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Ryan Archer

The Distracted Classroom - The Chronicle of Higher Education - 1 views

www.chronicle.com/...239446

distraction classroom management teaching

shared by Ryan Archer on 26 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • Distraction occurs, the authors argue, when we are pursuing a goal that really matters and something blocks our efforts to achieve it.
  • They argue that distraction actually arises from a conflict between two fundamental features of our brain: our ability to create and plan high-level goals versus our ability to control our minds and our environment as we take steps to complete those goals.
  • cognitive control abilities
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Our cognitive control is really quite limited: We have a restricted ability to distribute, divide, and sustain attention; actively hold detailed information in mind; and concurrently manage or even rapidly switch between competing goals."
  • while older adults can fully retain their ability to focus their attention, their capacity to block out irrelevant distractions diminishes with age.
  • That’s one reason why older adults may have more trouble concentrating on a conversation in a crowded restaurant than younger people.
  • What goal had I established for Kate’s learning that day? How had I created an environment that supported her ability to achieve that goal? And perhaps most important — assuming that the class had a learning goal that mattered for her — did she know about it?
  • The more powerful the goals we establish for ourselves, and the more we feel ownership over those goals, the more we are able to pursue them in the face of both internal and external distractions.
  • Most of us can shut out distractions when we are pursuing something that really matters to us.
  • Who creates them? How much do they matter? And how well do students understand them?
mardimichels

Digital overload: How we are seduced by distraction - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...article17725778

technology

shared by mardimichels on 30 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • mardimichels on 30 Mar 14
     
    Are you seduced by digital distractions? (Um, aren't we all?!)
garth nichols

Why I'm Asking You Not to Use Laptops - Lingua Franca - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher... - 3 views

chronicle.com/...-asking-you-not-to-use-laptops

Laptops EdTech

shared by garth nichols on 05 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • On the first day of class, students and I spend the first 30-40 minutes learning something new about how language works (in order to set the tone for the class), and then we go over the syllabus. When we get to the laptop policy, I pause and say, “Let me tell you why I ask you generally not to use laptops in class.” And here’s the gist of what I say after that:
  • First, if you have your laptop open, it is almost impossible not to check email or briefly surf the Internet, even if you don’t mean to or have told yourself that you won’t. I have the same impulse if I have my laptop open in a meeting. The problem is that studies indicate that this kind of multitasking impairs learning; once we are on email/the web, we are no longer paying very good attention to what is happening in class. (And there is no evidence I know of that “practice” at doing this kind of multitasking is going to make you better at it!)
  • Now I know that one could argue that it is your choice about whether you want to use this hour and 20 minutes to engage actively with the material at hand, or whether you would like to multitask. You’re not bothering anyone (one could argue) as you quietly do your email or check Facebook. Here’s the problem with that theory: From what we can tell, you are actually damaging the learning environment for others, even if you’re being quiet about it. A study published in 2013 found that not only did the multitasking student in a classroom do worse on a postclass test on the material, so did the peers who could see the computer. In other words, the off-task laptop use distracted not just the laptop user but also the group of students behind the laptop user. (And I get it, believe me. I was once in a lecture where the woman in front of me was shoe shopping, and I found myself thinking at one point, “No, not the pink ones!” I don’t remember all that much else about the lecture.)
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  • In addition, I can find your multitasking on a laptop a bit distracting as the instructor because sometimes you are not typing at the right times; I am not saying anything noteworthy and yet you are engrossed in typing, which suggests that you are doing something other than being fully engaged in our class. And that distracts my attention.
  • There’s also the issue of the classroom environment. I like to foster a sense of conversation here, even in a class of 100 students. If you are on a laptop, I and your peers are often looking at the back of your computer screen and the top of your head, rather than all of us making eye contact with each other. Learning happens best in a classroom when everyone is actively engaged with one another in the exchange of information. This can mean looking up from your notes to listen and to talk with others, which means you may need to make strategic decisions about what to write down. Note-taking is designed to support the learning and retention of material we talk about in class; note-taking itself is not learning. And speaking of what you choose to write down …
  • A study that came out in June—and which got a lot of buzz in the mainstream press—suggests that taking notes by hand rather than typing them on a laptop improves comprehension of the material. While students taking notes on a laptop (and only taking notes—they were not allowed to multitask) wrote down more of the material covered in class, they were often typing what the instructor said verbatim, which seems to have led to less processing of the material. The students taking notes by hand had to do more synthesizing and condensing as they wrote because they could not get everything down. As a result, they learned the material better.* I think there is also something to the ease with which one can create visual connections on a handwritten page through arrows, flow charts, etc.
  • I figure it is also good for all of us to break addictive patterns with email, texting, Facebook, etc. When you step back, it seems a bit silly that we can’t go for 80 minutes without checking our phones or other devices. Really, for most of us, what are the odds of an emergency that can’t wait an hour? We have developed the habit of checking, and you can see this class as a chance to create or reinforce a habit of not checking too.
  • Of course, if you need or strongly prefer a laptop for taking notes or accessing readings in class for any reason, please come talk with me, and I am happy to make that work. I’ll just ask you to commit to using the laptop only for class-related work.
  • garth nichols on 05 Jan 15
     
    Why we need a balanced approach to the use of computers in the classroom. This is a great partner-piece to Clay Shirky's from 2014...
jenkinsmg77

