Abstract:

Due to the increased need for digital skills in the labor market in order to support the rithm of digitalization, the digitally native Generation Z works remotely and studies on site and works on-site and studies remotely interchangeably. The new normal is the landscape of classes with students behind their laptops taking notes but simultaneously multitasking remote digital working and other academic tasks. This need for multitasking between academic lectures during classes, keeping up with scientific progress in their professional field, and planning their research future was the focus of our research project to assess the impact of multitasking on essential components of academic learning. The current paper presents the preliminary results of a multi-phasic experimental design assessing variables like text comprehension, quantitative and qualitative information retained or the accuracy and logical coherence of the information in the text and audio stimuli retention during exposure to a single stimulus in VR condition, two stimuli and respectively three stimuli. The study also assesses the physiological stress level during multitasking using The E4 wearable sensor device for students from the Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Programme of AUTH.

Keywords:

Multitasking, VR, higher education, text retention, text logic coherence.