By Erica Turner

Finals week is quickly approaching, which means times of high stress are on the horizon.  Along with the struggles of exams, papers, and presentations, external pressures from significant others seem to play a significant role in anxiety.

Communication junior Travis Richards said, ”I feel like exam week puts undue stress on relationships because everyone has such high expectations for their performance that they put all other aspects of life on the back burner including, but not limited to, relationships.”

Obviously finals are a time of high stress, which affects all individuals differently.  When we encounter a stressor, a multitude of things can go on psychologically that effect our behavior, some more governing than others.  Personally, I obsess about the situation and let it dominate my mind until it is resolved.

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“I get sassy.  I isolate myself and let the little things bother me.  I also procrastinate because I have anxiety about starting all of the work I need to finish,” said Eli Broad business junior Emily Kmiec.

Procrastination is a strategy that is beyond familiar on college campuses.  However, procrastination enhances stress by causing your work to pile up and making you feel overwhelmed.

James Madison junior Shannon Conaway has a more effective method that will help to reduce stress.

“I compartmentalize, so I take one thing at a time and divide and conquer,” she said.

This strategy is helpful to avoid becoming lost in your work.  Make a list of all you have to do and then go through and complete each task in its entirety.

Special education junior Lexi Justice said her nervousness bleeds into her personal life.

“I can’t stop thinking about whatever is bothering me, and then I begin to worry about everything,” she said.  Like Justice, when many people are stressed, it overflows into their personal lives often causing unnecessary problems.

These avoidable problems can create unneeded tension in students’ lives outside of the classroom.  But how can these stressors be managed and their effects minimized?

Stress leads to irritability causing us to lash out more at others and behave in ways that wouldn’t normally.  When we do act out, those people often attribute our behavior to our rude character instead of our pressing situation.

“The biggest thing is the fundamental attribution error, [which is] attributing things to internal causes instead of external ones,” interpersonal communications professor Kelly Morrison said.

To avoid the fundamental attribution error, look at the circumstances as a whole and determine if you could be making misattributions that could negatively impact your situation, she said.

For Eli Broad business junior Emily Kmiec, the stress of her partner rubs off on to her causing additional unnecessary anxiety.

“It makes me stressed, and I want to help because it feels terrible to be stressed because there’s nothing you can do,” she said.

Personally, I fall victim to what author of The 14 Day Stress Cure Morton Orman, calls ‘Kicking-your-seeing-eye-dog.’

Morton says, “[this is a] pattern whereby you try to change or mold your partner into someone who thinks, feels, and acts just like you do.”

However, trying to change your partner or having unrealistic expectations is not something that is going to benefit your relationship in the long run.

For Justice, running is her stress reliever.

Morrison suggests managing stress by getting more sleep and participating in either yoga or meditation.  She says these hobbies can provide the quiet time you need to handle your situation, without the risk of injury.

Morrison points out that so rarely with all of the various technologies are we separated from the stressors of our lives.  With iPhones, Blackberrys, e-mail and other forms of instant communication, we are constantly connected with work and school with no downtime in-between.

For Kmiec, relying on her friendships to manage her stress is key.

“Confiding in my friends helps to manage my stress by hearing the opinions of the people who are important in my life,” she said.

Talking with friends about stress is a technique Morrison defines as self-disclosure.

“Self-disclosure tends to relieve stress and facilitate mental health, so talking to someone is typically a good idea.  This could be a good friend, a parent, partner, or certainly talking to someone at counseling services on campus,” Morrison said.

Communication junior Travis Richards said, “I divert my stress away from my girlfriend and confide in outside sources in order to avoid putting unnecessary stress on the relationship.”

Shannon Conaway submerges herself in her work in order to ease the anxiety associated with stress, which gives her less time to devote to her partner.

Conaway says, “When I’m stressed, I have less time [for my boyfriend] because I’m too busy with homework.”

However, limiting face-to-face contact with your significant other could be counterproductive because of the insufficient emotional reactions of interacting by the means of technology.

“When you’re online, you’re less likely to empathize because of online empathy deficits,” Morrison says. When you are unable to see the reactions of your behaviors, you’re more likely to act in destructive ways.

By cutting your partner out, you are also losing a valuable support system that can help you through your stressful experience.

