I wonder if a lot of the problems that we experience related to student attentiveness stem from not holding students accountable for their own learning. Learning is not a passive activity and education is not something that anyone can deliver to them. The current education model model implies that the right configuration of exercises causes learning and there is a missing part to that equation and that is: the student actively learns inside the exercises. I am beginning to favor a model that mimics a game. One that sets a standard for completion and allows the student to continue to… >>>

I think that music may have a limited role in the 'lecture' class where I like to encourage students to be part of discussion and to participate in lecture (when surveyed they claim to learn characteristics of materials better from lecture than from reading on their own). Their favorite activity is the field trip and here too I think that music has a limited role to play; it's a little rude to have your ear buds in when someone from industry is taking time out of their business day to share information with you. Doesn't hearing music takes up 'processing'… >>>