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Avoiding Distractions on your Computer

Christoph Dusenbery
Fri, 25 Dec 2015 07:11:17 GMT

When teaching online, one of the things that I’ve personally found challenging is tuning out all the potential distractions on my computer and giving 100% of my attention to the student. In contrast with a face to face class, when you’re teaching online you’re plugged in to the device that sends you notifications about new mails, text messages, software updates, etc., which can easily draw your attention away from your teaching. A couple of things that I’ve found helpful: -Enabling the ‘Do Not Disturb’ option built in OS X (I’m not sure if Windows has anything equivalent) -When using Screen Share during a class, enabling full screen mode and closing all other applications -Using video chat (assuming there aren’t any bandwidth issues) even when Screen Sharing is active (I find that it gives me a stronger sense of a face to face class to have the video on) Have you also experienced this and what are some of the strategies you use to make sure you stay focused? Also, do you think it’s worth communicating some of these strategies to students to help them avoid distractions during a lesson?

André Klein
Sun, 21 Feb 2016 12:31:24 GMT

Staying focused can definitely become a challenge when too many windows are open and a never-ending stream of notifications are clamoring for our attention. I'm not aware of any magic tricks to overcome this, but yes, turning off notifications is always a good start when entering teaching or writing mode, or any high-concentration task for that matter. (An equivalent to OSX's "Do not Disturb" in Windows 10 is called "Quiet Hours" by the way.)

Michael
Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:02:41 GMT

There is one useful extension for Google Chrome - StayFocusd. Freedom and SelfControl are awesome as well. At least they will help you to block social media distractions.

yemi
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 15:35:09 GMT

I would like to use the extension so i can stay focused with my computer