WHAT IMPAIRS FOCUS IN A STUDENT
• Lack of Stimulation (e.g. some students may be more advanced than others, and the content of a lesson may already be familiar to them; or the lesson may be moving too slowly to retain the students’ interest). This can be applied to both classroom and Distance Education (DE) students
• The cultural mix of the group may mean that some students whose native language is English may understand the concepts being taught quicker that other students who may struggle with grasping the simplest things. This may cause boredom to creep into the lesson unless the teacher paces the content accordingly and makes some available time to spend with students who are finding it difficult to understand some of the content.
The DE student can also come from a broad range of cultural backgrounds. Many DE schools have
international students as well as domestic students with a large cultural diversity. It is important to
identify students that may present with language difficulties early on i.e. through the application
process, as this enables teachers to guide and make allowances for these students. Students should
also be guided into courses that will suit their specific language skills.
• Excessively Complex (eg. If information is beyond a student’s capacity to understand: possibly due to a lack of foundation knowledge). This may also cause boredom or a lack of interest creating a divide in the learning process. This applies to both classroom and DE students and can be overcome through prescribing pre-requisite courses that must be completed before acceptance into a more complex course
• Lack of Interest (eg. The subject matter is unimportant or irrelevant to the student). Students can tune out depending on the nature of the content or if they feel the content is irrelevant to their goals or expectations.
• Physical or Mental Distraction (eg. There may be stress or conflict between members of a class or a student and teacher or the student may have interests outside the classroom that are of greater significance and interest). This may cause students to lose focus on what is being taught, explained or discussed. This also applies to DE students. Distractions at home can also lead to a lack of focus and often results in sporadic student’s submissions and can also lead to a lack of focus. Sometimes simple time management skills can overcome study.
• Communication Breakdown (eg. Teacher misunderstanding student; or student misunderstanding teacher). DE students do from time to time have issues or conflict with their teachers, usually this is through a lack of understanding or misinterpretation of teacher’s comments clear communication can prevent teacher/student issues.
• Lack of Motivation (eg. Teacher’s motivation to teach or student’s motivation to learn is diminished). Students may questions why they chose this particular module or course and whether this will be fulfilled by continuing or completing the course work.
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