No+Ed+Tech+Not+Shortening+Attention+Span

=Introduction=

According to Wikipedia, an attention span is "the amount of time that a person can [|concentrate] on a task without becoming [|distracted]. " (Wikipedia, 2010). Everyone has an attention span that differs vastly from one person to the next as some attention spans will be longer than others. There is a great debate today over the use of technology and the shortening of our childrens' attention spans. Many argue that the use of technology, even educational technology, is keeping our kids from focusing. However, " At the same time, there is a pro-technology view of attention spans — rarer, but no less confident. Science writers like Jonah Lehrer have pointed to studies that seem to demonstrate perfectly respectable attention spans in gamers and Web users." (Heffernan, 2010).



= Is there a reason students aren't paying attention? =

=﻿ = A Duke University Professor, Cathy Davidson, wrote an article on a website entitled [|Why Doesn't Anyone Pay Attention Anymore?] In her article she states the following: "Do kids pay attention differently now? No. Because they didn't learn any other way of paying attention. Do they pay attention differently than their parents did? Probably. And their parents paid attention differently than theirs. The brain is always changed by what it does. That's how we learn, from infancy on, and that's how a baby born in New York has different cultural patterns of behavior, language, gesture, interaction, socialization, and attention than a baby born the same day in Beijing. That's as true for the historical moment into which we are born as it is for the geographical location. Our attention is shaped by all we do, and reshaped by all we do. That is what learning is. The best we can do as educators is find ways to improve our institutions of learning to help our kids be prepared for their future--not for our past. Virtually all of our current institutions of learning have evolved to prepare youth for an industrial age model of work, the assembly line or the office cubicle: sit still, don't move, come on time, do this subject then that one in order to pass this end-of-grade item-response test. Who wouldn't find video games more stimulating than a typical school day--and more relevant to the challenges and obstacles ahead? The problem is not in the students. It is in the mismatch between the way they are being taught and what they need to learn." (Davidson, 2010)

The point that Professor Davidson is trying to make is that it is not necessarily that students are not wanting to pay attention. More, it is that students pay attention "differently than their parents" and that we need to focus on the new ways of teaching to keep students attention verses the old ways that we once learned.

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The Positives of Educational Technology
Using educational technology can actually have the exact opposite effect on attention span. Rather than shortening attention span, many educators, such as Josh McHugh, believe that we can capture a student’s attention by properly using new technologies and collaborative tools. To fight against daydreaming, note passing and the variety of digital gadgets that student use to get out of work, some schools are trying to implement teaching strategies that key in on the use of technological devices. This innovation at the classroom level has shown great success with in-depth analysis of topics and heightened interaction. (McHugh, 2005) When thinking back to traditional schooling; textbooks and lectures come to mind. In these types of presentation there is a need for students to maintain a longer attention span. With new teaching styles and approaches, students are asked to interact with each other and material in different ways, causing a change in the type of attention students need. In his Edutopia blog, Milton Chen states " I believe many students are bored and unmotivated because of the way they are being taught, with heavy reliance on reading textbooks, memorizing facts and figures, and listening to lectures, over and over. This is the traditional world of black-and-white learning from the 1950s that persists today, literally, black text on white pages or white chalk on blackboards. It's how I went to school. Technology in its many forms is showing how teaching and learning can paint with a much broader palette of colors, from images and music to games, simulations, wikis, and many others, any time, any place, on laptops, desktops, and smartphones." As one professor points out, "Their short attention spans ... are [only] for the old ways of learning." In an example of recognizing the need for change, the BBC has been given 350 million dollars from the British government to develop a digital curriculum. (Prensky, 2007).

Students do get distracted, but is that really something new? Think back to when you were in school; for most of you, cell phones and computers were not factors. Did you pay attention to every moment of every lecture? Very doubtful. We talked with our neighbors or we passed notes or we just gazed out the window. Why should students of today really be any different? Answers.com stated that the average adult can attend to a task for 15 to 20 minutes, so how can we expect children to sit through an hour-long lectrue? According to John Martin, students learn most when the learning involves projects involving technology; therefore, it is vital that we, as educators, use this statistic to our benefit. However, if we are going to use technology in the classroom, we must use it effectively. It should not be use for entertainment to simply replace teaching. According to edutopia.com, classroom technology should meet the following criteria: " In particular, it must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts. Effective technology integration is achieved when the use of technology is routine and transparent and when technology supports curricular goals." =Conclusion = = = Students can spend hours using technological devices that send messages, play games, and involve social networks so that proves their attention spans are not shortened. "Many often discount the motivating aspects of technology, but I say, if students are drawn to certain types of media or experiences, let's use the power of that motivation and connect learning to it." (Chen, 2010) It is our job as educators to find and use effective strategies to incorporate these technologies in the classroom so that students stay engaged. As long as we live in a digital world with technology all around us, we must learn to adapt. If students are to succeed in this global economy we must equip them with the correct tools to do so and that would be through the use of technological devices. Instead of looking at digital media as decreasing attention spans, look at it as modifying it. If we use technology to engage and connect our students not only will they focus more, but they may even think that education and learning is fun.

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 * 1) McHugh, Josh. "Connecting to the 21st-Century Student". October 2005. [] . Retrieved 12-6-10.
 * 2) Attention Span. Wikipedia. []. Retrieved 12-7-10.
 * 3) The Attention-Span Myth. Virginia Heffernan. The New York Times. 11-19-10. Retrieved 12-7-10.
 * 4) Chen, Milton. "If Technology Motivates Students, Lets Use It." 9-16-2010. [] 12-8-2010.
 * 5) Davidson, Cathy. "Why Doesn't Anyone Pay Attention Anymore?" HASTAC. 11-21-10 [] Retrieved 12-8-10.
 * 6) Prensky, Marc. "Engage Me or Enrage Me" What Today's Learners Demand." October 2007. []. Retrieved 12-9-10.
 * 7) [|Wiki Answers]retrieved on 12.9.10.
 * 8) Martin, John. [|"Technology to Engage,not Distract."] Retrieved 12-09-10.
 * 9) [|Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many]. Retrieved on 12.9.10 ** . **
 * 10) Figure 1. "I'm Bored" (2009). From "Bored!!!!!", by Samael Kreutz, 2009, Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mein_arkengel/3728122696. Made available under Creative Commons License.