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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Learning Innovations
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1360848
This article is part of the Research Topic Designing, implementing and evaluating self-regulated learning experiences in online and innovative learning environments View all articles

Task-Irrelevant Visual Distractions and Mindful Self-Regulated Learning in a Low-Stakes Computer-Based Assessment

Provisionally accepted
Sarah M. Wolff Sarah M. Wolff *Daniel B. Wright Daniel B. Wright Wilson J. Hatcher Wilson J. Hatcher
  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    There is growing concern for the threat of distractions in online learning environments. It has been suggested that mindfulness may attenuate the effects of distraction. The extent to which this translates to academic performance is under investigated. We aimed to investigate the relationship between task-irrelevant visual distraction, time pressure, and mindful self-regulated learning in the context of a low-stakes computer-based assessment.The study sampled 712 registered users of Prolific.co who were pre-screened current undergraduate university students. After data quality screening, 609 were retained for analyses. A 2x2 design was used. Participants were randomly assigned to: 1) a control condition, 2) a distract condition, 3) a time pressure condition, or 4) a distract and time pressure condition. All participants completed reading comprehension questions, demographic questions, and the Mindful Self-Regulated Learning Scale. RESULTS: Presenting a visual distraction increased self-reported distraction and having a clock present increased self-reported time pressure. The distraction did not have a statistically significant effect on test performance. Mindfulness was negatively correlated with test performance, self-reported distraction, and self-reported time pressure. DISCUSSION: Continuous task-irrelevant visual distractions may not be distracting enough to influence performance in low stakes testing, but they do influence self-perceptions.

    Keywords: computer-based assessment, mindful self-regulated learning, task-irrelevant distraction, Online Learning, Digital distraction

    Received: 24 Dec 2023; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wolff, Wright and Hatcher. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sarah M. Wolff, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.