XI Attention

In this talk, James (1899/1962) discusses passive attention, which is claimed by any subject that is already considered interesting by the individual, and voluntary attention, which is given, with effort, to those less interesting subjects.  Keeping attention on anything that is not completely interesting to the student in itself usually requires some voluntary attention, but this can be assuaged by making sure that the subject constantly changes and that students can continue to question and deliberate over it.  He notes that attention comes from old impressions within and new impressions from without.  Finally, he gives an uplifting thought that even though we all have varying degrees of attentiveness, we can still be productive individuals. 

James (1899/1962) gives some useful advice in this talk, when he suggests that “Recapitulations, illustrations, examples, novelty of order, and ruptures of routine, – all these are means for keeping the attention alive and contributing a little interest to a dull subject” (p. 53).  This an exciting prospect for me and my interest in Online Education, because these kinds of devices are easy to create.  We can add audio, video, and images into lectures, and quizzes and other “ruptures of routine” (James, 1899/1962, p. 53) can be interjected to keep students on their toes.  A course designer can add interactivity to ensure students are mentally and physically engaged, and can evaluate the results of activities to verify that students are learning the material.  However, one thing that does scare me about Online Education is James’ (1899/1962) assertion that “the teacher must himself be alive and ready, and must use the contagion of his own example” (p. 53).  I mentioned in a previous blog post that I am unsure of how instructors can assess their own students and change their curriculum fluidly to match the students’ needs while only using technology.  This passage brings up a similar question: what can the teacher do to allow the students to sense the warmth and enthusiasm that the teacher has for the subject over a cold and distant medium?