Get Your Students Hired
There is generalization in the lecture regarding average adult attention span. Attention span can be influenced by many outside forces, family, monetary concern family issues. The best way to keep the attention span longer is to focus on the interesting activities. Your thoughts?
Benjamin,
Good way to read your students and make adjustments as needed. This way you are keeping them involved in the learning process while giving them the opportunity to "reset" their brains.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree that questions are vital. It is never boring in class if everyone is engaged. The moment the audience gets quiet, I know it's time to change topics or take a break, as I am pretty sure nobody is excited by what we are covering.
Marcellina,
I am sure you are going to like the results you get. Students like a change of pace and variety in their instructional delivery. You are providing both with this approach so I know you are going to have engaged students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have been addressing the different learning styles in class. Usually I alternate styles for various lectures. I am excited about using the increments for attention span and adding different styles during the same lecture period.
Michael,
As I teach a 6 hour class and have done so for a number of years I have come up with a lot of activities to keep my students engaged. As you know from your long session classes it takes a lot of planning and creativity to keep the class moving forward and learning occurring for the duration.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I also teach a 5 hour class. The breaks are important.
I also try to break up the class time between lectures and in my case writing code.
This section of the lesson has given me food for thought about other ways to breaking information down so the 5 hours won't seem long.
Robert,
Like your approach because this is what classroom management should be about. College students have elected to be in school and are paying money to take classes. They need to see that what is being offered is going to help them to achieve their career goals. If they chose not be attend or be success and disrupt the learning of others then they need to be removed just as you say and pursue some other career path.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree, attention span can be influenced by many outside forces. I normally want the attention of all my students in class, but I realize sometimes outside forces can detract from it, illness, family/job issues, monetary issues, etc. So I will accept a once in awhile lack of attention. If this situation continues, I will speak with the student after class to make him aware of my concern and offer my help and resources of the college.
One thing I won't tolerate is the lack of attention of one student disrupting the attention of other students or interrupting the learning process. When this situation occurs I remind the student(s) of the reason they are attending class, namely to learn and understand. If the disruption continues further, I will ask the student(s) to leave the classroom.
Alfonso,
Good way to get everyone involved in the discussions as well as contributing to the ideas being brought up in class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree. Keep asking questions related to the topics being covered and call the students at random. If a students asks a question, solicit answers from the other students before you agree or disagree with the different answers given.
Thomas,
Visual connections to content are important and you are doing such through your visual aids. The more senses that can be used in the learning process the higher the retention rate is going to be of the content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
visual aids to me are a better way to learn the material you are presenting to the class. this way they can see touch and move the piece and understand the workings of it. this gives a better understanding on the function of it and why it is needed in certain applications
James,
This is very true. We as educators need to keep looking for those engagement points along the way so we can keep their interest over the class session. Change of pace and variety are two ways to keep the students focused on the class. I agree I think it is a good pun and it made me smile.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I try to get the students to answer questions embedded in the powerpoints, look up the answer and announce the result to the class.
I tend to think that we focus better on things that we "like" more. A film might be 3 hours long, and someone can be fully engaged. Attention also needs to be narrowed to gain max knowledge. (didn't mean for the pun, but pretty good)
Is there research out there that supports the experience of, even using a variety of different learning techniques students usually need a buffer period before being able to focus again?
Michael,
It is an effective methods plus you can get some great discussions going around the questions you ask.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Shiketheia,
The more senses you use the more engagement you will have. Good plan to follow. I wish you continued teaching success with this approach.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Tony,
I teach from 4 until 10 pm so I can relate to the challenge you face in keeping the course moving forward and the students focused on learning. In courses like this we need to keep changing the pace and flow of the class so the students will not shift their minds into neutral.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.