732 replies to this topic

[spanky123]

New president of UVic has been selected - Dr. Kevin Hall.

 

https://www.uvic.ca/...next-president/

 

Interesting that they would get someone from Australia. I wonder if there were limited applications for the role. His CV seems underwhelming.

[Nparker]

^ So, 15-odd years from now when they name a building after him will it be the Hall Hall?

I wouldn't worry about that too much. Eventually something from Dr. Hall's past will "trigger" someone and any buildings named for him will be re-named.

[amor de cosmos]

The University of Victoria has announced plans to expand its law school building to include Canada's first National Centre for Indigenous Laws.

The $27-million project, jointly funded by the province, the federal government, and the Law Foundation of B.C., will bring a 26,000-square-foot addition to the Anne and Murray Fraser law building.

Federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett said Thursday that the centre will "serve as a foundation for public education, learning, debate and partnership on the revitalization of Indigenous laws."

Val Napoleon, director of the school's current joint degree in Canadian and Indigenous law program, and the centre's co-founder, said the new building will house and expand upon the program, the Indigenous law research unit, and the environmental law centre, in "a way that reaches out to people across Canada."

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ement-1.5711550

[spanky123]

I guess if there is money to be made then why not. Question though, how do you have a law centre when up until a decade or two ago the vast majority of FN didn't even have a written language and laws were based on what one of many chiefs decided at the time?

[Victoria Watcher]

UVic students report feeling overwhelmed with increased workloads of online learning

 

With 90% of the University of Victoria’s classes being conducted online, many students are reporting higher workloads. The online class structures often involve students watching pre-recorded lectures and teaching themselves the content of the course, leading to 50% of students reporting they are doing “a lot more work” this semester. The Martlet reported many students feel they have not received enough support from UVic in terms of their workloads, accessibility, and mental health. On the flip side, the majority of instructors are happy with the amount of support they have received from the university, and the Martlet reported the University is planning to explore adding additional online offerings after the pandemic. 

 

https://capitaldaily...f1&e=a9014427d0

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 December 2020 - 10:49 AM.

[Nparker]

If instructors are offering less to students, their compensation should reflect this.

[Victoria Watcher]

news item:  university students upset at getting smarter than last year.  

[Cats4Hire]

In one of my classes I just got an essay back last week that was handed in Sept 30. Another we had "weekly check-ins" and none of those since mid-October have been marked. Some of the profs have been great but others it's clear they didn't plan how online classes were going to playout until Labour Day.

[spanky123]

In one of my classes I just got an essay back last week that was handed in Sept 30. Another we had "weekly check-ins" and none of those since mid-October have been marked. Some of the profs have been great but others it's clear they didn't plan how online classes were going to playout until Labour Day.

 

In my opinion covid has exposed the sham that 3rd tier university education is. I have a nephew in 1st year and he will be writing finals in some courses where he has not received marks or feedback for work submitted earlier in the semester. How the heck do you prepare for an exam without knowing whether what you have submitted previously is right?

 

No wonder why profs are loving the new format.

Edited by spanky123, 04 December 2020 - 01:51 PM.

[Cats4Hire]

In my opinion covid has exposed the sham that 3rd tier university education is. I have a nephew in 1st year and he will be writing finals in some courses where he has not received marks or feedback for work submitted earlier in the semester. How the heck do you prepare for an exam without knowing whether what you have submitted previously is right?

No wonder why profs are loving the new format.

Same here. One of my classes the prof hasn't even set the date of the final yet.
According to one of my profs that actually did put effort in said she didn't want to do a final but the department requires it (which I have heard before) so I'm not sure how much in on the profs and how much is on the higher ups.

[Cats4Hire]

Looks like Uvic is delaying the semester. It now starts January 11 and ends April 12 (basically 3 day shift later for both) with exam period having one less day. Since all my classes this semester had take home exams that last 3-4 days I'm not sure how much impact that one day will be https://www.uvic.ca/...terbreak notice

[Mattjvd]

That sucks you aren't getting the same quality of education delivered.

