Students are more tired than ever before and it’s impacting their well-being . In 2020, we suffered through a pandemic, social unrest, and a lot of uncertainty. We are now four months into 2021 and there is no clear end in sight. Although the prospect of vaccines and social justice accountability gives us hope, we can not discredit that students are still struggling and may continue to struggle for months to come. Not to mention it is the end of the academic semester, where motivation and energy are lacking for students and instructors alike. Students are hard at work studying for finals and putting the finishing touches on culminating projects. Many students respond to these increasing demands in classes by putting in longer hours (i.e, all-nighters), which in turn takes a toll on students’ overall wellbeing. What we know from Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab’s Hope Center and the #RealCollege movement is that basic needs have a significant impact on student success. When students aren’t doing w...

That red dot. It's calling your name. Emails, Slack messages, voicemails. Family and pets. Distractions! If you're distracted, chances are your students are distracted. Perhaps they are distracting themselves from having to deal with the reality of the world right now. But you really want them to not be distracted while in class because you really want them to be learning!  This semester you're invited to join us as we explore James Lang's latest book, Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do About It . The book explores why and how we get distracted, and shares ways instructors can encourage the practice of attention in the learning environment.  What Can You Do? Studies have shown that academic procrastination is real, and some ways to counter it are found in the cognitive and behavioral strategies to increase executive functions, such as self-regulation in students ( Rabin et al., 2011 ). But author James Lang provides a different perspective, on...