Create Productive and Happy E-learners – Train Them to Reduce Distractions

Born and raised in the era of technology, today’s students are very comfortable with tech and computers. Digital natives are often called the distracted generation. Easily connecting with friends, family, and entertainment is a great ability, but these are also a huge distraction from learning and completing assignments. Do they know how to focus on the important tasks and block the rest out? One negative impact of distractions is multitasking.

Multi-tasking can cause errors, confusion and waste time, decreasing performance and the ability to learn. In an article for The Guardian, “The Lost Art of Concentration: Being Distracted in a Digital World,” Harriet Griffey writes that “… we’re not actually multi-tasking; rather, we are switching rapidly between different activities. Adrenaline and cortisol are designed to support us through bursts of intense activity, but in the long term, cortisol can knock out the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine in the brain, which help us feel calm and happy, affecting our sleep and heart rate and making us feel jittery … better concentration makes life easier and less stressful, and we will be more productive.”

Awareness and good habits can help learners achieve school-life balance each day to maintain good physical, mental and emotional well-being. Here are some tips to make students aware of the negative impact that technology can present and teach them how to make a habit of reducing distractions:

1. Clean your work area. An organized environment helps keep the mind clear.
2. Break down tasks into smaller pieces that can be accomplished more easily.
3. Reduce technology distractions:
   1. Put your phone and devices on silent mode or silence all nonessential notifications.
   2. Remove unnecessary electronics from the area and keep them out of sight.
   3. Close unnecessary internet tabs.
4. Take a break and move around between tasks to help you re-focus. Aerobic exercise improves attention spans.
5. Make use of approved research platforms provided by the school instead of searching the internet.

EBSCOed™ by Stacks is a resource that helps reduce distractions by serving as a single access point for e-learning tools and content for students, teachers and parents. This comprehensive solution allows school administrators to integrate and organize a plethora of tools and assets such as Google products, learning management systems, digital learning resources, student information systems, authentication tools, calendars, news, video conferencing tools and more. Components can be organized by target audience (students, teachers, parents), grade level and subject. Students can have access to all resources via one platform, reducing wasted time searching for resources.

This hosted subscription service helps school systems centralize accessibility, compatibility, security, all maintenance and updates with continuous improvement. Administrators can instead focus on supplying information and resources to enable positive outcomes for students, teachers and parents.