Mind wandering, control failures, and social media distractions in online learning

Hollis, R. Benjamin; Was, Christopher A.

doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.01.007

Cited by 139 publications

(127 citation statements)

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“…These studies found that WMC significantly predicted mind-wandering rate, but the WMC-TUT association was modest at best, even at the level of latent variables. Also, it has been shown that topic interest uniquely predicts TUT rate during learning, but, in some cases (e.g., Hollis & Was, 2016;Lindquist & McLean, 2011;Unsworth & McMillan, 2013), it was assessed only after (or combined both before and after) the reading or lecture was completed, making the measure an ambiguous mix learning from, on-line lectures. This measure was particularly of interest because, in the current study, none of the subjects were allowed to do any media multitasking during the experiment (e.g., students had no access to their smartphones or tablets).…”

Section: Five Primary Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In laboratory and classroom studies, TUT rates tend to predict learning outcomes as strongly as, or more strongly than, cognitive ability, motivation, or interest measures do (Hollis & Was, 2016;Lindquist & McLean, 2011;McVay & Kane, 2012b;Unsworth & McMillan, 2013;Wammes et al, 2016b). Thus, we rigorously tested the hypothesis (H3) that TUT rate would be an independent predictor of posttest scores and situational interest, not only by including ability, habit, and belief measures in our regression models, but also by including pretest score as a predictor of posttest scores and prior math interest as a predictor of situational interest.…”

Section: Five Primary Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, a recent meta-analysis (Randall, Oswald, & Beier, 2014) estimated the WMC-TUT correlation to be -.12 (95% CI [-.18, -.06]); if this estimate is correct, then our study was underpowered to detect a statistically significant WMC-TUT rate association (note that our effect size estimate matched the meta-analytic one). Future research should either use multiple WMC and TUT assessments to allow latent-variable approaches, where WMC-TUT correlations are stronger (Hollis & Was, 2016;McVay & Kane, 2012b;Unsworth & McMillan, 2013), or should focus on attention-control tasks as cognitive predictors, which also correlate more strongly with TUT rates (Kane et al, 2016;McVay Mind Wandering, Lecture Learning, and Situational Interest 54 & Kane, 2012a;Unsworth & McMillan, 2014).…”

Section: H1: Unique Predictors Of Mind-wandering Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Immediately following the video, we assessed students' interests in, and perceived utility of, the lecture content. Of importance, and unlike several prior studies examining mind wandering and topic interest (e.g., Hollis & Was, 2016;Unsworth & McMillan, 2013; but see Fulmer et al, 2015), we assessed students' interest in math before the lecture and Mind Wandering, Lecture Learning, and Situational Interest 13 thus distinguished prelecture interest from the situational interest stimulated by lecture itself. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…H1b. Additional measures, such as prior knowledge, incremental beliefs in math ability, learning confidence, and in-class media multitasking tendencies, should also predict TUT rates, perhaps with some doing so independently of the others.As reviewed earlier, most of the educationally relevant mind-wandering studies that examined individual differences assessed only WMC, topic interest, or both, as predictor variables (Hollis & Was, 2016;Unsworth & McMillan, 2013;Wammes et al, 2016b). These studies found that WMC significantly predicted mind-wandering rate, but the WMC-TUT association was modest at best, even at the level of latent variables.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture.

