The Effect of Multitasking on Learning During Video Lectures (Poster 36)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 9:50 a.m.
  In Poster Session: Learning Processes: Reasoning, Memory, and Executive Functioning

Abstract

Multitasking during lectures can help or hinder learning, depending on whether the secondary tasks are largely relevant or irrelevant to the lecture material, and students tend to multitask more in asynchronous than synchronous settings. We manipulated the type(s) of secondary tasks participants engaged in while watching an asynchronous video lecture. Sixty-two participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: lecture-only (control), lecture-relevant multitasking (note-taking), lecture-irrelevant multitasking (completing an unrelated survey), or hybrid multitasking (both note-taking and survey). Participants completed attention checks during the lecture and a retention test afterwards. Results showed that lecture-relevant multitasking produced the highest attention and test scores, followed by lecture-only and hybrid multitasking, with lecture-irrelevant multitasking resulting in the lowest scores.

Authors

• Zubeiru Mahama, Washington University in St. Louis

• Andrew C. Butler, Washington University in St. Louis