So, during this time of approaching angst, try to take Kelly Morrison’s advice by being open-minded and understanding of your partner and look for relaxing alternative outlets to channel your stress.  It could save you relationship, or at the very least help you to avoid a few miscommunications.

The United States Justice Department is working to improve the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to accommodate the needs of disabled persons by updating assistive communication technologies. Twenty years after the passage of the ADA, disabled students at Michigan State University are still working toward equal accommodations.

The Justice Department is holding a series of public hearings to discuss possible changes to Titles II and III of the ADA.  The four major topics being addressed are:

• Accessible websites for blind and visually impaired users- installing technologies that read web content to users
• Movie captioning and video description services for deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired and blind viewers
• Accessible 9-1-1 call centers for persons with disabilities- equipping dispatch centers to receive text and video messages
• Accessible public equipment and furniture for the disabled

Photo credit: Jenna Chabot

John Shumway, a communication technology senior and the president of the MSU Council for Students with Disabilities (CSD), would like to see the changes occur, but is unsure of how the public will react since they will come at a price for businesses.

“In our culture, we look at the immediate gratification not the long term benefits; but in the long term they [businesses] are going to have to revamp their websites and move up technology anyway,” he said.  “It’s shoving them towards the inevitable, but this way it has the government stamp on it.”

In regard to the descriptive technology proposed for movie theaters, Shumway said, “It’s a catch-22.  I think it would disrupt the movie because you’re watching the movie while the device is describing it to you, but the movie is going to go on to another scene. I like the direction the government is going, but there are some things you can’t change without wrecking it.”

MSU Disability Resources

Shumway, a visually and mobility impaired individual, is one of the approximately 1200 students that are registered with the MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD) each year.  The RCPD provides services to students including: accessible textbooks, alternative testing, housing accommodations, alternative transportation, note-taking assistance, assistive technology, classroom accommodations, and other accommodations listed here.  MSU began accommodating disabled students in 1933, decades before there were laws in place requiring universities to do so.

“The RCPD often entertains visitors from other universities,” said Stephen Blosser, the RCPD Assistive Technology Specialist.  “We have been accommodating students for a long time, and universities just getting started look to us as experts.”

Blosser works with students to provide them with assistive software and textbooks, among other tools.  He explained that more than 70 volunteers work at the RCPD to help create alternative format textbooks in a process that requires cutting the binding and individually scanning pages into a computer. Volunteers spend most of their time editing the books by describing captions, charts and pictures that the software can’t pick up on.

“This type of work needs to be done by the publishers,” Blosser said.  “It is our hope at the Assistive Technology Center (ATC), to convince publishers to provide materials ready to go.”

Stephanie Forton, an athletic training sophomore, is also a student registered with the RCPD with a visual impairment.  She used large print and pdf formatted textbooks last year in her IAH class.  She has found the textbooks helpful, and one reason she chose to attend MSU was because of the RCPD.

“The fact that the RCPD director has a visual impairment, and that my specialist has a similar condition as I do, makes me feel like they better understand what I need,” Forton said.

Challenges Remain

Joe Stramondo, a bioethics, political philosophy and disability studies bioethics graduate student, is also registered with the RCPD and is a member of the CSD.

“Barriers to communication technology for me have less to do with the technology itself and more to do with the positioning of it because of my mobility disability,” Stramondo explained.

Currently, the ADA requires accommodations to be made mainly in regard to physical space, such as wheelchair ramps and curb cuts.  The proposed changes are taking the law a step further, but Stramondo still faces some problems with the existing law.  The ADA requires new space to be accessible, but until buildings are renovated, he still doesn’t have equal access to certain areas such as Spartan Stadium.

Stramondo, who described himself as a “huge Spartan football fan” sits on a platform to view the games which he said “doesn’t have nearly enough space.”

“The season ticket holders get to sit in front and the platform isn’t tiered, so everyone else gets pushed behind them.” said Stramondo. “It’s frustrating.”

Shumway and Stramondo, both residents of Owen Hall, have similar concerns about some of the equipment in the building.  There are a number of computer kiosks in the lobby for residents that are raised and require the user to sit on high stools.  One of the computers is lowered for easy access for wheelchair users.

“Everyone uses it now because it’s easy to get to.  People with disabilities hardly get to use it, but that’s how the law is.  You cannot make something specifically for the disabled because that’s segregating.  Everyone wants to use it because it’s easier,” Shumway said.

