Engagement | Pedleysmiths Blog

“Now what was I saying”
A goldfish can remember certain tasks and environments for weeks and even months – a Gnat however doesn’t have an attention span at all. *

There has been a significant amount of space in the press devoted to telling us that attention spans are getting shorter, largely the result of an increased use of digital technologies.

One headline read – “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish“

This story can be traced back to a 2015 Microsoft report which included the claim that the average human attention span had decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013, shorter than the alleged 9 second attention span of a goldfish.

It has however since been debunked and is simply not true. It was based on vague, unsupported opinion and lacked the necessary evidence. Microsoft has since taken the report down from its website.

And yet the myth remains popular possibly because most days you will see people using their smart phones endlessly scrolling, looking for something to grab their attention in order to satisfy their “dopamine bump” addiction. They pause only momentarily to read or look at the image on the screen before continuing the search. Ask them what they are doing, and without looking up to acknowledge the question, they will answer “nothing”!

Many social media platforms are designed around the idea of short attention spans, furthering the belief that we have a new generation of learners who are different in some way to those that went before.

Attention spans
An attention span is typically defined as “the amount of time a person can maintain attention on a specific task or activity, without becoming distracted.” The key point here is that attention has a lot to do with the brains ability to resist interruption.

For this reason, its useful to think about it in two ways:

Sustained Attention (maintaining focus over time) is the ability to concentrate on a single task over a long period, such as when you are reading or studying. The average person can focus their attention for around 20 to 30 minutes, which is a lot more that 8 seconds! The Pomodoro technique that was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980’s works on this principle. With the aid of a timer, you are required to take a short break every 25 minutes. As a result, you can then maintain focus for hours.
Selective Attention (choosing what to focus on) is the ability to focus on one thing while filtering out distractions, such as focusing on a single conversation in a noisy room.

These are of course interrelated with sustained attention relying on selective attention to be effective. It’s also important to note that attention is not fixed and is dependent on age, level of interest, fatigue, stress etc.

This study by Rosen, Lim, Carrier, and Cheever (2011) found that students averaged less than 6 minutes on a task before switching to another, most often because of a need to reply to a text or check social media. It concluded that allowing students short “technology breaks” could help reduce these distractions, and that teaching students’ metacognitive strategies would also be beneficial. They stated that the students were prone to distraction due to device notifications, not because they had reduced attention spans.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects attention, impulse control, and activity levels. Symptoms include difficulty in maintaining focus, being impulsive and having high levels of energy. It is a recognised medical condition that results in a lower attention span. It is thought to be highly heritable, with levels in the region of 70 – 80%, but it’s not as common as you might think given its prominence in the press. In the UK, there are only believed to be around 3 – 4% of children and 2% of adults who suffer from it. One caveat, it is possible that there are a lot of people who remain undiagnosed.

The impact on learning
The main point here is that in terms of our cognitive ability attention spans have not really changed. What has, are the levels of distraction and cultural and environmentally accepted norms. Think about the rise of digital devices, instant messaging, and social media, people now have a vast number of ways in which they can distract themselves. In addition, the sheer amount of information available can be overwhelming, making it harder to focus on one task for long. Many of us also lead busy lives, forcing us to juggle multiple tasks and often failing to any of well.

For the learners – Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “it’s not your fault” your genetics have given you a short attention span. Your attention span is fine it’s the environment you find yourself in that is the problem – see last month’s blog on learning environments.

A few tips

Take regular breaks – as highlighted above taking short 5 to 15 minute breaks every 20 to 30 minuets, maybe even 45 minutes can improve your ability to focus.
Reduce distractions – eliminate or minimise distractions, this means not having your mobile phone in the room or at least turning off your notifications. You need to create a dedicated, distraction free workspace.

And for the educators – While adapting content for individuals to accommodate short attention spans can be useful, especially when trying to engage them. It’s important not to think about it as a new way of learning, it’s more of an environmental challenge. As a consequence it would be wrong to design all lessons with it at the forefront of your mind. Evidence from cognitive science suggests that learning should be challenging (desirably difficult), requiring sustained focus, active engagement, and mental effort. But perhaps worse of all, if we continue to produce content that caters only to short attention spans, there is a danger of inadvertently reinforcing the behaviour.

