Teaching language
Students deserve equal access to education, it's as simple as that. People from outside the country should not have to uproot everything in order to study at university, people with disabilities should not have to rely on the goodwill of individual teachers in order to study. People who struggle with mental or physical illness should not have to prioritize attending a lecture over their health. Family members should not have to miss exams or lessons because they have to pick up their children from kindergarten or take them to the doctor.
Distance learning and electronic teaching methods at UI have a long way to go, but the knowledge is available within the university, for example at the Faculty of Education. HÍ can no longer tolerate lack of knowledge and lack of will and needs to take big and quick steps in these matters if it is to be considered a leading university!
Vaka has shown his willingness to change, in this regard, in action and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future because there is always room for improvement.
More diverse teaching methods in line with the times
The same teaching methods have been used at the University of Iceland since it was founded. The time has come for the school to adapt to changing times. There is a whole lot of research that supports the excellence of certain teaching methods that most employees of the University of Iceland do not adopt. The lecture format must be broken up and pressure must be put on teachers to adopt more diverse teaching methods, such as flip teaching and more.
Increased focus on teaching quality over research in teacher performance evaluation
Today, great emphasis is placed on research during recruitment and evaluation of the performance of teachers at the University of Iceland. Vaka wants teaching to be given more weight to ensure that the quality of teaching is adequate and in accordance with the policy of each department.
Units according to workload
The ECTS system defines how much work should be behind each unit. In many stages this is not followed and it needs to be improved. Students are entitled to the number of credits according to their work contribution. It should also be made easier for students to calculate whether their work contribution is in accordance with units, for example with a specially designed calculator. Would this contribute to the efficiency of the students and it would be easier to perform the role of restraint.
Grades are returned on time
It is important that teachers respect the deadline for grades in final exams as well as projects during the semester. Vaka wants to increase follow-up and control with grade submissions. We believe it is important for students to get a breakdown of exams and assignments so that they get a real sense of how they performed on exams and assignments.
Teachers attend the exam
The rules of the University of Iceland do not stipulate that a teacher must attend an exam on the day of the exam. The only recommendation is that the teacher should be present when exams are held. This needs to be changed. If the teacher is unable to attend or cannot be reached by phone, all doubts should be clarified in favor of the student.
Use of test numbers
By teachers using exam numbers, equality is promoted in exam taking. Vaka requires that exam numbers are used without exception in all departments of the university.
Test shows
According to the rules of the University of Iceland, exam demonstrations should be held for exams, but this is very lacking within the school. We want this to be followed as it is extremely important for students that teachers review exams with them.
Medical and repeat exams for the fall in January
It is important to fight for medical and repeat exams for the fall semester to be held in January. Great victories have been achieved in that struggle, but there is still a long way to go and it is important that students make themselves heard. At the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, a pilot project has been underway where the exams are held in January and it has turned out to be successful. We will pressure the university administration to get this through.
Availability of students with a mother tongue other than Icelandic
Vaka would like English translations of teacher's notes and assignments to be offered in the first-year courses where there are non-Icelandic-speaking students, since those students have not had time to learn the language. Furthermore, Vaka wants to promote that students are allowed to submit projects in English if they choose to do so.