In the 1970s, my mother, a fifth-grade teacher, would lament, “The TV remote has ruined my classroom! I can almost feel the kids trying to point a clicker at me to change the channel!” Little did she know that college students today don’t need to wish for a remote control to switch from their professor to entertainment—an endless assortment of distractions are all on their smart phones.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that students retain little of our lectures, and research on determining the “average attention span,” while varying, seems to congregate around eight to ten minutes (“Attention Span Statistics,” 2015), (Richardson, 2010). Research discussed in a 2009 Faculty Focus article by Maryellen Weimer questions the attention span research, while encouraging instructors to facilitate student focus.
When I began teaching in 2006, I assumed that students could read anything I say. Therefore, my classes consisted of debates of, activities building on, and direct application of theories taught in the readings—no lectures.
But I noticed that students had difficulty understanding the content in a way that enabled accurate and deep application without some framing from me. In short, I needed to lecture—at least a little. This is when I began the eight-minute lecture. If you’re worried that eight minutes is too long, I discovered that when students experience many short lectures throughout the semester, they learn to focus in those bursts, in part because they know the lecture will be brief.
How to implement the eight-minute lecture
1. Prepare students – Early in the semester, explain your teaching methodology and your rationale for doing things a certain way. This helps manage students’ expectations. Most of my students study engineering and expect to mostly listen to lectures and take notes. They are less accustomed to an active learning environment that involves lots of debates on the readings, small group discussions and report-backs, short reflection papers, quick multiple choice clicker quizzes, problem sets, and/or short lectures.
2. Redesign/rewrite lectures – Review your lectures to identify natural breaks. Where can you pause without losing meaning? How can you use students’ knowledge from their homework and previous learning as a scaffold?
Next, look for areas in your lecture where you talk about something that instead can be learned from an image, video, or interactive activity, and substitute accordingly. Cull through the content until you have eliminated two-thirds of your lecture material.
An example from last semester
Toward the end of last semester, I began a module on global business. The learning objectives for the first 50-minute class period on the topic were to be able to discuss the origins and benefits/costs of globalization and to test global business theories against existing corporate outcomes.
In preparation, students read a textbook chapter delineating the history and theories of success in global business, and completed either an interview with a manager working internationally or an analysis of global business news (their choice).
With this preparation, they came to class with a firm grasp of global business terminology and context. Further, as this class period came toward the end of the semester, students had a basic working knowledge of management and leadership theory; Western business history; and the interaction of business, government, and the global economy.
I started out by asking a question related to their preparation. I then began my first eight-minute lecture, introducing them to the concept of balance of payments while displaying current numbers up on the screen. Once I explained trade imbalances, I asked questions that weren’t answered in their reading or my lecture, but were answerable with careful reflection on both.
For example, “How might you incorporate your previous learning on the supply and demand curve to understand how exchange rates influence global business?”
Once this topic was fully explored, I gave another eight-minute lecture, and then engaged them in a new activity that taught the next learning objective. At the end of class, I tested to ensure that the objectives had been met by asking students for a one-to-three-sentence note card summarizing their learning. The success of this method of interspersing mini-lectures with activities, discussions, and time for reflection was validated by the final exam scores achieved by the students in this class, which surpassed those of previous semesters.
References:
Statistics Brain Research Institute. “Attention Span Statistics.” April 2, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/.
Richardson, H. “Students only have ‘10-minute attention span’.” News.bbc.co.uk. January, 2010. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8449307.stm.
Wilson, K. and Korn, J. H. “Attention during lectures: Beyond ten minutes.” Teaching of Psychology 34, no. 2 (2007): 85–89.
Illysa Izenberg is a lecturer for the Center for Leadership Education in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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This Post Has 25 Comments
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Thank you Illsya. I agree with you that there are times when students need to have content delivered. While some have tried to do this by "flipping" the classroom I still enjoy observing students encountering new material.
I like your 8-minute approach. I use much the same concept: I talk about a 10-minute "alarm bell" that I give myself.
I have found that there is little difficulty keeping students' attention for an hour or more if I present material in 5-10 minute bursts interspersed with a carefully worded and meaningful (to the students) reflection question which students briefly discuss with neighbours and then feed back to the class.
I think there are ways of "converting" the lecture into something quite engaging simply through a bit of creativity.
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I agree with the article and Perry, creativity is key when delivering content. Especially in today's classrooms, keeping the attention span is difficult. I do request students to view particular videos to enhance the information provided and it adds another medium with learning and breaks up the lesson. I find group discussions are also key in getting students to move around and communicate.
I teach more online than in the classroom and I don't see the students. I change the topic and get these in the environment engaged by asking questions and getting their feed on the topic. With non-traditional students this has been easier until I noticed a paradigm shift recently of much younger students who are not able to provide experiential learning when sharing with the class and I find less participation.
Still being creative as an instructor is key and providing stories are key in the learning process. I always interject things from my experience and recent readings to enhance my classes and they get better every session.
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assuming the students have read the text/handout/link or watched the video assigned before coming to class (or at any point during the semester).
I have picked up lost/forgotten texts from classrooms in mid semester and those texts have not been CRACKED, much less annotated.
So, the 8 minute lecture is building on 0 background.
Assuming they are not reading texts or texting or dozing, how much of an 8 minute lecture are they "getting"?
So, I can graduate a class of folk who -perhaps-have 8 minutes worth of knowledge on a specific topic in that course. Perhaps.
Why not TWEET the essential topics . . ?
Education in 150 characters or less?
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Hi Lionel,
You are correct: I am depending on the students' base of knowledge from previous work in class, graded assignments and readings before class. There are a few ways to either inspire students to do the pre-reading or to require it. I'd be happy to share these with you.
Also, I did not mean to imply that students receive 8 minutes in total of a lecture. They are in class with me from 50 minutes to 3.25 hours, depending on the class. There are numerous 5 -10 minute lectures within that time frame. I'm keeping them engaged and working toward their making meaning from the learning the entire time.
I am lucky to teach in a place where students are highly motivated — you should see the highlighting and notes on their materials! However, before I got here I did teach in a program with students who were less prepared for the level of rigor I expect and I was able to get at least 75% of students to do the pre-work before all classes. I'd be happy to share some ideas with you.
thanks for reading,
Illysa
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Hi Allysa,
I love the idea of the 8-minute lecture and also appreciate your comments regarding Lionel's concerns, which are certainly important to us all, me included! Having said that, I would love to have you share your strategies for getting students to come prepared to class.
Thanks!
Dawn