Off-task multitasking, note-taking and lower- and higher-order classroom learning

Abstract

We examined whether multitasking via concurrent off-task text messaging during an academic presentation impacted students’ performance on tests assessing lower-order and higher-order learning. College students (N = 183) were assigned to one of two conditions involving either concurrent texting or not texting during an academic presentation, or to a no presentation condition. Students in presentation conditions were encouraged to take hand-written notes. Between-participants analyses revealed that students who saw the presentation performed better on learning measures than the control group who did not see the presentation, indicating that students did learn from the presentations. Non-texters scored significantly higher than texters on multiple choice tests of factual, lower-order information (e.g., knowledge, comprehension), but not on essays requiring higher-order application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information. Within-participants analyses demonstrated that texters performed more poorly on lower-order questions that were based on information presented at times when they were texting. Non-texters took more quality notes than texters; amount of quality notes was positively related to test scores of all types. The amount of quality notes taken partially mediated the relationship between texting condition and multiple choice test scores. It appears that multitasking with media devices during an academic presentation interferes with note-taking and the encoding of information specific to the presentation.