Adult attention span
Your curriculum and your quiz are questionable with regards to attetion span. In your curriculum You indicated 10-12 minutes but on the quiz the answer was 15-18 minutes. can you please let me know what your answer should be.
Manuel,
Good strategy. This way you are going to keep the students engaged throughout the course.
Gary
I also find that attentions span is more around 10 minutes. So, I am constantly trying to find ways to refocus their attentions. By varying teaching styles keeps them on their toes.
Sandy,
You raise a good question about the ability to recall information in our instant media culture. There are several research projects underway to try and answer that question. To date, there is speculation that students are able to recall information but don't work as hard at it due to the availability of information via technology. I think over the next few years we will develop more understanding of "digital natives" and their recall abilities. I have been researching the use of the different intelligences identified by Howard Gardner and how they impact the ability of individuals to recall information. Hope to do some research blending with other universities that are doing similar work. Long response with not concrete answer but stay tuned because it is being worked on.
Gary
In the research, it seems to indicate that attention spans in adults was longer years ago. For speaking, Jeff Davidson states that attention span to listen to speakers is only 7 minutes. The average continuous concentrated attention span of an literate adult is 8 seconds and the average GENERAL attention span is in the 10-12 minute range. This does not seem to bode well for class lectures when more than 8 seconds of concentrated attention is necessary.
The BBC reported that Ted Selker, an expert in the online equivalent of the body language studies at MIT states that "...as humans flit from web to web or topic to topic we get into a habit of not concentrating..."and people respond to sound or visual bites of information without any depth of understanding. http://news.bbc.co.uk.
This is certainly a thought for us to consider. Since students of today are truly engaged in the instant media, it makes one wonder just how "tuned in" students truly are to class lectures. With the decreasing attention span is there any correlation to the decreased ability to recall information that whas been shared?
Just wondering
Sandy Gecewicz
I think an instructor is lucky to be able to keep their attention span 15-18 minutes. I've noticed it to be closer to 10 minutes but maybe that is our students.
Hi John,
Good question. In reviewing the content there ways a typo in the content section. The correct answer on the quiz should be 15-18 minutes just as you listed.
Sorry about any confusion that was created. Thank you for pointing this out so it can be corrected.
Gary
