Introduction

With the looming threat of GATS* being applied to Higher Education, and the UK government planning to increase their already unpopular tuition fees, University education is becoming more and more of a competitive service, for which students are told to pay for what they get. And yet talk to any student, and you will hear tales of how apallingly low the quality of at least some of their lectures really are.

Now, more than ever, we as students have the right to demand what we are here for - and in an increasing number of cases, have directly paid for - a high quality higher education. To this end, I have decided to compile a document, which I intend to hand to my Student Staff Liaison Committee, listing exactly what we, the students, want and expect from our University education. I invite anyone who is now, or ever has been, a University student, to contribute to this document, and to present the finished article to whomever has the power to bring these changes about.

Before, we start, an important note: this document is intended to be a list of positive suggestions: I want to know what you think makes (or would make) a good lecturer. By all means think of examples of bad lecturers as well - I know many of the points I will add are because of absolutely apalling ones - but try and think about what they could do different to make them better.

Additionally, be as specific as possible: ideally, this should form a kind of standard that University departments can test their staff against, so we need to tell them exactly what should be done, and how it should be achieved.

But mainly, I just want your opinions - the more people contribute to this, the better it will be, and the more chance we have of making a positive difference.

So, here are some of my initial contributions, to kick off the discussion - feel free to add, detract, and discuss these and any other points as you see fit. Please discuss it either:

• in the forums provided at the bottom of this page,
• in this forum (on "Ask the h2g2 Community"),
• or in this forum (in the "Collaborative Writing Workshop").

Lecture Style

Here are just a few general points, which hopefully somebody can help me expand upon:

• Well-formed: Lectures should have a coherent structure, not be a series of disconnected items of teaching.
• Properly prepared: Lecturers should prepare well in advance, and be sure to understand themselves the material being taught.

Lecture Notes

Clearly the most important elements of any lecture course are what you take away with you. Now, the primary aim is that you rake away an understanding of the subject, but you should also be able to take away a physical reminder: the lecture notes. Indeed without some form of notes, the concept of revision is more or less meaningless. The production of lecture notes/handouts should therefore not be taken lightly by a good lecturer, and here are some points they should bear in mind:

Lecture notes should be a document in their own right

Many lecturers use visual aids during their lectures, often consisting of some form of projected slides that give structure to the talk being given, and these are very useful. They are not, however, a valid substitute for lecture notes. Slides are at their most useful when they merely list the key points, and possibly include demonstrations and illustrations to clarify and expand on these during the lecture. Notes, on the other hand, should be full prose summaries of these main points, such that the key information students need to take away from the lecture can be reconstructed easily. That's not to say that the notes should be a script for the whole lecture, but simply that they should make sense with or without the extra detail provided on the day.

Increasingly often, lecture slides are produced using specialist software designed for this purpose, such as Microsoft's 'PowerPoint'. With appropriate training, it is possible to use these same tools to create parallel versions of a document, so that the notes reflect the same information as the slides, but in a different style - rather than simply printing carbon copies of them.

Lecture notes should be complete

Related to this requirement to stand alone is the issue of completeness: there may be differences between the content of the notes and that of the lecture itself, but this should not extend to the vital points being taught. Specifically, information missing from the printed notes should not be essential to the student's later understanding (or revision).

Some lecturers use gaps in their notes as a deliberate device to focus the attention of their audience, but this technique should be used with caution. Firstly, the gaps should be clearly marked: a student who has to constantly compare the notes being projected, or drawn on the board has less time to geet to grips with the meaning of what they are being taught. Secondly, a completed version should be made available: in an ideal world, every student would attend every lecture, and follow at the exact speed of the lecturer; there are, however, many reasons why this is unlikely, and it is unfair for a student to have no way of retrieving missing parts - even if it was, ultimately, their fault.

Lecture notes should be easily available

Having already stressed the general importance of notes, it almost goes without saying that it should not be made difficult for students to obtain copies. For this purpose, the web is often used with good effect, and making a copy available online can be simple and effective as long - as it is not too difficult for students to find. However, it is generally useful to have a paper copy of notes, such that they can be annotated, read anywhere, and so forth. If there is no repository of pre-printed notes, students should be able to print them using departmental resources, without incurring penalty or disapproval.

Some lecturers give out no printed notes during their lectures, arguing that making your own notes of key points during a lecture aids your understanding of the subject in hand. In the interests of fairness, however, some "official" notes should always be made available for those that find some or all of their own lacking.

Coursework

Although not an integral part of the lectures themselves, setting and marking coursework is often a part of the job of the lecturer - and since it defines at least part of the recognition the student is aiming to achieve, a very important one.

Coursework requirements and details should be clear and consistent

Perhaps a rather obvious point this, but a good lecturer should give clear information on what is expected as a result of the exercise, and exactly when it is expected. This should ideally be detailed on a seperate handout which can be referred to later, and which should also include some pointers as to how information taught on the course can be used to achieve that aim. Sometimes, the aim of the coursework is to direct further self-learning, but a substantial starting point should be given to justify this as part of a "taught" course.

If the information originally given is altered for any reason, every effort should be made to communicate this fact, and explain exactly which parts of the original specification have been superseded and why.

Requirements should be two-directional

As well as informing the students what the lecturer expects of them, it should be made clear what the students can expect from the lecturer. For instance, all lecturers should be able to give a date by which they will try their hardest to have the work marked and returned. They may also want to explain what teaching directly relating to the work will be provided, and what criteria they will adhere to when marking.

Students should recieve full feedback on their work

Although it is obviously useful for the administration to track a student's understanding of a subject, a coursework assessment is only useful to the student if more than simply a grade or percentage is returned to them for their effort. At the very least, the criteria followed in marking should be explained, and the results of applying each of these presented to the student. Ideally, there should be a comprehensive explanation of both what was good and what was bad about the students work, in proportion to the amount of effort put into the original piece. The lecturer or marker should also be open and acessible to queries regarding why a particular decision was made. In this way, the student can know not only how they are doing, but how they can do better, which is far more useful in terms of their ongoing learning.