REF:66-2107-1117211 - Online learning and exams

Your comment: Teaching should be optionally hybrid. I know the university wants to return to in-person teaching, which I agree with, however there should be a hybrid option for those who aren't able to make it, or would prefer to attend the session remotely. For example, instead of using Panopto to record the videos, lectueres could instead create a Teams broadcast, so that the in-person lecture is also transmitted over Teams. (given the current capability of the lecturing PC's, it would be a relatively easy switch from a technical perspective.) Attendance tracking should be based on in-person attendance, and Teams-call attendance. I'm all for MOPS and stuff, but I personally don't always learn better from sitting in a lecture hall, it largely depends on the topic and sort of content. Likewise, in-person exams are horrible. I absolutely despise them on every level. I'm a high-performing student, achieving mostly firsts in modules, and I really find that in-person exams really harm my performance, and I know for a fact this is a feeling shared by many students. The anxiety, and pressure, of being placed into a silent exam hall, with hundreds of other students, with unseen questions, is a situation that makes it incredibly hard to achieve maximum potential. Not only is it a harsher environment, its highly unrealistic. Please, on behalf of all the students who perform better not-in-exams, keep exams online/not in an exam hall. It's better for everyone, and would make the experience so much better.

Our response:

Thank you for your comments on the teaching and learning environment and explaining how your experience has been affected by the changes over the past year and half. Much of this is under wholesale review, as you might imagine, and there are already several initiatives from various departments on a ‘blended learning’ approach to the delivery of teaching. It will not be standardised across the University, since different schemes and disciplines have different needs and modes of teaching. Many departments will be moving large group teaching online, partly at the request of students, but also as a partial mitigation of the current ongoing Covid issue. One of the complications to bear in mind, however, is just as there are students who express a wish to remain online for parts of their degree, so there are others who are firmly against it. Departments will need to make numerous judgements about the feasibility, the efficiency and the pedagogical value of any online provision, as they develop their future provision. Attendance will continue to be monitored, and the University is exploring alternative ways of carrying this out in the future.

With regard to examinations, certain subjects are required to undertake formal, in-person, silent exam hall formats by the professional bodies that grant accreditation. The University is not at liberty to change that format for those students. That said, there are many considerations to take into account when settling on an assessment pattern for different degrees, and many departments are considering alternative formats for examinations that vary the more traditional format outlined above.