Universities’ sneaky online learning short cut

Despite continuing to charge hefty tuition fees during remote learning, universities are taking a short cut with their online lectures.

La Trobe University Student Union president Jake McGuinness said there wasn’t enough “quality control” in the prerecorded lectures.

Pre-recorded university lectures are increasingly being played during remote learning, angering students who say they might as well be learning by YouTube.

Instead of live lectures, videos from as far back as 2018 are still being shown to students who say they need up-to-date content, lecturer interaction and feedback from their classes.

The problem has become so widespread, the tertiary education union is now advising lecturers to date-stamp their videos so students know what they are watching.

Repeat lectures are being played to students at most of Victoria’s universities including Melbourne and La Trobe.

With subjects costing as much as $1200 each, students are demanding more live and interactive content.

Melbourne University Student Union president Jack Buksh said repeat lectures were being used in many subjects including design and economics.

“Covid is responsible for a lot of this and we’re seeing universities slowly going more online,” he said.

“The best learning experience is when you engage with teachers, otherwise I could just watch YouTube.’’

Melbourne University Student Union president Jack Buksh said being able to engage with lecturers was important.

National Tertiary Education Union state assistant secretary Sarah Roberts said the practice of playing older lectures was common practice.

“Students should be getting a quality higher education and know that their material is current.

University management was getting casuals to deliver lectures, then letting them go and continuing to use their material, Ms Roberts said.

La Trobe Student Union president Jake McGuinness described prerecorded lectures in politics, philosophy and economics classes were part of a massive problem for students.

“Some of it is not fit for purpose so there’s nowhere enough quality control about what’s going out.’’

He said the loss of support staff jobs meant some academics were weighed down with administrative work.

“So they just don’t have time to deliver the course.’’

A University of Melbourne spokeswoman said live lectures and lecture recordings were made available to all students to review the material in their own time.

“Guidelines about the use of lecture recordings are provided to staff across the university,’’ the spokeswoman said.

“Academic staff deliver new lectures each year, although in some instances previous quality recordings may be used if the learning objectives and the lecture content remains current.

Live teaching and sessions were used for more interactive teaching such as problem solving classes and Q&As, she said.

A La Trobe spokeswoman said all subjects had live elements and none solely used prerecorded materials.

“Live teaching is used particularly with small group classes, providing opportunities for group interaction and sharing of ideas.’’

“La Trobe provides dedicated professional development and education technology support to our teaching staff to ensure a high-quality online experience for our students,’’ she said.

Minister for Higher Education Gayle Tierney said the state government knew the university sector was doing it tough.

“We will continue to push the commonwealth, as the primary funder and regulator of universities, to take a greater role in supporting universities so Victorians get the highest quality education they deserve.’’

Mr Buksh said most subjects needed refreshing because of new research or different ways of approaching a topic.

“I can read readings and watch videos all day long, but that doesn’t help me apply the knowledge. There’s discussions with your lecturer about that content and how you apply those concepts,” he said.

“Otherwise you’re walking out with all these great dot points, but no way of actually knowing how to apply them to the current day.’’