The Impact of Distance Learning on Student’s Attention During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Social Experiment

The aim of the paper is to analyze the students’ visual attention during online classes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to detect visual attention and gather insights into user behavior, we used eye-movement tracking technology on a mobile phone. The paper presents a repeated social experiment involving students from the Faculty of Information Technologies at Slobomir P University in Bijeljina. The research involved an experimental design with two groups of students of the same generation. Students were assigned to the experimental and control groups randomly. During the experiment, data were collected automatically and stored in a database, which we used to conduct statistical analysis. We started from the assumption that various situational factors can distract students’ attention during online classes. Five out of the six external attention indicators exhibited statistically significantly higher values in the group of students who were instructed to listen carefully to the lesson (the experimental group) when compared to the group that did not receive such an instruction (the control group). The research revealed that, despite numerous “distracting factors” in the home environment that can diminish students’ attention during distance learning, a teacher’s emphasis on the importance of the presented instructional material positively influences an increase in students’ visual attention.