15 December, 2009

Attentive Multitasking

I’ve talked about attention and multitasking before.  But I’ve just been reading about a new study at Stanford University [PDF, 157Kb] about media multitasking that sheds further light on multitasking abilities. Researchers found that our response to how we multi-task can help or hinder just as much as the multitasking itself.

multitaskabulous! (photo by eflon)

multitaskabulous! (photo by eflon)

Scientific American reports on the findings by Ophir, Nass & Wagner [PDF, 660Kb]:

“It seems that chronic media-multitaskers are more susceptible to distractions. In contrast, people who do not usually engage in media-multitasking showed a greater ability to focus on important information. According to the researchers, this reflects two fundamentally different strategies of information processing. Those who engage in media-multitasking more frequently are ‘breadth-biased,’ preferring to explore any available information rather than restrict themselves. As Lin Lin at the University of North Texas puts it in a review of the article, they develop a habit of treating all information equally. On the other extreme are those who avoid breadth in favour of information that is relevant to an immediate goal.

“So what does this mean for you, reading this blog while checking your stocks and playing solitaire? Are you in trouble? Should you curb your media congestion? Not necessarily. Breadth-bias may still serve a purpose in our media-heavy society…In our fast-paced and technologically advancing society, it may be that having a single goal on which to focus our efforts is a luxury. We may often be better served by a control strategy that is cued by the demands of our surroundings. Look around yourself – do you see notes and to-do lists? Piles of objects meant to remind you about tasks and goals? These sorts of reminders are a great way to take advantage of bottom-up attentional control, and this type of control might in fact be more influential in our lives than we realize.”

[Scientific American: Portrait of a Multitasking Mind, Kenner & Poldrack]

So if you’re into multitasking, but it seems to cause you problems further down the line, it may be worth refocusing rather than reducing the number of tasks you’re working on.

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11 December, 2009

Future of HE funding matters to everyone

With an independent review of HE funding under way, what better time for Universities UK to have a funding conference, Who Pays?

What came out of today’s conference was quite worrying, given the number of speakers in favour of increasing fees and even introducing variable fees.

Thank goodness Wes Streeting was there to argue the case away from fees.  Wes is current President of the National Union of Students (NUS). He argued against a fees-based system, suggesting instead a type of graduate tax that NUS has published a Blueprint on.  It has been argued that some graduates would pay more through that graduate tax than under the current system of fees. However, the Blueprint is based on a future where the only real argument right now is for much higher fees that would cost a lot more to students than the Blueprint proposes.  Lift the cap on fees and that makes the NUS Blueprint even more tempting.

I’ve already argued in the past that the NUS Blueprint is a great way to open up the debate on funding.  If there are better alternatives, a lot of people are willing to listen.  So far, much of the debate is focused on making changes to the current system, rather than introducing a different way of funding altogether.

I don’t know how long the videos from the conference are available for, but you can find the whole talk from Wes at the Policy Review TV site (along with all other talks).  But I want to highlight one piece of the talk: the future of HE funding will have an impact on more than future students.  This is an issue for the wider public.

Here’s a bit of what Wes had to say:

“It should be obvious that asking students to pay more at such a difficult time would be regressive and damaging to the economy in the short term and the long term, when the huge added debts really impact on pensions, and the housing market, and the next generation of families. So this is no longer a question of what happens to Britain’s universities, it’s a question of what happens to Britain and what happens to our society and why this debate matters more to the general public than it has done hitherto.

“Not only that but crucial and very pertinent questions about quality and value for money will immediately become dominant. I have seen no evidence that quality has improved since 2006. And be in no doubt as you argue that students should plug the funding gap that’s increasingly arising, tomorrow’s students will not be willing to pay more for less, nor should they be asked to do so.

“That’s precisely why, in this politically vexatious debate, NUS will be taking the debate out to the general public.”

I wish the NUS every success in making such an important issue known by the public.  That should really help stop the silence regarding fees and get the debate going before the funding review needs to report and, crucially, before the general election takes place.  After the election will be too late.  The public deserve a greater say and a greater understanding as soon as possible.

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Filed under money, students, universities

11 December, 2009

Challenges of student engagement

Earlier today, I wrote an essay-length comment over at John Peart’s website.

John made a keynote speech at the Quality Strategy Network’s Student Engagement Symposium on 9th December at Ashridge Business School and he kindly published the speech on his blog the next day.

