FCS FLASH! - Our Brains Can't Multitask

 

Download: Myth of Multitasking

FCS FLASH  ISSUE Number 92: October 28, 2008

November 1 - April 5: San Francisco: Yves Saint Laurent Exhibit <Link>
November 5 - 8: Chicago, IL: ITAA Annual Meeting: Evolving Patterns <Link>
November 9 - Dec 5: Throughout California: CCCECE Fall Regional Meetings <Link>  & Other Important Dates
November 13: Downey: Explore the World of Organic Foods <Link>
November 21 - 25: National Harbor, MD: Gerontological Society of America Annual Conference <Link>
December 3 - 4: Sacramento: 2008 Joint Special Populations Conference <Link>
December 4 - 6: Charlotte, NC: ACTE Convention & Career Expo
<Link> January 25: Los Angeles: Autry National Center: Cut from a Different Cloth <Link>
March 15 - 19: Las Vegas: Joint Conference National Council on Aging/American Society on Aging <Link>
March 26 - 28: Sacramento: CAEYC Conference <Link>  California Association for the Education of Young Children
April 22 - 24: Lake Arrowhead: 2009 Workforce Leaders Institute <Link>
September 25 - 26: Sacramento: CSA Western Region, 2009 Symposium "Costume in the American West" Call For Papers <Link>

New Postings on the FCS Site!

FCS faculty from around the state have posted some interesting articles. Roger Gerard, Shasta Community College, writes <Link>  about the important distinctions hospitality companies are making in their hiring practices. Lisa Ledeboer, Mt. San Antonio College, provides <Link>  some great classroom activities to help get out the vote. Dana Wu Wassmer, Cosumnes River College, covers <Link>  the recently passed California legislation requiring restaurants to post calorie information on their menus. Finally, don't miss what Lynn Downing has to say about Levi Strauss in the current issue of Convergence, "Everyone Wears His Name <Link> ."

FCS Activity: Our Brains Can't Multitask!

 <Link> As we continue with our theme about the brain and strategies to help students learn easier and faster in the classroom and excel in the workplace, we are going to tackle multitasking and the brain. The research seems to be overwhelming ... our brains work sequentially and we can only successfully do one thing at a time. The idea of multitasking is a MYTH <Link> . And when your students try to IM during a class lecture, talk on their cell phone while writing a paper, or carry on a conversation while checking email, they make 50% more errors and it takes twice as long to do things. When we multitask, what we're really doing is rapidly switching back and forth between tasks, and each time we switch, no matter how quickly that switch takes place in our mind, there is a cost associated with it. Basex, a research firm, has estimated that the per annum cost to the economy by multitask induced disruptions <Link>  is in excess of $650 billion. Multitasking or "switch tasking" is not only costly, but, as a mode of working, causes stress, anxiety, short attention span, dropped responsibilities, productivity problems, and focus problems. To help demonstrate how counterproductive multitasking is, have your students try this exercise.

Try this:

Ask students some questions about multitasking. How do you define multitasking? When do you multitask? Do you think you are an effective multitasker?
Share this short video clip on multitasking <http://www.davecrenshaw.com/>  with your students.
Distribute the activity sheet, Myth of Multitasking, attached, review the instructions, and have students complete the exercise.
Discuss what they learned from this activity and how they can apply it in class and in their daily lives.

FYI: To do two things at once is to do neither. Publilius Syrus, Roman slave, first century B.C.

This newsletter was brought to you by a grant from the California Community College Chancellor's Office Family and Consumer Science Collaborative Grant (#06-0160).

Please contact Joann Driggers (jdriggers@mtsac.edu) with any questions.
MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE 1100 N. GRAND AVENUE, WALNUT, CA 91789
909-594-5611 x5203