[Air-l] multitasking

[Deanya Lattimore]

Hey Charlie!
To make this study more useful, here're some suggestions for isolating 
variables -- (yes, I'm playing devil's advocate here, but I want to 
point out how many conflating variables there are to some of these 
studies...PLEASE don't feel like I'm picking on you.  I believe that a 
lot can be gained through qualitative messy methodology, but not as 
many generalizations can be made).  So:

First, I'd say you'll need to establish baseline proficiencies in some 
way: how they're doing in this subject when they come to you.
How are you going to measure their test results at the end of the 
semester?  You'll probably need a similar pretest to see what they come 
to you doing and knowing since previous knowledge is one variable.

Another key factor could be the population in the two groups: is there 
a reason people had to take the class at different times?  Did one 
section fill up quicker?  There may be people in one section, say at 
10am, who would have preferred, knowing that they work better then, to 
be in the 2pm section.  There may be a substantial number of certain 
kinds of majors who have their other classes at one of the times so 
that could skew your results.  My 8am section is heavy with football 
players, for example; a 4pm section would have practically none, as 
they are discouraged from taking classes that will interfere in 
practice time.  Do they all feel that they took the class at their 
optimal functioning time, or where do they rate it, say, on a Likert 
scale?  This could skew a section.

Next, what is their previous level of computing functioning?  Do they 
see computers themselves as distractors or are they so familiar with 
computing tasks that they are part of the picture already?  You'll want 
to measure students' anxiety level, experience / use or current 
performance functioning to see how they are capable of using the 
computers.  I'll bet that Sarah would be far less distracted by 
checking her email during class than many people would; I'll bet that 
she has filters set on her email already and mailboxes set up and she 
knows about what she'll find when she checks email.  Even if you're 
watching to see what students are doing in class on computers, you 
probably won't be able to gauge how distracting that is unless you also 
have some baseline about how they currently use computers in the first 
place.

Again, how do they process information now?  How do they study best and 
how do they learn best?  These questions might include whether they 
listen to music or watch tv while they study for tests.  But they could 
also include such far-reaching factors as memory retention of 
information presented visually vs. auditorily.  There may also be 
"manipulatives" learners in the class who will learn better if they are 
tactically engaged with something -- maybe even the keyboard -- that 
would throw off your results if you hadn't tested for along the way.
I teach writing, and I find that people who are "touch" learners will 
learn better when their hands are doing something -- doodling, taking 
notes, keyboarding etc. would all conflate your results for 
manipulative vs. non-manipulative learners.

What subjects do they see themselves "good" at presently?  Do they 
currently have anxieties about your class subject or "resistances" to 
being in the class that may encourage them to seek distraction in any 
form, even if it includes daydreaming?  How do they measure their own 
interest in the class and subject at the outset?  This might be 
something you assume to be equal between classes, but it may not be.  
Some people want to get their "bad" classes out of the way; others put 
them off.  If you have a bunch in an early section who took it because 
they're no good at it, it could skew the section.

You'll want to monitor how they use class time.  If they are in the 
computer lab, monitoring whether they use the computers during class is 
only the first level.  Are they playing games?  surfing?  searching?  
working on a paper for another class?  IMing?  How would they rate 
their own levels of distraction for the tasks that they are attempting 
to do?

How are you going to decide statistical significance in the test 
differences at the end?  Are you going to quantify the results as 
groups, or measure individuals' learning qualitatively?

Whew!  There're still lots of factors involved that could skew results: 
more people with children in one class than in another, for example; 
how much time they spend on homework for the class could be another.  
How tired or practiced you are in presenting your information in one 
class or the other.
You might want to "fix" a few class days for the study -- days that 
you're particularly going to test knowledge that was gained on only 
that day, and design a self-reflective questionnaire that asks about 
some of these variables that the students would take after the test.  
You could see if you find correlations across data that way, too.

At any rate, it would be useful to your own generalizations if you set 
out assumptions ahead of time.

Yours in constructive method implementation --
Deanya (bracing for the onslaught of criticism)
:-D.


On Sunday, October 15, 2006, at 11:03  AM, Charlie Balch wrote:

> Great points. I happen to have a perfect opportunity to do a little 
> research
> here. I'm teaching two sections of the same class. In one section, I'm
> lecturing in a computer lab and in the other in a traditional 
> classroom. I
> do not discourage my students in the lab environment from using the
> computers while I lecture. (Those that want to yell at me for this 
> should
> start a new thread.) Assuming that my lectures are the major factor in
> student learning, tests are meaningful, and that use of computers is a
> distracter, I'm going to compare the test results at the end of this
> semester.
>
> Charlie
> http://charlie.balch.org