Review of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance - Scientific American Blog Network - 1 views

blogs.scientificamerican.com/...er-of-passion-and-perseverance

passion perseverance

shared by jenkinsmg77 on 15 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • exclusive focus on ability and potential can distract us from the importance of other variables important for success
  • focus on talent distracts us from something that is at least as important, and that is effort"
    • jenkinsmg77
      jenkinsmg77 on 15 Oct 16
       
      Authors and work to follow up on here.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • , Brent Roberts has done a lot of work on "conscientiousness", Robert Vallerand has down a lot to advance our understanding of passion (both its "harmonious" and "obsessive" forms), Shane Lopez has done great deal of research on hope, and creativity researchers Joseph Renzulli and E. Paul Torrance have long discussed the importance of characteristics such as "task commitment" and "persistence".
Justin Medved

Why the war over math is distracting and futile - The Globe and Mail - 2 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...article17178295

math

shared by Justin Medved on 04 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • The big questions on today’s blackboard is how to make math relevant for tomorrow,
  • “At the beginning of the 20th century, Latin was a required subject – it was seen as fundamental,” he says, to show how, as society changes, so does what it values. “By the end of century, Latin was gone. What will mathematics be by the end of this century?”
  • Dr. Small is showing a third option for two-number multiplication when a father raises his hand and asks: “But what’s the most efficient way?”“What’s your definition of efficient?” Dr. Small responds. “I think it’s probably the calculator.”
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  • But so it goes. The one side says, “drill and kill.” The other says “drill for skill.” Basically, though, just about every mathematician and math education researcher who was interviewed for this story agrees that the perfect math class should have a mix of skills and problem solving. They just can’t agree on the amounts of each, when to add them, and what to skip.
Adam Caplan

getting teens to focus when they're on the computer - 3 views

us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=bc04df008d4705e4e77c2eb35&id=0d22f5909a&e=63c72074c2

shared by Adam Caplan on 05 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • Many a parent and teacher has despaired over how easily young people’s attention is diverted, especially when they’re online. Stay focused! we urge them. Don’t let yourself get distracted! Our admonitions have little sway against the powerful temptations of the Internet.
  • Let’s encourage teenagers to discover (maybe with the help of their peers) that the freedom and autonomy they feel when they’re at the helm of their computers is in some ways an illusion, and let’s help them develop the skeptical, critical stance that would allow them to be truly autonomous users of the Internet.
  • Although there have been some attempts to teach students “critical thinking skills” with respect to the web, too often these programs adopt a sanctimonious tone, with all the rebellious appeal of extra-credit study hall. The history of antismoking campaigns offers a potentially more effective alternative. Granted, clicking a link or posting a status update won’t give teenagers lung cancer. But the undisciplined use of technology can waste their time, fragment their focus, and interfere with their learning. Just like their health, young people’s attention is a precious resource, and they should be empowered to resist the companies that would squander it.
  • Adam Caplan on 05 Aug 14
     
    A new, teen-friendly approach to teaching critical literacy and attention dominance while on the internet. 
garth nichols

great technology requires an understanding of the humans who use it - 0 views

us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=bc04df008d4705e4e77c2eb35&id=a5ff5e74dc&e=352a91d6c3

edtech cohort21

shared by garth nichols on 17 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Clearly, MIT BLOSSOMS (the name stands for Blended Learning Open Source Science Or Math Studies) isn’t gaining fans by virtue of its whiz-bang technology. Rather, it exerts its appeal through an unassuming but remarkably sophisticated understanding of what it is that students and teachers actually need. It’s an understanding that is directly at odds with the assumptions of most of the edtech universe.
  • For example: BLOSSOMS is not “student-centered.” In its Twitter profile, the program is described as “teacher-centric”—heresy at a moment when teachers are supposed to be the “guide on the side,” not the “sage on the stage.” The attention of students engaged in a BLOSSOMS lesson, it’s expected, will be directed at the “guest teacher” on the video or at the classroom teacher leading the interactive session.
  • All this is blasphemy in view of the hardening orthodoxy of the edtech establishment. And all this is perfectly aligned with what research in psychology and cognitive science tells us about how students learn. We know that students do not make optimal choices when directing their own learning; especially when they’re new to a subject, they need guidance from an experienced teacher. We know that students do not learn deeply or lastingly when they have a world of distractions at their fingertips. And we know that students learn best not as isolated units but as part of a socially connected group. Modest as it is from a technological perspective, MIT BLOSSOMS is ideally designed for learning—a reminder that more and better technology does not always lead to more and better education.
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  • The creators of BLOSSOMS also candidly acknowledge that many teachers are threatened by the technology moving into their classrooms—and that they have reason to feel that way. Champions of educational technology often predict (with barely disguised glee) that computers will soon replace teachers, and school districts are already looking to edtech as a way to reduce teaching costs. The message to teachers from the advocates of technology is often heard as: Move aside, or get left behind.
  • Should the creators of educational technology care so much about the tender feelings of teachers, especially those inclined to stand in the way of technological progress? Yes—because it’s teachers who determine how well and how often technology is used.
  • Edtech proponents who think that technology can “disrupt” or “transform” education on its own would do well to take a lesson from the creators of BLOSSOM, who call their program’s blend of computers and people a “teaching duet.” Their enthusiasm for the possibilities of technology is matched by an awareness of the limits of human nature. 
  • garth nichols on 17 Jul 14
     
    A very important message to all who are trying to integrate Tech into their school...
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