Courses Is It Fair to Change Course Difficulty Mid-Year?

[PhysDrew]

My question relates to a subject I took last semester, which since then I have found out that a lot of students failed and complained that it was too hard and the lecturer wasn't satisfactory. The university has since removed that lecturer and simpified the content and the assessment pieces. Is this common practice in universities? I ended up getting a distinction in the subject, but people who have done the subject since it was revised may get the same or better mark. This seems unfair if GPA, positions, and bursaries are on the line. What do you think?

 

[fss]

It's common for faculty to rotate what courses they teach, it's just part of life. I ran into the situation many times and usually had the "more difficult" professor. The grades might have suffered a little bit, but I found that I understood the material a lot better than my classmates who took the "easier" class.

 

[Klockan3]

This is the reason academic inflation exists, over time the degrees tend to mean less and less since it is an easy short term solution to just make things easier.

 

[Ryker]

This is the reason academic inflation exists, over time the degrees tend to mean less and less since it is an easy short term solution to just make things easier.

Funny you should mention that, since I was of the opinion this beast exists up until yesterday, as well, but reading http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/gi.htm" kind of made me revise that stance a bit.

 

[PhysDrew]

It's common for faculty to rotate what courses they teach, it's just part of life. I ran into the situation many times and usually had the "more difficult" professor. The grades might have suffered a little bit, but I found that I understood the material a lot better than my classmates who took the "easier" class.

Yeah I find my understanding seems to be a lot better, but still varying the degrees in the middle of an academic year seems wrong. But that's life I guess. Good to hear others have had the same experience. Thanks for the replies!