Most instructors breathe an inner sigh when they see a roomful of students on laptops in their classroom. Students say that they are taking notes, but we know that even those who are taking notes periodically switch to texting, emailing, or other distractions during class.
Over the past few years, it has become popular in education to broadcast the “backchannel” to students during a large class through a dedicated Twitter hashtag or some other social media app. The idea is that it allows students to make comments on the
Can we talk about the perils of media multitasking enough? I don’t think so, and that belief was confirmed by a clearly organized and well-written review of the research on multitasking with various electronic devices (May & Elder, 2018). I try to be measured in
Most of us need no research evidence to document that students are using their phones and attempting to multitask in class. We see it all the time, and if
In the 2017 Hans O. Mauksch Address presented at the American Sociology Association annual meeting, Melinda Messineo argues that we aren’t using as much of the science of learning as we could to help students learn. “In many ways, our efforts in the classroom are
The amount of multitasking students do during class and while studying is alarming. Consistently, in response to surveys, more than 85% of students say they have their phones on in class, are looking at texts as they come in and during class, and between 70
To say that technology has increased multitasking qualifies as a classic understatement. People walk and text, they talk and check Facebook, they shop during lunch, and they study with headphones on. At this time in our culture, it’s permissible to be on your phone anywhere.
Given the predilection of students to check devices of various sorts during class, even when there’s a prohibitive policy supported by regular teacher admonitions, it’s not surprising that students do it when they are studying, even when their study is focused on preparing for an
Students in a general psychology course completed weekly surveys on various aspects of the class. They reported their attendance, and if they used laptops during class for things other than note taking (like checking email, instant messaging, surfing the net, playing games). They also rated
In a September 2012 post I briefly highlighted a number of studies documenting that most students don’t multi-task well. When they’re texting, looking at Facebook, or cruising on the Internet and listening to a lecture or discussion and trying to take notes, they aren’t dealing
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