Attention Span
What a great point! 15-18 minutes is not very long. My lectures tend to be very long and intense. Once I see my students fading, I like to stop and walk around to help them one on one before going on to the next topic. Sometimes it is difficult to cut a topic/lesson short, especially when it is a intense software program. I have learned that sometimes it is better to finish, even if it is long and cover it again for those who got lost. This reinforces the advanced students learning while catching the rest of the students up.
I agree, I call this a state change
Kathleen,
You got it! This is how teaching should be done. The results that you are enjoying and the feedback that you are receiving is evidence that you have taken your college experiences and translated them into strategies to be used that will engage your students and enhance their learning experiences.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Kenneth,
Like your approach because you are using both technology as well as instructor leadership to get students engaged. This sets up some great opportunities for learning to occur.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Totally agree! I remember my days in undergraduate classes, practically falling asleep because there were too many slides, the room was dark and the teacher moved from slide to slide never engaging the students. At the end of the class we were all so tired. I would never want to do that to my students, so I have been practicing mini lectures, lots of engagement and activities. Students tell me they learn so much when the material is broken down into sizable chunks and they get to ask questions and seek clarity. Oh! The joys of teaching!
I have a class that all the students have iPads .i prepare question ahead of time and put it on there screen one every 15-20 minutes and that keeps there attention for a longer time and if I put the results on the big screen this keeps them from drifting off and make them more involved with the class.
To keep my students focused, I usually allow a 10 minute break every 55 minutes.
Regina,
Your approach is a good one in that after about 15 minutes start to fade a way so you need to introduce a change of pace or activity that will let them reset their brains. You are right that you don't need to take a physical break this frequently just do what you have proposed. Pause, ask a question, do a case study, have a small group activity, anything that provides a break in the flow of content, even for a couple of minutes then you can go back to your lecture.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
My lecture time slot is 3 hours per day, so if I were to indeed limit my lectures to 15 minutes at a time, I'd have to drastically divide up my day and take lots of breaks, thus losing time that I need to cover valuable material. As you mentioned, if it's not logical to divide up my lectures so severely, it can still be beneficial to break the monotony by asking the students a question, adding different media to my lecture, or presenting a case study.
Adam,
Right you are. Students like change of pace and variety in their instructional delivery. By providing both you are helping them to reset their brains and keep engaged for the duration of the course time.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Duffy,
I support your strategy because students as you know can only absorb so much information. By having them make application of their newly acquired knowledge after the demonstration helps them to get this critical content stored in their long term memory.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
demonstration, repetition, and re-enforcement (affirmation or praise) is a way to work through a longer studio period with complex materials and avoid the 15–18 minute drop-off with attention span.
my studio classes contain a great deal of demonstration and I find it's a good approach to demonstrate only a part of a complex assignment, set the students to working, check their progress and understanding and then return to more demonstration. long demonstrations suck the energy out of the class.
Rhonda,
Good way to read your students and make adjustments as needed. This is how you keep their interest and move the course forward.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Right. 15 minutes is not long at all. I have to admit that if I am not seeing the benefit after the first 10 minutes I try to focus on something else.
Melinda,
You are right that 15-18 minutes is not very long but if you do something like you mentioned such as walking around, pausing, raising a question or some other way of changing the flow of the class you will enable the students to reset their brains so they will be ready for the next segment. It doesn't have to be a big deal or even a break, just a simple change of pace will do.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
