Introduction

Background of Observation

Movement

Observations

• Students sat at computers where in most cases, empty seats separated them.
• Many students had their belongings (coats, backpacks) on empty chairs beside them.
• Overall, the IPL is a quiet place with students reading information on their monitors.
• I observed several activities (based on the information on the screens).  These include checking e-mail, looking at the CSE 142 and CSE 143 web sites, working on homework, checking class schedule through MyUW.
• The whiteboard contained the notes.
• 
• I noticed the cse143 consultant talking with a student.  The consultant was standing while the student was sitting at the monitor.  Their voices were low and they were standing across the room, so I could not hear their conversation.
• A person approached the lab monitor to inquire about the location of the printer.  The lab monitor answered his question by telling him to print to the general purpose lab downstairs and that the printing would cost 8 cents per page.
• The cse143 consultant helps a different student.  This time the consultant sits in the empty chair next to the student.
• Another person asked the lab monitor about printing.
• Students sitting near me were working on their cse142 or cse143 homework and they only focused on the screen in front of them (I think I looked a bit odd looking around the room all the time).
• Another student arrived and sat two computers from me.  She logged on, checked her e-mail, and then looked at the cse142 homepage.
• The consultant helps another student with the process of a function call.
• I also noticed that students who wanted the consultant's help would put their machine number on the whiteboard.  When signing up on the list, students had to bend over the desks, computers, and chairs to use the whiteboard.
• Some students had sheets of paper next to their keyboards.
• The popular seats in the lab were those next to a wall.  Very few students sat at the computers at the desk furthest from the door.
• A student arrived, looked around, and sat next to another female student.  These two students conversed, but I could not make out any parts of their conversation except for the words "computer science".
• Three men entered together and sat down at three computers situated in a row.  These students talked to each other occasionally during their stay in the lab.
• One woman got out of her chair to get the attention of the consultant.

What I learned

• Students tend to sit away from one another if they are seated near strangers.  My guess is that students want to respect the privacy and space of others if possible.
• The traffic in and out of the room corresponded to the class schedule at UW.  Several people left before 1:30 and several people arrived after 1:20 pm.
• The sign-up for the consultant is done in an orderly fashion.  One student looked for the consultant, but she learned the protocol after the consultant explained the sign-up procedure.  This study took place during the first Friday of spring quarter, so the student may have been unfamiliar with the procedure.
• Most students figured out that the person seated near the door was the lab monitor.  There were no signs indicating that this person was the lab monitor.
• When students conversed, the level of their voices was very low.  I could not tell if their conversations were about the homework or otherwise.  It did not seem that students were helping each other with homework assignments.
• The CSE 143 consultant was busy most of the time during my observation.  The average length of each tutoring session was about 4 minutes.
• Before I observed the IPL, I did not think I would get to observe too much activity.  During the observation, I was constantly taking notes on the activities and observations.