Students' Attention in Learning and Teachers’ Challenges for Effective and Efficient Learning: The Influence of Social Networks and Technology Has Changed the Learning Environment and the Need for New Educational Policies

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15860593

Keywords:

perception, concentration, distraction, attention, learning, teaching

Abstract

This study is in the field of cognitive psychology, focusing on the perception and attention of students during learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the perception and concentration of students in learning, as well as the new contexts created by the development of technology. The perception and concentration of students in learning have changed, and distracting factors have increased. This study hypothesizes that high learning outcomes for students can be achieved through interactive learning and new, inclusive approaches. The study employs both quantitative and qualitative methods. For this question, questionnaires are created for a particular sample, and for the qualitative method, observations and interviews are conducted from which the necessary data are collected to analyze. The study population comprises the totality of pre-university education students in Tirana, and the study sample consists of three 9-year schools in the city of Tirana and three schools in the Elbasan region, with a total of 5,400 students in these schools. The schools were selected by lot from a total of 112 schools in the city of Tirana and 23 schools in the Elbasan region. Data analysis is conducted using the SPSS program, and for qualitative data, this involves categorizing and classifying the analyzed data.

The conclusion is that the factors of perception, concentration, and attention of students in teaching and learning have shifted in favor of distraction, and teachers must ensure that learning incorporates different approaches to counteract the distraction of perception and concentration.

References

A.M. Paul. (2013, May). You’ll never learn! Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2013/05/multitasking-while-studying-divided-attention-and-technological-gadgets-impair-learning-and-memory.html

Aqrar Subsidiya Şurası. (2022). Aqrar Subsidiya Şurası 2022-ci il üçün subsidiya əmsallarını açıqladı. Azərbaycan Respublikası Kənd Təsərrüfatı Nazirliyi. https://www.agro.gov.az/az/news/aqrar-subsidiya-surasi-2022-ci-il-uecuen-subsidiya-emsallarini-aciqladi

Bernstein, D. A. (2010). Essentials of psychology (pp. 123–124). Cengage Learning.

Bhatia, B. M. (2024). Terms of trade and economic development: A case study of India, 1861–1939. The Indian Economic Journal, 16(4), 414–433. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019466219680402 (Original work published 1968)

Bruno. (2018). Attention and learning. In Perception: A multisensory perspective. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198725022.003.0009

Cherry, E. C. (1953). Some experiments on the recognition of speech with one and with two ears. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 25(5), 975–979. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1907229

Cowan, N., Bao, C., Bishop-Chrzanowski, B. M., et al. (2024). The relation between attention and memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 75, 183–214. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-040723-012736

Fernandes, M. A., & Moscovitch, M. (2000). Divided attention and memory: Evidence of substantial interference effects at retrieval and encoding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129(2), 155–176. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.129.2.155

Foerde, K., Knowlton, B. J., & Poldrack, R. A. (2006). Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(31), 11778–11783. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0602659103

Glass, A. L., & Kang, M. (2019). Dividing attention in the classroom reduces exam performance. Educational Psychology, 39(3), 395–408. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2018.1522819

Goldstein, E. B. (2017). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (3rd ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.

Goldstein, E. B., & van Hooff, J. (2011). Cognitive psychology. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Gregory, R. L., & Zangwill, O. L. (1987). Perception. In The Oxford companion to the mind (pp. 598–601). Oxford University Press.

James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. Henry Holt.

Jamet, E., Gonthier, C., Cojean, S., Colliot, T., & Erhel, S. (2020). Does multitasking in the classroom affect learning outcomes? A naturalistic study. Computers in Human Behavior, 106, Article 106264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106264

Lachter, J., Forster, K. I., & Ruthruff, E. (2004). Forty-five years after Broadbent (1958): Still no identification without attention. Psychological Review, 111(4), 880–913. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.111.4.880

Lavie, N. (2010). Attention, distraction, and cognitive control under load. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(3), 143–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721410370295

Lupyan, G. (2017). Changing what you see by changing what you know: The role of attention. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 553. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00553

Mack, A., Tang, B., Tuma, R., Kahn, S., & Rock, I. (1992). Perceptual organization and attention. Cognitive Psychology, 24(4), 475–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(92)90016-U

May, K. E., & Elder, A. D. (2018). Efficient, helpful, or distracting? A literature review of media multitasking in relation to academic performance. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15, Article 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z

Naik, S. (2021). Flying contrails: A way to excellence. Booksclinic Publishing.

Neiterman, E., & Zaza, C. (2019). A mixed blessing? Students’ and instructors’ perspectives about off-task technology use in the academic classroom. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2019.1.8002

Practical Psychology. (2019, May). Cocktail party effect + examples. https://practicalpie.com/cocktail-party-effect-examples/

Rock, I., Linnett, C. M., Grant, P., & Mack, A. (1992). Perception without attention: Results of a new method. Cognitive Psychology, 24(4), 502–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(92)90017-V

Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 948–958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.001

Sana, F., Weston, T., & Cepeda, N. J. (2013). Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers & Education, 62, 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.003

Schacter, D. L. (2011). Psychology. Worth Publishers.

Schmidt, S. J. (2020). Distracted learning: Big problem and golden opportunity. Journal of Food Science Education, 19, 278–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4329.12206

Treisman, M. (1964). The effect of one stimulus on the threshold for another: An application of signal detectability theory. British Journal of Statistical Psychology, 17(1), 15–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8317.1964.tb00215.x

Wertheimer, M. (1938). Gestalt theory. W. W. Norton.

Zhang, J. (2019). Secrets of the brain: An introduction to the brain anatomical structure and biological function. arXiv Preprint. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1907.02863

Downloads

Published

2025-07-11