MAKING IT EASIER TO BE A BETTER TEACHER

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Here’s our weekly roundup of interesting education stories from around the world. Click each link to learn more:

• Canadian schools are dealing with one of the largest data breaches in decades.

• Minnesota schools may have found the solution to getting their kids to enjoy reading.

• We need to stop asking kids what they want to be when they grow up - at least according to this teacher.

TECH TALK

Students are Distracted and Struggling to Focus

Social media is everywhere, and while it can be entertaining, it often leaves students with shorter attention spans (see the Brainy Bit below). 

For teachers, this “brain rot” from constant scrolling creates new challenges: how do you get students to engage with content and retain what they’ve learned?

The Solution: Turbolearn.ai

This AI-powered platform is designed to bring focus and personalization back into the classroom. 

By providing engaging, interactive tools like quizzes, flashcards, and games, all instantly created from material and notes the student already has, the app redirects students from passive scrolling to active learning in a way that looks familiar to them. 

These tools are specifically designed to make content memorable and engaging, helping students develop better study habits and combat the effects of social media distractions.

For students who have fallen behind or struggle to keep up with taking notes in class, Turbolearn generates personalized resources based on their specific gaps. 

Teachers can upload their own materials (or even have the app listen to them teach), and the platform will create targeted exercises or study plans, ensuring every learner gets the support they need.

How About YOUR Classroom?

Helping students rebuild focus and engagement while meeting the needs of a diverse classroom is no easy feat. Turbolearn equips you with strategies to tackle these challenges head-on:

Strategies:

• Rewire Attention with Interactive Tools
  Use Turbolearn to create quizzes or flashcards that mimic the short, engaging format students are used to but with meaningful content.

• Personalized Help for Struggling Students
  Identify students who need extra support and use Turbolearn to generate customized study materials just for them to boost their confidence.

• Encourage Productive Screen Time
  The interactive nature of the materials keeps students engaged while gradually reducing their reliance on social media.

High school students may find this the most helpful, as college/university students have become their largest user-base. 

There’s a free version, with pro features running about $6 USD/month.

By turning the tools of distraction into tools for learning, Turbolearn helps your students regain focus and develop critical study habits.

BRAINY BITS

Are Short Videos Hurting Academic Performance?

Short-form video platforms are all the rage, but how might they impact young learners? 

This week, we look at a late-2024 study that explored this question, focusing on elementary school students.

The Study: Short Video Usage and Academic Achievement

Researchers analyzed data from 1,052 elementary students and their parents using questionnaires, attention tests, and exam scores. 

The results of parents and students were then modeled to explore the connection between short video consumption, attention levels, and academic outcomes.

Researchers were particularly focused on seeing if increased short-video screen time (i.e. doom scrolling on TikTok and similar apps), impacted academic performance and attention deficits.

The study also looked at parental use of these apps to see if student behaviors changed to match their parents.

The Results:

The results found a strong negative relationship between short video usage and academic scores. A similar trend was seen with attention spans:

• Short video usage reduced academic performance by up to 24.8%.

• Attention deficits accounted for an additional 4.3% of this impact.

Researchers found that overexposure to fast-paced video content led to struggles with multitasking and cognitive overload as well.

What’s even more interesting is the parental influence in all of this.

When students saw their parents doom scrolling, they tended to spend even more time watching videos than their peers.

In Your Classroom:

This study emphasizes the importance of balancing social media use to support learning. Here’s what you can do to tip that balance in your favor:

Strategies

• Teach Media Awareness: Guide students on healthy screen habits, emphasizing mindful consumption.

• Encourage Parental Collaboration: Share strategies with families for managing screen time and modeling balanced behavior (and watch your own phone habits in class as well!).

• Promote Focus Skills: Incorporate activities that strengthen sustained attention, such as mindfulness exercises or structured group tasks.

In a world where many were worried about what they would do without TikTok, all of us need to step back and look at its influence on focus and learning - in children and adults. 

As educators, fostering intentional media use can help students stay on track academically in the classroom, and beyond.

REFERENCES

Tech Talk:

Turbolearn ai. (2025). Let AI take notes for you. Retrieved from https://www.turbolearn.ai

Brainy Bits:

Gong Q, Tao T. (2024). The relationship between short video usage and academic achievement among elementary school students: the mediating effect of attention and the moderating effect of parental short video usage. PLoS ONE 19(11):e0309899. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309899