The speech is about the challenges of student engagement in an age where the student population is so diverse, many have to work to supplement their income, and large numbers are part-time or distance learners.  The argument goes that in order to engage a hyper-diverse community, a hyper-diverse approach is required:

“…engaging students is never an easy task, but students’ unions need to continue to challenge themselves. No one method alone with cut it when you’re dealing with a student population that is so diverse.”

If you have time, I suggest you read the entire speech.

photo by Christopher Saccaro

photo by Christopher Saccaro

It’s important stuff, which is why I wrote an essay in response.  And it’s why I’m posting my reply on here too:

My comment on John Peart’s blog

Hyper-diversity is difficult to achieve, despite being necessary. Just as you describe students as having wildly varying needs, different circumstances, must take on jobs, and so on, students’ unions are also isolated from influencing and helping students as much as they’d like to because of their increasing range of commitments.

Can a modern students’ union be truly representative of all students? It can get close. And I agree that officers and volunteers need to be active both online and offline. However, this further stretches them for time.

Your mention of 21% of undergrads feeling uninvolved in shaping their course and 21% of undergrads also wanting to be actively involved is interesting. How easy is it to become actively involved? I wonder how many students who don’t feel involved have tried to involve themselves further (and indeed, had the time to do so effectively). That’s a key issue for students’ unions, who are there to help in instances such as this. And while many unions are stepping up their game each year with great success, I’m still concerned that it’s difficult to make truly dynamic moves with such limited resources.

Many years back, unions could get support and engagement from students and vice versa by “being where the students are”. As you say, something like wallpapering corridors may have brought a good turnout. To an extent, that’s still the case. Trouble is, the students are absolutely everywhere and being bombarded by issues. So how do you spread out in order to reel everyone in to a particular cause, whilst demonstrating that their engagement would benefit them?

Obama’s election campaign worked well through the Web, since he had a strong presence on many services. But this took a lot of money and resources to make happen convincingly. Obama seemed to shock many people recently when he said he’d never used Twitter. But is that really such a surprise? Obama’s web presence must have been almost entirely worked on by other people, unless he’s a comic superhero with the power to stretch time to get everything done so well…

The big challenge in my mind is to help students realise how important it is for them to engage and campaign effectively. But here’s a little story that shows the difficulty of the situation:

When I had the pleasure to meet you a few weeks’ back at the Reading Town Takeover, the first person I spoke to on campus didn’t want to talk to me. I was looking for the students’ union and said “Excuse me?” to someone walking toward me. She kept her head low and pretended not to hear me, but clearly knew I was trying to get her attention.

I carried on by saying, “Sorry, I only want to know where the SU is please.”

She then looked up, smiled, and said, “Oh, you just want directions. Oh right, good, fine.”

After showing me the way, she walked off happy to have helped. I mentioned this later at the SU and was told that it’s no surprise as she’d probably been concerned that I was ‘yet another’ person out campaigning about this cause or that, trying to get her support. I was told the campus can get quite busy with people wanting your attention on all sorts of issues.

So do we increase engagement by being less engaged? Of course not. But this highlights the challenge faced on so many levels.

Still, it’s a challenge worth pursuing.

photo by gnackgnackgnack

photo by gnackgnackgnack

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Filed under academia, communication, guild of students, higher education, student union, students' union, welfare

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10 December, 2009

Information: Causing problems for Data & Knowledge

Apparently, ‘information’ is causing trouble.

I found the following piece of text in an academic paper on institutional research, but thought it useful to point out here:

“The distinction between data and information, on the one hand, and between information and knowledge, on the other, remains typically vague and problematic.  Disciplined use of these terms remains unresolved, giving rise to the substitution of ‘data’ for ‘information’ and the conflation of ‘information’ with ‘knowledge’ even though few would argue that ‘knowledge’ could ever be reduced to data.  Nevertheless ‘data’ and ‘knowledge’ are unwittingly brought together by having the term ‘information’ act as an informal intermediate.”

[Bernard Longden & Mantz Yorke - Institutional Research: What problems are we trying to solve?]

Might make you think differently about ‘information overload‘.

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10 December, 2009

Speedy Spoken Word

The spoken word.  Talk shows, podcasts, audio reports.  Do you bother, or are you happy to stick with reading?  After all, you can read a transcript of a speech more quickly than listening to it.  So what’s the point?

