----- Original Message ----- From: <dave6134@xxxxxxxxxxx> : How lamentable... patently shoddy equipment and distressing training by an : obviously disinterested and inept instructor! Were the poor students able : to salvage any of their tuition fee? Many tried, but the colleges priorities had changed.. backsides on seats made money, the repuation of quality students was dropped as a significant issue :-( I declined to teach digital and left it to the masters of that art.. Those who pushed the issue of inept or inferior training were asked to leave the cousre, those that pushed hard literally were told to leave, and those who made a fuss about it or pushed to speak to the GM - get this, had restraining orders taken out against them (!!!) security guards employed by the college have pictures of both students and former staff who are not permitted on the property. I'm serious! there is no student guild, no student bodies and staff are kept unsettled. My boss was noted by staff and students as one who actually gave a damn about the courses and people he oversaw - he had more than 3 times the number of people to look after than any other manager in the college.. He was singled out and a substandard performance evaluation was put in against him (he faught and won against that - it was completely unjustified) but busted back to a lecturer and senior managers shuffled to prevent him a formal retort. note that managers who had been found to have comitted fraud were promoted. Part of the reason for the hostility was that my boss and I had established a student forum to discuss issues, keep the students informed of happenings and generally allow negotiations to occur over conflicts. I set up a forum online for the students and was ordered to close it down. I did not (!) Get this - One manager who had to provide students with the 720 hours a year tuition in a certain area wangled it so the students did 300 hours and were allowed access to the college for their own work for the ramainder of the hours (in contrast to the past where they GOT 720 hours and still had free access) - he then doubled the number of classes - read that as doubling the lecturers responsibilities, marking etc. and was promptly rewarded with a promotion. I couldn't stay there, taking care of 1600 students in my core courses, photography, graphic design and multimedia and some 60 lecturers - and the some 1200 students who fed in from mostly art related courses was impossible, too demanding for a single person, especially when the culture of the college had changed so dramatically in the past few years. yes, I confess the course had declined. yes some students wanted what they'd paid for and were prepared to kick up a fuss for it.. sigh I admit defeat, they won :-( k
