Do I have your attention? Attention and engagement: What are they, and do I want them?

Why are my students not paying attention in class? Why are they not engaged? What am I doing wrong? These are questions that even seasoned faculty pose in moments of self-reflection. Although it is good practice for educators to continually evaluate their presentations for areas of improvement, it is unfortunately also true that questions of why students lack attention or engagement in class are often raised by school administrators as subtle implications of failure on the part of faculty. But why is it so hard for our students to pay attention? Why is it that students' focus can so easily ebb away during a class? Why are my students seemingly indifferent to the presented material? To address these issues, and to provide solutions that can be incorporated easily into class preparation and presentation, it is important to define precisely what we mean by attention and engagement. Are they the same thing, and if not, how do they differ? To what extent is the student responsible for acquiring and applying the material presented? Ultimately, of course, the student is accountable for learning the material and passing exams, but there are practices that we as educators often employ that erect hurdles and barriers to student learning, that can make the process significantly harder than it needs to be. Although many articles and books exist describing various classroom strategies to increase student engagement, often advice to newer faculty is given as prescriptive ways to organize a class or to repeat what was given by the last person who presented the material. Yet irrespective of the structure of the class or learning environment, there are subtle hurdles that many faculty erect that hinder a student's progress. This Personal View discusses some of the potential barriers educators put up that deter effective student learning and, importantly, offers advice on how those barriers can be dismantled.