STUDENTS’ COMPUTER USE SATURATION

When I started to ask students their opinions on the amount of time they spent sat down using computers I was unsure what their responses might be, as the majority of the students indicated that they used computers and other digital technologies significantly in their leisure time. Obviously, these were more formal circumstances. As the computers were the primary classroom resource, how the students responded to them could have a profound effect on how they engaged with their course activities.

The year 2 media students used the computers in the classrooms for specialist software and academic coursework for 12 hours a week, compared to the 8 hours for music students. I did have some minimal contact with them during the initial part of their first year and I can remember their

delight when they realised they had individual computers with specialist software and access to the Internet.

Emily: ….it was real exciting when you got to go on the computers, but now it's…

Liz: Yeah…

Emily: It's just boring.

AB: Why is that?

Emily: Cos we’re on them all the time.

What also emerged during the same interview was how these students responded to their boredom from using computers so much.

Liz: Like on a Monday we're just sat on a computer all day, on a Wednesday afternoon

we're just sat on a computer all day and on a Friday -

Emma: Yeah, we're sat on a computer all day -

Liz: And we don't do anything else [Liz emphasised each of these words slowly]-

AB: And it's all day from nine 'til four -

Liz: I think that's almost too long [laughing]. Yeah...last year we used to do like in the

morning one subject and in the afternoon a different subject and like say it breaks it up a bit doesn't it ...but now we just do like the same thing ALL DAY.

AB: How do you cope with that?

Emily: I can't finish my work, I just get bored being at computers so I just stop working 'cos

I can't concentrate, or anything.

Emma: I've, I've go to the point where I can't even start working any more...so I don't

actually do anything all day

Emma’s last comment was especially concerning and coincided with my observations of her lack of progress. Despite the comments, Emma’s attendance and punctuality were very good and during these sessions I noted how she had the tendency to use her time to socialise, either within the classroom or digitally, or access entertainment websites. As these were periods when they were working independently there was no need to submit work, so there was no direct indication to the tutor that she had not been working. If a tutor walked around the classroom she usually maximised

a Word document, or media software up on the monitor to give the appearance that she was working. This was not uncommon as a strategy amongst other students.

For these students the extensive use was demotivating due to the tedium of being sat at the computers for the duration of the session and they responded by reducing the level of time they used the computers for coursework. Clearly, if there had been a peer learning culture, or more group activities then this could detach students from their working isolation. In Chapters 6 and 8 there are indications from both media and music students that they wanted more teaching and contact with the tutors, again this would help to detach student from any sustained isolation. Therefore any notion of encouraging Level 3 students to work independently is something of an impoverished expectation, without an appropriate pedagogy and what surfaces as a need for greater student awareness.

Jim, who at 21 years old, was one of the older media students had reduced his working hours in a family business to study the course and he reflected on the all day Friday session. This session could at times be one continuous activity over the 6 hours, and often a continuation from previous sessions if there was a focus on one unit.

Jim: It can sort of get a bit monotonous...I find it can drag on a bit and…you need some sort

of, something to break the day up really. You're sort of doing the same…being sat up in front of a computer…all day...erh...it basically tires me out, ye know. As well as…ye know, I get like a couple of pieces of work done and then I think…oh I've done them and then I don't have any motivation to do anymore work, it's like...

I noticed Jim occasionally had breaks in the morning to quickly check his emails, or his Facebook page and after this activity he then returned to his work. During the afternoons Jim’s pace of work altered and it was noticeable that he had slowed down significantly, often spending a significant amount of time playing online games.

Helen, aged 20, was also an older student who had already completed a lower level media course elsewhere. Amongst all the students, Helen was the most outwardly focused on progressing to a media degree at one particular university and she did indeed achieve this goal.

