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Today's students are conditioned by rapid feedback loops and continuous digital engagement through social media, online gaming, and instant messaging. This continuous stimulation significantly influences their cognitive patterns, creating a preference for immediate responses and shorter, intense periods of activity.
Teachers often respond to this trend by attempting to slow down the instructional pace, assuming students struggle to maintain attention or absorb detailed content. While well-intentioned, this approach may inadvertently result in further disengagement by students. For example, assignments or projects spread over several weeks can lead students to repeatedly lose focus, requiring them to reacquaint themselves with tasks after each interruption. Frequent context switching results in lower-intensity work and less effective learning.
Instead of slowing down, I suggest leveraging AI to create faster, shorter, and highly intense learning cycles that align with students' neurological conditioning.
The Potential of 15-Minute AI-Enhanced Learning Cycles
Consider a scenario—such as a student working on an assignment, project, or even preparing for an exam. Traditionally, this work might occur intermittently over extended periods, causing repeated cognitive disruptions each time students re-engage.
Now, imagine the following AI-enhanced scenario:
The student uploads their task description and marking criteria into an AI-supported platform.
They complete an initial draft or attempt and submit it to the AI tool.
Within seconds, AI provides specific, criteria-aligned feedback.
The student immediately incorporates the feedback, resubmitting their improved effort, and repeating this iterative process every 15 minutes.
From a neuroscientific viewpoint, this rapid, iterative feedback process stimulates continuous dopamine release—the neurotransmitter responsible for motivation, pleasure, and reinforcement. Such consistent dopamine-driven engagement maintains immediate attention and significantly enhances long-term memory consolidation through repeated practice and incremental improvements.
Reducing Context Switching and Enhancing Long-Term Memory
Traditional teaching methods, which spread learning activities over weeks or months, can inadvertently fragment student attention, resulting in frequent cognitive disruptions. Short, focused learning cycles minimise these disruptions, maintaining sustained engagement. Additionally, repeated, iterative feedback from AI tools can help strengthen neural pathways, promoting long-term retention and deeper understanding.
AI as a Supportive Tool, Not a Replacement
In reality, teachers face practical constraints in providing continuous personalised feedback. AI can support teachers by providing immediate, consistent feedback, enabling educators to dedicate their energy towards individual student needs, strategic instructional support, and deeper cognitive challenges.
Neuroscientific Benefits of Accelerating Learning with AI:
Dopamine-driven engagement: Rapid cycles activate reward centres, maintaining motivation and sustained attention.
Focused, intense learning sessions: Encouraging deeper cognitive processing and retention.
Minimised cognitive disruptions: Maintaining continuous momentum enhances productivity and cognitive efficiency.
Improved memory consolidation: Frequent iterative practice and feedback reinforce neural connections.
Supporting Evidence from Learning Theory
Educational psychology and cognitive neuroscience support the effectiveness of this rapid-cycle, iterative approach. Cognitive Load Theory highlights that short, focused learning cycles reduce extraneous cognitive load by minimising context switching, leading to improved cognitive processing. Similarly, Feedback Intervention Theory demonstrates that immediate, specific feedback significantly enhances performance and retention. Repeated iterative practice aligns with Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve, indicating frequent revisits to material at short intervals can dramatically enhance long-term retention.
I believe integrating AI-driven, short learning cycles into education effectively aligns with students' neuro-cognitive profiles, enhancing immediate engagement and long-term retention.
What are your thoughts? Could shorter, AI-supported learning cycles better suit how students' brains are wired today?
This post was first published on LinkedIn on 21/3/2025
Welcome to our March newsletter with all the latest things that are happening at the Digital Technologies Institute this month:
Teacher Professional Development
Online webinars
Teacher PD continues with an exciting lineup of sessions. Recordings of these sessions are typically available within 24 hours of the webinar and are available to registered participants.
Self-directed learning
In addition to the online webinars, the DTI Classroom hosts an interactive AI workshop containing everything teachers need to get started with AI teaching. Have a look.
Student Learning
MyComputerBrain
MyComputerBrain is our online learning system that allows students to explore the exciting world of DIgital Technologies. Our latest release is a Generative AI Course that explains how GenAI works and its possibilities and limitations. Teachers can purchase student accounts for as little as $5. Explore MCB and check out the Getting Started guide. You can also read about this course in our blog post.
Video Explainers
Scroll down to the bottom of MyComputerBrain. You will find four incredible AI explainer videos beautifully crafted for your students. If you then head over to our main website, there is an entire section of further AI and digital technologies videos to support your teaching of Digital Tech.
The B4 Computing Kits: A Popular Classroom Resource for Teaching Computing Foundations
A strong understanding of computing fundamentals is essential for students, and the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies is designed to build this foundation. The B4 is a widely used resource in Australian classrooms, helping students explore digital systems, data representation, and algorithms in an engaging and accessible way. It also supports the teaching of more challenging concepts such as binary numbers, variables, and algorithm development. Did you know that the B4 comes with physical variables that students can hold in their hands?
Join the many educators already using the B4 to bring computing concepts to life in their classrooms! Explore the resource today and see how it can enhance your students’ learning experience.
I hope you have found something you like. Let us know if there is anything we can help you with.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Karsten Schulz
I’m excited to be speaking at the upcoming ECAWA State Conference in Perth, where educators and technology enthusiasts come together to explore the future of digital learning.
The Educational Computing Association of Western Australia (ECAWA) is dedicated to advancing education by championing the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as powerful tools for learning. It’s a fantastic opportunity to connect, share insights, and dive into the evolving role of technology in the classroom.
I’ve spent years building AI from the ground up, exploring its capabilities, and uncovering what it can teach us—not just about technology, but about ourselves. In this keynote, I take you on a journey through the evolution of artificial intelligence, showing how machines have gone from simple rule-followers to powerful generative models that reshape the way we learn and interact with the world.
Together, we’ll dive down the rabbit hole of Generative AI, exploring its strengths, its limitations, and the profound ways it mirrors human cognition. I’ll show you how AI levels the playing field in education, acting as a personal tutor, providing context-aware solutions, and helping students break through learning barriers. But I’ll also share a word of caution—AI isn’t perfect. It makes mistakes, fabricates information, and requires critical thinking to be used effectively.
Through interactive examples and real-world applications, I’ll challenge you to rethink what learning looks like in an AI-powered world. Because when we teach AI, we’re not just teaching technology—we’re teaching the very core of how learning works.
Join me in this exploration of Generative AI and discover how we can harness its power to transform education, empower students, and redefine the future of learning.
For more information about the ECAWA state conference, visit: https://ecawa.wa.edu.au/conferences/2025-state-conference/
I hope to see you at the conference.
Dr. Karsten Schulz
