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Andrea Goering's avatar

I love your observation about your own switching time! It reminds me of a paper by Martella et. al. my journal club read last term about how much active learning is too much active learning, which was interpreted in part using cognitive load theory. It also makes me think about distraction, and the switching time to come back to task after any attempt at multitasking in class. It seems to me that more frequent active learning would also help reduce distraction, in part because there would simply be less time for it, but I observe that for longer, non-synchronous class activities, the students who finish quickly often turn to some type of off-topic activity after they finish (my context is 200-person intro college astronomy).

You inspired me to revisit the Martella paper; helpful summaries are here: https://michellemillerphd.substack.com/p/r3-25-april-1-2024-a-new-look-at and here: https://teaching-community.monash.edu/teaching_approach/

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