Distractibility+and+Podcasts

**The use of podcasts can minimize distractions for students with cognitive disorders.**
A student goes online to research information for a project. As they use a search engine to browse for relevant information, millions of websites appear before them in less than a second. The first few sites are lengthy articles with few pictures and complex vocabulary, so the student skips over them. Another website is written in a “cutesy” but hard-to-read font, and has many flashing icons and animations. After finding a way to exit the site and return to the search engine, the student finds one site that appears promising, so they click on it. A pop-up appears informing the student they are the 1,000,000th person to visit that site, and would they please click on the blinking icon to claim their prize. The student obeys, and before they know it, has been pulled into a scam and has completely forgotten what they got online for in the first place. While this scenario could play out for anyone, individuals with cognitive disorders like distractibility struggle more in trying to overcome barriers like these than the average person.

People who are easily distracted are less likely to stick to a task for an extended period of time (Center for Persons with Disabilities, 2012), and the web poses many hurdles for these individuals to overcome. Flashing images or animations, scrolling texts, pop-ups, and even fonts can make even something as simple as a web search a struggle. To try and eliminate (or at least reduce) these barriers, podcasts can take away some of the distractibility from learning. A podcast itself is a digital media file that one can download to an MP3 player or computer to play at their leisure. Podcasts may be either audio or video files (sometimes abbreviated as a “vodcast” (Wikipedia, 2012)), and oftentimes, audio files are accompanied by a written transcript. By dually addressing the auditory //and// visual sensory inputs, the teacher can attempt to more directly focus the attention of their student, allowing them to retain more of the information presented (Semb & Ellis, 1994). Teachers could use them to record the day’s lesson, allowing all students – present or absent – to revisit and therefore reinforce the main concepts taught during class. They could also find existing podcasts relevant to the desired topic, and have the students listen to them outside of class. Not only could the distractible student be in charge of when they were going to pay attention, but they could also pause, rewind and listen again if they found themselves becoming distracted in the process.

To ensure the success of a podcast, a teacher would need to provide a framework for how to access and listen to podcasts, as well as ensure that they provide meaningful and relevant podcasts to their students. While the selection of a worthwhile source is vital to the success of the lesson, a student would need to be shown how to find and access the correct files, and even assistance getting the technology to work. In addition, students may encounter outside distractions along the way so that the lesson is never completed. Whatever the challenge, the redeeming quality of podcasts is that the student could review the podcast as many times as they need to fully grasp its meaning.

Center for Persons with Disabilities. (2012). //Cognitive Disabilities//. Retrieved June 10, 2012, from WebAIM Accessibility in Mind: http://webaim.org/articles/cognitive/

Semb, G. B., & Ellis, J. A. (1994). Knowledge Taught in School: What Is Remembered? //American Educational Research Association//.

Wikipedia. (2012, May 25). //Podcast//. Retrieved June 10, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast


 * Editor Contributor**
 * By: Cailyn Chovanes**


 * How Podcasts Support Engaging Students in Learning Activities**

The original author in the article above states that podcasts assist with helping students who get easily distracted to focus and pay attention to a particular type of media. Finding certain students that forget their assigned tasks and log online to research something but find themselves in unfamiliar territory is something we all know too well. For years, researchers and teachers have been trying to find ways to help students engage in meaningful lessons without their mind wandering or veering off to look at something else popping up in front of their eyes. Downloading a podcast audio or visual has been shown to help with this distractability issue. In the article "How podcasts support engaging students in learning activities" it is said that while podcasts should not be relied on for all teaching but can be fit in to a teachers lessons in meaningful and creative ways and should not be overlooked. When students are given an assignment that they have trouble focusing on, hearing someone talk them through it can help. We all know a human connection can make an impact but also remembering that “the importance of the human voice is bringing a more personal and informal touch to what is being said”. (Popova, 2010) I think this can be applied to homework situations most effectively. When a student is trying to do homework but finds themselves constantly distracted, they can log onto their podcast and hear that voice that they have some relate-ability to. Most importantly, “previous research has stated that audio has the educational ability to influence cognition through clarity of instructions, and to influence emotional aspects of learning by conveying immediacy and a connection with the teacher”. (Durbridge, 1984). The table created here focuses on various podcast applications and pairing them with student centered learning activities. The table is detailed, clear, organized and overall a fantastic tool to use when incorporating podcast use with all types of lessons. Examples include everything from the standard lecture to feedback from assignments to preparing your materials for a particular activity. The table layout has the following categories written across the top: //Type of podcast, Content, Support for learning, Example from literature and practice and Conversational framework access.// There is a corresponding column underneath each category explaining how to apply. So for example underneath the //Type of podcast// column, you can find **feedback on assignments.** Next row is //Content// column, where you find **f****ormative feedback from instructor; suggestions; guidelines of assignment.** Then underneath the S//upport from learning// column it states **self reflection** as the result. It continues with various more examples.

In conclusion the table serves as a starting point and can be revised and expanded by other educators. Podcasts may also be used in combination with other social media technologies and for other types of learning challenges. The most important thing this article is stating is to remember the importance of the human voice and the meaningful connection it brings to a students learning and own engagement. When podcasts are used educationally and appropriately, the level of distracted behavior decreases due to the human voice interaction.

1. Durbridge, N. (1984). Media in Course Design, No. 9, audio cassettes. The Role of Technology is distant education. Kent, UK. Croom Helm.

2. Popova, Anguelina & Edirisingha, Palitha. //"How Can Podcasts Support in Engaging Students in Learning Activities"//. Procedia Social and Behavioral Science. (2010) @http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810008566