I think that student’s attention spans are a hybrid of the two extremes discussed. Students of today have an extraordinary ability to multitask but at the same time, with that multitasking comes “no time to focus too much attention on one thing” (2008, p. 8). Today’s student can do many marvelous things all at once, but I would argue that no one of the multi-tasked items is completed quite as well as one singularly focused on. Whether or not students attention spans have become slightly diminished, I think the more important point the article made was in regards to how entirely engaging the use of technology in the classroom was: “students were excited and engaged in the content being presented to them” (p. 9). As teachers, we will be instructing students that have had constant exposure to technology and so we should integrate it into our classes in order to engage our students.
The questions that arise in my mind revolve around to what extent shortened attention spans affect the world we live in. When we watch the news, information is delivered to us in sound bites- news stories packaged into 90 second summaries that will hold our attention but are far from thorough in the explanation of the material they provide. The media is then given extreme power to bias stories in whatever direction they please without the public knowing it. By allowing our information to be abbreviated when it gets to us, we give up the power to discern what fact is and what fiction is.
Marcovitz, D, & Son, J.D. (2008). Is Educational Technology Shortening Student Attention Spans?. International Society for Technology in Education, Retrieved July 31, 2009, from http://webct.cu-portland.edu/webct/urw/lc9140001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct?JSESSIONID=kCrfKzTpvpDGjJ6v8JX9dxKMX1lGzdCyh3H1qJ118zj3nf5btxV6!-544224791!newwebct.cu-portland.edu!80!443.
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Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you mention of the media’s power and responsibility regarding this issue. Often, the different news conglomerates are blatant about their political bias, and that has negative effects on the population. People will often only consider true what their network of choice showcases and exploits. This is especially negative for kids because they come to the media as trustworthy and unbiased. Consequently, people are not seeing opposing ideas. This presents, as you mention, and inability to “discern what fact is and what fiction is.”