Introduction
Florida National University is one of the most popular in the region. It provides gripping programs to study and fascinating facilities to use on the campus. In spite of being an alluring place to attend, the school has some problems which are not critical but might cause trouble, with an overcrowded computer lab among them.
Organizational Issues
The first acknowledged issue is that the computer lab is used by too many people every day. The number of students at school is estimated to be 5,541, with over 1,500 of them studying full-time. Some are frequent users of the computer lab, especially those who reside on the campus. Besides, there are 277 people in the academic staff, and some of them tend to go to the computer lab, too. Unfortunately, this problem is unlikely to be solved. One of the peculiarities of the modern educational system in the US is that institutions happen to be overcrowded. At this school, the matter is not as topical as it is at some others, since there are up to 29 students in each class, contrasting to the minimum of 40 in many institutions.
Apart from that, students find themselves charged with many tasks which require using a computer. Certain assignments prove to be time-consuming. Thus, the student who is implementing them occupies the place for a long time. Besides, some students tend to procrastinate and set their homework and projects only on the last day. The solution to this problem is connected with a student’s self-discipline. Students should be more organized. They should accomplish their tasks stepwise so as not to spend too much time in the lab on the day before the deadline (Corney-Morris and Murthy 16).
Technical Issues
When it comes to technical issues, the first problem to mention is that the lab does not seem spacious enough. Moreover, the room happens to be stuffy from time to time because of many people inside and due to computers working consistently and emitting heat. The number of places is not sufficient. It sometimes appears to be emotionally uncomfortable to work when somebody who also needs a computer is standing nearby. Therefore, it might be reasonable to enlarge the room and multiply the number of places.
Apart from that, computers tend to be rather slow because they work all day long. Besides, students from certain departments have tasks which require using special software, so some computers are overloaded with programs. It might be reasonable to divide them based on specialties and install necessary software for each specialty on a group of computers (Smale and Regalado 10).
Private Issues
Another problem to dwell upon is that some students tend to use the computer lab not only for their education but also for private purposes. For instance, they might check their emails. What is more, they happen to access social networking sites and chat to their relatives and friends, which is rather annoying. It might be considered as lack of respect for others. To solve the problem, it could be necessary to limit the access to particular sites. Besides, it may be reasonable to explain to everyone that the lab is designed for mere educational purposes and cannot be used as a free internet café.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is necessary to underline that overcrowded computer labs are likely to be the result of organizational, technical, and private issues. Some of the problems do not prove possible resolutions due to reasons beyond control. Some of them require self-discipline and respect for others from students, which is not a difficult goal to achieve. However, the majority of them are supposed to be settled by the school administration.
Works Cited
Carney-Morris, Miranda, and Trevor Murthy. “Teaching, Learning and Classroom Design.” Proceedings of the 2016 ACM on SIGUCCS Annual Conference – SIGUCCS’16, edited by Towner, Theresa, ACM, New York, NY, 2016.
Smale, Maura A., and Marianna Regalado. “Situating College Students and Technology.” Digital Technology as Affordance and Barrier in Higher Education, 2016, pp. 1-21.