Kane

Smeekens

Bastian

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

121

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A combined experimental-correlational study with a diverse sample (N = 182) from two research sites tested a set of five a priori hypotheses about mind wandering and learning, using a realistic video lecture on introductory statistics. Specifically, the study examined whether students' vulnerability to mind wandering during the lecture would predict learning from, and situational interest in, the video, and also whether longhand note-taking would help reduce mind wandering, at least for some students. Half the subjects took notes during the video, and all were subsequently tested on lecture content without notes. Regression and mediation analyses indicated that: (a) several individual-differences variables (e.g., pretest score, prior math interest, classroom media multitasking habits) uniquely predicted in-lecture mind wandering frequency; (b) although the note-taking manipulation did not reduce mind wandering at the group level, note-taking still reduced mind wandering for some individuals (i.e., those with lower prior knowledge and those who took notes of high quality and quantity); (c) mind wandering uniquely predicted both learning (posttest) and situational interest outcomes above and beyond all other individual-differences variables; (d) moreover, mind wandering significantly mediated the effects of several individual differences; and, finally, (e) not all types of mind wandering were problematic-in fact, off-task reflections about lecture-related topics positively predicted learning. These results, which were generally robust across the two sites, suggest that educationally focused cognitive research may benefit from considering attentional processes during learning as well as cognitive and noncognitive individual differences that affect attention and learning.Keywords: mind wandering, note-taking, learning, education, situational interest, media multitasking Mind Wandering, Lecture Learning, and Situational Interest 3 A Combined Experimental and Individual-Differences Investigation into Mind Wandering During a Video LectureHow can teachers and students optimize learning? Cognitive psychologists are increasingly applying laboratory findings to this educational problem. Principles from the memory literature, such as the benefits of spaced practice, testing, and metacognitive selfevaluations, have been most successfully employed and broadly disseminated (for reviews, see Benassi, Overson, & Hakala, 2014;Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014;Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013). We suggest that this education-focused research should also embrace two additional domains: (a) individual differences in cognitive abilities and domain experience (e.g., interest and knowledge) and (b) the functions-and dysfunctions-of attention in learning contexts.Stable cognitive-ability differences, such as those in working memory capacity (WMC), predict many indices of academic achievement (e.g., Alloway & Alloway, 2010;Cowan et al., 2005). Educational psychology has further identified personality and experi...

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Section: Five Primary Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Five Primary Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: H1: Unique Predictors Of Mind-wandering Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture.

Kane

Smeekens

Bastian

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

121

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Using Electronic Tools and Resources to Meet the Challenges of Anatomy Education in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Balogun

2018

Anatomical Sciences Ed

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Anatomy education forms the foundation of a successful medical education. This has necessitated the development of innovative ideas to meet up with current realities. Despite these innovative ideas, there are challenges facing anatomy education, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. Problems such as inadequate teaching experts and outdated curricula have made anatomy education in sub‐Saharan Africa uninviting and disinteresting. Several interventions have been suggested, such as the procurement of teaching tools and upgrading of teaching infrastructure. However, in this age of information technology; anatomy education, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa could benefit from the integration of electronic tools and resources. This article explores the electronic tools and resources such as three‐dimensional printing, educational games, and short videos that are readily available for the teaching of anatomy in sub‐Saharan Africa. The author concludes by discussing how these electronic tools and resources can be used to address many of the challenges facing anatomy education in sub‐Saharan Africa.

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Promoting engagement in online learning beyond COVID‐19: Possible strategies and directions for future research

Hew,

Huang

2023

Future in Educational Research

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In the aftermath of the global pandemic, online learning is now ubiquitous around the world. Yet, although online learning has become a common learning approach across the globe, it is still viewed as a weaker option than on‐campus face‐to‐face learning. Specifically, the lack of student engagement in online learning poses a persistent problem to many educators. In this article, we describe three key challenges of fully online learning: students being more easily distracted, students lacking self‐regulation skills and students feeling isolated. Next, we present three possible strategies to address these challenges: promoting active learning through the online flipped classroom model, promoting self‐regulation skills and reducing the sense of isolation through the use of chatbots. For each of the three strategies, we provide a description with relevant empirical studies based on our own work as well as previous work in the literature and discuss possible directions for further research.

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Mind wandering, control failures, and social media distractions in online learning

Cited by 139 publications

References 24 publications

A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture.

A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture.

Using Electronic Tools and Resources to Meet the Challenges of Anatomy Education in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Promoting engagement in online learning beyond COVID‐19: Possible strategies and directions for future research

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