Monday, August 18, 2008

IM and Reading Rates

Found this in Education Week.

Instant Messaging Found to Slow Students' Reading
Students who send and receive instant messages while completing a reading assignment take longer to get through their texts but apparently still manage to understand what they’re reading, according to one of the first studies to explore how the practice affects academic learning.
Well duh! How many of you out there can't listen to music while you read? Or are distracted if it's too noisy? It seems to make sense that constantly taking your eyes (and mind) off the page to IM a friend might just make it harder to finish what you are reading. In my case, distractions mean I must reread.

The only question I have now is, how do I get my multi-tasking students and advisees to see that perhaps studying while completing 5 other tasks isn't such a smart way to cram 36 hours worth of work into a 24 hour day?

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