How did the Vice-Chancellor's new decision affect you?
"I was not working at the time because it was the day before Christmas Eve. On 4 January, I would be back at work, and on that same day I had a re-examination scheduled for my students, an on-campus written exam. I have a personal rule not to check my email when I am off work, but I did it anyway. The email about the decision said that it was to be me who would inform the students about how the exam would be affected.”
"I tried to stay calm, but someone should have been able to figure out that those exams would not be happening. With so little time, no one would be able to plan a different form of examination. Why couldn't an email go out to the students in which they were informed that the on campus written examinations for week 1 were cancelled? Instead, the students were informed that it was us, the course coordinators, who would notify them about the situation. It makes sense that we are the ones to do it in that case, as we are the ones that have the closest contact with the students. So the only thing to do was to get to work. “
"I think the university's way of dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic has increased the feeling of ‘us and them’ between Professional Services and the Faculties. The email on 23 December gave the feeling of, ‘here's our decision, solve it.’”
"I have made many suggestions, for example on how we can take exams, but each one has been met with the answer that as those examples will increase the workload of Professional Services, they are not feasible. But my workload has increased enormously because of the extra administrative work. I cannot say no to it because I am the one who has contact with the students, and they have to have some kind of examination. It is I who have the responsibility to provide high quality education to them.”
Which forms of examination have you chosen instead?
"I've gone over to take-home examinations. I don't think the Zoom-supervised exam is an option. There are extremely long instructions for both teachers and students that create far too much stress. And out of most of the colleagues I've talked to, most of them have done what I did.”
"I don't think it has been clear in the organisation what a transition means for some of us teachers. In the past, I have only had to hand over the examination to the Student Centre and then pick it up when it is time to grade it. Now, I not only have to adapt the exam to a new examination form, but I also have to take care of the related administrative tasks, such as checking that all students have registered for the exam, have access to the latest course PING PONG activity, create project groups, etc. to carry out the take-home examination. The only support I really get is the registration list and then I have to do everything else myself.”
What has been the biggest challenge?
"That I feel like I have to do someone else's work. I am passionate about the students and pedagogy; I have no problem changing the forms of teaching or finding alternative forms of examination. But I can't understand why I also have to do a lot of administrative work that is not included in my job description, tasks that someone else can perform better.”
What could the university have done better?
"It doesn't seem that anyone has worked with the pandemic situation at the university from a holistic perspective. I would like for there to be someone who has an overview of who has been given less work due to cancelled components due to the pandemic, and who has gotten more to do – and who on that basis can reallocate resources.”
