I suppose this is an extension of the ADT post. There is a proverb that I read today - "To learn, you must love discipline....." (Prov 12:1). This is the challenge of the ADT challenged. It's hard to be disciplined, its hard to stay on one task for more than a few minutes before rushing down another more interesting road. The whole system is designed to encourage lack of discipline. The ability to open so many websites at the same time...the alluring squeak of the Skype contact online, the flash of an indicator that there's a new email - we've got no chance....it's no wonder we're finding it harder and harder to educate our students. So the question is to we try and force them into a serial processing, more disciplined approach, or do we try and use the tools and techniques they are growing up with to guide their learning. It seems the latter approach is the only feasible one. With shortening attention spans short videos and microblogs may hold the future to learning 2.0.

It seems fitting to start off with a post on ADT. This is a condition that has similar symptoms to ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) but unlike ADD and ADHD which are biological conditions, ADT is a learned behaviour - so says psychiatrist expert Dr. Edward Hallowell. We live in a society that is causing us to become more and more distracted. We are interrupted by emails, tweets, instant messages, cell phones etc. It has got so bad that we now actively seek the interruption as our brain can no longer stay on one task for more than a couple of minutes. This is causing us to become more superficial in our answering of questions, making us unable to effectively analyse problems, and may even lead to less sleep and related conditions of stress, anxiety etc. The solution? A desert island with not computers or cell phones. If that is not possible then get ready for your new ADT you!