I’ve spent the last 10 months of ICT teaching peppering my class activities with requests that students:
a) Stop clicking the mouse
b) Stop using the keyboard
c) Stop staring at the screen
All of these requests are made while I have full control of their computers and the screen is showing a bright yellow box asking them to stare deeply into my eyes so that I can hypnotise them (kidding about the hypnosis bit, I haven’t learned that yet).
When I let them work on practical activities I almost always have to discipline someone in the class for straying onto Yahoo chat or an online game while they’re supposed to be working.
This week I decided that many of them are actually addicted to the computer. I tried asking them to remove their hand from the mouse, and for many it was a near impossible task. After some strong coercion (pliers and crowbar) I am able to pry it off, but as soon as I move away to address another case of mouse/palm fusion the initial student snaps back into their preferred position like they’re some kind of memory gel.
They love South Korea over here. I wonder if making articles like this one available for them to read will start to make them think a little about what they’re doing.
OK, I have to get back to teaching again. I just realised that I thought I was talking to my students about the pros and cons of using Access in the real world, when in fact I was on the internet typing this update post.
Internet Addiction Camp – where do I sign up?
