The Role of Attention in the Design of Learning Management Systems

Modern learning environments would greatly benefit from a better management of two apparently conflicting goals. On the one hand, in order to support autonomous, self paced, and discovery oriented learning, learners must be offered access to a large amount of information and tools. On the other hand the quantity and variety of the information and tools provided should not overwhelm learners who should instead be guided in the access, use, experimentation, and synthesis of the available resources. We propose that a shift of focus from information presentation to attention guidance in system design may allow reconciling the conflict between increased informational need and the limited human cognitive capabilities. On the basis of findings in cognitive psychology and pedagogy, we present some of the issues that should be taken into consideration for the design of systems capable of such guidance and we propose how these may be integrated in the architecture of an attention aware learning management system.