A Guide to University Contact Hours

When I asked for blog post suggestions a few of you wanted a post explaining the difference between the types of contact hours that you will have at university.

This was something that I was also confused with before coming to uni to, so I hope this post is able to make it more understandable for you.

Firstly, let's address what a contact hour is.
Contact hours refers to the amount of time you spend being taught by an academic or another faculty member. These are the lectures/ seminars/ tutorials/ practicals which you are expected to attend. They are all compulsory.

In the latter part of this post I will briefly talk about optional and other 'out-of-contact-hours' activities that you be expected to participate in outside of your contact hours.

How will my attendance be recorded?
Most universities have an electronic system where you scan your ID card as you go into one of your contact hours, which then automatically records your attendance. At Warwick, we don't have this. We are expected to show up and take responsibility over our own attendance. However, there are monitoring points throughout each term where you will mark your attendance with your lecturer or personal tutor.

How many contact hours will I have?
There's no one answer to this. This will vary between departments and between universities.
You and your friend can be studying the exact same degree title at different universities and will have very different amounts of contact hours.

Karolina Grabowska | Pixabay

This is confusing to get your head around to begin with, but another thing to keep in mind is that you need to check your timetable every week as it won't be stable. Whilst lectures generally remain fixed, everything else is constantly changing every few weeks especially if you have multiple professors teaching a single module.

For example, in Term 1, Education Studies students had 14 contact hours a week. However, when it came to Term 2 this changed to some weeks having 11 hours and other weeks as little as 9 hours. One of my flatmates only had 12 hours a week despite doing a joint course.

In 1st Year I had on average 15 contact hours a week varying between 14-16 hours. This academic year, I will only have 9-10 in Term 1, but up to 14 in Term 2 as a result of how my module choices have worked out.

Now that you know what a contact hour is, I'm going to move onto breaking it down into different types of contact hours and what to expect from them.

Lectures
These are classes you will have with your whole course group or everyone who is taking that module if it's an optional choice. They are usually split into 1 and 2 hour sessions but can last up to 3 hours. Your lecturer will stand up front and deliver a presentation of the topic being covered in that session using aids such as photos, videos, and maybe even quick mini activities throughout the session.  They often take place in the large lecture theatres that you see in university prospectus' as courses can have 200+ students. The largest lecture hall at Warwick can hold up to 500 students!
In Psychology our lecturers often stop at certain points to ensure that we are all keeping up with the information that they are providing and ask any questions for clarification as lectures can be demanding. Don't worry if you need to ask a question and don't want to raise your hand in front of a hall full of other students! Most of your lecturers should also be happy for you to go and speak to them during intervals or at the end of the lecture to.


Seminars

You X Ventures | Unsplash

These are similar to how your current classes run in sixth form or college. They are a lot more interactive and enable you to converse with your peers and professors in small groups of around 30. If your course only has small intake, then it's more than likely that you will just stay as a whole group. In seminars you will be expected to engage in discussions and debates digging deeper into the content that was presented to you in lectures. They help you to develop on those key critical thinking skills and gain an insight into perspectives which you may not have seen yourself. I promise you that they are not as terrifying as they initially sound. However, it does depend on how your professors like to run them, but in all the seminars I have had so far the lecturers make us feel at ease. Be reassured that they aren't for the purpose of testing you, but to help broaden your knowledge and interest.


Tutorials 
Once registered at university and on your course, you will be assigned a personal tutor, who is often an academic within your home department. Tutorials will take place with your Personal Tutor and their other tutees. In Psychology at Warwick, there are up to 8 students per a year to a Personal Tutor. It's tricky to define what to expect from a tutorial as departments and universities will arrange them differently, but to get an idea of what could possibly be discussed. I spoke a bit about tutorials in the 'Tutorial' section of my Psychology Review. If you click the hyperlink and scroll down there's a description of the kind of conversations you may come across in a tutorial meeting.


Practicals/ Labs
This is more applicable to sciences (including Psychology) and creative arts. Practical sessions will be where you learn or are supervised to do experiments and/or use software. Taking Psychology as an example again (because it's the only one I can give!), this includes using SPSS and conducting statistical tests, and learning how to write research reports. In Media Studies/ TV Production this will be more focused on editing, using lighting desks, and camera techniques. Practical sessions are important as they give you the basic skills and knowledge which you will then need to practise outside of your contact hours (see below).


Supervisions
Not all universities have these. I know that Oxbridge colleges have these in place, but I don't think we have these here at Warwick. However, sometimes a similar session may take place in tutorials, although not as intense as the supervisions which take place at Oxbridge. They are more personal than seminars and only consists of a supervisor with around 3 students. As a result, they really challenge you to independently investigate a specific section of your course/module which you then share with your peers and supervisor and further analyse and evaluate your ideas and research.


Out-of-Contact-Hours
Some of these can be just as important as attending your compulsory contact hours. Broaden.

• Practical Work - mainly in Sciences (including Psychology) and Creative Arts. There's no point in attending practical classes if you aren't going to apply what you have learned outside. In psychology this includes both taking part in experiments and conducting studies, collecting data for reports, and analysing data. Requires a lot more attention and precision than it seems. For example, for Psychology covering ethical and health and safety grounds to allow an experiment to be conducted is not as simple as it is made out to be at A-Level.
  
  
• Independent Research - whilst universities and courses vary in research intensity, the majority of degrees are research heavy in one way or another. Therefore, independent research likely to take up the bulk of your time outside of your contact hours, whether that be reading journal articles, researching a particular topic in more depth, watching documentaries; reading through textbooks. It has to be done.
  
  
• Individual Meetings  - these may be with your Personal Tutor or an academic who teaches you. Whilst you should have set meetings with your Personal Tutor, they will be your first point of contact if you need a chat about anything - personal or academic. Your lecturers will also have 'office hours' where you can drop by and ask questions about the content they have taught you. Other times you may have to arrange meetings with a supervisor to discuss research options.
  
  

  

  Pxhere | CC0 1.0

• Department Talks - if your degree relies heavily on research then it's more than likely that your department will have internal and external speakers coming in to deliver talks. Other times specialists may come in to discuss a specific job within a field. This will allow you to explore what areas of your degree you have greater interest in.
  
  
• Careers Advice - again, these also come in the form of internal and external speakers. Universities often run a careers day sort of thing sometime during the year where employees and employers come in and offer guidance for graduate jobs. Departments may also run career conferences for students.
  
  
• Trips - museums, conferences, to the theatre... It all depends on what course you are taking. Departments and societies may run balls at the end of the year to.

I believe that's everything covered. If you would like some more clarification or have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a message in the comments below.

By the time you read this most of you will be heading to uni and getting ready for Welcome/ Freshers Week, so I hope you all have fun! But please... Don't become a part of one of those Fresher nightmare stories!