I discovered this phenomena this week while teaching. I then asked students the following question:
"What is one of the greatest challenges to learning, you face in any of your classes"?
Silence . . .
I offered: Concentration, and specifically, endurance. Can you focus for a full 75 minutes on your learning, in all your classes? Without distraction? But, is it neccessary to focus on any one thing or activity for a lengthy long period of time? What happened to day-dreaming? I think, most people are misled to believe that multi-tasking is important to live in today's society. I am suggesting to my students that mono-tasking is the key to success. Instead of trying to do many things at once, focus on doing one thing the best!
I try to engage my students in many activities in my daily classes. I encourage them to think while idling rather than engage in conversation with a friend or gravitate, as in, "go to their phones". It's challenging for them to develop endurance. Really, that's what it's all about. When we begin the school year in September, students should continue to add time to their concentration endurance, striving to stay on task by thinking about extensions, connections, experimenting on other related or even un-related themes, instead of entering another moment of distraction. It's called "situational" learning. You make decisions based on the moment and activity. How can you make the best decision when one is distracted by others or a phone?
In addition, once a student is distracted, it takes added time to bring them back to the "game"! That's the additional challenge. I know that socializing and discussing ideas with friends is equally important; but, I'm not convinced that students actually discuss learning when they search for a break in the moment.
Yes, we all need a balance between work and play, and I'm sure that studies indicate that it's healthy to work a bit and relax for a bit. But, I observe that most students lose so much time and waste so much time daily that they throw away possibilities to increase learning, skill development and understanding; they throw away time to appreciate the depth and breadth of possibilities. I asked my students to consider developing their endurance to focus daily in all their classes; not only will their mark improve because they are more attentive to details, but their appreciation and more will improve. Moreover, with this type of focus for this amount of time that I am suggesting, at the end of the day, you should be exhausted! Further, be responsible and come to every class with goals that you wish to accomplish. Instead of waiting for the instructor to "edutain" you! Am I realistic to believe that students should aim to develop a high degree or high level of focus for an appropriate length of time? Perhaps. But I do believe that multi-tasking and distractions to interfere with accomplishing more and more. Bye for now.
