[Air-l] email is 'out'

Sat Oct 14 09:31:21 PDT 2006

Sarah, I'm not disagreeing with you: That's why I asked the question, 
which one will it be? I'm not convinced that future companies run by 
these multi-tasking students will ask them to turn off their cell 
phones in meetings.  I am, in fact, convinced otherwise: that these 
students will create work environments that allow them to remain 
superficially connected.  I just can't predict what the outcome of such 
environments will be.

Jeremy, are you thinking it won't be possible for an Einstein to emerge 
with a distributed brain processing model?  Does "Einstein-level" 
thinking require Richard's "deep cranial cogitation"? (LOL - thanks for 
this, Rick.)

All I know is that different kinds of brains process information in 
different ways.  Just because multi-tasking is a new model, I don't 
believe that all people, even in the future, will do it anywhere near 
equally well.
Back in my day, some kids listened to music or watched tv while they 
did their homework.  I couldn't.  I have to process information 
auditorily, so side sounds distract me.

I keep trying to remember that we are all differently abled; I, for 
instance, cannot see images in my head -- I have visual memory 
dysfunction.  I can't see pictures of -- "visualize" -- anything in my 
head.  I can't play chess, because I can't visualize moves in advance.  
It was extremely hard for me to learn my multiplication tables because 
most people use visual memory to do it, and my teachers didn't know any 
other way to help me.  I still can't add two two-digit numbers in my 
head because I can't remember that much information (eight places) 
without extreme effort and concentration.

I think we need more research of how multi-tasking works with certain 
processing skills before we can decide what percentage of the 
population does it effectively.

Another qualitative story: I generally allow students (1st-semester 
freshmen) to use laptops during class.  Last week, we were writing a 
collaborative group paper on the overhead computer screen, and I asked 
everyone not taking notes on their laptops to close them up.  We had 
done similar activities before with very little discussion.  Several 
people after class (laptop typers and non-) told me how exciting class 
was with all of the discussion (so they noticed the difference without 
my saying anything about it).

:-D.
Deanya
ps. becoming "unavail" to you people for a few hours now (  ;-)  Ellie)

On Saturday, October 14, 2006, at 09:22  AM, Sarah Robbins wrote:

> Deanya: I think I have to disagree with you about availability and 
> overall
> productivity. The "distributed attention" type model has shown that 
> today's
> students have a bit more ability to multitask well than we do. There's 
> no
> doubt that their ability to do this may need to mature (ie they need 
> to know
> which signals are important and which can wait) but their digital print
> settings (lots and lots of simultaneous windows) and their 
> connectivity via
> phones, Blackberry, IM, email etc. suits what the workforce is looking 
> for
> which is people who can do five things at once and do them all well. I 
> teach
> my students to discriminate between all of the signals (ie sources of 
> info
> they are connected to) so they can pay selective attention to what is 
> really
> important at any one moment.
> There's certainly a time to shut it all off and focus on one task or 
> one
> form of communication but as someone who multitasks all the time 
> myself, I
> can't with good conscience preach to them that they'll have to ditch 
> their
> connectivity to fit in to corporate culture.
> Just my opinion as a techno-addict.
> S
>
> On 10/14/06, Deanya Lattimore <mdlattim at syr.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Sylvia, you may be feeling old, but I'm sure that you're not looking
>> it, LOL.
>>
>> This article should be renamed, "Email is for People Who Are Too Busy
>> To Be Slaves to Their Blackberries."  Age as a variable is being
>> conflated with responsibility, so the studies of usage are flawed atm.
>>
>> I teach freshmen, and one of two things is going to happen:
>> either they will learn that in order to be productive, they will have
>> to abandon their "I'm always available" strategies OR
>> the workforce will have to adapt to people who think it is perfectly
>> fine to text message and step out of the room during meetings to take
>> phone calls.
>> I don't know WHICH it is going to be, but my students don't seem to
>> understand that being available all of the time means that one's
>> overall productivity is substantially reduced.
>>
>> Which one's it gonna be?
>>
>> Deanya
>> :-D.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Saturday, October 14, 2006, at 08:16  AM, Sylvia Korupp wrote:
>>
>>> Just saw an interesting article that made me smile and look quite 
>>> old.
>>> SK
>>>
>>>
>>> Teens: E-Mail Is For Old People
>>>
>>> Excerpts: For some schools, the correct answer is: set up a MySpace
>>> page. After all, there's nothing hipper for students than being
>>> "friends" with your college registrar or school principal. The
>>> intriguing thing about this method of reaching students is that it's
>>> most often not "instant" at all; students receive messages when they
>>> log
>>> in or they visit the school's MySpace pages - the equivalent of using
>>> e-mail and a Web portal.
>>>
>>> * Source: Teens: E-Mail Is For Old People, Nate Anderson, ars 
>>> technica,
>>> 06/10/02
>>>
>>> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061002-7877.html
>>>
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>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins
> http://www.intellagirl.com
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