I want to be engaged....

Today was my first day back at university since December. It was an early start, my first class due to begin at 9.00 (well, that's early for me!)... Still, I was raring to go and after finding out that I had passed semester A, was looking forward to a fully interactive and inspiring experience! What a let down....

Our lecturer started off by reading the rules for the semester ahead. There was to be no talking, no eating, no lateness, no phones, no blinking, moving or breathing. Fair enough, the last three are my own additons, but her list was extensive and it sure felt that way. We were urged to note that the doors to the lecture theatre would be locked 15 minutes after commencement, to disable late-comers from entering, and those in the class, from leaving. The mind boggled at the health and safety issues a threat of this nature would cause. Our lecturer took up a good portion of the time allotted, telling us what we could not do and it seemed she was letting us know that she would not tolerate a mature approach to studying, leaving no room for us to be the adults we are. At various intervals she would seek reassurance from us by stating 'I sound moany, don't I?', giving an unsure chuckle and telling us how awful her past classes were, only to be met with a stony silence that I fear only served to compound her paranoia.

Seemingly satisfied that we had sufficiently been read our rights, she began the lecture. My interest piqued again! The Television Audience promised to be an interesting module and one that would explore areas not yet researched by my peers and me....... However, this was not to be. The delivery was as engaging as watching paint dry and I began to feel that the module would be a struggle after all.

Still annoyed by being penalised for the faults of previous classes, I became distant and wondered at a woman that would blame her students for the lack of attention, imposing gestapo-like rules yet, would not take responsibility for the fact that she herself had made no effort to engage the class. The delivery was bland and did not seem to tell us anything more than was in the module reader and guide. Whose fault was it that her classes, in previous semesters, would leave part way through, or eat their sandwiches whilst listening to the lecture. It interested me that as university-age students, we were still being treating like pre-school children.

It's not that I do not understand the trials our tutors face, my point I guess, is that is I am paying £3000 a year for a service, I expect to get what I pay for and today, I didn't.

I guess that I cannot judge the whole module on one class and, I have to concede that as a mature student I probably took more offence to this form of teaching than I should have but, I really hope that this was just a glitch because heaven knows, I want to be engaged!