What I find particularly interesting in Knobel and Lankshear is a statement they make regarding multitasking.
...beyond the school, including workplaces, the capacity to multitask fluently is often highly valued and sometimes serves as a status marker. Effective multitasking is associated with greater efficiency, as well as being digitally proficient...there is no conception of "disrespect" or of paying insufficient attention to a task if one is multitasking. [emphasis added]Typically, what I find with regard to multitasking is a concern for whether it is or is not, in fact, more productive when compared with single-tasking. In the above statement, the perspective is different in two important ways. First, it takes issue with the assumption that multitaskers are just plain rude. Whether or not multitaskers are effectively paying attention to what's going on in class, this perspective asks us to consider that they may be just as interested, and just as respectful of the class and the teacher as ever they were. Second, this statement repositions the debate over multi-tasking as a power issue. Again, whether or not students can pay attention to the teacher while conducting a backchannel chat with classmates, it may be that teachers are demanding undivided attention because we just want to be #1. Not unlike the distinction Knobel and Lankshear make between technical stuff and ethos stuff, multitasking is more than what students can do technically. Performing multiple tasks related to the activity at hand also involves defining or constructing what we all want in creating a context for learning together.
No doubt, the world has evolved into one where multitasking is the norm. But I share your concern about whether it is more productive when compared to single-tasking. We all do it -- in fact, it would seem odd not to have at least three things going on simultaneously (Are we programming ourselves to find over-stimulation the normal state?) -- but I wonder if the seeming efficiency is really a farce? The statistics of car accidents involving texting and phone use would seem to attest to the fact that none of us is as masterful at multitasking as we believe we are. I don't know as I see students multitasking in the classroom as disrespectful as much as feeling that they will miss the important stuff. I must admit, I have asked in a meeting more than once, "What was the time on that?" because some important detail was lost in the shuffle between posting grades, texting, checking the email, and actually attentively attending the meeting.
ReplyDeleteThere was a recent article written by a college scout. He was showing a perspective student around campus. This was a student that many had sought out for his athletic abilities. He was being considered for a full scholarship. However, the scout observed him texting through every meeting, conversation, and interaction. The scout's reaction? If he was not any more interested in his school than that, if the student could not focus on what was being offered, the school didn't want him. No offer came.
ReplyDeleteSo, in the real world what are the social perceptions?