Fidget device tells lecturers when they're boring students

Boring lecturers beware! Students could in future use fidget toys to let you know when they're tired of your voice.

University of Sussex design student Jade Gidney has devised Cadence, a circular hand-held device that looks a little like a computer mouse, to track student attentiveness.

Cadence would be given to every student at the beginning of their lecture.

“It's something for them to fidget with,” she told Reuters.

“Every time the ball in the device is rolled it connects to a circuit which sends a signal to the lecturer so they can see the collective level of fidgeting among their audience, which is indicative of their level of engagement.”
 
Gidney got the idea from seeing how students fidgeted with coffee cups when anxious or bored. Before creating her first prototype she visited a number of lectures on the university's Falmer campus and analyzed student behavior.

The system is designed to alert the lecturer gradually to any loss of interest among their audience.

“Three dots will appear in the top right-hand corner of their laptop screen or computer screen. These dots change color using the traffic light system, so they go from green to amber to red the more students start to fidget,” explained Gidney.    

She added: “It's a slow process that gently alerts the lecturer of when they should try to re-engage their audience, rather than all of a sudden a lecturer seeing three red dots which could potentially put them off, which would be counter-productive.”
 
Gidney insists the device is to help lecturers, rather than shame them for being dull.

She enlisted Dr Sophie Forster, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, for advice.

Forster liked the idea behind the device, pointing to research indicating that fidgeting is associated with poorer recall of lectures.
 
She told Reuters that if a device like Cadence could be verified as functional, it could help lecturers modify their techniques.
“I think if it were possible to get a really reliable measure of students' attentional state during lectures this would be very helpful,” said Forster.

“You could use it in two ways. First, to get online feedback during the lecture itself, but you could also look back after the lecture to find points where it might help to bring some kind of interactive activity or do something to engage attention better.”
 
 She added: “If it was shown to be a reliable measure of attentional state, I would use it.”
 
Gidney wants to continue to work with psychologists to establish a study measuring Cadence's potential.

 The device could have other uses too.

“Kids with special educational needs have sometimes already been given fidget spinners in class,” said Gidney.

“Now if they had a device that recorded their fidgeting and sent that information to their carer or teacher it could be indicative of their mental state, especially for those who have trouble communicating.”
 
Cadence could also be used in film screenings to help film-makers establish which moments led to audience's attention decreasing or in clinical waiting rooms to give staff real time data on impatience and nervousness levels.