Two Thursdays ago, I stopped work in the afternoon to do a tutorial. I signed in first and eventually the tutor joined me and we chatted over the headsets. Sadly, the OU doesn't use webcams, so we couldn't see each other (which often makes it hard to know when someone has finished talking and you can start).
A little later on, we were joined by three other women. At one point, we had to discuss something and write on a board on Adobe Connect. Did the other three bother talking? No. They only typed. When you type in the chat box on the right-hand side of Adobe Connect, you can see who has typed. On the board to the left - no idea. I don't know if there was just one other person besides me contributing or not.
The tutor said, "I can't hear any discussion." I told her in writing that no-one else had a microphone so we were all typing.
Later on, the tutor said that she would put us in a break-out room for half an hour so we could discuss and solve a problem together. At the thought of that, I felt horror, made my excuses and left.
Basically, the whole experience horrified me. Here we are in the 21st century and we're going back to the chatrooms of 20 years ago. It's hard enough not seeing people - and lockdowns and sheltering have made this worse - but not to hear people either. That's hard. And I was really upset.
I wrote my feelings in the tutor group forum the following Monday and said that I had felt shunned. No-one wanted to talk. I said I had found the atmosphere to be aggressive, unfriendly and the opposite of inclusive. I was told by another student that the only one being aggressive was me. The fact that I was upset didn't seem to concern her. In my post, I had also said that if one didn't take part by making mistakes and asking questions then the teacher couldn't tell what we knew or not. The teacher couldn't then explain what we needed to understand.
A couple of days later I made my feelings clear again. That I was still upset and shaken by what happened. The tutor in the UK rang me up and made it clear that I was being intolerant and that there were lots of reasons why people didn't want to or couldn't talk. "They could be shy," she said. I pointed out that they weren't going to learn how to cope with shyness (as I have had to) by not trying to do things even if it scared them. "They might have small children. They might not be in a safe place." And so on and so forth.
The Open University has been going since 1971. When I started in Germany in the mid-90s, everything was done by post. We had to travel to the International School in Bonn for tutorials. When I lived in London, we had tutorials in all sorts of colleges at the weekend. We also had online contact through Yahoo Groups (I'm still getting messages from one years later.) And for two courses, we has summer school - a whole week at Reading University (for the Science Foundation Course) and Norwich University (for Third World Development). When I did some sociology and psychology courses, back in Germany in the early 2010s, we met up in Cologne. And we Skyped. Yes, in 2010, we Skyped with our tutor.
Now it's 2021 and we are back to not seeing or hearing each other and yet we are online. Even all the course materials are online - no books. I have to print everything off. We are going backwards.
My tutor said that if I wanted to meet people, I should check out the OU Law Society, so I did. I joined up. Then I looked at the forums. One person had written in August, the person before in February. There were old posts there, and you could see that up to 26 people had read a post - but no-one had replied. And the case is similar in other forums elsewhere on the OU website.
And then young people complain and say they are lonely. Apparently, younger people complain of loneliness. You can check this out here: https://www.google.com/search?q=younger+people+loneliner+than+older+poeple&rlz=1C1WZPI_enDE457DE684&oq=younger+people+loneliner+than+older+poeple&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i10l5j0i512j0i10l3.7296j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Well, folks, it's no wonder they are lonely. All these wonderful ways to communicate....and they don't bother.
Yes, meeting people - whether in the flesh or online - can be a bit scary. I get scared at the thought of each new class in my evening classes. As I say to my students, "I'm nervous, because there's only one of me and up to 12 of you and I don't know what you are all like."
But would it help me to not do these classes? No. Would it be better for my students if I didn't bother? Definitely not. By confessing my nervousness, they are more likely to be kind to me and to make allowances for my nerves. And that is what people do. Hiding away and not even trying won't solve a thing.
The Open University has been going since 1971 and I cannot believe that the students of the past did not have the same problems as the students of today. Only in the past, they had to make time to travel outside their home to get to a tutorial. In the wind and the rain and the dark sometimes (if they had a long journey back). And there were compulsory summer schools - if they had children, they had to find a solution. And now... in the 21st century, where you don't have to travel and can sit in the comfort of your own home (or someone else's, or in your office, or even in a quiet space (or even room) of a library), now...all of a sudden... it's hard for people to talk? Sorry, but I can't believe that.
I used to think that the term 'snowflake' to describe the modern generation was harsh, nasty and unwarranted. I think I might have been been wrong there.
At least it seems that I am not alone, however. Whenever I have told anyone here in Germany of what happened, they are as puzzled as I am. "Why sign up to a tutorial if they are not going to take part?" is one reaction. When I mention the reasons that my tutor mentioned, this is met with eye-rolling.
I keep musing on would have happened if, in my tutorial group with Dr Lawrence Foulger at Manchester University all those years ago, the four of us had refused to say a word, instead just passing the occasional scribbled note to him, which he then had to read out.
Personally, I can't understand this attitude. If they don't want to contribute and speak, then they can just watch a recording of some tutorial. There are up to 10 appointments and some are recorded. All I can say is that if I am in the unfriendly situation of being the only person willing to speak and make mistakes, then I shall make my excuses and leave again. I will not tolerate such unfriendly behaviour.
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