We conducted our ethnographical study through our own observations in our lectures, surveying our lecture-mates, and reflecting upon our own personal experiences.
We divided our findings according to human factors and environmental/technical factors. Human factors contained social behavior, individual behavior, and lecturer behavior. We noted things which seemed like a distraction, or at least, noticeable at all, which translated into something we concentrated on other than the lecture. Our findings were as such:
HUMAN FACTORS
Social Behavior:
There was a tendency for students to reserve seats for friends, which took up more places than actually were required. This caused some students, with a phobia of sitting up front, to sit on the steps behind, rather than move forward. Students in the back also tended to talk among themselves during the lecture. Chitchat levels, however, reached its peak after announcements, or whenever the lecturer revealed a particularly intriguing fact (Like Dr. Perry revealing that the sun is actually green). Students also had a tendency to become fidgety and talkative after approximately an hour, if no break is given. They do, however, pay more attention to jokes and examples (like short videos), but pay far less attention to guest lecturers.
There is also a general decrease in attendence if a lecture is webcast, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Individual Behavior:
Usage of handphones is pervasive throughout the lecture theatre, whether it be to SMS under tables, or talk whilst hidden behind their notes. Even handphones on vibrate make noise. Students with laptops spread their attention between MSNing, surfing, playing games, and just maybe listening to the lecture. Students seated towards the back also have a tendency to fall asleep.
Something that largely can’t be avoided though, is the noise paper makes when the lecture notes are flipped. It helps wake students up, and keep those with wandering attentions on track, but it’s also a little disruptive.
Lecturer Behavior:
Ideally, all lectures should have notes or outlines distributed beforehand for students to annotate. The notes should not be wordy.
When the lecturers walk around the room, asking questions (“arrowing”), it makes students uneasy, even those that have been paying attention. Most people felt that the anxiety it causes outweighs making students pay attention.
However, without such pressures (including repeated probing), there is little incentive for students to respond to questions fielded by the lecturer. There are a few reasons for this: It’s particularly true in large LTs – some prefer it because it allows them to hide and avoid “arrowing”, others feel that the environment is too intimidating and choose not to answer. There don’t seem to be any incentives for answering questions, either, but this may be due to cultural factors, or the type of questions asked.
NON-HUMAN FACTORS
Some of the social factors are exacerbated by the physical structure of the LT, such as having chairs too far back, or the lecture theatre being too big for the number of students. Creaking lecture doors, when latecomers arrive, are also a distraction.
The structure of the LT though, does have a direct impact on the students’ learning experiences. Seats too close to the front can cause neck strain, and technical problems, like muffled sound or microphones constantly relaying feedback make it hard to understand the lecturer. Too-cold airconditioning makes the experience miserable for frozen students. Small tables also make it difficult to write, or sometimes the tables are not secure, and lead to the upending of its contents onto the LT floor.
Standardisation of tables also affects student’s concentration as not all students are equal in size. Tall students may find the tables too cramped, left-handed students may not be as comfortable as their right-handed counterparts.
CONCLUSIONS
Ultimately, how well a person learns is up to the individual student (and the willingness of the lecturer), and all we can do is to minimize annoyances which may distract a student from experiencing “flow” during lecture.
SOLUTIONS
There are direct solutions to each problem, for example, changing social behavior – early arrivals moving to the front, latecomers coming a little earlier and not sitting on the steps, or lowering the temperature of the airconditioning.
However, our group had 2 proposals as to how to reduce as many distractions as possible with one solution.
The first: Tablet tables
If we replaced or incorporated tablet PCs into LT tables, we will minimise noise made by flipping pages, and aid in desemination of lecture materials. Students, using the headphones, will be able to hear the lecturer equally and reduce environmental noise (Creaky doors, chitchatting students, sounds of typing). The stylus aids reduces bias between left and right handers.
The Second: Webcast all lectures
Admittedly, attendence decreases when lectures are webcast, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Class size decreases, reducing the amount of distractions caused by individual students, and the lecturer is able to interact better with a smaller class. The small class size helps students who do attend to focus on the lecture, and that they are there in the first place shows that they do want to attend the lecture. It’s a matter of choice, if the student wishes to be present to be able to ask questions and interact with the lecturer.
Students can also pause to take notes, skip breaks in the lecture, increase the speed, and basically have more control over the lecture to suit it to their needs.
