Module 3: Activity 1: Learner Attention

According to information processing theory, humans are processors of information and cognition is a system of brain functions. A student’s contact with the information and knowledge they are expected to learn is through their sense receptors.  The sensory receptors allow the student to make contact with the environment.  While the sensory register has large capacity, the information stored does not last long.  Attention plays a key role in moving information from the sensory registry to working memory.  In working memory, the information is processed.  It is here where students try to make sense of the instructional material and content.  Information in the working memory must be kept active to be retained as activation fades quickly when attention shifts away.  Consequently, maintaining the attention of a student is a key component of effective instructional design.  If nothing is done to gain and keep student attention during the presentation of instructional material, the information to be learned will be lost.  Effective design of instruction plays a key role in gaining and maintaining student attention.

          Robert Gagne, one of the key researchers and contributors to Instructional Systems Design.  His research originated during the behaviorist movement and his focus was on the outcomes, or behaviors, that resulted from training.  However, in his book, The Conditions of Learning (1965), Gagne outlined nine events of instruction which contained the underpinnings of cognitivism and information processing.  His Nine Events of Instruction correlated the conditions that occur during instruction with student outcomes. 

          Gagne noted in order for learning to take place you must first capture the attention of the student as his first of nine steps was “gain attention.”  This is where Gagne believed that instruction should stimulate receptors of students so that they were primed and ready to learn.  Beginning a lesson with an animated multimedia clip that is accompanied by sound is an effective way to stimulate multiple sensory receptors (visual and audio).  Another way to gain student attention is to start a lesson with a thought-provoking question such as one that sparks student curiosity and that motivates the learner.   

          Beyond gaining attention of the learner, it is important to consider strategies to maintain student attention throughout the instruction.  The following is a link to a video in which a college professor discusses strategies he uses to keep students in a large college lecture interested in the material.

Engaging Student Attention Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au_Navo5PCg

          Another way to keep students interested in the material is to use multimedia in presentations.  There has been much research on the effective pedagogy and the use of multimedia presentations during instruction.  Mayer (1997) reviewed eight studies that were conducted to determine whether multimedia instruction was effective.  Overwhelmingly, the evidence showed that using a presentation with verbal and visual multimedia formats was more effective than direct instruction.

          Soon after Microsoft released PowerPoint, it became the preferred method of information delivery in many classrooms.  Educators took advantage of this new media and began using the program to present instructional material.  It rejuvenated what was once considered the ‘boring lecture.’  However, soon thereafter the novelty of the multimedia program wore off and students were once again bound to their seats listening to another ‘boring lecture’ except this time they were looking at a screen instead of just the teacher in the front of the room.  Bartsch and Cobern (2003) investigated whether students liked and learned more from PowerPoint presentations than from overhead transparencies.  They concluded that PowerPoint can be beneficial, but material that is not pertinent to the presentation can be harmful to student learning.

          A couple of years ago, I took a class under the direction of Dr. Gerry Swan where we discussed the downfall of PowerPoint as an instructional tool.  The following two videos put a humorous spin on some of the design flaws when using PowerPoint that can distract or lose the attention of the learner.

 Don McMillan: Life After Death by PowerPoint Video: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck

STOP! You're killing me with PowerPoint (Rap) Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JU48-FVqvQ

          Whether using a Powerpoint or other multimedia tool for presentation, I think a key component of maintaining students attention during instruction is to engage the learner…make them feel a part of the instruction so that they feel ownership.  Students learn by doing and passivity dampens motivation to learn. 

Bartsch, R. A. & Cobern, K. M. (2003).  Effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations in lectures.  Computers & Education, 41(1), 77 – 86.

Gagne, R.M. (1985).  The conditions of learning and theory of instructions (4^th ed.).  New York:  Holt, Rienhart, and Winston. 

Mayer, R.E. (1997).  Multimedia learning:  Are we asking the right questions? Educational Psychologist. 32(1), 1-19.