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Toward monotasking in the dental school classroom?

2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 115; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.oooo.2012.12.005

2212-4411

Paul C. Edwards,

Psychological and Educational Research Studies

It is given that the current generation of dental students is heavily invested in mobile computing platforms. Notebooks, laptops, tablets, smartphones, phablets, and other yet to be envisioned web-connected devices will play an ever increasing role in the future of education. At the same time, as educators, we've all stood in the back of a classroom, looking at a sea of screens opened to a myriad of sites, many of which have no relevance to the ongoing classroom discussion. Curiously, these distractions are regularly referred to as “multi-tasking”; by implication, representing perceived desirable qualities in today's society obsessed with immediate communication. However, while many individuals believe that they are able to perform multiple tasks without impairment of any of these activities, evidence suggests that perhaps less than 3% of the population is truly able to effectively multitask (defined as the ability to perform two attention-demanding tasks without incurring substantial performance costs).1Watson J.M. Staryer D.L. Supertaskers: profiles in extraordinary multitasking ability.Psychon Bull Rev. 2010; 17: 479-485Crossref PubMed Scopus (173) Google Scholar On a lighter note, one of my colleagues recently sent me a link to a TED talk that humorously illustrates the potential pitfalls of multitasking (Paolo Cardini: Forget multitasking: try monotasking2http://www.ted.com/talks/paolo_cardini_forget_multitasking_try_monotasking.html. Accessed December 6, 2012 (I thank Dr. Wisam Al-Rawi for sharing this link with me).Google Scholar). There is of course, the opposing view, namely that the human brain is not well suited to monotasking, and that there is little value in trying to hold mankind to “some mythical standard of sustained, focused attention.3Davidson C. The myth of monotasking. http://hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2011/11/26/myth-monotasking. Accessed December 7, 2012.Google Scholar” There is also no doubt that the ability to multitask is a benefit in the private practice dental setting (think of the busy dental surgeon restoring an implant on her patient while at the same time talking to a receptionist who just got off the telephone with a patient in discomfort, while also reviewing radiographs taken by the assistant for the emergency patient in the adjoining operatory). However, while multitasking has obvious evolutionary advantages, one could argue that it is the non-productive or distractional type of multitasking that is of greatest concern. Regardless, we need to fully consider the effects of these multiple diversions on the dental educational process. There is no dearth of data supporting the potential negative effects of multitasking on the process of learning, understanding and skill development. Individuals make less efficient use of their time when repeatedly switching between tasks, particularly when one of the tasks is complex or unfamiliar, which can be extrapolated to the development of new knowledge and skills in the dental education process.4Rubinstein J.S. Meyer D.E. Evans J.E. Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching.J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2001; 27: 763-797Crossref PubMed Scopus (988) Google Scholar Learners who engage in distractional multitasking are also prone to inferior information recall,5Ellis Y. Daniels B. Jauregui A. The effect of multitasking on the grade performance of business students.Res High Educ. 2010; 8: 1-10Google Scholar as are students who are in direct view of a multitasking peer6Sana F. Weston T. Cepeda N.J. Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers.Comput Educ. 2013; 62: 24-31Crossref Scopus (346) Google Scholar (this latter observation raises the interesting question as to whether modern classrooms should have distraction-free zones for those students who wish to concentrate on the material being presented). The adverse effects of multitasking appear to be particularly noticeable in the earlier phases of clinical training and skill development. Dubrowski and colleagues7Dubrowski A. Brydges R. Satterthwaite L. Xeroulis G. Classen R. Do not teach me while I am working!.Am J Surg. 2012; 203: 253-257Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (19) Google Scholar showed that junior surgical residents with lesser clinical experience had a decreased ability, compared to their more experienced senior colleagues, to learn new cognitive information under multitasking conditions. Of even greater significance to the developing clinician is the observation that students engaged in distractional multitasking appear to be less able to understand underlying concepts and to critically apply this information in new settings.8Foerde K. Knowlton B.J. Poldrack R.A. Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006; 103: 11778-11783Crossref PubMed Scopus (383) Google Scholar This is where the real challenge lies. As faculty members, we must strive to find ways to channel our students' energies in productive directions, while directing their attention away from the ubiquitous “background” temptations in today's internet and cell phone-enabled classroom: texting, web surfing, email, looking at updates on social media sites, just to name a few of these activities. There is a perception, especially among individuals with less exposure to teaching in the web-enabled classroom, that the faculty member is at fault if his/her students are engaging in electronic distraction. It is true that, as faculty members, we must accept some degree of accountability for this. This is especially true in those foundational level courses, in which large amounts of material must, by necessity, be “offered” to our students, or during the first year of the traditional dental curriculum, when students are all too often scheduled for uninterrupted successive hours of didactic lectures (if you've ever been assigned a 3 hour lecture slot on a Friday afternoon from 2 to 5 pm to teach oral pathology, enough