Research on the College Students’ Multitasking Behavior, Multitasking Motivation, and Multitasking Perception while Studying

• Main Authors: Lu, Jui Lien, 呂瑞蓮
• Other Authors: Chou, Chien
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/cb5kjx

博士 === 國立交通大學 === 教育研究所 === 102 === Owing to the speedy development of the Internet and communication technology, multitasking gradually becomes the popular trend and attracts much attention. The flood of information from the Internet world interferes and interrupts people’s work and learning progress continuously. Knowledge workers, in order to perform well, struggle to cope with the dilemma to demonstrate that they can handle multiple tasks and solve the tedious problems simultaneously; young students, on the other hand, live in the digital age and favor the various ICT applications. In spite of the fact that digital technology applications and digital learning environment provide the fertile ground of learning for learners, challenges of the technology use arise. The growing popularity of technology filled with multimedia sound and light would distract the students from their studies. Past researches indicate that students born in the digital era are specialized in multitasking, prefer social networking, are good at electronic media communication, but suffer from learning distraction. In order to explore Taiwan college students’ multitasking activates, multitasking motivation, and multitasking perception while studying, first, in study 1, 397 undergraduate college students were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to develop the three scales which were Multitasking Activities Scale (MT-A-S), Multitasking Motivation Scale (MT-M-S) and Multitasking Perception Scale (MT-P-S). Secondly, to understand the relationship between the three scales, and verify those scales’ predictability for students' learning performance, a total of 736 students from two different learning environments were investigated in the second stage. In this study we used the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to evaluate the stability, reliability, and validity of the three scales of measurement model and structural model, and this mode is called college students’ multitasking behavior scale. The results showed that samples of different learning environments have significant differences in M-T-A-S and M-T-M-S. In addition, college students' multitasking behaviors while learning have greater negative than positive impact on their academic performances. The study also suggests that the scales developed can be used as a learning tool for college students while they are studying, and serve as the indicators for college educators and administrators to better help students use information and communications technology (ICT) applications effectively for the enhancement of dailylife organization skills, learning-efficiency skills, and time-management skills.