Second-year university student Emily Johnston failed her first online exam this semester "miserably", she says. She'd usually have lab classes every week at Sydney University, examining brain specimens and cadavers. But these have been replaced by demonstrations over blurry Zoom sessions, where other students have hijacked meetings and blared music.
"We're just so unengaged, to the point where we can't be bothered to get out of bed," she says. "I know in three weeks I will forget everything. I'm not learning - just reading notes, hearing what they're saying in pre-recorded lectures from years ago and copying it down. When I inevitably fail the semester, I'll have to redo the entire unit. That would cost me $1200."
For thousands of university students, a semester of online learning was not what they paid for. Motivation has dropped and many fear they haven't learnt content they need to progress their degrees. Some are disgruntled they must pay full fees for what they see as a lesser service and have been disturbed by online exam technology.
