Online multitasking and user engagement

Users often access and re-access more than one site during an online session, effectively engaging in multitasking. In this paper, we study the effect of online multitasking on two widely used engagement metrics designed to capture users browsing behavior with a site. Our study is based on browsing data of 2.5M users across 760 sites encompass-ing diverse types of services such as social media, news and mail. To account for multitasking we need to redefine how user sessions are represented and we need to adapt the met-rics under study. We introduce a new representation of user sessions: tree-streams – as opposed to the commonly used click-streams – present a more accurate picture of the brows-ing behavior of a user that includes how users switch between sites (e.g., hyperlinking, teleporting, backpaging). We then discuss a number of insights on multitasking patterns, and show how these help to better understand how users engage with sites. Finally, we define metrics that characterize mul-titasking during online sessions and show how they provide additional insights to standard engagement metrics

The multitasking framework: the effects of increasing workload on acute psychobiological stress reactivity

A variety of techniques exist for eliciting acute psychological stress in the laboratory; however, they vary in terms of their ease of use, reliability to elicit consistent responses and the extent to which they represent the stressors encountered in everyday life. There is, therefore, a need to develop simple laboratory techniques that reliably elicit psychobiological stress reactivity that are representative of the types of stressors encountered in everyday life. The multitasking framework is a performance-based, cognitively demanding stressor, representative of environments where individuals are required to attend and respond to several different stimuli simultaneously with varying levels of workload. Psychological (mood and perceived workload) and physiological (heart rate and blood pressure) stress reactivity was observed in response to a 15-min period of multitasking at different levels of workload intensity in a sample of 20 healthy participants. Multitasking stress elicited increases in heart rate and blood pressure, and increased workload intensity elicited dose–response increases in levels of perceived workload and mood. As individuals rarely attend to single tasks in real life, the multitasking framework provides an alternative technique for modelling acute stress and workload in the laboratory

Using tablets for e-assessment of project-based learning

Technology is confirmed to be an effective tool for assessment and feedback, in particular for computer-assisted assessment (Irons, 2008; Challis, 2005), producing feedback (Heinrich et al., 2009) and publishing feedback (Bloxham and Boyd, 2007; Denton, 2003; Denton et al., 2008). The arrival of affordable mobile devices has introduced a new means for enhancing the above practices (Fabian and MacLean, 2014; Plimmer and Mason, 2006; Salem, 2013). Student preferences to smart phones and tablet devices steer the technological innovation towards ubiquitous mobile connectivity. Inspired by the benefits of such life and study style, educators have started exploring the use of these technologies. Tablet computers prove to become their preferred choice as they resolve some of the limitations associated with the design, readability and comprehensiveness of the feedback for mobile devices with smaller screens (Strain-Seymour, 2013, Rootman-le Grange and Lutz, 2013). This paper reports how tablets and the Form Connext mobile app have been used for engaging a sample of 300 Business Studies students in in-class online assessment and designing and providing timely comprehensive feedback. The study has followed an action research strategy that is grounded on a continuous and dynamic process of reflection (Carr and Kemmis, 2003) on the effectiveness of assessment of student projects documented electronically through wikis and electronic portfolios. It refines the use of tablets for summative and formative assessment of the project-based learning tasks through three review cycles, each of which incorporated a Reflection and Improvements stage. The experience resulted in enhancement of assessment strategies and contribution to the development of contemporary models of learning through effective assessment and feedback (Carr and Kemmis, 2003). The results of the work confirm that tablet computers are an effective tool in assessing e-materials in larger classes for two primary reasons. Firstly, design of e-forms facilitates rigorous process of reflection and understanding assessment criteria that in turn benefit students when preparing for the assessment. Hence, legible and detailed feedback is produced anytime anywhere with synchronous updates within the marking team. Secondly, students benefit from immediate comprehensive feedback allowing them to reflect on and improve their understanding of subject matters, as well as to engage in discussing specific details of the work that are captured through the form. An unexpected outcome was the enhanced reputation and respect to the tutors amongst students, the triggering of student curiosity and enthusiasm in applying similar approach to their own work. The diffusion for the practice amongst other units and identifying other purposes for which the mobile app could be used are also seen as achievements exceeding the expectations of the project team