What I've heard from former classmates of mine who are still at Camosun is that things haven't changed that much. Group work is different, of course. But they still have the same amount of 'live lecture' time as they did before, it's just done over the internet now. Haven't heard complaints of slower grading than in years passed, but I'll ask.

[Cats4Hire]

That sucks you aren't getting the same quality of education delivered.

What I've heard from former classmates of mine who are still at Camosun is that things haven't changed that much. Group work is different, of course. But they still have the same amount of 'live lecture' time as they did before, it's just done over the internet now. Haven't heard complaints of slower grading than in years passed, but I'll ask.

only one of my classes this semester had the typical 3 hours a week of live lectures. 2 of them had 1 hour a week live then potentially 2 hours for recorded lectures but one prof never uploaded recorded lectures and the other usually only did about 30 minutes a week. My other class we had about 90 minutes of live lecture and 30 minutes of recorded a week. Didn't take any lab/tutorial classes so not sure how they played out. 

[On the Level]

Curious.....how are the Social Justice degrees doing?  Are there even exams?

Edited by On the Level, 04 December 2020 - 08:48 PM.

[Nparker]

Curious.....how are the Social Justice degrees doing?  Are there even exams?

I believe the junior warriors-in-training and their facilitator gather into a circle and feed off each others good vibes until some sort of mutual psychic climax is reached at which point diplomas are handed out.

[Dexter]

My wife is an instructor and her work load has shot up massively with no change in pay.... and not much support from the university at all.

If instructors are offering less to students, their compensation should reflect this.

[Dexter]

I would be cautious about putting the blame on instructors for the lack of planning. They find out what the university is planning through Twitter, rather than internal mail.

You also have to consider that any sessional instructor doesn’t get paid until September. When do you think they started work on the course?

In one of my classes I just got an essay back last week that was handed in Sept 30. Another we had "weekly check-ins" and none of those since mid-October have been marked. Some of the profs have been great but others it's clear they didn't plan how online classes were going to playout until Labour Day.

[Dexter]

No wonder why profs are loving the new format.

I can assure you most are not enjoying it. The biggest hurdle is that everything must be marked within bright space, greatly slowing the whole process. Previously hand marking a class of papers took half the time.

Edited by Klapecki, 05 December 2020 - 10:03 AM.

[Dexter]

Official final exam dates are set by the university in the exam period. If a course has an in class final, it is the instructor that sets the date. As for exam requirements, some programs dictate the requirement at the departmental level, while others allow instructors to make the call.

Same here. One of my classes the prof hasn't even set the date of the final yet.
According to one of my profs that actually did put effort in said she didn't want to do a final but the department requires it (which I have heard before) so I'm not sure how much in on the profs and how much is on the higher ups.

Edited by Klapecki, 05 December 2020 - 10:07 AM.

[Cats4Hire]

I would be cautious about putting the blame on instructors for the lack of planning. They find out what the university is planning through Twitter, rather than internal mail.

You also have to consider that any sessional instructor doesn’t get paid until September. When do you think they started work on the course?
 

I realize that was probably not the most productive comment and most of my issues with professors are probably on UVic admin being slow and incompetent. I've heard seasonal instructors frequently don't learn they get the job until a week before the semester so that would be a problem for planning a weird semester like this. My problem is a lot of profs seemed to essentially just run their class as if it was a normal semester or some went way too extreme. I heard from someone else one of their profs wouldn't answer any Emails because the synchronous class was meant to be a "large office hour" where all questions were answered.

Official final exam dates are set by the university in the exam period. If a course has an in class final, it is the instructor that sets the date. As for exam requirements, some programs dictate the requirement at the departmental level, while others allow instructors to make the call.
 

My profs seemed to have set the dates themselves but they're during the exam period. They aren't listed at all on https://www.uvic.ca/...edule/index.php and one of them extended it by 24 hours because too many people Emailed him saying the period he set wasn't working (we did have 48 hours now 72) maybe a department thing this semester? They're all English classes.