essay on student get destracted from studies due to constant use of technology
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Explanation: In many ways, the ubiquity of laptops and mobile devices in lectures has been a boon to higher education—students can now respond instantaneously to online polls, collaborate in real time on written work, and engage with a range of media more flexibly than ever before. With those advantages, of course, come an equal and opposite set of possible disadvantages, and for many instructors the latter outweigh the former. As a result, an increasing number of instructors now include specific policies regarding technology in the classroom, many of them opting to ban laptops and mobile devices outright. Other instructors, however, opt to embrace—or at least resign themselves to—these technologies as means of rethinking the dynamic between student and instructor in teaching spaces. The debate has ardent proponents on both sides, and below we lay out the case for each.
The Case Against Technology in the Classroom
If you've been anywhere near a college campus, you've probably noticed the extent to which students are glued to their mobile devices. What do they do with them when they walk into the classroom? In one survey at six different universities, college students reported using their phones an average of 11 times per day in class. In another study, 92% of college students reported using their phones to send text messages during class.
Recently, a faculty member asked us for advice about policies regarding mobile devices in class. Indeed, this is a hot topic on our campus and at universities across the country. We were able to point him to a number of studies examining mobile devices in the college classroom. Not surprisingly, the evidence suggests that cell phones generally are a distraction for students.
Broadly, we are not wired to multitask well (e.g. Mayer and Moreno), and using cell phones during class is no exception. Several studies have compared students who texted during a lecture versus those who did not. Those who texted frequently took lower quality notes, retained less information, and did worse on tests about the material (e.g. see Kuznekoff and Titsworth, and Rosen et al). Students themselves realize that cell phone usage does not promote learning; in one survey, 80% of students agreed that using a mobile phone in class decreases their ability to pay attention.
What is worse is that mobile device usage is distracting to neighboring students. In several surveys, students have reported that texting is distracting to nearby students. A study on laptops in a simulated classroom found that students in the vicinity of another student who was multitasking on a laptop during class scored worse on a test than those who were not near multitaskers. While cell phone screens are smaller—and thus perhaps less distracting—than a laptop, one could reasonably expect that a similar phenomenon of distraction applies to cell phones.
On the other hand, smart phones and other mobile devices can be used for positive purposes in the classroom. For example, instructors might choose to employ a variety of applications, including Poll Everywhere and Learning Catalytics, which can be accessed by mobile devices. These applications encourage class participation and provide instructors with instantaneous feedback about student learning.
Whether laptops should be allowed in the classroom may be a bit more nuanced, as some students prefer to take notes on their computer. However, the temptation for distraction is large. Fried found that most students using a computer in class spend considerable time on activities not related to taking notes, and furthermore identified a negative correlation between student success in class and in-class laptop use. Additionally, as mentioned above, neighboring students are easily distracted when a student on a computer strays from the immediate task at hand. For best practices about using laptops in the classroom, see this guide created by Michigan’s Center for Research on Teaching and Learning.
Should instructors explicitly prohibit students from using mobile devices in class? It’s certainly worth considering, and potentially including in the syllabus. It’s also worth talking with your students about the reasons why you do not want mobile devices to be used in class.
Lastly, it’s worth thinking about ways to maximally engage your students during class so that the temptation for students to respond to a text message or do a Google search is minimized.