Multitasking: Friend or Foe

Humanity has evolved into a multitasking digital and sometimes, distracting, world. This PBS documentary digital_nation life on the virtual frontier discusses what life is like in the digital world we live in today. As educators, this is the world our students are growing up in and in the information age, we have to adjust our teaching methods in order to engage our students.

Multitasking between listening to lectures, texting, facebooking, and having a conversation and switching between all of these tasks is so common for not just college students, but adults, too. Research in the video shows that, while people seem to think that they are completing all of these tasks to the best of their ability all at the same time, they are actually being distracted and would perform each task better if they were focusing exclusively on each task. The increase in the use of technology seems to have created both benefits in engagement but a decrease in some skills like writing. While 21st century skills seem to be improving, what used to be common skills covered in school are not at the level they once were according to the video.

The tasks that we are asking students to do in class have to evolve or students will not be engaged. As one student said in the video, he hasn’t read Romeo and Juliet but he could get online and “read it” in five minutes because he doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day. Our students are “living online” currently, so we must bring the online world into the classroom for our students to feel as though what they are learning is relevant. This New York Times article, Our Cluttered Minds by Jonah Lehrer, discusses the pros and cons of the internet and what it may be doing to our brains. Our attention span seems to have diminished and our brains are constantly swamped with information pulling us in many directions. This is the way our world is now, therefore, students need practice in both splitting their attention and focusing on one project.

While we cannot change the information and distractions that are pulling our students’ brains away from school, we can make changes to teach them how to focus in meaningful ways on important tasks. I am as guilty as anyone of getting distracted by life and splitting my attention between multiple tasks. There are complaints that students today want instant gratification, but I feel like that is how the world has become and my coworkers and I are the same way. I want students to be able to have the focus to read a novel, but I also think that one of the best strategies we can use at school is to continue having student apply the 21st century skills like multitasking, collaboration, and creative problem solving. These are all tasks that students will have to use in real life jobs. I use these skills daily as a teacher and practicing these tasks will help students become more skilled in these necessary life expectations.

21st Century Skills Frameworks and Assessments

         There are many frameworks for 21^st Century Skills available today for teachers to use. One of the most widely used frameworks is the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework for 21st Century Learning. This framework incorporates not only the core subjects, but also 21^st century content, learning and thinking skills, information and communications technology literacy, and life skills. Beyond the frameworks for 21^st century skills, there are even more detailed frameworks for digital literacies. These frameworks focus on the information and communication technology literacies that have become an integral part of teaching today. The following graphic compares and contrasts three of the digital literacy frameworks. The frameworks include the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)National Education Technology Standards for Students, the Educational Testing Service(ETS) ICT Digital Literacy Framework, and Henry Jenkins’ digital literacies based on new media.

          While all three frameworks present the information in ways that differ, there are many overlapping themes. The ISTE’s framework is quite detailed and, in my opinion, is the best option available. It incorporates many skills and also gives examples of student activities for each of the standards in the framework. The ETS ICT framework is very limited in the descriptions of the literacies. The five levels of literacy outlined by this plan are also really simple in comparison to the other two frameworks. This framework does not seem modern and is the least useful for incorporating 21^st century digital literacies. Henry Jenkins’ framework is different from the other two in that it lists the activities and abilities students should be able to achieve to demonstrate proficiency. Many of these do overlap with other skills and literacies found in the other frameworks. This framework is a different approach and is another valuable resource for teachers.

Another change in 21^st century teaching is the types of assessments that are given to students in class. When 21^st century skills are being used in learning activities, the standardized assessments that are still widely used in the United States to measure achievement are not the optimum assessment for truly measuring the abilities of our students. While some assessments like the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA) and the Programme forInternational Student Assessment (PISA) are making some changes in the way they assess students, many state exams like the ISTEP+ in Indiana are still behind the times. The CWRA and PISA tests measure skills that must be learned and applied as a whole as opposed to separate math, language arts, science, or social studies tests. Skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, written communications, and real-life challenges are measured rather than rote memorization of facts. These assessments rely on the team of teachers to teach the 21^st century skills beyond their individual subject areas alone in order to prepare students for what lies beyond school. An additional assessment that Great Britain is using for students at ages twelve-thirteen is the Key State 3 ICTLiteracy Assessment. This assessment measures not only ICT skills but a student’s ability to apply the skills on complex problems that require research, communication, information management, and presentation. These assessments are not used in my school district to my knowledge, although they are all administered at the middle or high school level and I teach elementary school. I can see a valid use for a test similar to the Key Stage 3 ICT Literacy Assessment as that assessment really goes beyond the paper and pencil and requires students to truly apply their skills in the digital atmosphere. The skills measured in that assessment align with many of the skills needed in the majority of careers today. Overall, all three of these assessments are moving beyond the typical standardized tests that are focused on one subject at a time and measuring mostly the memorization of basic standards.

           Classroom assessments have come a long way in some schools, but remain as only summative assessments in others. With collaboration and creativity such an important part of 21^st century learning, formative assessment is essential for teaching to evolve as students are working. It is no longer acceptable for students to be reading from textbooks and taking notes and then being asked to take a test at the end of each chapter. Student knowledge needs to be assessed throughout learning so that the teacher may correct and redirect students to ensure that by the time any summative assessment is given, the students have been given every opportunity to show growth. Collaborative activities that require responsibility, communication, and creativity are much more engaging for students and can allow for formative assessment while meeting with classmates and teachers.

             My school, Delaware Elementary, is absolutely amazing and the methods used in our classrooms are definitely 21^st century learning. The learning is very hands on, we have a plethora of technology available, and we do not have textbooks. Our assessment is throughout the activities including both formative and summative and we also have a standards based report card. We give levels as opposed to letters for grades; 1 (below proficient), 2 (approaching proficient), 3 (proficient), and 3+ (beyond proficient).  This allows a math teacher to rate number sense, computation, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis, and problem solving separately as opposed to just a math grade. It may be naïve, but I feel like our students really do enjoy what we do at my school. If I could change one thing it would be the transiency of the neighborhood. We see so many students come and go and then come back that I wish we could have them all for an extended period of time because it would make a dramatic difference for so many of them. 

Formative vs. Summative?