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Does anyone know the situation with this? I’m doing a CMI Management course - where there is a lot of work to do in preparing assignments. I currently have two in for marking, one since last summer and one since the end of January.
Now I’m unsure if this is a local college issue, or is down to the more national disputes over pay.
I have one more to do to complete the course - but am reluctant to do so if it won’t get marked due to the effort in preparing them.
Any thoughts?
I am a lecturer (not in the marking boycott, but yes it likely the national dispute) and who also suffered a marking boycott in 2006 as a final year student and they will eventually be marked and contribute to your degree. In my experience, in many cases staff are marking, but are sat on the grades, and will release them quickly once the Union comes to an agreement. That has been the case in the past, at least…
Mrs K is a lecturer and I think if she had been sitting on marks since last summer she'd have had her arse kicked. Has the dispute been going on that long?
She usually works from home but today the students are sitting an exam she wrote so she's in overseeing things. I'll ask her when she gets home.
Not sure if this'll make a difference but where are you?
Another lecturer here who is not in the union...AFAIK the marking boycott only came in on April 20th (see here).
We have a univeristy mandated turn-round time to get assessments graded, processed and the (preliminary) results back to the students within 3 weeks (apart from Honours dissertations since the are a) big and b) require marking by two markers, and c) agreement reached over the overall grade....and we have 300 of the things to deal with).
If you have grades outstanding from last summer and January, then I would be chasing these up. The process at our institution would be to first contact the module manager, and if you don't get a satisfactory answer then go to your program lead, and ultimately the Associate Dean for Teaching.
The worst thing to do would not be to complete an assessment, since even if marking is late, you would be setting yourself up to fail. There should be an academic appeals process in place, but if you don't actually submit work, you wouldn't be helping your case, and if you end up having to resit, the best result you would likely get would be capped at the lowest pass grade (D3 in our case).
Do your part and submit your assessments on time, then let the system work it's course, poking the appropriate bits with a stick if nothing seems to be happening.
Not completing the assessment is a bad idea, it could mean you fail the module and hence the course.
My employer (Russell Group Uni) is withdrawing pay from academics who refuse to mark. To say it raised my eyebrows is an understatement - usually the academics are pandered to at every turn. 🤷♂️
They're striking - obvs they don't get paid...?
It's not a full strike. They are still doing other work, just not marking. (Technically, "Action Short Of A Strike").
The uni that I work for has said they'll withhold 50% salary from those who participate in the boycott (started at 100%, negotiated down to 50). Some uni's stayed hard-line and will withhold 100%, AIUI.
Yep according to the Uni's own 'workload model' most lecturers would only having marking as a few hours a week, on average. They're only withdrawing labour for a small proportion of their job, many are still doing 90 or 95% of their job as per the Uni's own rules but the Uni is withdrawing as much pay as they think they can to break those striking. I'm no longer in the sector and I have every respect for those who are doing ASOS as marking boycott. Good luck to them. But to the OP, yes do your coursework and exams and do everything on time. Good luck to you too.
Another big Uni 'worker' - I'm not academic so haven't been on strike (senior ish). Faculties have been allowed to get in additional associate lecturers to help mark papers, so we aren't affecting the students. Those staff refusing to mark will have pay withheld by 50%
In my experience, in many cases staff are marking, but are sat on the grades
I’m a lecturer - the above is definitely not what is happening. ASOS involves not engaging in any activities related to marking and does not involve withholding marks. Some institutions have said they will withdraw pay at 100% for the duration of the action. Most work that needs assessing will be marked when the action is over. Some forms of assessment (e.g. oral examinations of research projects) will be challenging to assess at a later date though if everyone involved needs to be reconvened to meet in person.
Mrs says shed be chasing that up as the dispute shouldnt have had anything to do with the assignment from January let alone last summer.
I'll be honest and this is based on nothing mind you but they have either lost it/ deleted it or some sort of other **** up.
again this is based on nothing and id be on the phone in the morning asking what the hell theyre playing at.
Just a bit of an update on this.
Although I was encouraged to do my final assignment and they would let me know when they mark the other two outstanding assignments, I decided not to bother with my final assignment until I get feedback for the other two.
It is a lot of effort to prepare an assignment and research into it, and they have still not marked them.
It is a higher education qualification, and to be honest I am not too bothered about it now. Maybe one for my employers to go chasing after their fees back.
I don't know about refusing to complete your end of the deal, just because they're not.
I'd complete your education and wait for the dust to settle. Even your employer might frown on it if they're paying for it?
Eventually the institution will need to provide certification as their promise when you signed up for the course. (Under the Education Act, I don't think they're allowed to break their agreement?)
I can't imagine the institution is willing to risk their name if searchable news comes up saying learners go there and receive nothing. It'd certainly hit their International Student revenue stream, which institutions rely on far too much. I would consider pointing out such institutions to my learners and their families, whilst preparing them for study in the UK.
can’t imagine the institution is willing to risk their name if searchable news comes up saying learners go there and receive nothing.
My eldest has two compensatible fail awards in year 2 of his degree. This is because lecturers didn't mark his work. This is Heriot Watt on a Mechatronics and Autonomous Control Systems Masters.
He's now waiting on final marks for year 3, and due to this work to not quite a strike, just fears he's going to get another couple of compensatible fail grades.
It's no wonder he's dropped out the Masters year 5 and will complete undergrad year 4.
I think not marking students work is pretty sh*tty behaviour. But then I guess lecturers feel that they are being treated pretty sh*ttily and have no option. But is horrid for the thousands of students caught out in this.
I do wonder long term if the poor experience many have had over the last 3 years will start to erode the value of studying at University.