to use unsuitable software that they weren't familiar with throughout the module which caused MAJOR problems later down the line. I was familiar enough with something else and was able to easily do my own thing and help out my fellow students where he failed to. I saw him spend half an hour getting confused at this same software he supposedly knew before I got so annoyed at watching and cringing and offered some help and was able to do what was needed in less than 5 minutes because he was over-complicating the issue.
Our grades for the third module were two weeks over the 20 day turnover deadline, when I asked why they weren't in he pulled out an excuse from his backside and expected me to just roll with it, something about a person handing in late. Bearing in mind the course leader had to mark 3 classes worth of assignments and still managed to get our grades to us on time.
Then a day after I asked why our grades weren't in suddenly he comes up to us saying our projects have problems that need to be fixed for the external examiner, signalling to me he hadn't bothered looking at the project files until I reminded him that he was past the 20 day turnover, three weeks after we handed in. this was something he could've checked when we handed in, and let us know in a timely manner, but he didn't.
On top of this, the problems we were having was not our fault, (FYI, it was everyone's projects having issues) the software on the machines at the college was so outdated and unstable that they couldn't run our projects correctly, they're now 7 versions behind, with no prerequisites installed and the IT department refuse to install a stable working version because it would take too long (a whole afternoon, oh wow) even people using the college machines had issues, and he emailed all of us telling us there were problems and he expected us to fix these issues (that were beyond our control) or suffer penalization to our grade. Thankfully, our head of department posed an idea of recording a video of the project, and using that.
I had done mine entirely at home and ensured it was working on several machines (including college ones), and proved it to him, he had no counter argument other than a passive aggressive remark.
I had asked him if there was a word count or if I would suffer a penalization to my grade if I handed in a lot of written support work alongside my final piece, he said no, and I asked him to double check that the written work was good or if anything needed to be changed and he said no it was fine and well detailed but use something more snazzy than word to write up in, so I did, I also checked with the course manager if it was okay and he confirmed, I get my grade back and I was marked down because I was 'not concise' and it wasn't clear how the project panned out.
The major dispute I have with that was, it was concise, I worked to a proven algorithm of background, activity, justification. I had just done so much over the course of the module because I genuinely enjoyed it, that there was consequently a lot to write about, I kept it as brief as possible while including justifications as I was told to do.
And secondly, I noted at the very start that the write up I had written was in chronological order detailing the first thing I did to the last and a document was at the beginning that I followed to get time management correct. I noted alongside this that the screenshots I had taken were from later on in some cases but the book was in chronological order.
A classmate of mine was accused, without evidence or founding, of plagiarism as well, and when my classmate questioned it, my tutor became very apprehensive, bearing in mind my classmate had asked calmly why she was being accused of such and what evidence he had.
I'm now being asked to teach my fellow students for this module because I know the software we're looking at and he doesn't, which has become a trend since day one, and I frankly think shouldn't be happening, it's not my job to do. but in the same breath I feel it's my moral obligation to do so as my classmates are my friends and I don't want them to fall behind because of sub-par tutoring
To put it simply, all of this frustration and anger has built up and i'm stressed out, really, REALLY stressed out, I feel like I've just crashed into the dust and I just can't move; we have 4 modules on the go, running parallel and I just can't budge myself to get anything done. I'm drained completely and all I can think about is how much I feel like I'm getting screwed over, I can't trust my tutor to give me an honest and straight answer about anything. I've also become highly pre-occupied in making sure my fellow students don't fall behind because of the mess we're in, it's not their fault at the end of the day. I've become severely depressed again and the resulting depression and pressure has left me self destructive and quite volatile.
I think I'm burnt out and I need to suck up the motivation out of somewhere to drag myself through these last 4 modules, thing is, my motivation has gone, and I honestly don't know how I can claw it back.
I'm also conflicted as to whether or not I should file another complaint and ask for my tuition money back at the end of the year, I wanted to study an honours degree at the same institute (they have different tutors who know what they're doing, I've met them) I've already been accepted on the condition I attend 80% of lessons but a complaint and refund request may put this at risk, and I want to keep my options open.
I'm looking for any and all advisory, please, it's kind of desperate.
Thanks in advance
Just see it as experience. You'll not be there for ever and will move on to something better eventually. You say you have been teaching the class. Just think how good this alone is going to look on your CV. Use the class,like teaching part of it, to your future advantage. If you had been at a better college or doing a different subject you would probably never have been given that teaching experience.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Zeealex
Bump, cmon guys I need help with this
You've taken the right steps by talking to the necessary people in charge. I don't know what more you can do. As for motivation maybe you need to take a mini break I'm not saying don't do your work. Just sometimes you burn out and you need time to get started again.How much time you take is up to you. Alternatively speak to student services in your college. They should help you as talking to someone about your stress could help alleviate some of it.Hope this helps 😁
Original post by Zeealex
I'm also conflicted as to whether or not I should file another complaint and ask for my tuition money back at the end of the year, I wanted to study an honours degree at the same institute (they have different tutors who know what they're doing, I've met them) I've already been accepted on the condition I attend 80% of lessons but a complaint and refund request may put this at risk, and I want to keep my options open.
I'm looking for any and all advisory, please, it's kind of desperate.
Thanks in advance
I'm looking for any and all advisory, please, it's kind of desperate.
Thanks in advance
Your uni sounds really appalling!
I think you need to decide on which of the 2 paths in your post that you want to go with.
The choice you make will determine what you need to do.
Honestly you're just expending stress and effort which isn't going to help you right now. Focus on getting the best grades and remember it will be over soon.
Hi Zeealex, what are you going to do? Your mental health really is quite important. You can always come back to study.
My college is absolute dogsh*t too so I really feel for you. I wish I had some advice for you but I don't really, I'm still on my shoddy course and putting up with it.
My college is absolute dogsh*t too so I really feel for you. I wish I had some advice for you but I don't really, I'm still on my shoddy course and putting up with it.
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Thoughts about Hills Road
- IBS/IBD pain stopping attending college
- I was very disappointed with my Access HE course.
- does restarting year 12 affect uni choices
- Really struggling with college - what do I do?
- no motivation at uni
- Gap year, extenuating circumstances in applying for Oxbridge, private candidate!
- Total burn out
- Want to Stay Motivated and Develop Independent Study Skills?
- how to manage anxiety on the lead up to results day
- Help! My life is over
- Disappointed by university grades
- motivation
- Failing
- a level revision help
- Retaking Year 12?
- Advice needed with Univerity Offer Course credits
- Got a low pass for my first MSc assignment.
- Choosing an Oxford College (Law)
- binge eating
Latest
Trending
Last reply 2 weeks ago
Got a third in my second year and the highest I’ve achieved in third year was 55%Trending
Last reply 2 weeks ago
Got a third in my second year and the highest I’ve achieved in third year was 55%
