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Multitasking has been demonstrated to negatively impact performance across a wide range of tasks, including in the classroom, yet students continue to multitask. This study examined the relationship between college students’ perceptions and performance of technology-based multitasking. Technology-based multitasking and self-efficacy data were collected and analyzed from 265 undergraduate students. Students engaged in a technology-based multitasking perceptions survey, a video + survey multitasking task or a video-only non-multitasking task, and a technology-based self-efficacy survey. An analysis of student perceptions indicated that students understood that different tasks required different levels of mental effort to complete successfully and that multitasking across high-mental effort tasks required greater effort than multitasking across low-mental effort tasks. In addition, students in the video + survey multitasking group significantly underperformed students in the video-only non-multitasking group. Finally, the relationship between technology-based multitasking and self-efficacy was addressed in a correlational analysis between student technology-based multitasking scores and technology-based self-efficacy scores, yielding no significant relationship. The study findings indicate that most students have an understanding and awareness of multitasking, but ultimately, whether they believed they could multitask or not, multitasking significantly impeded performance.

What is active learning? While active learning has been demonstrated to have positive impacts on student learning and performance, defining the concept has been elusive. Previous research examining active learning definitions in STEM fields found that the vast majority of published articles did not define active learning, and those that did defined active learning as interacting, engaging, or not lecturing. The current research extends this STEM-focused work by examining both social science and STEM science publications. A restricted systematic review of literature was conducted using the SCOPUS database, resulting in 547 relevant articles focused on active learning from 2017 to 2022. An examination of the articles indicated that 71% of the reviewed articles did not define active learning and that the instructional strategies most often cited as fostering active learning emphasized social interactive learning strategies (e.g., small groups, team-based learning, discussion, and cooperative learning), as well as critical thinking strategies (e.g., problem-based learning, case-based learning, and inquiry-based learning). In addition, an in-depth qualitative analysis of the 161 definitions provided within the articles yielded three main emergent themes: (a) active learning is defined as grounded in student-centered constructivist theory, (b) active learning is defined as promoting higher-order thinking and deep learning, and (c) active learning is defined as an instructional strategy involving activity, participation, and engagement. Given these main findings, a representative definition was created: Active learning is a student-centered approach to the construction of knowledge focused on activities and strategies that foster higher-order thinking.

The abrupt switch to online teaching and learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a disruption to the instructional practices professors and students had grown accustomed to prior to March 2020. After 18+ months of virtual instruction, many colleges and universities returned to face-to-face classrooms. In order to understand how faculty planned to use their COVID-based virtual teaching experience to inform future face-to-face instruction, 436 faculty members from colleges and universities in the mid-Atlantic and southeast US were asked to reflect on their experiences teaching during the pandemic. These faculty members were asked two questions: Considering your COVID-based teaching over the past 18 months, (1) What did you learn during that COVID teaching that you will apply in your Fall 2021 course(s)? and (2) As we move toward classes in the Fall, keeping in mind your experiences over the past 18 months, what can we do to better support our students' learning? The 119 responses fell into several themes, (a) reflections on the consequences of the change to online learning, (b) the necessity of flexibility in instruction and policy, (c) the importance of student engagement and open communication, and (d) the increased need to prioritize relationships. Ultimately, the faculty members acknowledged the value in reframing students as individuals with lives outside the classroom, acknowledging that these pressures can impact learning, and the necessity to remember as we come together that we can support students by following this advice: "Be humane. Be human."