Chronicle

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I came across this article in my cyber travels and couldn’t quite move past it because it was so relevant to me. Reid Goldsborough who wrote this article points out the perils of having a personal computer. Although this article isn’t talking about education I still think it’s useful and worth considering. Goldsborough is discussing the enormous amount of time wasted procrastinating on the computer. Procrastination can come in blatant forms like playing games or in subtler ways where you find yourself clicking on a link on a website and then another and another until what you’re looking at is in no way related to your original site.

Procrastination is something I can relate to well and I also understand the ill-effect it can have on your education. With this in mind it has prompted me to think. How can I make sure my students are making good use of their time on the computer?

These are a few things I’ve come up with:

-Give clear instruction so they always have a purpose and feel they can achieve it

-Make sure what they are doing is engaging so they won’t want to get off topic

-Block what sites you can that you know are unhelpful and uneducational

If anyone had any other suggestions I’d love to hear them!

Goldsborough, R. (2007). Personal Computers can save your time, and waste it. Community College Week, 7th May, p28