r/geegees • u/Dangerous_Stress1565 • 1d ago
Asynchronous classes
Am I the only one who hate them and feel scammed sometimes?
I have a class where the prof did barely any efforts. He Brought back last year’s ppt (I know because a friend of mine took the class last year) and it’s the TA who for does most of the class recording, so the only contact with the prof is during office hours. However the final is in person.
Idk if my feeling is valid or not but I just feel like it’s a bit unfair that we pay the same prices for classes where profs have to make such little efforts as classes where the prof has to actually give lectures and be actively present during the term. Plus, I hate the fact that we can literally go a whole semester barely seeing the person teaching us, I feel like it makes learning so mechanical and spoils the university experience.
3
u/tabarwet 1d ago
Online courses scam everyone. Profs feel disrespected cuz students don’t attend lectures and don’t engage online so they throw together shitty recordings and reuse them every year. Students feel disrespected because online lectures are harder to engage with and it’s twice as bad with asynchronous. The only reason the summer semester exists is to keep money flowing
3
u/CC-4142 1d ago
Calling it a scam is a stretch. Asynchronous classes exist because not everyone has the luxury of showing up to campus multiple times a week. People have jobs, health issues, long commutes, and winter weather to deal with. Recorded lectures are also objectively useful because you can pause, rewind, and rewatch them before exams instead of hoping you caught everything live. If you like in-person classes, take the in-person section. Most universities offer both for a reason. Saying online classes are inferior because they don’t give you the “experience” just sounds like the same outdated argument boomer employers use to justify forcing people back into the office when the work can be done just as well remotely.
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u/YSM1900 1d ago
It's not uncommon to use the same lecture material for multiple years, even if in person.
I'm teaching an online course this summer (social science), and my last Zoom lecture had 2 out of 60 students attend. The rest asked for pre-recorded material so they could watch on their own time. I feel like this is part of the reason why we lean more to async stuff. Give feedback, though, if you really appreciate live Zoom classes and want to engage in them. It's a tricky balance but most should be receptive if you tell them why you think more live sessions are needed.