r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	zellisgoatbond
Comment	A few things I'd recommend, as a university tutor: * If it's applicable, your son may wish to look into the university's disability services. It's tempting to think that they can't really do anything, but they can offer quite a wide variety of accommodations that can help with a wide variety of issues (for instance, I know a few people who receive a note taker during lectures). * It's definitely an issue that's more pronounced in earlier years, but later on things get better in that regard. At least temporarily, things like sitting nearer the front will help significantly. * In terms of speaking to people - if individual lecturers are unhelpful, the subject will probably have a year head, who's in charge of course-related concerns for the entire year. They can hopefully help more widely (e.g making announcements to everyone), and things like reminding lecturers to use the AV equipment that's available (microphones are a big example - they're not just there to help make voices louder, but to connect to hearing loops and the like). There's also probably a system of class representatives, who take on student concerns if students don't feel comfortable doing this themselves. * As another comment mentions, online learning can definitely have played a part in that (for a lot of students this is the first time they've had in-person lectures like this in several years), but it's also something that's happened to some extent since time immemorial. * By any chance, does your son's university require lecture attendance? At least at my institution we generally don't require attendance (except for some labs/tutorials, and these are mainly for Tier 4 visa requirements), though some lecturers use in-class quizzes and the like to incentivise engagement. * Ultimately, if some people are distracted then that's on them, but where it becomes unacceptable is when they disrupt other people and stop them from actively engaging in the course. For example you definitely can't stop people browsing on phones/laptops/etc during lectures, but continually talking over people isn't on.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/11uhu3b/why_cant_university_students_just_shut_t_fk_up/jcqrs26/
Created	Sat 18th Mar 2023 8:58pm
Status	normal ()

A few things I'd recommend, as a university tutor:

* If it's applicable, your son may wish to look into the university's disability services. It's tempting to think that they can't really do anything, but they can offer quite a wide variety of accommodations that can help with a wide variety of issues (for instance, I know a few people who receive a note taker during lectures).
* It's definitely an issue that's more pronounced in earlier years, but later on things get better in that regard. At least temporarily, things like sitting nearer the front will help significantly.
* In terms of speaking to people - if individual lecturers are unhelpful, the subject will probably have a year head, who's in charge of course-related concerns for the entire year. They can hopefully help more widely (e.g making announcements to everyone), and things like reminding lecturers to use the AV equipment that's available (microphones are a big example - they're not just there to help make voices louder, but to connect to hearing loops and the like). There's also probably a system of class representatives, who take on student concerns if students don't feel comfortable doing this themselves.
* As another comment mentions, online learning can definitely have played a part in that (for a lot of students this is the first time they've had in-person lectures like this in several years), but it's also something that's happened to some extent since time immemorial.
* By any chance, does your son's university require lecture attendance? At least at my institution we generally don't require attendance (except for some labs/tutorials, and these are mainly for Tier 4 visa requirements), though some lecturers use in-class quizzes and the like to incentivise engagement.
* Ultimately, if some people are distracted then that's on them, but where it becomes unacceptable is when they disrupt other people and stop them from actively engaging in the course. For example you definitely can't stop people browsing on phones/laptops/etc during lectures, but continually talking over people isn't on.