There were several things that stood out to me while I was conducting my observations this week. The first thing I noticed was that the line for the printers in one of the computer labs consistently seemed to have a long line. This particular lab (lab C) has three printers. When I entered the lab earlier this week, I was surprised to find that there were at least 10 students waiting to print materials. However, I then noticed that one of the three usually functioning printers was not operational, causing an unusually large back-up. Roughly 45 minutes later, the printer was fixed, but ther line of students was still significant. This incident made me think back to observations I have conducted in two other campus labs. I realized that neither of the other labs ever had lines longer than two people. When I went back to lab C today, I was once again greeted by a throng of students waiting for an open printer. Perhaps my observations happened to fall during the busiest time of day for that lab (early afternoon). Or maybe it is because lab C happens to be in an academic building (where many students have class), while the other two labs are not. In either case, it appears that lab C is the most popular lab in which to print on the campus.
The second thing I noticed during my observations this week was the use of cell phones. From what I could tell, students handle phone calls in one of two ways: they either dash out of the lab to take the call or they stay in their seat and have a conversation. So far, I have seen just as many students stay as I have seen leave. In all three labs I am observing in, there is a poster near the entrance that lists the guidelines of the lab. One particular guideline is that cell phone use is prohibited. However, in the time I spent in the labs this week, I overheard three cell phone conversations. In none of these cases did the lab consultant intervene. It could be because they did not notice that someone was on a phone (which is definitely possible, considering how busy the labs generally are) or because the no-cell-phone-use rule is not strictly enforced. When someone is talking on his or her cell phone, they tend to get looks from other students, as if their behavior is distracting. For example, while I was in lab C today, a female student made a call on her cell phone while sitting at a computer. She class had been cancelled and she wanted to know if the person on the other end of the line wanted to go shopping. I could hear this conversation clearly from four computers away. The male student to the left of me kept shooting the female student looks while he was working on a paper in Microsoft Word. This suggests that he could not concentrate on what he was doing.
The third thing that I noticed this week was that there are a few Web sites that seem to be most popular among students. The two that I saw students use more than any others were Facebook and the university e-mail. These observations were what I was expecting when I first picked my topic. From what I’ve seen, the first thing students do when they log on to the computer is check their campus e-mail. Sometimes they respond to messages and other times they just do a quick check for new messages. Then, the student usually either proceeds to work on a paper or do research, or they move on to Web site that are for personal entertainment, including Facebook. The students I have observed spend a average of 15 to 20 minutes on the site before either leaving the lab or moving on to a different site. I am not surprised that e-mail and social networking sites appear to be the most popular among students. They both involve communication and allow students to keep up with daily happenings.
November 3, 2009 at 3:53 pm |
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