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.The report doesn't say exactly how the variables correlate. It could be that the kind of student who uses a laptop in class is overall a lower performer. And it doesn't translate "five percent lower" into actual end of term grades or give a sense of what the difference means in learning. ("Five percent lower" might mean getting 19 out of 20 rather than 20 out of 20. The result might be statistically significant, but less significant in day to day learning.)
We'll have to wait until the actual study is published in Computers & Education.
5 comments:
Hah! And my mom was convinced I needed to go to Winona for their laptop program... *snickers*
Can't say I'm surprised, I would never use my laptop in class. It's bad enough having this class with a computer in front of me, with my own laptop with all of my personal stuff on it? I wouldn't hear a word the prof. said!
I agree with k.t. on this one. It's understandable because I know people who would plug their laptops right into the internet while the teacher is talking. Too easy to "just check something real quick" when you don't find what a professor is speaking about interesting.
I'm afraid Palm Pilots, while subtle and easier to hide, are also guilty. I mean, they come with Bejeweled. What do they expect us to use them for? (in my own defense, I don't own one. yet.)
hmmm...I wonder if my friends down at WSU are guilty of emailing or Facebooking in class...
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