All through academia, the tyranny of the lecture looms. As an undergrad, I kind of got away with not paying my fullest attention to lectures. However, in my recent adventures as a sessional academic, things have changed. As a tutor, it’s my job to provide advice and feedback to students that align with the lecturer’s advice and feedback. This means I now get to listen to lectures on subjects with which I am already familiar, as well as the lectures/materials providing assessment guidance.
The problem is, I get distracted. People send me emails and Facebook messages. My mind wanders and I think about other RA work I need to do, or whichever chunk of PhD writing is in the works. I want to check Twitter. I could do those things during a boring bit of the talk, but by the time I zone back in, I reliably have no idea what the lecturer is talking about anymore.
For me, this often feels like a problem of double verbal intake. Listening to words is hard when I’m reading words.
So what helps? I play Tetris. Specifically NullPomino on Practice Mode stuck on Gravity: 14 (fast enough to keep me interested, not so fast that I die instantly). It’s fun, good for problem-solving, fast-paced, and doesn’t interrupt my ability to take in content. Obviously, I can also listen to recorded lectures at 1.25x to 2x speed, depending on the presenter.
It seems obvious in hindsight, but I struggled for years with this issue of engagement/distraction before I found a solution that works for me. I had to find an activity interesting enough that I wouldn’t get distracted from the lecture content, but it couldn’t be a verbal activity that would preclude my ability to listen at all (I’m a bit jealous that my partner has this ability and can listen to me whinge about work while writing an email; I get distracted with predictable results).
Find your task. What keeps the antsy part of your brain occupied so the listening part can do its job uninterrupted? Other options in comments plz 🙂
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