L’AUTONOMIE DE L’ÉTUDIANT À L’ÈRE DU NUMÉRIQUE: STRATÉGIES DE RÉGULATION DE L’ATTENTION EN COURS MAGISTRAL À L’UNIVERSITÉ D’ABOMEY-CALAVI (UAC)
STUDENT AUTONOMY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: ATTENTION REGULATION STRATEGIES DURING LECTURES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ABOMEY-CALAVI (UAC)

Summary/Abstract: Through an inquiry conducted within the lecture halls of the University of Abomey-Calavi, this study explores how students attempt to regulate their attention in the face of a constant digital flow. To this end, a qualitative approach was adopted to capture the meanings that 24 undergraduate and graduate students attribute to their everyday practices. The data drawn from an immersive methodology combining direct observation and in-depth semi-structured interviews highlight the real-time adjustments these students make during formal lectures. The findings reveal a marked ambivalence in digital use: smartphones and laptops function simultaneously as learning tools and frequent sources of distraction. This coexistence fragments attention and overloads working memory. Three distinct profiles of attentional regulation emerged: stable, intermittent, and absent. High-performing students employ active self-regulation strategies, such as disabling notifications, scheduling phone use, and consciously refocusing on the lecture. Conversely, weak regulation leads to attentional dispersion, cognitive fatigue, and superficial academic engagement. The study therefore emphasizes that academic autonomy depends less on access to digital technologies than on the capacity for attentional self-regulation. It concludes by underscoring the need to rethink the traditional lecture model through the integration of a pedagogy of attentional regulation adapted to hybrid learning environments.

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