Hang up and Drive

Interesting video on multi-tasking by John Medina,the guy who wrote Brain Rules. I haven't read the book but I've seen several little snippits about his work and am thinking it needs to go on my to-read list. For years I've had students (and adults) tell me they could do two things at once. I've always argued that they were really just switching focus. Sometimes really fast. Research may support my opinion for a change. (I'm marking this date on my calendar!)

Medina says that talking on a cell phone while you are driving is like driving drunk in that it decreases your ability to make fast decisions in the same way. (I am paraphrasing here so please watch the video and don't quote me as your source...even though I was right this time....did I mention that I was right?)

So, the question in my mind is not that we immediately stop kids and adults from multitasking but how do we utilize our ability to switch tasks to the best of our brains ability. We need a new word here to describe quickly changing tasks. Something catchy like speed-task, sequa-task, task-task, fast-task or tasoogle!

"Mom, today in tech class we learned to tasoogle between google and yahoo while building a collaborative wiki in our moodle space."

My only question after this, is why do I doodle and draw pictures while I am listening and taking notes? What is it about my learning style that drives me to draw? Am I switching between the two tasks of drawing and listening or is the drawing enhancing my listening? Maybe I'll read the book to find out.






[Image:"Shut up and drive";Uploaded on September 5, 2007 by Schodts; http://www.flickr.com/photos/schodts/1330843003/]

Concentration

I took a part-time job recently scoring written responses to a state test. The task was challenging and tedious. I worked in a large room with several hundred people broken up into smaller groups. Cell phones had to be turned off. We were asked to talk in our "library voices." We couldn't wear headphones or any kind of music player.

The music player thing made sense to me as a teacher. I don't allow my students to listen to their players except for very specific circumstances. I know that some classrooms ban them completely. In the middle school where I used to work, if we saw them, we were required to confiscate them. Actually, all the rules about noise made sense. We were reading and thinking and the quiet atmosphere made sense.

Here's the thing.

I had a hard time concentrating. Once I was competent in scoring a response and I had done over fifty or so, my mind wanted to wander. Any noise. Any laugh, cough or sneeze was enough to pull me out of my head into the world in which I sat. When there was appropriate discussion between our supervisor with someone, I listened. If there was inappropriate discussion about the traffic, the job or the air conditioner, I listened. I didn't have to be part of the discussion. It could be the two folks next to me or at the table behind me or across the room. I stopped scoring and attended to the distraction. Then I'd have to rein in my roaming attention and bring it back to the task I was being paid to do.

At home, I can control my environment to the point that I can sit for 3-4 hours and concentrate on a task. I don't do this with the TV on as I end up watching and not working. I can listen to music as long as it has no words or I stop working and start singing. If I really need to shut out the world and focus completely, I listen to white noise through my iPod. When I have control of my environment, I'm able to attend to a task for long periods of time. So, my experience with this scoring job has got me to thinking about kids and their music players. Maybe it's not that they are always trying to do more than one thing at a time or trying to block us out. Maybe they are trying to limit their inputs so they can focus? (At least some of the time.)

Rather than telling kids what they can't do, maybe I need to spend some time telling them how to better utilize the tools they have. I know I 'll share my experiences with my students next year when we talk about appropriate use of personal electronics. We all can learn to work smarter. It just may not look the same for everyone.

[Image: "distraction": Al Gunn]

Are you Hyperconnected?

No off switch: "Hyperconnectivity" on the rise is an article recently posted on ars technica. It discusses a new kind of worker that is constantly connected to work via their electronic devices. The lines between work and home are blurring for these folks and their numbers are growing.

"These individuals were found in all countries surveyed, though China and the US have the highest ratios. Banking and high-tech industries contained a higher concentration of hyperconnected individuals who are found most often in management positions, and 60 percent were under the age of 35. Hyperconnected individuals don't view themselves as early adopters of technology; their lifestyle simply seems normal."

What are the implications to productivity and a person's level of stress as the lines between work and home blur? Interesting article.

I've often thought that teachers suffered this problem even before the advent of computers, cell phones and other electronics. As a group we are notorious for taking our work home with us. We grade papers and plan lessons on the couch while watching Star Trek reruns. We take pictures, read books and attend events with a part of our brain always wondering how we could use this information in our classroom. Back when outside phone lines were limited and caller ID wasn't so easily available, I did many of my parent contacts in the afternoon and early evening when I got home. (Usually grading papers while I talked.)

Sit outside a school and watch teachers walk to their cars at the end of the day. English teachers are identifiable by the the crate of papers they haul with them. Many have those little portable airport luggage dollys to which they can strap down a box or two of ungraded essays for easy transport from desk to car to kitchen table. Go to any meeting and you will see at least one teacher who is grading papers while participating in the discussion. Some teachers look like they are taking copious notes during the weekly staff meeting, when in actuality, they are planning their lessons for tomorrows sub.

Educators have been multi-tasking for years.

[Image: flickr: "My Laptop Bag-Work Version" Uploaded on September 17, 2007 by JaseMan: Creative Commons]

Is it possible to multitask?

The video below demonstrates how our brains filter information. It was made to promote cyclist safety. The point being that if you are concentrating hard on one thing, other things, like a cyclist, won't be noticed.

On more than one occasion while my wife has been driving we will pass one of those folks dressed up as a hot dog or a taco or a fluorescent haired clown advertising a local merchant.

After passing the clown, I will say something clever like, "Cute clown?".
She replies, "What clown?"
I say, "The clown on the side of the road waving the big 4-x-4 sign on a stick."
"There was no clown."
"Yes there was."
"No way!"
"Yes way!"

You get the idea. This has happened often enough, that in any similar circumstance where one of us should have noticed or seen something, we often say...."Didn't you see the clown?"

My reason for bringing this up is not to air my marital issues ( I love my wife even if she can't see the clown) but to point out this brain filtering mechanism. And to ask the question, can we truly multi-task? Or are we really serial-tasking very quickly? If this is a skill needed in the workplace, is there a way we can better prepare kids to handle it? Is there a way for me to re-train my 50+ year old brain without some sort of mental implosion?




[Image:Flickr: Bahman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bahman2005/302426028/]