Student attention spans seem to be slipping across the board. Join us as we explore how XR and immersive education could help reverse the trend.

Less dubious is the lecturer's old rule of thumb: students can only concentrate for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. If you ramble on for any longer than this, you should expect eyes to glaze and murmurs of discontent to bubble up.

Indeed, this claim is backed up by real research – though this research dates back to 1976.

There are scant – if any – studies into the effects of COVID on attention spans in higher education. But there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that suggests a crisis of concentration.

Sandi Mann, psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancaster, shared her experiences of student boredom in Times Higher Education. "Boredom tolerance and experience have undergone a seismic shift over the past 25 years", she wrote. "Students these days seem to have a dramatically reduced attention span."

Meanwhile, Katie Davis of the University of Washington asserted that "over the past decade or so, I've felt [the] balance of effort and engagement shift such that more and more of the burden falls on me to capture and hold my students' attention – an attention span that feels like it's becoming ever shorter."

Is technology the problem?

There's no doubt that student attention spans are dwindling. But is technology to blame?

It's an oft-repeated claim. Smartphones and social media have taught our children to expect instant gratification, the theory goes. Once you throw COVID, lockdowns and soaring screen time into the mix, you've got a winning recipe for chronic brain fog.

Indeed, the study cited by The Guardian found that 85% of primary schoolteachers blamed the "ever-swiping nature of social media" for their students' misbehaviour. "We had to teach the children through a screen during the pandemic", said one. "Taking the screen away now has had a massive impact."

Sandi Mann also pointed the finger at social media. "Our lives are characterised by change and novelty", she wrote. "We can swipe or scroll to get the reward of new stimulation the second we grow even slightly bored."

And Sascha H. Funk, head of media studies at Thammasat University, argued that platforms like TikTok had "led to a decrease in attention spans and a growing satisfaction with superficial understanding".

Social media platforms are tailor-made for addiction. They present us with a constant stream of new information and a constant supply of delicious, pleasure-inducing dopamine. As Mann writes, "The problem is that dopamine is addictive – the more we get, the more we need."

The need for active engagement

Perhaps the best way forward is to accept that TikTok and COVID have shortened attention spans.

It's clear that the younger generation engages with technology – sometimes negatively. But rather than fighting against it, should we instead be looking for ways to engage students in their natural habitat?

"Engage" is the keyword. It's known that active engagement improves students' concentration. A 2021 study found that introducing deliberate mistakes into lectures – and engaging students by asking them to point the mistakes out – increased attention spans "significantly".

In this sense, traditional teaching methods are fighting a losing battle against buzzing smartphones and pinging notifications. As painful as it is to admit, these offer students more opportunities for active engagement than a 60-minute seminar.

As Mann says, "We [need] to work with students, not against them. We need to make use of their need for novelty by adopting innovative teaching methods… Teaching needs to be interactive to facilitate deep learning – and to check student engagement."

The value of immersive learning and XR

How can technology help us turn the tables?

As we've seen, it needs to provide active engagement – or else students will soon cast their gaze back to their phones.

It needs to be interactive. As EdTech expert Al Kingsley explains, "Teaching and learning solutions that [enable] flexibility and interaction… [provide] a direct boost in attention".

And it needs to be multi-modal, meaning it can display learning materials using a variety of media. "We all learn more efficiently when information is presented to us in multiple modes, including visually, auditorily and kinaesthetically", notes Kingsley.

Immersive learning ticks all of these boxes. It uses leading-edge extended reality (XR) technology to engage students and make them active collaborators in the educational experience.

Our immersive learning platform, Stage, harnesses the power of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to deliver interactive content in the classroom – or remotely.

As educator, you conduct proceedings through an AR or VR headset. This is your magic wand – it allows you to conjure up 3D holographic models, videos and documents before students' very eyes.

Pupils interact using their own headsets or with simple tablet devices. Under your guidance, they can explore 3D spaces, collaborate on interactive tasks, watch immersive movies and more.

Stage is not a replacement for classroom teaching. Instead, it gives educators the tools they need to engage students who thrive on and expect interactivity.

The possibilities are endless. You could conjure up a working steam engine, take students on a field trip to the moon or simply make lectures more immersive with 3D, multi-modal educational assets.

Smartphones, eat your heart out.

Learn more about our immersive learning platform. Or get in touch to discuss how Stage could improve concentration and learning outcomes within your organisation.