Russian Roulette - getting a good tutor/lecturer is a game of chance (2 Viewers)

[Atlas]

So as exams rears its ugly heads in our direction, for some of us we begin to question what we have learned so far... and the answer often depends on obviously your own personal effort, but also on the quality of teaching and the sanity of the unit and its structure/material...

Unfortunately, if you land a bad lecturer, there isn't much you can do but grind your teeth and reach for the voodoo doll ... anyone else ever had one that was so monotone and robotic that it seriously made you wonder where is the "off button"? I had this one guy who would just put me to sleep because he had one of those really deep bass monotone voices... cures anyone's insomnia

But with tutors there might just be some "shopping" possible ... seriously, if you do any accounting units, a tutor that speaks English is a big bonus - suddenly the numbers start to make some sense ... "so I wasn't completely intellectually incompetent after all..."

Then there are those tutors who clearly haven't prepared and just pretty much rock up to class and then go... "Okay, lets start the discussion..." and then after and hour or two of hearing the most vocal students rant on about how wonderful they are and how much extensive reading/experience they have in the area,... you are left with the realisation that you have just lost another chunk of your life that will never come back...

There's also a spectrum that most tutors can be plotted on - at one extreme are the lecturers/uber smart doctors who have studied and researched the area for their entire career and at the other extreme newly graduated students who in the first tutorial confesses "You know what? I don't really know much about this unit and I'm actually really learning with you...yea... so..."

Whilst balance is fantastic, it is amusing to see the extremes; uber smart tutor is bored with our mediocre undergraduate minds that clearly are inferior and they would tend to assume you have done every scrap of reading possible on that subject and expect you to engage in head-throbbing intellectual debate... the other end of the scale can be good when they tend to be able to identify what areas you need to know and what you can skimp on.. but then the drawback is most questions you ask will be answered with... + "I'm not sure, I think it's best to ask the lecturer on that..."

The most awesome tutors are... drumroll... those that can a) communicate b) my god give us notes (our saviours...) c) present the material in a logical manner d) respond to emails... some are awesome, once had a tutor that was instantly replying my emails even an hour before the deadline ...

 

[xeuyrawp]

To be honest I completely agree. I've always been of the belief that if you don't like your tutor, change to another class. I've done it with three of my classes, so *shrug*

 

[whatashotbyseve]

One of my lecturers is quite clearly counting down the days until retirement. He just reads the lecture slides verbatim, meaning that the three hour seminar is done within an hour. He doesn't have to mark assignments. During group presentations, his phone rang (not on silent) and he proceeded to have a five min conversation!

Of my four subjects this semester, only one lecturer I would class as outstanding (Con in BBA315) in terms of knowledge and interaction.

 

[Atlas]

Of my four subjects this semester, only one lecturer I would class as outstanding (Con in BBA315) in terms of knowledge and interaction.

Con is fantastic! I love how he replies to queries on the discussion board so quickly and even until late at night or over weekends... considering how dry the subject is, if it weren't for him, can't possibly see how any non-statistics students could survive the unit...

 

[Kiim2507]

One of my tutors is really boring and hard to understand
I wish I had changed earlier but too late now =[

 

[Cyan_phoeniX]

The most awesome tutors are... drumroll... those that can a) communicate b) my god give us notes (our saviours...) c) present the material in a logical manner d) respond to emails... some are awesome, once had a tutor that was instantly replying my emails even an hour before the deadline ...

Most tuts have set material, so the order that it is covered is set, and so are the notes that they give. Many tutors want to give extra material, or set things a little diffrent but are not allowed to as it differs to much to what the other classes follow. While I agree that some tutors need to do more, you have to understand that other aspects are set and cannot be changed.

 

[Atlas]

Most tuts have set material, so the order that it is covered is set, and so are the notes that they give. Many tutors want to give extra material, or set things a little diffrent but are not allowed to as it differs to much to what the other classes follow. While I agree that some tutors need to do more, you have to understand that other aspects are set and cannot be changed.

Different subjects have different specifications for tutorials; whilst it might be true that for some subjects the material is set, a lot of other subjects places discretion into the tutor's hands...