For one thing, we learn through more than our eyes.  Ears aren’t just for TV, music and hearing your own voice.

But we don’t like hanging around.  Listening to the spoken word can seem unbearably slow at times.  I try to get round that by listening at high speed.  When I do, it saves time AND helps me concentrate better.  It’s a win/win situation for my ears and my mind.

Say you want to listen to one of the many useful podcasts out there.  A transcript would likely allow someone to read through in about 10 minutes.  But you take information in differently when reading. By listening, you have a different relationship with the material.  It’s wise to vary your information intake.  You may even find that you’re more inclined to learn through audio, rather than text on a page.

A better way to improve the process is to speed up the audio.  The easiest way to increase the speed without installing extra software on a Windows PC is through Windows Media Player.  The Media Player has a helpful enhancement called “Play Speed Settings“.  A slider allows you to speed up and slow down the audio that’s playing.

Go through the following menu option: View / Enhancements / Play Speed Settings

When you select this, you’ll see a new menu box appear at the bottom of the Media Player window, with the slide bar.

An option to “Snap slider to common speeds” will restrict you to playing audio at particular points (such as 1.4x and 2.0x).  I tend not to have the box ticked, so I can use the slider however I want to.  I generally crank the slider up anywhere around 1.4-1.7 times the speed.

While the playback speeds up, the pitch is remains the same, so faster audio doesn’t result in listening to chipmunks.

A 30 minute podcast, at 1.4-1.7x speed, will last around 17-22 minutes.  Not a bad time saving. Even better if it manages to improve comprehension…

At these speeds, I retain more detail.  I no longer notice long gaps and pauses in talking.  My mind is less likely to wander off into other thoughts.  My focus stays given the more urgent pace.  It doesn’t take a moment for you to forget you’re listening to quicker voices.  In fact, slow the playback down again and the audio sounds uncomfortably slow!

I suggest you start listening at a slightly faster pace and gradually increase it as you go along.  I rarely go beyond 1.7x speed, but some people increase it to more than two times the regular speed.  There will come a point when you compromise intake of information, so be careful how fast you go.

You can change the speed via the keyboard too, if you wish:

  • Speed up sound: Ctrl-Shift-G
  • Return to original speed: Ctrl-Shift-N

At the right speed, audio can be a grand thing.  Happy listening!

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Filed under productivity, time management

9 December, 2009

Bold and Strong, Not Right or Wrong

Blogging is dead…no it’s not.  Generation Y exists…no it doesn’t.  Students want to use Twitter…no they don’t.

Look around and it’s likely you’ll see opposing views being touted on almost every imaginable topic.  Statistics can prove almost anything you argue to be correct in one way or another.  You can base an opinion around any story if it fits what you believe.

photo by sakocreative

photo by sakocreative

Rather than search for a right answer and a wrong answer, you may do better to make a bold argument that you can back up strongly.  It’s not about proving something right, it’s about reaching a reasonably thought out opinion/conclusion with a clear thought process.

You don’t need to be arrogant and there’s no reason to suggest your way is the only way.  That’s not what being bold is about.  A bold answer is clear, confident, and not afraid to face up to different ways of thinking.

It’s the strength of your overview and your understanding around a debate that will help you stand out in a crowd where everyone has the (different) right answer.

Answers don’t cosily fit into right and wrong categories.  So how do you best contend with this in your work?

photo by FilmNut

photo by FilmNut

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Also, don’t you think BOLD is one of those words that doesn’t look like a word, the more you look at it?

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Filed under academia, critical thinking, higher education

3 December, 2009

26 Sharp Essay Tips

Essays.  You can’t get away from them.  And even if you’re up for the challenge, that doesn’t make the writing process less stressful.

Whatever happens in a single essay, don’t be distracted or downhearted.  I remember handing in an essay that I was proud of, yet it barely scraped a pass.  I was gutted.  In the same semester, I couldn’t get my head round a particular essay and handed in what I thought was mediocre work…but my tutor didn’t see it that way and gave me an amazing grade.

No wonder the essay experience is a stressful one!

While I can’t take away that stress, I do have 26 tips below to reduce some of the uncertainty.  They’ll point you in the right direction when it comes to making the grade.  It’s not exhaustive, but when it comes to essays, nothing is!  If you have any killer tips that you can’t live without, let us know.  We like advice.  Advice is good!

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Filed under Study, academia, coursework, critical thinking, essays, productivity, writing

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