Shumway described a similar problem with the washing machines in Owen Hall that were made accessible for the disabled.  “Everyone wants to use them because they are newer,” he said.

Attitudes toward the disabled are another obstacle faced by many students that cannot be changed with any kind of government policy.

“I think that when you’re a person with a disability, you experience attitudes that are taught to folks without disabilities and folks with disabilities that are built into our culture every day, and it’s impossible to create a policy to change that.” said Stramondo. “It’s really about culture shift.”

The ADA was established in 1990 and prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantees equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.

The RCPD is located in 120 Bessey Hall on the MSU campus and is open Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.

Students use their laptops in class (photo credit: Brett Ekblad.)

Clacking keys, scrolling party pictures and alluring wireless Internet on the laptop of the person in front of you quickly draws attention away from the professor and his oh-so-interesting explanation of igneous rock. In a class of hundreds of students, Facebook stalking will go completely unnoticed. And when the people around you start flicking through pictures of their weekends and trips to Europe, the small voice of one’s subconscious asks, “When will you ever need to know the life cycle of a rock?”

Laptops are becoming a constant presence in college classrooms, but are they becoming a distraction that hinders learning in a college course? Educators from MSU and beyond have a variety of opinions about whether laptops are learning tools or simply their competition.

In the digital age, students must know how to use the technology around them. Assistant statistics professor Jennifer Kaplan feels that laptops have much to offer a college classroom.

“Honestly, I could do a whole lot more with class if students were required to bring laptops,” Kaplan said. With advancing technology, class time would be much better spent using the statistic software available.

By using these resources, Kaplan explained that students would be able to have a more hands-on experience.

Elementary education teacher Jane Cagwin explained that the upbringing of children affects how they learn. Children are receiving less verbal stimulation while developing, requiring a more sensory learning experience in later years.

“Smartboards and other touch screen devices bring in the sense of touch when learning,” Cagwin said. “The more sensory systems engaged when information is taught, the more likely the students will retain the information.”

Laptops in the classroom engage students’ sense of touch and sight, making it easier to retain and understand the information being taught for sensory students.

The presence of laptops can also better classroom communication, leading to better understanding.

One professor at the University of Michigan found a unique use for instant messaging. Kaplan explained that this professor opened a chat room between the students and the teaching assistant. This allowed students to type questions to the TA during the lecture, in order to clarify confusing concepts.

Despite the convenience that laptops provide, they can also create many problems. Some students cannot resist the temptation of the Internet. They attempt to take part in multiple activities such as checking Facebook and answering emails while listening to the lecture.

“We as adults think that we are doing more when we multitask,” Cagwin said. However, she explains that the human brain focuses best on one topic at a time.

“Less focused attention leads to less information stored in our long term memory,” Cagwin said.

Senior education major Melissa Byl said multitasking is harmful in a classroom.

“As a teacher, allowing multitasking is ‘asking for it,’” Byl said, explaining that the “it” means “not being able to focus on the task at hand.” Without one’s full attention on the lesson, a student cannot get the full potential out of the class.

On the other hand, public relations doctoral student Thomas Isaacs explained that regulating laptops only creates a student-vs-professor attitude.

Some classes are full of laptops, for note-taking or otherwise (photo credit: Abby Herber).

Isaacs encourages students who wish to surf the web during class to sit at the back of the class where no other students will be distracted. Isaacs explained that, although he has a large class, it is important to maintain a class discussion to keep students engaged.

However, Kaplan feels like laptops aren’t the root of the issue.

“The students who are paying attention to something else on a laptop wouldn’t be listening to me anyways,” Kaplan said.

Therefore, these professors must find other ways to encourage students to pay attention and use laptops for beneficial purposes only. As Kaplan walks up and down the center aisle of the class, she warns students that anyone caught on Facebook will be playfully ridiculed.

With the size and the variety of college courses, regulating laptop use is hard to do.

“For me, most of my classes are smaller, so it’s frowned upon,” studio art junior Stephanie Luscombe said.

Students must decide whether the money they are paying for the class is worth paying a little attention. So as your professor continues his monologue, which will win your attention: a rock or the photos of your friend’s boyfriend’s cousin cliff-diving off the coast of Mexico?