One book I have put on my summer reading list for a re-read is Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It. e-book (On Order for IU Library), physical copies are available.
The book is written by James M. Lang, a Professor of English and the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College in Worcester, MA. and author of the books, Small Teaching (https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/
Every educator, from kindergarten teachers to graduate and undergraduate schoolteachers, struggles with reducing distraction in the classroom. Lang bases his text on the premise that learning occurs in three interdependent steps: attending to a new concept, processing it, and being able to retrieve it—Lang demonstrates the interdependence of all three. Recent research sees digital devices as a major distraction for students.
This Quick Tip is a suggestion to review Chapter 3 – The Tech Ban Debate, which discusses “Prohibition Policies” that aim to stop distracted learning, especially involving the use of cellphones and laptops in the classroom . This chapter also discusses the “Anti‐Banning Side”, which makes the argument that the instructor should keep their students so engaged with the course content and learning activities (sometimes through the creative use of technology) so that there’s no time for distractions.
There is no one size fits all “right” answer, other than the innate need to incorporate engagement into the learning experience (both content engagement and human being engagement (i.e., between faculty and students and between students and students), no matter the delivery mode (see: DeBrook & Taghaboni‐Dutta, 2020 https://www.insidehighered.
Lang tackles this problem by offering strategies for students and constructive approaches and tools to encourage attentive behavior.
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