Over the summer I've been working on some research for the E-Learning Guild's upcoming 360º Report on e-Learning 2.0. My particular focus has been on understanding the needs of today's new breed of learners and the implications that this will have for workplace learning. My piece will be published by the Guild in the next few weeks, so I will keep you posted ...
However, one of the features of today's new learner that is becoming evident is that they are multi-taskers, so it was interesting to just come across an article in Learning Circuits Magazine that looks at how you deliver material "in a way that appeals to a busy, distracted, overwhelmed, and often multitasking audience".
Personally, I think it is going to need much more than new ways of presenting material to these individuals, but ensuring that they are in fact part of the whole content creation and sharing process themselves, but this is certainly a great start to thinking about this issue, and one of a few articles I've seen considering this subject.
How to train multi-taskers by Tom Brigham
Hi Jane,
Just a little controversial niggle here but I would suggest there is no such thing as multitasking. I am currently looking at the opposite: how do I ensure that task switching is kept to a minimum so as to train effectively.
For some of the catalyst behind my thought I point this way: http://www.brainrules.net/attention
Interested in your views.
Rob Wilkins
Posted by: Rob Wilkins | 10 September 2008 at 11:51 AM
Jane, I agree with Brigham's points, though I don't think any of them are unique to learning 2.0. "Start strong" and "think in pictures" have part of effective communication since someone made those paintings in the caves of Lascaux.
John Medina's Brain Rules, which I liked so much that I wrote a series of posts about it, looks at how our brains got the way they are, and suggests ways to harness the brain's workings.
"Multitasking, when it comes to paying attention," he says, "is a myth.... I am talking about the brain's ability to pay attention....[This] is the activity that collapses as your brain wanders during a tedious presentation at work. This attentional ability is not capable of multitasking."
Obviously people try to multitask -- but if you've ever tried to have a conversation with someone who's also skimming email, writing tweets, or even shopping online, you understand the difference between doing more than one thing and getting more than one thing done.
Posted by: Dave Ferguson | 10 September 2008 at 06:42 PM