A semester-long study reveals that students who used laptops scored 1.7 points lower on average
Increased
access to laptops and the internet has long been envisioned as a boon
for education, but research is starting to show that bringing technology
into the actual classroom isn’t enhancing the learning process.
A semester-long study conducted by the West Point academy revealed that students score an average of 1.7 points lower on tests when allowed to use a laptop or a tablet.
For the study, three groups were set up: students allowed to use laptops or tablets, students only allowed to use tablets to read e-texts, and students not allowed to use technology at all.
As the Washington Post points out, this mostly affected students on the higher end of the academic spectrum. Among students with higher ACT scores, those using laptops and tablets performed worse than those who didn’t. But the students with lower ACT scores had similar grades across the board.
Furthermore, the West Point researchers had the following revelation. In their report, they write:
But ultimately, the results seem to reaffirm some of the suspicions of prior studies, as well as common sense: screens are distracting.
A semester-long study conducted by the West Point academy revealed that students score an average of 1.7 points lower on tests when allowed to use a laptop or a tablet.
For the study, three groups were set up: students allowed to use laptops or tablets, students only allowed to use tablets to read e-texts, and students not allowed to use technology at all.
As the Washington Post points out, this mostly affected students on the higher end of the academic spectrum. Among students with higher ACT scores, those using laptops and tablets performed worse than those who didn’t. But the students with lower ACT scores had similar grades across the board.
Furthermore, the West Point researchers had the following revelation. In their report, they write:
…The effect of being assigned to a
classroom that permits computers is roughly 17 percent as large as the
association between a one point reduction in baseline GPAs and final
exam scores. To put this another way, a student in a classroom that
prohibits computers is on equal footing with her peer who is in a
classroom that allows computers but has a GPA that is one-third of a
standard deviation higher than her GPA.
The research team also tacked on a series of caveats: a correlation
with essay questions are harder to determine because of their conceptual
nature, and also because of possible grader bias; the study only looked
at computer use during “traditional” lectures, and not at lecture plans
which actively integrate computer use; how student note-taking improved
or diminished as a result of using a computer was also not accounted
for.But ultimately, the results seem to reaffirm some of the suspicions of prior studies, as well as common sense: screens are distracting.
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