Bad Lecturers

jossnjuice

just checkin mods is it against the boards beliefs to berate and publicly humiliate lecturers who have screwed your class over for the past three years and need to be publicly outed????

Larianne

Yeah, it's in the charter at the top of the forum page.

Ass

Personal abuse is against the charter, how ever it doesn't say that you can't critisise them. I'm assuming that you've complained to the head of your course and the student's union. It would be silly of you to go complaining about a bad lectuerer to the interwebs with out having at least tried to fix the problem.

I had a horrible lecturer who was brought out of retirement for some reason, who simply couldn't teach. Complained to the students union and our course co-ordinator and they got him to change his methods.

There's still one terrible lecturer in the school of computing. He's not a bad guy, but his lectures are shite and it's very hard to learn from them because of that. I know how you feel. If you're doing computer science I'm probably talking about the same lecturer you are.

sunnyjim

I'm assuming that you've complained to the head of your course and the student's union.

That's a great way to get yourself a name.

And the SU can't do ****e about anything academic.

c-note

we had a really really really bad lecturer, it was sooo bad it was almost laughable. He had an assistant in with him one day (phd student) who actaully fell asleep during one of his "lectures". His nick was "jet lag" because after a lecture you felt like you'd just landed in dublin having set out from singaphore.
having said that he was a tremedoulsly knowledgable guy, chances are he had an answer to your question. problem was it took him about 40 mins into his answer before he got around to answering it. and the next 40 mins were completely off the wall!

anyhoo he failed to show for 2-3 lectures in a row and through our 2 class reps we took it to the head of department. after a week we had a replacement lecturer (a phd student) who was much better!

its incredibly difficult for a college to get rid of a lecturer, unless they've been found guilty of sexual assault against a student or something similar!
and thats just the luck of the draw, anywhere you'll go you'll get the good bad and the ugly. my advice is when it's really quite bad you have to take matters into your own hands, i know it sounds strange but:
get your hands on the sylabus, check out past papers, get a few books and DIY. not solving the problem i know. but it is effective and has worked very well for me for the 2-3 bad lecturers i had.

Ass

sunnyjim wrote: »

That's a great way to get yourself a name.

And the SU can't do ****e about anything academic.

Would you rather have the shite lecturer? If you're too much of a chicken shit to do it then get your class rep to do it for you.

The students union can help with these issues. They have done in the past for our year. That's what these things are there for.

dml

Why wait 3 years to kick up a fuss about a lecturer?
The normal course of action would be to speak to your tutor/year co-ordinator, then your head of dept about your concerns. Try not to get too personal, rather state the facts about why you think s/he is a bad lecturer, as this will give them something to go on and to try to fix. Ranting and raving with little thought into putting together some reasons to back up your complaint will just get their backs up and they would be less likely to want to help you then. Staying cool, calm and professional will be likely to get results quicker.

orient express

I agree with dml, why wait three years to complain about it. You should have got it sorted before it had the chance became detrimental to your future. I hope you get it sorted now though a good lecturer can make such a difference to your interest and achievement in a subject

xtremepoizn

hint on what lecturer you are talking abt! I'm surprised in 3 years you came across just 1 lecturer! I've found oldies to be the main culprits! the young'ns aren't too bad! we actually got lecturers who use gtalk, skype etc and chat, talk and explain things out of class hours!

projectmayhem

xtremepoizn wrote: »

hint on what lecturer you are talking abt! I'm surprised in 3 years you came across just 1 lecturer! I've found oldies to be the main culprits! the young'ns aren't too bad! we actually got lecturers who use gtalk, skype etc and chat, talk and explain things out of class hours!

Yes pro-active lecturers are great, but sometimes it's nice to have an old fogey who's worked in 100 different companies and knows exactly what "working" is like.

At the same time, I wonder what lecturers are saying in their canteen (eating caviare and washing their hands with gold taps pumping evian ) about bad students. For one bad lecturer, there's probably 100 bad students. The knock-on effect is different obviously...

sunnyjim

Ass face wrote:

Would you rather have the ****e lecturer? If you're too much of a chicken **** to do it then get your class rep to do it for you.

