Good Essay About Effect Of Multitasking On Students’ Performance

Introduction

Multitasking entails an individual handling more than one activity at the same time. Multitasking has been associated with time-wasting as it results in a person not paying attention to what they are doing. Studies, however, show that people can be trained in order to multitask without spending time. Some of the studies also show that multitasking is important as it helps in saving time and thus improve productivity. In order to boost productivity, it is advisable for people to multitask. Multitasking does not make us productive as we think and, in fact; the quality of work produced by individuals is small compared to the individuals who do not multitask. Multitasking could be costing us more than we think as it also increases the level of stress. Dealing with many things at the same time increases the level of stress as it at times makes us feel frazzled, and drained. Junco’s “In-class multitasking and academic performance, Computers in Human Behavior” evaluates the relationship between multitasking and academic performance. The presence of communication technologies in the college classrooms has led to learning problems. Research in the cognitive science shows clearly the drastic reduction in the performance when attending to two activities or tasks (Junco, 2012). The study conducted by Junco examines the relationship between multitasking and academic performance as measured by the actual overall semester grade point average. Students involved in the research frequently communicated using text messages compared to other types of media. Multitasking affects human information processing in a number of ways especially when performing simultaneous tasks. Because of the shifts in the ownership of technological devices by the students, most of the studies focus on the effects of multitasking and the influences in the learning process. Today most of the college students belong to an era known as the digital generation. Most of the students focus on the use of new technologies and, therefore, present them with an opportunity to multitask. Cell phones are popular among the college students and research shows that in the US a high percentage of the students own phones compared to the same aged non-students (Junco, 2012). Junco’s article describes multitasking as the divided attention and non-sequential task switching for the ill-defined tasks as they are performed in the learning institutions (Junco, 2012). Multitasking affects educational outcomes in a number of ways. The use of laptops in classrooms enhance student learning in the classrooms but at the same time also increase the potential for multitasking. The use of such devices in the class set-ups encourage the students to engage in activities such as playing games and checking of emails. The methods used for conducting the research gave the real outcome of what happens in the classrooms. The participants in the study were sent a link that automatically detect whether they have responded to the emails. The students who never replied to their emails during the first instance were sent to a reminder. The variables in the research included internet skills, frequency multitasking during class and the high school GPA. Based on the results, about 69 percent of the students reported using the text messages during class (Junco, 2012). The students also admitted using other types of media such as Facebook and emails during class. From the research work, the frequency of multitasking with some types of ICTs such as text messaging and Facebook had an adverse effect on the GPA (Junco, 2012). Multitasking that involved other forms of ICT such as email to search for contents not related to class or receiving phone calls never interfered with the GPA. Sana et al. “Laptop Multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers in Human Behavior” evaluates the effects of laptop use in the classroom and its influences on teenage behaviors. Laptops are nowadays common in the learning set up by universities and colleges. The use of laptops in classrooms affects the performance of the students in a number of ways. Multitasking is ingrained in our lives, and it is important as it helps in increasing efficiency (Sana, Weston& Cepeda, 2013). Multitasking places demands on the cognitive resources of an individual that in turn interferes with the general performance of an individual (Sana, Weston& Cepeda, 2013). Students who multitask in classrooms have poor comprehension of the course material and the general performance during the semester. The use of laptops in the classroom affects even the students who do not use the laptops. The method used for collecting information by the researcher, in experiment one does not stand up to time since it never considered some factors. In experiment one, the effect of multitasking was done by using a laptop in a particular lecture. The hypothesis of the study was that those who multitasked by using the laptops during the lecture would get low marks compared to their counterparts who concentrated (Sana, Weston& Cepeda, 2013). The hypothesis never factored the issue of slower and fast learners. Some students are slow learners and as such, they take time to understand what is taught in class even if they are attentive while others are fast learners and grasp everything in class. The method used in Experiment two was up to date as it involved determining whether those who use the laptops in classrooms affect their peers. The hypothesis was true as individuals especially students are always attracted by social media and online games played by their peers. It often distracts their attention and with time, they focus more on what is done by their peers rather than concentrate in the classrooms. Both the articles agree to the fact that multitasking affects students in one way or the other when it comes to their performance. Junco’s “In-class multitasking and academic performance, Computers in Human Behavior” states that frequency multitasking with particular ICTs such as text messaging and Facebook affect the performance of the students and this can be noted in the various GPA of the participants. ICTs such as Facebook and text messaging make the students put all their thoughts in the social media platforms and therefore, concentrate less in their academic works in the class. Sana et al. “Laptop Multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers in Human Behavior” also accepts that multitasking affects the performance of students in one way or the other. Based on the article, the participant’s comprehension was impaired when they conducted multiple activities while learning such as attending to the lecture material and taking notes and completing the online tasks that were not related to the class work (Sana, Weston& Cepeda, 2013). From the experiment, the participants who engaged in using the laptops during the lecture presented a low quality and quantity of response compared to their counterparts who actively engaged in the classroom activities. The two articles both admit that multitasking may have different overall effects depending on the difficulty of the tasks being undertaken or juggled. If the primary task, which an individual is undertaking is difficult, it will require a greater degree of attention to perform to a satisfactory level. The primary task can thus be performed well if it is allocated its own time, and no task is done during that time. Sana et al. “Laptop Multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers in Human Behavior” presents experiment one in which the participants were given a primary task to learn something in a novel which was a difficult task while at the same time attending to a simple secondary task that never required much attention(Sana, Weston& Cepeda, 2013). In such a circumstance, it is better to attend to the primary task at simultaneously working on a secondary task could affect negatively affect the performance. Junco states that activities such as IMing and talking on the phone are not in any way related to academic performance probably because they are not involving. The articles differ in the manner in which they present the relationship between multitasking and some of the causal factors. Junco holds that some activities that may be termed, multitasking have no significant effect on the overall performance of the student and even the GPA (Junco, 2012). Some of such activity such as searching information that is not related to the class work has not relationship to the performance of the student. Sana et al. on the contrary insists that the effects differ depending on the magnitude of the attention that the activities demand (Sana, Weston& Cepeda, 2013). Multitasking has an effect on the performance of the students and even to their peers in the classrooms. When students multitask in class, they lose focus of what is being taught by the teacher and, as a result, perform poorly as exhibited by their semester GPA. The peers of the students who multitask or use laptops in class are also affected as they focus on what their friends are doing online rather pay attention to the teacher. Students should therefore not engage in multitasking in the classroom.

References

Sana, F., Weston, T., & Cepeda, N. J. (2013). Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 24-31.
Junco, R. (2012). In-class multitasking and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 2236-2243.