Mandy & Jason’s Scenario

Mandy is a student adviser. At the beginning of the semester, she is assigned with six BEng students as her advisees.

She tried to organize a group gathering with the six students in August but it is very difficult to find a time that fits everyone’s schedule. They ended up with doing a Zoom meeting instead.

At the start of the meeting, she asks them to introduce themselves one by one and after that she opens the floor for questions and chit-chatting. No one speaks up. The atmosphere seems embarrassing. Mandy then starts telling them about herself and later on, one of the students, Jason, responds to her call for sharing. But he then keeps on talking about his own personal matters, which apparently other students are not interested to know. One student actually quits during the meeting.

After the meeting, Jason constantly contacts Mandy to ask questions regarding programme requirements and the major selection exercise. Starting from the second semester, Jason “WhatsApps” Mandy to complain about many things such as the quick speaking-speed in the lectures of some of his professors, and being warned of plagiarism in one of his assessments etc. In particular, since Jason did not take extended Maths in DSE, he found Math courses extremely hard. He asks Mandy to “tutor” him every week but she finds it hard to make time even though she wants to help.

Recently, Jason contacts almost every day, expressing care to her on a personal level. He will call Mandy if she does not respond. Jason also pays close attention to Mandy’s social media, giving like and making comment to almost every post. Mandy is feeling uneasy but doesn’t know what to do.