The students union can help with these issues. They have done in the past for our year. That's what these things are there for.

Touched a nerve, have I?

SU have no powers. They have the magical power of persuasion.

Ass

sunnyjim wrote: »

Touched a nerve, have I?

SU have no powers. They have the magical power of persuasion.

How exactly would you have touched a nerve? Your post was just dumb, that's all.

jossnjuice

xtremepoizn wrote: »

hint on what lecturer you are talking abt! I'm surprised in 3 years you came across just 1 lecturer! I've found oldies to be the main culprits! the young'ns aren't too bad! we actually got lecturers who use gtalk, skype etc and chat, talk and explain things out of class hours!

a certain lecture in fiancial subjects who has made 9 of the 10 compnaies he worked with go bust!!!

miss no stars

I know what you mean, I've a really really bad lecturer in, arguably, the most important subject I do. He just CAN'T impart knowledge to a class.


What I did discover, is that he CAN teach very very well if it's just an individual. So I've become that irritating student that stays after class to ask stuff and ya know what, he actually seems glad that at least someone is taking the time to work over the stuff and come back to him with questions.

Had to do something because the guy is also my tutor. Nightmare.

Flinter08/09

Believe it or not we in the SU actually look after this kind of stuff! If your lecturer is ****e and you want to complain about them then I am the person you come to!!

I have been helping students and classes deal with difficulties as early as September and they are resolved now!!

In order for me to actually do something about it then you have to contact me with the issues coming from both yourself and the class!! I can't do anything if you don't come to me! There's no point bitching about it, lets get it sorted! That's what I am here for!!

vpacademic@ditsu.ie or my contact number 0866031075

Your Vice President,
Academic and Students Affairs
Tracey Flinter

mark renton

jossnjuice wrote: »

a certain lecture in fiancial subjects who has made 9 of the 10 compnaies he worked with go bust!!!

Am I the only one who sees a link here between students falling asleep and financial subjects??? I would not blame that one on the tutors :cool:

experiMental

If a lecturer is bad and you like the subject, learn it yourself. Even if he/she is bad, he/she will still give you some sort of guidance. You'll find learning that way a lot more rewarding.

randomcountdown

god i ****ing LOVE boards.ie it's the BEST website ever

mark renton

randomcountdown wrote: »

god i ****ing hate boards.ie it's the worst website ever

If you need a hug - go to one of the spiritual threads

projectmayhem

randomcountdown wrote: »

god i ****ing hate boards.ie it's the worst website ever

Then don't bother coming.

mm,mm

I think lecturers should be required to have a certain amount of practical experience in the subject that they are teaching. I had a lecturer last year that clearly didn't have a clue about the subject. If we did not use the exact wording in the book it was wrong cos he didn't understand it if we deviated. We just spat the book back at him without ever questioning it or understanding it. He would get flustered and defensive if anyone asked a question and answer something totally different. He never once gave a practical example and just quoted academics from centuries ago telling us all about his phD on a daily basis.

Academia is one thing but real world experience is far more important and interesting.

mark renton

Good stuff MM in bringing this thread back to life, a good rant about tutors/lecturers is always readable...

I am currently working towards a degree for teaching purposes, unfortunately the lack of having an education seems not to appeal to employers when looking for tutors... experience doesnt really count for much. Though I agree with your views I cannot help but noticing that teaching is a learned process which I have not really seen while in employment, I dont think below average tutors can have the accusation of "no experience" thrown at them, IMO a below average tutor is a below average tutor, experience or not. As is the case some tutors are very good at teaching, and at the same time have little or no experience

sunnyjim

Ah yeah, a personal bugbear of mine.

My faculty seems to have a great set of staff who have all worked before hitting the lecture halls. It's something I checked up before I came to DIT.

John, I'd say experience is 90% of teaching. You don't know how good someone is until they are standing on front of the class. Teaching, tutoring and lecturing are all different.

melekalikimaka

@randomcountdown - if you dont have something constructive to add to the discussion , please refrain from posting... if you dont like the site or how its run, either go somewhere else or go to feedback