Dr. Lang’s visit followed faculty summer reading group discussions about Distracted, and he addressed several questions the reading groups generated. His workshop focused on helping professors understand how to promote interest, community, and effortful attention in the college classroom and ways to deal productively with technology use in classes. Faculty and staff learned practical teaching and engagement strategies to reduce distractions and promote close attention and enhance classroom discussion.
Dr. James Lang served as a Professor of English and the Director of the D ’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption University in Worcester, MA. He now devotes his time to research, writing, and speaking about college teaching, as well as the craft of non-fiction writing. His books include On Course, Life on the Tenure Track, Cheating Lessons, Small Teaching, Small Teaching Online, and now Distracted. Dr. Lang is a regular contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education. His work is lauded by educators and researchers for being grounded in robust learning science and by being easily applicable to the everyday classroom. This was Dr. Lang’s second visit to Catawba College.
