[Air-L] attention to attention

Jesper ses at post10.tele.dk
Mon Jan 30 06:57:59 PST 2012


Dear All,

Here is the first paper in relation to the research project: 'Socio 
Media Education' It is called 'Attention to Attention - Reflexions on 
new Media in Education'. It was presented at the Danish Conference of 
Sociology: Troubled Identities. 19 – 20 January 2012 here in Aarhus. It 
is easy to read because it is based over the oral presentation on the 
conference.

http://pure.au.dk/portal/files/43983449/Attention_to_attention.pdf

Enjoy your reading
Jesper

Abstract
In these years digital media and wireless networks are introduced in 
upper secondary schools in Denmark. This implies new “attentional 
objects” like updates on Facebook or tweets on Twitter within instant 
reach of the pupils and teachers. Also it implies new kinds of attention 
(awareness) like when pupils try to listen to the teacher and 
simultaneously participate in online games. To this new social setting 
the teachers has reacted with either prohibition or unconcern. What has 
not been realised is that the introduction of new media profoundly 
challenges the way attention hitherto has functioned as a psychic 
prerequisite for the social interaction between pupils and teachers. New 
kinds of “split attention” arise and new kinds of social mediation 
(regulation and “use”) of psychic attention become necessary if teaching 
in the new digital medium milieu shall be beneficial. In this paper we 
qualify this interpretation theoretically through systems theory and 
medium theory. Further we present initial results from the action 
research project Socio Media Education (SME) in which we work with how 
teachers and pupils can handle the new attention-demanding situation, so 
the new media do not mean spoiled teaching, but new expanded 
possibilities for teaching and learning provided by the new media. Our 
core postulate is that the teachers and pupils have to develop social 
reflexion on ‘the practice of attention’ in the class, both on a social 
and individual level; use the new media to facilitate this reflexion 
/and/ simultaneously (based on the on-going reflexion) learn to cope 
better with the new attention-demanding medium milieu, which means both 
to restrict oneself and behave more socially responsible and to develop 
better awareness skills (e.g. multiplexing skills). Only this (and not 
prohibition against Facebook, online games etc. neither unconcern and 
ignorance of the new media and their consequences for attention)- we 
argue - can generate adequate social norms regulating psychic awareness 
in the new digital learning environment

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Jesper Tække
Associate Professor, PhD
Information and Media Studies
Aarhus University

http://www.jespertaekke.dk
imvjet at hum.au.dk
+45 8716 2021




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