Helen: Definitely too much time. I have gone absolutely crazy this year and last year, I just

couldn't...I think that's why I...I mean it's ridiculous...but last year I was hardly ever here, I just used to take time off, ESPECIALLY in Bob's lessons, because I just used to go and spend time in Liverpool with friends. But…I think it was because we was always stuck in a

classroom, we was never out doing anything, we was never filming anything so it was day in, day out and I just got completely frustrated and bored because I didn't feel like I was, I didn't feel like....it was getting me ready for university. And this year's been exactly the same but what's keeping me sane is the fact that when I get to uni…..

Helen’s comments reflect the structure of the course and that a significant amount of course

resources were accessed through computers. Her response to this in her first year was to not attend and she did need to complete some of the deficits in evidencing during the second year. In the first term of the second year, Helen’s attendance and punctuality were erratic, but she regained focus due to the grades she needed to attend the university of her choice. At the time she was socialising with friends who were in the final year of their degree and from informal discussions with her their level of engagement with coursework was instrumental to her changed focus.

It was not just the apparent tedium of sitting at computers for long periods, but students commented on other ways it affected them.

Seth: Well by the time I get home, if I've been on the computer all day, I feel wiped out...cos

like I get headaches quite a lot, and quite easily now, just from looking at the screen so much and just...well, mind numbing to be honest. Like the workspace just brings you down as well, it's all dull and boring really.

Debbie: ….I went to the doctors and he said to get glasses and for a few weeks I was fine

but then...cos it doesn't even matter if you have glasses on you're still staring at like a computer screen and I go home and I'm just…worn out and I've got headaches and just drained…from just staring and typing.

Seth conjoins his comments on using computers with a reference to the fabric of the room; therefore both are a factor in how he views the working environment. At the time of the interviewing I can remember noting how surprised I was at the level of their reaction to this level of usage.

The students at the music centre echoed the media students’ comments.

Amy: It's too long to be sat in front of a computer so you start getting headaches and stuff

like that.

Pete: Mondays, they drag on for me because it's just computer lessons, and that's all it is

and my eyes start straining.

Kerry: Oh yeah, that's the other thing it's nice to take your eyes away from the screen and

Stan: I know it's just all on computers, there's nothing like...dunno it doesn't fit…really fit

in...it's really sterile as well. It's boring, yeah. Get a bit sick of the sight of them to be honest. I thought there'd be more practical stuff, it's just pretty much...half, well more than half the week is sat at a computer.

Like Seth’s earlier comment, Stan also drew in his disappointment towards the rooms and similarly to Helen, he expected more time on other activities.

Pete, during the same interview, commented that he did watch YouTube videos at times when he should have been doing his college work, and I returned to this point with him.

Pete: Once you’re constantly looking at a white screen with black writing your eyes start

getting tired, so I need that relief of going on a different website….or just something else to take my mind off it.

Colin, one of the year 1 music students, gave a somewhat contradictory comment, but one which identified his coping strategies.

Colin: I think the time’s fine on them…everything’s alright…good. A set time period in the

classes….yeah. If I get bored though I talk to my mates…going on the Internet…yeah.

Despite Colin’s initial comment that the duration of the sessions was fine, he also indicated that he got bored and when that occurred he engaged with alternate activities. Like Pete, he remained using the computer but for a respite from the coursework. Alternative use of the technologies will be explored in Chapter 6 but the significance from these responses, which were typical of others was the sheer duration of time spent on computers.

When students use computers they engage with images, audio and text and also reading and writing. This is a multimodal and kinaesthetic experience; however, Mann and Robinson (2009) argue that this level of activity does not necessarily render it sufficient to eliminate any tedium that occurs from the task. Relative to computer-based learning environments, Groat and Musson (1995: 54 original emphasis) considered that ‘each student’s approach to learning is determined by both a relatively stable entity called learning style, and by more situation-specific conditions’. For some students the environment itself certainly influenced their more negative opinions of the rooms and this combined with the monotony of the long periods at computers. Not least the physical

rooms were emerging as quite a factor to consider in how the research questions were to be responded to. Not all students were quite as negative towards the conditions.