Understanding the hazards of information overload on students

Have you ever experienced academic work piling up and you are unable to keep track of it?

The amount of information that is available to us is much more than what we can intake. The rising use of technology is the counterpart to the dissemination of information at a higher rate.

Internet and digital access to information have revolutionized the methods of teaching. Textual material in class is supported by visual, auditory and other sensory learning aids to help the staff in conveying their lecture better. Gone are the times when teachers would read through the text and students make long notes for the same. The modern learning technique allows students and teachers to store the learning material in a central database which they can further evaluate based on each topic. 

Have you ever wondered how you end up having so much information in your mind even though you do not memorize any of it? The simple answer is our smartphones and social media. For instance, while we research the uses of aloe vera for our skin, we read through a lot of articles before we come to a conclusion. So each article adds information which we unknowingly take in. 

The dual consequences of information overload are- mental fatigue and reduced attention span. When a student is at a lecture he/she should be able to concentrate on the concepts introduced rather than wander away from the thought of the upcoming exam the next day. This fear of having a long to-do list distracts the mind and we end up doing each task half-heartedly. 

Every time we switch on our mobile internet, we are bombarded with notifications. The same applies to academic schedules, where students and teachers have to keep a record of the upcoming events, assignments and assessments along with managing the curriculum. 

Digital classrooms are the need of the hour where students and faculty can track the curriculum through their online classroom and access the upcoming onsite & remote events just through a click. Digival provides the institution a platform for personalizing notifications for their users. Students can track the calendar and daily time table in their mobile dashboard. DigiClass helps the students to manage their learning material as well as track their progress through their advanced database. 

According to research, there are around 1.8 billion websites and on average 571 new ones are built every minute. These statistics draw our attention to the vastness of information available to the user over the internet, So students rely on online sources for homework and getting course references. The digitization of learning methods is proving to be a path-breaking trend in the modern era.

The prime focus of learning nowadays is to curate and manage the amount of information consumed and organize ways to access the appropriate vast data sources, blending the benefits of technology into the institution's progress,  students and faculty should be flexible in accepting and incorporating the digitized spaces into their curriculum.