Opinion: Studies show that our attention spans have declined egregiously with online — Sorry, what was I saying?

 
It has been nearly two years since we made the urgent switch to online learning, and many have since questioned the quality of remote education. To put rumors to rest, it still sucks after all this time. But perhaps the blame is less on COVID-19 and more on how classes are set up through Canvas.
The core of the problem is that Canvas class assignments are often easy. Too easy. While not all professors opt to use Canvas, or use it in this way, nearly all students have a story to share on assignments that require little to no learning to complete and earn an exemplary grade.
Tasks can be as simple as watching lecture videos on 1.5 speed and waiting for the multiple-choice comprehension question at the end. (Hint: you have infinite attempts and don’t actually need to watch the video.) They can be discussion boards that students fill with meaningless words to meet a quota. Seriously, we’re paying like $2,000 a term to tell Riley we really found their reading analysis “interesting.”
Sites like Chegg and Quizlet also allow students to quite literally Google assignments or quiz questions word for word and find answers. Online learning has fostered a whole new world of cheating, one that professors may struggle to keep up with or may not care about.

Related: “Students cheat with online learning service, professors hope to identify users”
And why should they? The tools to learn are provided, and at the end of the day, it’s up to the individual to choose whether to use them or to effortlessly float through their classes. Still, when students who choose the latter receive the same grades as their more dedicated peers, it’s hard to hate the player over the game.
Current approaches in class assignments, specifically through Canvas, offer a never-ending queue of things we have to do. More often than not, these assignments not only teach us virtually nothing, but distract us from higher levels of thinking.
Some of our best thinking happens when we allow our minds to wander. Mind-wandering can be crucial for reflection, growth and creativity. The most novel of ideas often occur when we have time to think without distraction.
With the mother of all distractions at our fingertips, though, society has grown acutely accustomed to plugging mental inputs into time where mind-wandering could take place. It’s no secret that smartphones have decimated our mental health, attention spans and sleep schedules. With so much research on the effects of modern technology, it makes little sense why educators continue to use Canvas to overload students with virtual tasks.
Because, as simple as these tasks are, they are time-consuming. Students may spend hours a day just sifting through their workload, regurgitating information and skipping through lectures until they’ve checked off their assignments. With tasks like this, it can be difficult to see our Canvas dashboard as more than a to-do list. And to-do lists are stressful, especially without guidance.
Stress-relieving methods of conquering to-do lists are rarely taught or encouraged in class settings. Tips on dealing with to-do list-induced stress can be found online, but it can be difficult to work them into practice, especially as deadlines loom. With so many students lacking these skills, it can feel like our education system doesn’t prioritize our mental health or our learning as it continues to bombard us with tasks and no tools to manage them.
The ability to brain-off and execute classwork on Canvas should upset us. We are paying for an “education” that doesn’t require learning. You could successfully graduate with good grades and leave the university no wiser than you entered it.

Class assignments should be structured to encourage reflection, incentivise comprehension and ease our to-do list. Students too often view our workloads as distractions and stressors from more meaningful obligations. Canvas offers endless — and often useless — assignments that take time away from more beneficial, creative thinking elsewhere.