Multitasking

On more than one occasion, I have sat behind students taking notes at a lecture on their computer but also looking at Facebook, email and other websites almost seamlessly at the same time. I always wonder if I am sitting behind an A student or a C student but there is no way for me to gauge the impact of these work habits. This past week, while on a reaccreditation visit, I sat in on a number of excellent classes; in those classes virtually every student was taking notes on a laptop and also accessing information on related websites. But it was also the case in half the classes I attended that the student sitting next to me or in front of me was accessing email and other websites at the same time. How can this possibly work?

After three days spent on the reaccreditation visiting team, I immediately went to the TIAA CREF Higher Education Leadership Conference where I spent the next two days. By this point in time, my unanswered emails were starting to accumulate and the conference sessions were wall to wall worthwhile presentations/discussions. What should I do? Was there any chance of some catching up before the weekend? What I decided to do, was to take my IPad Mini to a number of the sessions and work on my email, before, after, and during as the opportunity arose. My first surprise was that three other higher educational professionals sitting at my table (out of 7 people in total) also had their tablets along and were accessing them regularly. In fact throughout the room there were a significant number of individuals attending with their tablets. This was in addition to the individuals trying to look regularly at their smartphones without being noticed. Adding these two groups together, constituted more than 75% of the audience

I started slowly, just the occasional peak and limited responding. But soon thereafter I was seamlessly making the transition from presentation/discussion to email. Notwithstanding the multitasking, I also asked questions at most of the conference sessions; typically, one of approximately eight questions asked at each session. I made progress on my email and I also benefited greatly from being at the conference. I have been relatively quick to criticize the learning habits of the current generation of students. They strike me as too screen oriented and I am wondering what is being lost in the process. And I still don’t know whether it is possible long term to successfully multitask almost simultaneously and continuously as seems to be the pattern today. But I will refrain from future criticism. I have for a long time combined talking on the phone while still doing email, and I have also now participated in a conference while working on email. It can work effectively and our current students are leading the way.

EBooks

I’m watching our students, especially our 1st year students, walk around campus from class to class- with backpacks filled with books. And I know from looking at course outlines that textbooks in paper format continue to dominate higher education classes as they did when I went to college. There is even a feeling, still prevalent, that regardless of all the technological advances, textbooks, as we have always known them, will continue their dominance for at least another decade. I don’t think that will happen.

Up to a few years ago, as part of preparing for any vacation, I would identify the books I wanted to read (usually escapist fiction), purchase them (in paperback if at all possible) and place them in my carry on. My Kindle serves that purpose now and I have no regrets having made the change. Any office paperwork I now bring along on vacation is via Dropbox and the convenience without the weight is a real plus.

My kids who are entering middle school and high school are not being issued textbooks. Instead they will be issued educational materials loaded on iPads, and the costs are comparable to using standard paper textbooks (even factoring the cost of the iPad). Over time, education on the middle school through high school levels will become more and reliant on iPads and eBooks. Textbooks will be relegated to an occasional use basis for specialized circumstances.

We already see the transformation of libraries that has and still is taking place. Where 15 years ago, we had a main library building as well as a large satellite library building, we now are able to build in significantly more student individual and group study space in our main library building and we no longer have a satellite building. And our reference librarians are spending less time at the reference desk and instead spending more time teaching students to be sophisticated users of information technology.

Now I know firsthand there are still some disadvantages with the iPad/eBook technology. Highlighting and making notes in the margin are still not as convenient as with a paper version textbook. I often highlighted simply because it allowed me, in reviewing the material, to focus on what was most important or to highlight material which I needed to spend more time studying. EBooks on the other hand have the benefit of including more dynamic illustrations and/or video clips that can illustrate and enhance the material being studied. The ship has sailed on the issue of iPads, tablet computers and eBooks. We need to adjust and get on board so as to maximize the benefits from this imminent change.