Observations at the SEEK building (Midway)

Upon reaching the SEEK building (midway building), you notice that it’s a rather small place. When reaching the floor where the SEEK office is located, the first thing you see is a collage. A very colorful collage that seems to be made by the SEEK students. It’s promotes family, and that diversity is welcome to that site. There is a small window next to the collage. This window has bars on it, making it seem like you’re in some soft of jail, or a constricted place. Below the window are extremely comfortable chairs that students may sit in. Next to these is a table with flyers and pamphlets with information for the students. There are also boards with more information on student academics. Reaching the office, everything is very small. The cubicles seem to be too small for the workers to work comfortably. There is a small area with chairs so students are able to sit and wait, but the lighting in this area is terrible and it seems more like a place where one can sit and grieve about their dead cat. They also have a TV where information is to play, but it wasn’t even on. The staff is very nice and helpful, assisting whenever you need help and going you additional information when needed.

-Eunice

[Observations on other places are currently missing and will be posted as soon as possible]

My observations at the learning center by Katherine Culajay

In order for students to success academically it is necessary to have a complete support from their college. Last week, I went to the learning center with the objective to observe how the technology on it helps students to get their work done. When I entered the room I noticed that there were like three or four students waiting on a line to get a computer with internet. Then, I noticed that even though the room doesn’t seem divided, actually it is because the last sections from the computer’s lines are the ones with internet and the first ones are the ones without internet. Also, the room is small and it does not give too much space to students to be comfortable. Sometimes when the learning center is full with students it is a problem for printing because since everyone is printing, not every paper comes out really fast and students have to wait for a while in order to receive their documents from the printer machine. Finally, I noticed that a large amount of students prints papers that are 6 or more pages long, this means that City tech may need to think about giving more paper to students so that they don’t have to be worrying about the amount of sheets that they have been printed.

Wi-Fi is another of the tools that help students to success academically, however even though city tech said that they provide free Wi-Fi most of the time is really hard to have Wi-Fi in our phone, iPod or computer. In order to make the observation about Wi-Fi I tried to get on the internet on my phone. First I downloaded the application from the app store but when I was about sign in with my email account they didn’t let me because of a “technological problem”. The next day I tried again and it worked out, however the internet was very slow and sometimes it closed the pages for me without any reason. As we can see, technology is an issue that needs to be resolved in city tech so that students can have the chance to do their work while they are on campus or waiting for the next class.

My observation at the Library by Sophonie Audain

In the library at City Tech located in the 4th floor in the Namm building I observe that they don’t have too many computers. The limit time each student should get is 45 minutes in the computer. They have a second floor in the City Tech library, they don’t really have that much computers. Most of the computers that City Tech has are Dells. Dells computers isn’t really the best name brand computers, sometime they are really slow. City Tech is a college of technology I thought they would have Apple computers. City Tech library have more books then computers. City Tech library also have copy printer and scalars, in the copy printer you have to buy a card for a dollar to use the printer plus you have to put 10 cent in the card every time you want to make a copy of something. The scalars are free; a student could scale every time they want.

I think they should give student at City Tech more time in the computers. They have only two printer machines in the library. Each student only could print 25 pages per day, if a student wants more they have to pay extra money. The internet service is ok, I like how they have a City Tech library website to look for books and search for articles. They also provide the student with references from the articles and books they was looking for. City Tech library don’t have a plug wire for phone or laptops. It would be hard for students to charge their phones or their laptop. I think the library is the most important element for students because that the place a student could find the sources they need for exams and essays. I think City Tech library should have a plug wire. Students would need a wire to plug their phone or laptop in case of an emergency.

My observation in the computer lab at the Seek building by Cristian Cortes

When looking at City Techs accessibility with technology being it is a technology school we really have a lot to look at. There are far too many computer labs or classroom with computers provided in them. There’s Wi-Fi provided in the school that may be troubling to get a hold of. Even though there are many computer labs not many are known of. Not every student actually knows about all of the computer labs or different services that City Tech provides. Not even myself I don’t know all of the services just yet.

I went ahead to check out the Seek computer lab on the fourth floor. It looks pretty small compared to the computer lab in the atrium in the main building. Although it did provide a good amount of computers or students it could be a little bigger. It is of course for Seek students and there are not many seek students which would make sense into why there would be few computers. It is very peaceful and seems useful to use and get work done in a productive manner. I would really recommend anybody to go ahead and check out the Seek computer lab. I will be checking it out and doing my homework there a lot more often.

As I walk through the hallways of City Tech on a daily basis, I’ve noticed that it’s atmosphere doesn’t necessarily promote happiness/well-being for its students. The colors of the walls aren’t associated with energy; neither do the lights. I believe that us students need more enthusiastic colors, in other words, brighter colors that will keep us motivated in a way, and in a good mood at the same time. We need colors that will combine to increase the level of happiness and positive energy in the students and in the building, in general. I personally think orange will be a good candidate for the colors that can be used to brighten up people’s spirits in CIty Tech.
It is believed that the color orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. These are all key terms that are very important, because they all have to do with success, which is the main reason why we are all attending college in the first place. These are things that will definitely make one’s college experience better than what it is right now. Not many students are satisfied with the hallways’ atmosphere in City Tech. To prove that, a survey will be given out to at least 30 students to find out what can be done to make student’s college experience better while attending City Tech.
—> Gildaira Saladin.

