The impact of multitasking on teaching, learning and thinking
Multitasking, friend or foe?
Even
before entering the 21st century people had been talking about the Information Age. What
does this mean for today's students and the generations that follow?
In the
Age of Information the number of resources that are at hand with the
development of computer technology, the Internet and social networking, hurry,
bustle, and increasing expectations have become a regular way of life for many
people — so much so that we have embraced a word to describe our efforts to
respond to the many pressing demands on our time: multitasking.
What is
multitasking? Multitasking is
the best performance by an individual of appearing to handle more than one task
at the same time. Imagine being a student and being able to learn new information in your classes while talking with your friends, listening to your favorite music and working on your homework assignments for your other classes.
Today's students are equipped with top notch
gadgets that are rapidly improving in a matter of months; even far less is some
cases. Furthermore, today's students are networking. Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler
and several other social networks have emerged creating an entirely
new environment for people to interact and share experiences. Blackberries
and smartphones have replaced cell phones and pagers. Laptops
and netbooks have replaced notebooks. Interactive white boards have
replaced blackboards in many classrooms and the recognition of
technology integration, in and out the classroom or work environment, as a growing part of our daily lives are all the
ingredients that formed the need to multitask.
Technology
integration and its potentials and outcomes is something I have analyzed in
previous blogs and I am an advocate of technology as a tool to promote a new
approach to learning.
However, there is a question of whether we, as human beings and not computers with extensive
information processing hardware and infinite information storage capacities,
can operate according to the demands formed by the new technologies. The Information Processing Theory and the research and experiments
performed by developmental psychologists and neurologists suggests that our
brain functions similarly to a computer; recognizing the information input
and deciphering and organizing the information as well as storing it and
later retrieving it from long-term memory. However, the human
brain in all its magnificence is not a computer, a mechanic device. And
that nature imposes some limitations. According to research, the
number of objects (information, also known as cognitive load) an
average human can hold in working memory is seven plus or minus two. Why does this number matter? Recent
research has shown that when someone is multitasking, their ability
to withhold the increased cognitive load provided in the tasks presented
does not change. In fact, what the brain does is "switching" from
task to task and in that process it "restarts" in order to identify
afresh the task given.
What
happens when you are working on a desktop and in order to start a new program
or window you have to restart the computer, often without even saving your
information and settings before doing so? Yes, you lose time and more
importantly lose information. Research and experiments have proved that
"multitaskers" are not as effective as their "single-tasker"
peers, they actually take longer to complete tasks and are more prone to making errors.
The implications on teaching, learning and thinking:
As mentioned earlier, today’s students enter the
classroom equipped with a cellphone/smartphone, mp3 music devices and laptops in
growing numbers. During class sessions they are likely to be texting, listening
to music or browsing on the Internet, if not instant messaging their friends on
social networks. However these processes do not impair their ability to listen
to the instruction and even respond to teachers’ questions. We could assume
that next generations are developing multitasking skills that are truly superior. Indeed, that changes everything we know about multitasking,
learning and the brain functions. Unfortunately that is not the case.
In one recent study,
Russell Poldrack, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los
Angeles, found that “multitasking adversely affects how you learn. Even if you
learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized,
so you cannot retrieve the information as easily.” Other researchers came
to similar results/conclusions stating that “it is not impossible to learn when
multitasking, but it is unlikely that the information input will reach the
higher level thinking parts of the brain.” Essentially, learning skills can become
impaired as thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop
an idea about it. One simply cannot do that in bursts of 20 seconds at
a time, constantly interrupted by Facebook messages or Twitter tweets, or
fiddling with your iPod, or watching something on YouTube. Speaking of Youtube (*coughs*) :
As a far as the implications on teaching, I believe it is once again the teacher's role to inform of and instruct students the proper use of the new technologies. That is, using technology to open a window to a world of information and possibilities without shutting the door to the brain and it's unique cognitive thinking abilities that need time and training.
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