Multitasking Mindfully

Those who have already taken those products have reported order generic levitra obtaining their desired effects less than half an hour from administering the product. There are homeopathic remedies available for almost every condition (yes, viagra samples recommended for you there really is a homeopathic remedy available for almost every condition (yes, there really is a homeopathic medicine to treat bedwetting, made by Liddell Laboratories in Moraga, CA). When you buy the ED medication, you not only pay a huge amount but also require to have a a lot better feeling, you will need super Kamagra in UK. viagra cheap prices This is because there are several sample viagra for free companies making impotence supplements.
As I write this, I’m multitasking. I’m at my desk in the library with two colleagues who occasionally ask a question or engage me in discussion. On my laptop I’ve got Tweetdeck running, ten tabs open in Chrome, G Chat is on, and I’m uploading movies to Vimeo. Students walk by and draw my attention, just got a text, earbuds go in, must. write. blog. post.

  by  ryantron. 

Does this sound familiar? I am at the same time the beneficiary and the victim of the switched on, always connected hive of activity (both digital and non) that is my workplace at a busy International K-12 school.

What we know

The Education Week article “Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control” brought the issue of multitasking back to the front of my mind. It’s a great summary of current research on attention, multitasking and how the brain copes when faced with distraction.

Simply put, the brain can’t be in two places at once. Not only can people not process two tasks simultaneously, but it also takes longer to multitask than it would to do the individual tasks one after the other, according to Steven G. Yantis, the chairman of the psychological and brain sciences department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

It’s fine to walk and chew gum at the same time, but when a person tries to do two things at the same time that each require a choice, there’s a brief “bottleneck” in the prefrontal cortex—the decisionmaking part of the brain—that delays the second task, he said.

In most situations, that delay is only milliseconds long. Yet the newer the task, the more dynamic the environment, and the more intense the distraction, the longer it will take the brain to react.

Let me summarize, it means: WE CAN’T MULTITASK, at least in terms our brains focusing on two things simultaneously. I know, I know, it’s hard to admit, especially because we might actually enjoy having multiple things on the go at once. But, I think we have to recognize the fact that multitasking hinders productivity and the quality of our work.

What we do

Just because we know it’s not possible to multitask doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. Being able to manage multiple stimuli is a key component of collaborative work and living environments now and is likely to be so into the future. What we need to learn (and teach) is knowing when to multitask and when to avoid distraction and put concentrated effort toward one thing.

We can help our students become mindful multitaskers by doing the following:

1. Know yourself. How much distraction can you handle? What’s it’s impact?
   We spend a fair amount of time helping our students understand their learning style and how to use this information to maximize their learning. We need to make sure that self-awareness about how well they can handle multiple stimuli is included in these lessons. One thing I do with students in our Mindful Multitasking topic is to have them take two different online simulations that help them realize the impact of multitasking on their performance.
2. Know the task. How much attention does this task require?
   Though we may say that we’re giving 100% attention to everything we do, I don’t believe that’s the case. We are constantly adjusting the wing flaps of our attention span to keep ourselves airborne. Knowing how much attention you need to devote to any task is affected by factors like: what the long and short term benefits are to doing the task well, what are the long and short term consequences of doing poorly, when is the deadline, what things are competing for attention?
   
3. Teach strategies for managing multiple stimuli.
   Our students create videos that include shots of their physical location where they work at home and a screen recording that illuminates their online distractions as they go through a typical homework session.
   These videos make them cognizant of their typical distractions. Depending on the nature of the distraction (application, website) students can take steps to eliminate them.

Are you a good multitasker task switcher? What works for you or your students?