MISSING THE HELPFUL CHIP: ICS ONLINE
I commenced my CIPD Level 7, Advanced Diploma in HR Management in March 2020, with ICS online.
Having completed previous courses online, I had a benchmark of what I expected. This included, clear instruction online, clarity of what is required and when needed, engaging supportive tutors. My experience however is that ICS and some of their tutors are indeed missing the 'helpful' chip and their online support and information is often lacking important detail.
Without boring, but to casually illustrate; my early 1-4 modules, were straightforward with 'transactional' tutors in place. To be perfectly honest, this was fine, as there was not a need for extra support at this time. The problems were highlighted with the modules that followed, with a lack of clear direction online and inconsistency in marking from two tutors in particular, with many requests for paper alterations leading me to ask myself " Why have I not seen this requirement within the training material?' It was often trial and error to get the papers right, with no clear or consistent guidance from anyone. This made the submission of work a lottery, wasting a lot of time and effort.
Inconsistency in marking was indeed extremely troublesome, but my primary concern and complaint diving this 'post' was the lack of support from the tutor lead and the cantankerous nature of one tutor in particular, let's call him Robin, who for example throughout a month, refused to mark any of my 5 paper submissions, without clear direction or communication. This was not helpful, a waste of my time and honestly not what I would have expected from a tutor. He could not even be bothered to engage properly ; absolutely shocking. All he had to do was write a clear friendly communication, advising of what was needed, solving the problem within a few days, not 5 weeks!
I have completed all the modules and only require to the take the examinations, but my experience through ICS has completely removed my interest to complete this course, which I am aware is ridiculous. It is extremely disappointing that ICS and a few of their tutors, do not understand the importance of relationships with students regarding online courses. If they did they would instead of creating barriers, having random standards of marking and the absence of clear supportive communication, have supportive engaging tutors.
The message I wish to give to all individuals considering using ICS for HR studies, is consider other companies first, looking for supportive tutoring programmes. We can all read from a book, but relationships are vital to guide, provide motivation and help students succeed. read more