21st Century Student

Twelve years after graduating, I am suddenly a university student again. And let me tell you, it is a strange, brave new world indeed.

20th century student caught two buses and a train to a university campus for scheduled lectures and tutorials. She didn't have an email address or access to the internet. She researched her essays using microfiche in the campus library. And she spent most of her time chatting with friends on the library lawn.

21st century student studies entirely online. There are 23 other students in her class, but she doesn't know what they look like. She doesn't even know where most of them are - they could be anywhere in the UK or even overseas. She does know that some of them like to identify themselves with a sleek black cat icon or a cobweb. But what she can deduce about their character from that remains unclear.

I am taking a 12 week course with Open University on Writing for the Internet. On my first official day, I downloaded some conferencing software, logged on and then struggled to find my tutorial group - memorably titled A171 07E R04 bld4 TG. I clicked my way through icon after icon, feeling nostalgic for the disinfected corridors of UNSW where you could at least ask a real live human being for help if you were lost. At last! I found a message from my tutor and discovered I was by no means the last to arrive.

I then spent a few frustrating hours searching for the Tangential Cafe, where apparently arts students could "meet" for a "chat". A huge anticlimax when I finally worked it out, as most of the other students were;
a) also lost, and
b) not on my course, and
c) only interested in chatting about movies they had seen recently

I now realise why, even on "real" campuses, mature age students don't waste their time in the cafes, or on the library lawn.

Anyway, one week in and I am slowly working it out. I'm sitting on a train to London, listening to my downloaded lectures on my iPod. I can research my assignments by logging into the Open University library and accessing any number of journals and articles. I look around at all the busy businesspeople in their suits, conversing earnestly about meeting dates and deadlines. And I realise I love being a student.

Almost as much as I love being a full time mum and wannabe writer. It's a busy life. But in a good way.