Will laptops “hinder learning” – NO!

In the latest edition of The International Educator newspaper, an article was published that argued that laptops may cause more harm to student learning than good:

Study finds laptops in class hinder learning

The study finds:

“Instead of zeroing in on the lecture, students who brought laptops to class spent considerable time e-mailing, surfing the Internet and playing games, posing a “significant” distraction to both users and
fellow students.

Further, the study found a relationship between laptop use in class and a weaker understanding of course material and a lower overall course performance; the students with laptops earned an average grade of five per cent lower than if they hadn’t brought the computers.”

This study, conducted at an American university, presents misleading information about the use of laptops in schools, and therefore its findings can hardly be considered conclusive. Here’s one reason why:

“Students enrolled in two large lecture-oriented psychology classes participated in the study.”

First of all, to call this a “study” of the use of laptops in schools is inappropriate. A study with a sample size of TWO classes, yes, but its findings should be understood as applying only two these two particular classes, which were large lecture-style university classes. This particular university’s laptop “program” is described as follows:

“Students were told at the beginning of the course that they could bring their laptops to class to take notes if they wanted to, but that they would never need their laptops.” (italics added)

Any school thinking of implementing a laptop program should be careful NOT to emulate this university’s particular approach. What’s the result when students are encouraged to use laptops, but told they would “never need them”? Here’s what one professor observed:

“‘You’d sit and watch the students, and wonder, ‘What are they doing with their laptops?’ You’d walk by other classes and see everybody playing solitaire. I wanted to know, ‘Is this a problem?,”‘ said Fried, a psychology professor at Winona State.

The laptop users reported in weekly surveys that they did other things other than take notes for an average of 17 minutes out of each 75-minute class.

Checking e-mail during the lectures was the most common distraction; 81 per cent admitted to this transgression compared to 68 per cent reporting that they used instant messaging. Forty-three per cent reported surfing the Internet, while 25 per cent reported playing games.”

It should be no surprise that students spent most of their time with their laptops surfing the net, chatting and playing games, given that professors apparently made no attempt to integrate the computers into their instruction. Obviously this represents a failure not of “laptop programs” in general, rather of this university’s failure to implement a program effectively. The university’s failure lies in the simple fact that professors view the laptop as a fancy tool for taking notes, rather than what it is: a tool for communication, collaboration, and innovative research.

Laptop programs do not “hinder learning”, BAD laptop programs hinder learning. The study discussed in this article focuses on one, very bad laptop program at a university that does not understand the role technology should play in education. One professor made this observation:

“Fried doesn’t want to ban laptops outright. But she sees value in blocking wireless transmission in classes so students focus on note-taking.

“I don’t want to say, ‘You cannot bring computers to class,’ but I don’t think we as educators should be providing them with the tools of their own destruction.”

The researchers, professors and the university are apparently ignorant when it comes to the role technology should play in education. The removal of wireless access would essentially eliminate the most valuable dimension laptops bring to a classroom setting: that is, connectivity. Educators who view computers as a digital notepad are missing the point of technology integration altogether. What this university, indeed any institution, should do is train its educators to effectively integrate technology into their instruction so that students with laptops have something engaging and interesting to do during class, besides play solitaire, that is.

Laptops enhance student learning, but only if their integration is multi-dimensional. The computer is not simply an expensive substitute for pen and paper, although this is one dimension of its use. Wireless internet presents innovative educators with limitless dimensions through which student learning can be enriched and enhanced. The study discussed here fails to grasp the role laptops should play in education, and only points out the short-sightedness and ignorance of the university, the researchers, the professors themselves.

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