said). However, this is not an issue exclusive to students. I have attended very interesting and interactive lectures taught by colleagues of mine in which many attendees, the majority of whom were non-students, were nevertheless engaged in non-constructive multitasking activities. Instead, I venture that, as a society, particularly over the past decade, we have been conditioned to seek out these multiple diversions, whether it be to remain in constant communication, or because of a perception that if one is not multitasking then one is not making effective use of time, or, perhaps, as a diversion to avoid or postpone taking on unpleasant or difficult tasks (such as learning or applying new knowledge). If one then accepts the proposition that these activities are generally not productive to the educational experience, the question becomes: how do we “discourage” these forms of non-productive multitasking in the dental school setting? The ability to electronically interrupt cell phone and Wi-Fi service has a certain appeal to it. If you have ever contemplated the use of jamming technology in the classroom, you are not alone. The United States Federal Communication Commission (FCC) even lists this question on one of their 23 FAQs on the legality, or, more appropriately, illegality, of jamming technology in the classroom (“Question #19. I am a principal or school teacher and would like to use a jammer to limit cell phone calls and texting during school hours. May I do so?”9Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau. GPS, Wi-Fi, and Cell Phone Jammers. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/jammerenforcement/jamfaq.pdf. Accessed December 4, 2012.Google Scholar). Clearly, the use of any type of jamming technology poses an unacceptable risk to public safety, as jammers can't discriminate between “desirable” signals such as emergency calls to 911, and potentially less desirable uses. Moreover, it is also illegal to operate cell phone and Wi-Fi jammers in the United States. Several of my braver colleagues have taken a more thoughtful approach: restricting the use of laptops, notebooks and cell phones during certain classroom activities; particularly during interactive or discussion-centered sessions. Faculty who have tried this approach report a perceived increase in student involvement. Having experimented with a non-laptop rule this past semester in a non-didactic, case-based discussion course for senior dental students, I can confirm the potential benefits of this approach, at least when used in the right setting. However, in the long term, this is not an ideal, or even viable, solution, as this flies in opposition to the profound changes that are occurring in both education and in society. Instead, could we, by embracing technological change and developing new methods that incorporate the use of these devices into our teaching repertoire, encourage our students to focus on the educational objectives at hand, thereby potentially discouraging the natural inclination toward non-productive uses of these technologies (i.e., encourage monotasking)? Ideally, yes. But to which new methods/approaches am I referring? As someone who is enthusiastic about but certainly not unconditionally proficient in the use of technological devices, I don't claim to have the answer. As noted above, that is where the challenge lies. I am not referring to common activities such as adding notes to a PDF copy of a class handout or the use of i>clicker-like polling tools. While these can have a role in the learning process, assessing student comprehension of concepts or for monitoring class attendance, they suffer significant shortcomings (e.g., the necessity that questions be worded in the form of a multiple choice question). Among the considerations, one that immediately comes to mind is that of a modified wiki-like approach; faculty-initiated and moderated tools with an emphasis on student-contributed content. Ideally, such an approach would be platform and operating system independent, would work with both portable devices and more conventional computing platforms, and be based on currently available, but freely modifiable, tools. Essentially, this represents a BYOD (bring your own device)-type approach that capitalizes on the fact that the vast majority of our students are already bringing their own electronic equipment to the classroom. In addition to affording the flexibility to incorporate the latest and most innovative methods, a BYOD-approach reduces personnel and hardware costs to the dental school, while permitting students to continue to use their preferred hardware. As example, like all of my colleagues, I carry a smartphone with me at all times. Currently, it is a 5.5-inch screen Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Android-based smartphone. In addition, I routinely use a 7-inch Nexus Android tablet, and for the Apple devotees out there, I also rely heavily on my iPad 4, Apple TV, and my 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro hooked up to two 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt displays. The rationale for listing these is not to promote a particular product, but instead to highlight that everyone has their own preferred devices. The suggestion at hand is that by having the option to use new educational technologies on the devices of their choice, our students might be more likely to embrace these approaches in the classroom. The University's requisite contribution is relatively modest: a classroom infrastructure that can accommodate the modern student (a robust Wi-Fi system, adequate desktop space, and individual chairside power outlets; already essential prerequisites for any dental school in 2013), some degree of protected faculty time and minimal start-up funds to explore these options. Regardless of which approaches we ultimately select to encourage monotasking in the dental school setting, hopefully, by identifying, and encouraging novel approaches to learning that can support and enhance the current educational paradigm, while minimizing outside distractions, we can continue to help our students to understand, analyze and interpret the vast amounts of information they are exposed to so that they can ultimately develop into outstanding clinicians.