I especially like the line
>No more long boring text! Thanks to constant media input, Gen Y has shorter attention spans and their "grasshopper minds" leap quickly from topic to topic.
Got me to wondering whether the "Pecha Kucha" approach might be a useful teaching tool?
- http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog//2008/04/a-primer-on-pec.html
- http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha
One of my sons was a commercial radio DJ and said they divide up their ratings blocks into 15 minute segments to meet listener attention spans. His wife, a Jr High School science teacher, said there is a teaching technique called "age +2" (they don't go higher than age 18) to determine approximate didactic time before switching to discussion, break, funny story, assignment, etc. The goal is to adapt teaching time to meet optimum attention span. A typical hour long class might have 2 or 3 shorter blocks interspersed with an alternate activity.
Might be a worthwhile approach for both academic as well as workplace presentations.
