HOW PEOPLE LEARN PANEL: ATTENTION AND SOCIAL MEDIASusan Ravizza

How does attention improve or worsen recall of information?

Attention and Memory

Two kinds of attention Voluntary – you decide where you are

going to place your attention Effortful

Involuntary – your attention is captured by novel or salient information Automatic

Voluntary attention Selection of important information Ignoring distracting information

Involuntary attention

You just won 5 million dollars!

If drawn to irrelevant information, can hurt memory performance

Involuntary attention Important information might not get into

memory Might “overwrite” information that is

already in memory

Can it help improve memory if captured by important information? Example: Is your memory better for loud

commercials?

My research Using “tricks” to capture attention to

important information can be useful when voluntary attention may be diminished Recall improves for items at the end of a

list when: Presented at a surprising location Presented in an “important” color

Social media & Multi-taskingThe iGeneration

Media multi-tasking Prevalence of portable iDevices and

laptops in classroom Students are multi-tasking in class often

with social media like Facebook, texting, IM, Twitter

845 million monthly active users of Facebook

483 million daily active users of Facebook

Voluntary attention Students can decide to check facebook

or tweet moving their attention away from class material

Effect in classroom A study of texting in class (Ellis, Daniels,

Jauregui, 2010) Undergrads in their first accounting class Lecture followed by unexpected quiz Half of the students asked to text their

professor 3 times Other half, no texting Quiz scores of texters are lower than non-

texters Not dependent on GPA

Involuntary attention Many social media tools draw our

attention automatically Buzzing cell phones Facebook/twitter alert boxes

Can social media be used effectively in classroom?

50 ways to use twitter in the classroom Could help shy students ask questions? Capture their attention back to class by

tweeting material?

May lose control of classroom

More evaluation is needed

Summary Attention to material is important for

committing that information to memory Involuntary attention that is drawn to

relevant information can improve memory

Lots of competing sources of information in classroom

Best to find a way to work with this technology