> I've certainly told our students that the note taker will not take notes
> if they are not present [unless there is a very good reason].
This is a very good point. What do we define as "a very good reason"?
I have the opportunity of supporting students who find it incredibly
difficult to attend lectures, mainly for two very good reasons.
As some students find it difficult to acknowledge these reasons
positively, let alone articulate them, they become disempowered which
then may lead to punitive measures.
1-In some cases, students simply cannot wake up in the morning. They
tend to describe themselves as lazy and feel guilty about it so noone
picks up on clear indicators of fatigue and disrupted sleeping
patterns. From my experience, these are more prevalent than are being
picked up by assessors as the students themselves might feel it is a
weakness of their character (having been told off all their lives by
parents/teachers/peers for not making an effort) so they might not
refer to this in assessments.
2-In other cases, students feel so very frustrated for not being able
to follow the lectures at all, that they get really stressed out for
attending the lectures. Again, they blame it on themselves but when
given the possibility to articulate how they feel and how thir needs
might be met to avoid the stress, they would rather not attend and have
both notes and the lectures on tape.
I can relate to these experiences (how boring is it for us to attend
boring conferences? And don't we prefer to look at other people's
notes?) so if you too relate to them, maybe we could all rethink the
measures being discussed.
Hope this support the discussion,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Margarida Dolan, Ph.D. Phone: 0044(0)1225
383241 Learning Support Tutor and Staff Developer Fax:
0044(0)1225 386709
Learning Support Service
University of Bath
Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
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Quoting John Conway <[log in to unmask]>:
> I thought - and I've heard LEA officers say this - that a "3 strikes and
> you're out" policy may be applied, as they don't want to keep paying for
> non-events! That said, I find it difficult to reconcile that with the
> entitlement a student has to support..............
> I've certainly told our students that the note taker will not take notes
> if they are not present [unless there is a very good reason].
>
> Dr John S Conway
> Disability Officer / Principal Lecturer in Soil Science / Chair,
> Research Committee
> Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Glos GL7 6JS
> 01285 652531 ext 2234 fax 01285 650219
> http://www.rac.ac.uk/~john_conway/ <http://www.rac.ac.uk/~john_conway/>
>
> email [log in to unmask]
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bryan Coleman
> Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 12:07 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: students missing lectures
>
> Hello Rebecca.
>
> I'm quite interested by the fact that you can't pay unless the work is
> carried out. This isn't usual practice as far as I'm aware, and I can
> see that it would be very difficult to keep support workers under those
> conditions. In general, LEAs etc will pay for sessions where the student
> is absent, as long as there is an explanation on the timesheet.
> Obviously, there may be a problem with repeated absence.
>
> I'm also aware that at least two universities cancel support after the
> student has missed the SAME session (e.g. 9 am Monday morning) three
> times in a row without contacting the co-ordinator. Obviously, there is
> a balance between treating the student the same as a non-disabled
> student (i.e. not punishing them further for not attending) and asking
> disabled students to co-operate with the support service to avoid
> unnecessary work and expense caused by repeated absence. So I think
> there certainly should be an agreement in place.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bryan
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lewis, Rebecca
> Sent: 06 March 2006 11:36
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: students missing lectures
>
> Do any of you impose any sanctions on students who don't turn up for
> their lectures and as a result have support workers (note-takers etc) at
> the university with no work to do? This happens on a regular basis with
> a particular student despite having discussed it several times. One
> support worker has resigned because at the moment we are not able to pay
> unless the work is carried out - I'd be interested to know what others
> did about this too.
>
> Thanks
>
> Rebecca
>
>
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