A Big Thank You!

Hi guys,

I hope that you are all doing well and are settling into (or back into) university life.

Today I want to use my post to send a thank you to all of the staff in the Film and TV department (and around the university) who have made online learning possible.

I have read so much stuff in the press recently about how online learning will never be as good as learning face to face and how teaching staff are not putting in any effort to provide us with the quality education that we’ve paid for. Of course this may be true in some cases, but it certainly isn’t in mine.

I’ve been partaking in a blend of online and face to face learning for a few weeks now. In my experience, the quality of the pre-recorded online lectures that I’ve watched has been exactly the same as in normal circumstances. It is obvious that some much work has gone into providing the lectures for us, whilst the teaching staff have probably encountered more technical difficulties than we care to imagine. I would imagine that having to pre-record lectures is also more difficult than presenting face to face as you can’t really be that spontaneous or go off on lecture related tangents.

In terms of online seminars, I also think that they work pretty well. Yes, sometimes there is some overlap if people forget to ‘raise’ their virtual hand, but 9 times out of 10 I think that Microsoft Teams does a good job of emulating the face to face seminar space. The level of professionalism that I have witnessed if things do go awry has also pleased me. Of course this is what we expect, but it impresses me nonetheless. It is obvious that my department truly has our best interests at heart when it comes to online learning, and this cheers me. I say that like they didn’t have our best interests at heart pre-pandemic, but it’s just nice to see that the nurturing educational environment that I have come to know so well has been carried through to the online space.

I know that this post must seem really cheesy, but I just want to show my appreciation for those who have worked so hard to keep the ball rolling in these strange times. That also includes everyone who isn’t a member of teaching staff but continue to work diligently behind the scenes. It must be so frustrating to be constantly dragged down by the media when you are working harder than you ever have before.

So, the long and short of this post is: thank you! The efforts of everyone in my department have not gone unnoticed and I hope that this piece has helped to show that. If there are any members of staff in your departments who you think have gone the extra mile, be sure to drop them an email to let them know. I’m sure it will make their day!