Hey proofofbrain,
As a college student, I have been thinking about things that affect me. One thing that has come to the forefront of my mind is the attention issue we have with the current generation. Studies show that our attention spans are decreasing over time. In the digital age, it is easy for someone to pick up the phone whenever they are not working on a task. This is a problem in itself, but what I am particularly interested in is how it is affecting the college experience.
The question I am seeking to answer is how do we fix the attention span issue in class? Particularly, will students need to change or will college need to change? In my opinion, we will not be able to change the nature of humans, and our need to occupy our attention will continue to be an issue (at least for as long as phones are around). So, I think we need to rethink the college class and the way we learn. The hour long class, three times a week, does not seem to fit the learning style of the typical eighteen year old. To me, it would be more fitting to make class periods 30 minutes long, four to five times a week.
Another way to tackle this issue is making class more interesting and beneficial, so students want to pay attention. I also think that classwork should be more project-based, not assignment-based. Professors need to force students to build a skill that is extremely overlooked: creative thinking. There are too many weeks and dollars spent learning skills that could be taught in a week of online courses. Developing creative thinking is a skill that could propel an employee up the ranks of a corporation faster than most, if not all others. Though I do think colleges are slowly realizing this and making small changes, the quality of a college education is increasing at a rate that is not even close to the increase in tuition. In my opinion, the coming decade will be a telling time for higher education. If not changed to fit modern students, then kids will find new alternatives (coding bootcamps, trade schools, junior colleges, etc.) to replace the traditional university experience.
As someone who has loved my time in college, it breaks my heart to see these issues arising. But I do think that there is still time to change, and I hope colleges adapt. Until then, we will just have to wait and see what happens. I welcome other comments and thoughts on this topic!
