Maths professor in Singapore delivers two-hour lecture on Zoom only to realise he was on mute the entire time
- Prof. Dong Wang of the National University of Singapore gave lecture on Feb. 4
- Within first couple of minutes his screen froze and students couldn’t hear him
- His mathematics students tried to reach him by phone and email to no avail
- After he finished he unmuted himself and his class told him what had happened
A maths professor has delivered a two-hour Zoom lecture only to be told by students that he was on mute the entire time.
Dong Wang’s screen froze within minutes of the presentation and students were unable to contact him as he ploughed on with his silent lecture at the National University of Singapore.
A recording of the incident shows the end of the class, when Prof. Wang somehow unmutes himself as he asks the students: ‘Do you have any questions?’
There are nervous murmurings before one young man pipes up: ‘Hi Prof, actually you were muted all the while so we cannot hear anything from you since 6.08.’
Video shows the maths tutor exhaling rapidly and squinting as it dawns upon him that he’s just wasted two hours of his Thursday evening giving a silent lecture
The professor exhales, almost snorting, as he is informed that he has been on mute by his maths students at the National University of Singapore
‘Uh from what?!’ Prof. Wang exclaimed – it being after 8pm on February 4. ‘From how long did you hear?’
The students told him that they only heard the first few minutes of the lecture before the professor’s screen froze and he went silent.
Video shows the maths tutor exhaling rapidly and squinting as it dawns upon him that he’s just wasted two hours of his Thursday evening.
But rather than question his students over why nobody had let him know that they couldn’t hear him, Prof. Wang made apologies and said he would repeat the lecture another time.
‘OK, so maybe I have to redo this class sometime,’ Prof. Wang said.
Azusa Chan, who attended the silent lecture, told The Independent: ‘Students tried all sorts of things to get his attention by unmuting and even calling his phone number. However, he did not respond and continued with the lesson.
‘The participant count dwindled as time went on, as students could not contact the prof and had no other recourse. What you see here are 20 plus students who waited patiently for two hours for the prof to come back.’
The footage of Prof. Wang was uploaded to TikTok where some extra effects were added in post production by the user
Following the incident, Prof. Wang said he would endeavour to keep his mobile phone with him during future lectures.
Most students around the world are studying remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Singapore has managed to bring the virus under control to the extent that it has been under only a semi-lockdown for most of the last year.
However, many restrictions remain in place and people are encouraged to work from home where possible.