My group’s research project is the Architectural Structure and how that impacts the student’s ability to learn as well as their happiness involving the school’s structure. While observing the hallways, Ive seen that it partially promotes happiness but most of the time it doesn’t. The colors of the hallways and classrooms can be a big impact on a student’s enthusiasm in attending school and wanting to learn. It’s very dull for a school and doesn’t seem to be motivating. The elevators are also a big issue since most of the time they seem to overcrowded and most students arrive late to class. The fact that there are 3/4 elevators working when there can be 6 could be something that could decrease lateness. Although there are stairs, they don’t seem to be very much of an option for certain students.
One way we’ll approach these situations is by using the surveys and maybe even getting some feedback on what should or would be better to help improve the well-being and happiness of a student throughout the hallways.
—> Eloina Ballinas.

My group has been observing the hallways because we have been researching how architectural structure promotes happiness. We observed that the hallways are very spacious which means that there is a lot of room for students to get by to their classes. There is also a vending machine in almost all of the floors which is very important for students especially when they would like to get a break from class and get a little snack. In some hallways there are three different types of garbage which seems like the school cares about the environment, and the health of students. There are signs that tell the students and staff the room numbers of each side of the hallways. Most importantly there is a lot of signs for events that is happening at campus which is very helpful to interact with others.
Although there might be a lot of positive architectural structures there are many things that the school lacks that would make it a better place to promote well-being. For example there is a lack of outlets. We couldn’t find any on the hall ways or any in the atrium hallways as well. I expected to see more outlets than usual because it is a technology college. The Wi-Fi is a huge issue in general. We have no idea why it is, but it’s been working according to plan. Unfortunately a very important building has been taken down and now students do not have a sports team or a place to socialize more than usual.
—> Ivan Martinez.

Observations (Wesley)

Our research topic is socialization within city tech. What I’ve observed is that most interaction in general creates happiness and smiles. Most people who were eating or listening to their music seemed content. I also noticed that the art work on the walls sparked positive conversation. I found the room that produced the most joy was the room with the ping prong table as well as the pool table. Most of the socialization in that room created roars of laughter.

In one of the quieter lounges I noticed someone sleeping on one of the couches, I also noticed two students using a lap top to play music on a low volume. On the bottom floor of the atrium there were students playing guitar, expressing themselves  through an art form. There was also a higher volume down on this floor. There were people eating, laughing and conversing all around this area.

After observing these areas and rooms at city tech we proceeded to hand out surveys we created relating to them. On our second day returning to the ping pong room it seemed much more lively than the last time we had observed. The pool table had a crowd of people watching and a long waiting list to match it.

Observations (Diana)

     My group went to the atrium, the room where ping pong is played on the fourth floor , a room on the second floor and another part of the atrium. We went to these places because they are all social spaces where people go to interact, as well as do work. People usually go to the atrium to do work between classes, people can also do work in the other places we visited, but what I found was that in the room with the ping pong table more people were playing than doing work.

     A few of the place that we went to were quiet while others were loud. There seemed to be more people sitting in groups doing work than people who were alone. Also there were not a lot of place to charge your phone or laptop except in one place. This can be a big  inconvenience for students, making it difficult to get work done in those areas. This can discourage people from doing work in those place and can cause them to go somewhere else that might be crowded.

Some of the places that we went to were cold which can make it difficult for students to focus and get work done. Other places had very little sitting or tables to do work. Things like this can be a big inconvenience because it can cause students to go to place that are already packed, making it uncomfortable to interact with one another. Which can then affect how happy people are over all in the school.

Moving forward which this project for future research we can take pictures of the places that we go to and add that into our project to show people what it is that we are talking about. Some people may not have had the chance to go to these places yet so it can be useful. It will also be easier when we speak about things to have a visual.

Another thing that can be done is we can go back to the places that we went to and observe them again, this time based on the diversity and the cultures of the student body at City tech. We can observe the languages spoken, the food that is eaten and the interactions among in these places. We can also research the different programs occurring in these places that pertain to studies.

Observations （Fenfang）

     For our group project, we worked on how the socializing areas affect people’s happiness at City Tech. These places include the lounges, cafeteria, atrium, etc. We went to many of these settings and conduct some observations at these places.

     The first place that we went to is the school cafeteria. In the cafeteria, we observed that the cafeteria is not only a place that students can eat there, it is also a place that students use it to do many other things. For example, there were some students studying quietly; there were lots of interactions and conversation, so it seemed that the cafeteria is pretty noisy; I could see that there are people eating, and there were different kinds of food are available. In the aspect of the environment of the cafeteria, it seemed that it’s okay. Actually, there are many garbage cans and vending machines, the floor is pretty clean, but some of the tables are a little bit dirty. The ceiling is pretty nice because the design of it is special. However, it would be better if the cafeteria has some water fountains . Also, the light in the cafeteria is dim.

     Another place that we visited is the ping pong room on 4th floor, which is next to the library.  We could see that  there are also many interactions. Students seemed happy with playing the activities of ping pong and table tennis. On the 6th Floor Atrium, we could see that people are so relaxed. They  were sitting there playing cellphones, talking. We observed that there is also a phone station there and few pictures with frames hanging on the wall. This can be considered as a part of art. Compared to the previous 4th Floor Atrium and 6th Floor Atrium, 2nd floor lounge room is quieter. There are few tables and chairs. Some people study there.  There are also many fliers in that room. That would allow students to know about the current events.

     The Ground Floor Atrium can count as the most interesting Atrium. It is also can be called as the Atrium Amphitheater. There are lots of interactions too. Some people were reading, some were eating, some were having group discussion. The interesting part at this place is there are few students playing guitar. This activity add much flavor to the Atrium Amphitheater. The chairs and seats have different color, this made there such a “colorful” Atrium.

From the observations, these socializing areas contribute a big part to the student life in City Tech. I learned that these places provide lot of chances for the students to have socializations with others. Also, it is a good idea to have these atrium areas on most of the floors. That allows people to find a place to take a rest easier. Even though these places can provide a comfortable environment to the students, there is still a need to improve and make them even better.

(Revised Nov. 29th)