'First Portal in a Storm': A Virtual Space for Transition Students

The lives of millennial students are epitomised by ubiquitous information, merged technologies, blurred social-study-work boundaries, multitasking and hyperlinked online interactions (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). These characteristics have implications for the design of online spaces that aim to provide virtual access to course materials, administrative processes and support information, all of which is required by students to steer a course through the storm of their transition university experience. Previously we summarised the challenges facing first year students (Kift & Nelson, 2005) and investigated their current online engagement patterns, which revealed three issues for consideration when designing virtual spaces (Nelson, Kift & Harper, 2005). In this paper we continue our examination of students’ interactions with online spaces by considering the perceptions and use of technology by millennial students as well as projections for managing the virtual learning environments of the future. The findings from this analysis are informed by our previous work to conceptualise and describe the architecture of a transition portal

Brainatwork: Logging Cognitive Engagement and Tasks in the Workplace Using Electroencephalography

Today's workplaces are dynamic and complex. Digital data sources such as email and video conferencing aim to support workers but also add to their burden of multitasking. Psychophysiological sensors such as Electroencephalography (EEG) can provide users with cues about their cognitive state. We introduce BrainAtWork, a workplace engagement and task logger which shows users their cognitive state while working on different tasks. In a lab study with eleven participants working on their own real-world tasks, we gathered 16 hours of EEG and PC logs which were labeled into three classes: central, peripheral and meta work. We evaluated the usability of BrainAtWork via questionnaires and interviews. We investigated the correlations between measured cognitive engagement from EEG and subjective responses from experience sampling probes. Using random forests classification, we show the feasibility of automatically labeling work tasks into work classes. We discuss how BrainAtWork can support workers on the long term through encouraging reflection and helping in task scheduling

Personality, Technology, and Learning

Computers continued encroachment on today’s society can be seen in a college lecture hall, where a growing number of students use laptops for their academic needs. Current academic laptop use research predominantly makes broad generalizations across users, indicating that laptop use in the classroom has negative influences on academic outcomes. However, this research neglects to take into account possible individual differences in the users. It is hypothesized that students\u27 levels of conscientiousness and impulsivity would moderate the relationship between laptop use and academic performance, while a student’s multitasking experience would mediate this same relationship, forming a moderated mediation model. Using an online sample of college aged students (N= 195), the hypothesized moderated mediation model was not supported. Students\u27 levels of conscientiousness or impulsivity do not moderate the relationship between laptop use and academic performance, and a student’s multitasking experience does not mediate this same relationship

Can I Have Your Attention? Implications of the Research on Distractions and Multitasking for Reference Librarians

The media have identified the last decade as “the age of distraction.” People today find it harder to work on long, sustained tasks because distractions are eroding their attention span, fostering a culture of discontinuity. Fields as diverse as psychology, business, education, human-computer interaction, and communication studies have produced a wealth of studies on interruptions, distractions, and multitasking–research that has important implications for reference librarians. The nature of our jobs invites interruptions by the public, requires familiarity with the latest technology, stimulates curiosity about a broad range of subjects, and demands adeptness at multitasking–all factors which can atomize attention

When Intrusive Can Be Likable: Product Placement Effects on Multitasking Consumers

Using movie scenes, this study examines how multitasking by viewers influences the product-plot integration effect. Findings indicate that multitasking dampens a well-integrated placement\u27s brand-enhancing effect and mitigates an intrusive placement\u27s brand-damaging effect. Well-integrated placement produces an assimilation effect, leading to convergence of viewers\u27 attitudes toward the placed versus competing brands, while intrusive placement triggers a contrast effect that results in divergence of these attitudes. Among single-tasking viewers, the boomerang effect of an intrusive placement decreases the favorability of the placed brand and increases the favorability of the not-shown competitor. The opposite is true among multitasking viewers, however