Notice I said that every school seems to have an LMS; I can say from experience that many teachers just don’t bother with them. I took 4 classes this last semester and only two of them used my university’s LMS of choice: Blackboard. In one class, I was forced to use Blackboard, because it was an online class. The other class where Blackboard was being used was Geometry. However, I never once used it other than to download the syllabus for the class. My school doesn’t really force the use of Blackboard; many of my friends go to schools that do. Unfortunately for schools, students, maybe even more than teachers, just aren’t using the LMS that is available.

But who can blame the Professors?          

Could Facebook be a better way!!

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Who said New Year Resolutions could only be written before the new year begins? Well, according to WikiPedia, a New Year’s Resolution “is made in anticipation of the New Year, and new beginnings. People committing themselves to a new year’s resolution plan to do so for the whole following year”.

One resolution that I have never considered is to do work, or in my case, academic activities, in advance instead of waiting for the last minute. If there is no clear deadline, I will delay and do what I please because I am an academic procrastinator. According to a research study conducted by Flett, Hewitt, Davis & Sherry (2004), procrastination is difficult to grasp because every procrastinator exhibits different traits. Yet, it appears that our health and well-being is connected to procrastination (Ferrari, 2011) so procrastination is very serious. Our freedom is often highjacked by delaying activities because we constantly think about what we need to do. It never leaves us in peace. So why do we do postpone things and how do we stop procrastinating when it comes to instruction and learning or what is referred to as “academic procrastination?”

Briefly, what is academic procrastination, who is involved and how is it different from other kinds of procrastinations? A quick search on Google will reveal lots of information on two kinds of procrastinations: chronic and work-related. For our purposes, academic procrastination is work-related. The two are not the same because they delay different things for different reasons. For example, an academic procrastinator is either a student or teacher who delays things connected with school. Does putting things off for later make us chronic procrastinators? The answer is no. A chronic procrastinator delays everything in life most of the time as a way of life (Ferrari, 2011). On occasion, it is considered normal to delay things because they may be unpleasant to do or someone forced us to do them and we rebel (Ferrai, 2011).

There are a few suggested reasons for procrastination. Fear of failure is the key motivator Ferrari, 2011). Other reasons people delay activities are because they are “unpleasant, boring, or difficult” (Milgram, Sroff & Rosenbaum, 1988). A final motivator is the challenge of beating the clock (Ferrari, 2011). The excitement and the adrenalin that is released due to doing things at the last minute do not always work because the habit may cause anxiety that could lead, in a vicious cycle, to chronic procrastination.

As Ferrari explains, 20% of the people worldwide are chronic procrastinators. Ferrari (2011) is concerned because the number of chronic procrastinators is higher than the number of people who suffer from depression or phobias. It appears that people with chronic procrastination are less inclined to seek psychological treatment than those with anxiety, depression, or phobias.

How widespread is academic procrastination and can it become chronic? According to statistics, 75% of college students are academic procrastinators (Ferrari, 2011). That is a large number of students when you consider that 20% of those students will probably become chronic procrastinators as they transfer the habits into their personal lives (Ferrari, 2011). In short, academic procrastination is a dangerous habit that must be broken.

Time management may not be the key to dealing with the habit of academic procrastination (Ferrari, 2011). Time is relative; it generally manages us and not the other way around. We need to manage ourselves and do whatever it takes to be actively involved in doing something related or unrelated to the task that needs to be done. It may seem that we are off course, but in most cases, we are on course. In fact, we may enrich the task with our active diversions, as long as we are actively moving in the direction of the deadline. So start early, do whatever it takes to be active, and try to submit your work in advance and reward yourself with a pat on the back. Congratulations, you did it!

Ferrari, J. R. (2011, Winter). One researcher’s journey seeking the causes & consequences of chronic procrastination. Eye on Psi Chi, 15(2), 18-21.

Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., Davis, R. A., & Sherry, S. B. (2004). Counseling the procrastinator in academic settings.(pp. 181-194)Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association Schouwenburg, Henri C. (Ed); Lay, Clarry H. (Ed); Pychyl, Timothy A. (Ed); Ferrari, Joseph R. (Ed), (2004).

Milgram, N. A., Sroloff, B., & Rosenbaum, M. (1988). The procrastination of everyday life. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 197–212.

New Year’s resolution. (2011). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 3, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution

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Being the oldest child in a house filled with 5 kids is complicated. While it has its advantages, it also has some major disadvantages. I had to wait until I was 15 in order to stay up until nine at night. My 9-year-old brother has a bedtime of ten. I wasn’t allowed on Facebook until I was 16.  My brothers got to join when they were 14. I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 16 either. And to top that off, it was a Tracfone. The same younger brother I mentioned earlier? He has a Droid Incredible. Now at 19 years old, I finally have an iPhone 4. But I’m not complaining, the majority of college students have the same phone.

My discovery of SIRI

Actually, most college kids probably have an iPhone 4S by this time. Back before I got my new phone, I had almost convinced myself to wait until Apple released their new phone. When the 4S model was released, I was glad I didn’t. That is, until I saw Siri. According to Apple’s website, this software “lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more…Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back.” Everything about the software seems incredibly convenient.

Unfortunately, it still wouldn’t be helpful when I’m trying to secretly text in class…

My university is trying to keep up with technology. Most classrooms have smart boards, projectors, and anything else that you might find in a modern day college setting. We even use these hand-held devices called ResponseCards to participate in class discussion and quizzes. Since most people now have a smart phone, I’m left to wonder, why don’t more schools just create a universal app that can be used for everything that a ResponseCard does and more? Why doesn’t Siri have this capability? A classroom enveloped with the use of voice recognition technology sounds perfect.

Just Imagine…

You’re taking a course and at the moment, your professor is lecturing on a certain subject. During his lecture, he asks a question and pauses for you to answer it. At this point, everyone takes out his or her phones. On the screen will be the question that the professor just asked and then all you have to do is speak into your phone to answer the question. This allows everyone to participate, even the shy students. Because of this, it would let the professor to see who is truly grasping the material and who still needs work.  Sure, we can do this with our interactive response systems and some professors are even using things like Twitter or polls in virtual classrooms like WizIQ, but when we can just use the phones we all carry and just naturally speak answers to the questions that our phones recognize from a lecture, we’ll lose what feels so contrived about questions embedded in PowerPoints.

WHAT???  The software is trained gradually like a child!!

As voice recognition technology (VRT) advances, it will obviously become more widespread. It has far outgrown just the “discrete” speech style it used to be. “The older technology…operates by requiring that the user speak one – word – at – a – time.”

VRT continues to become more intelligent as you “train” it. Much like a young child, “the software ‘learns’ when you correct its mistakes.” Now going back to our university example, imagine if there were an app that all universities used specifically just for the sake of education: its technology would end up being one of the smartest around. Voice recognition can be used anywhere, not just in a higher education setting. In fact, there is new software called “Watch Me! Read.” The software listens to a kid using voice recognition, all the while giving help with pronunciation and comprehension.

It probably won’t be Siri that ends up being the voice recognition software of choice for education. All smart phones do have the ability to recognize voices, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if competing apps started to be released. Whether young or old, whether in a formal classroom or learning online, voice recognition on phones and just voice recognition in general will be a key part of the future of learning. Siri has set the bar so high for ease of use and natural language processing, especially on devices where lots of typing doesn’t make sense, that it’s only a matter of time.

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