Fake NBC Goldfish news
Here is a video typical of what you can find on the internet that continues to support the 8 second myth – Is Your Attention Span Shorter Than a Goldfish’s?

And finally, In defence of Gnats
Gnats, like many insects, are primarily focused on tasks like finding food, mating, and avoiding predators. While their attention may shift quickly between these tasks, it’s not really fair to say they have a short attention span in the same way humans or goldfishes do.

There are a number of terms that crop up continually in learning, motivation, attention, inspiration, concentration, curiosity etc. But one that is becoming increasingly important especially for those students studying online, is engagement.

Many of the above terms are closely related and often used in the same sentence, but by taking some of them we can make an attempt at defining engagement – the degree of attention, curiosity, interest and passion demonstrated when learning.

Types of engagement

However when you look into any subject in detail it’s never as easy as you first thought. Fredricks, Blumenfeld and Paris identified three types or as they called them dimensions of engagement:

1. Behavioural engagement e.g. attendance, involvement and absence of disruptive or negative behaviour.

2. Emotional engagement e.g. interest, enjoyment, or a sense of belonging.

3. Cognitive engagement e.g. invested in learning, seek to go beyond the requirements and relish a challenge. A cognitively engaged student can become unaware of time and will be capable of taking the subject matter outside its context, form new connections and begin asking questions in order to ensure they have fully understood.

In simple terms an engaged student is physically, emotionally and mentally present.

Why is it important?

There is a large body of evidence that shows correlation between high levels of engagement and a number of desirable learning based outcomes, for example improved critical thinking, cognitive development, skills transfer, self-esteem, deeper understanding and better *exam results. It’s also worth adding that an engaged student is more likely to complete the course.

If you are not engaged, then what are you doing?

Engagement clearly helps students learn more effectively but it is also closely linked to motivation. In fact the expression motivated and engaged are sometimes used as if they were the same, but there is a subtle difference. I have written about motivation many times and unlike engagement tends to be more long term, possibly internal and certainly goal orientated. You can of course be engaged but not motivated, for example engaged in an activity, perhaps concentrating and interested but it’s not a topic or subject that you feel is important and have no long term need or desire to find out more. Engagement is the response to an external and immediate satisfaction, entertainment, curiosity, or recognition.

How to engage – for the teacher

As with motivation, it’s better to be engaged than not, so before we answer the question, what can teachers do to engage their students, it’s worth noting the role of the student, if you sit with your arms folded thinking of something else, you won’t engage.

Make it relevant – outline before you start why this topic is important for your audience. How is this online session going to help the students achieve their objectives, try to be specific.
Use real world examples – related to the above, a real world example can help the student appreciate the importance of what they are learning, i.e. if it’s used in the real world it must work. This may result in the student asking questions internally as to how it might work in their organisation or concluding that it will not.
Positive reinforcement – praise may sometimes feel artificial and of course should not be given all of the time, but recognising the difficulty of a task and congratulating everyone for doing well is both motivational and engaging.
Build rapport – use student names to help personalise the process. Break down barriers by saying what you personally find difficult, and perhaps why. If you can empathise with the student it helps build rapport, which makes it more likely they will listen and follow your advise.
Inspire – not everyone will think of themselves as inspirational but in some ways it takes very little, a simple story that means something to you can do the trick. Simon Sinek suggests that inspirational leaders know their WHY, they know why the are doing something. Ask what’s your why, and it’s not just because it’s your job, it’s because it’s your passion and fits with your personal beliefs.
Inclusive activities – plan for a number of activities that will encourage the group to engage with each other, the subject matter and you. These can be as simple as asking questions, setting quizzes, polls, or more involved, such as break out groups. Importantly the activities should not be easy, they need to be challenging, bored students are not engaged.
Manage and facilitate, don’t tell, ask – try to get the students thinking, ask them why, do you all agree, is there an alternative answer? It’s also a good idea to encourage students to think and believe in themselves, to become independent and autonomous learners.

And one last tip, make it short and don’t go on too long or labour a point, there is a danger your students will disengage!

Which is probably my queue to bring this to an end and wish you all a Merry Xmas.

*improved grades (Astin 1977, 1993; Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research 2002; Pike, Schroeder & Berry 1997; Tross, Hpersistencearper Osher & Kneidinger 2000)