Looking around his psychology class, Scott Roberts often noticed students staring into their laps and smiling.
There was nothing subtle about the glowing screens hidden under the desks. With the way students were scrolling on their laptops instead of typing, it was obvious they were up to something other than taking notes on the lecture.
Such observations prompted him to conduct a study with his class, PSYC 100: Introduction to Psychology, last fall, asking his students questions based on the day’s lecture and if they had been using an electronic device during the class. The results? Of those students who used technology, 10 percent used it solely for class purposes, and almost 70 percent used it only for non-class purposes.
Roberts is one of many college instructors across the country reevaluating the pros and cons of using electronic devices in the classroom. A similar research study conducted last fall at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, showed that more than 90 percent of students have used their devices during class for non-class purposes.
Tuning out from a lecture or class discussion to check Facebook or scroll through Twitter can have negative effects on learning, Roberts said. In his study, he found that students who used a cell phone or laptop during class got the equivalent of a “D” on the quiz, whereas those who kept their devices off earned an “A.”
“This needs to be a conversation that we have with our students,” Roberts said. “Students are overestimating the extent to which they can multitask.”
The results of the study were enough to convince Roberts to ban technology in his classes.
But technology plays a much different role in Jason Farman’s Digital Cultures and Creativity classes, in which he encourages students to maintain a Twitter conversation throughout his lecture. While Farman, an American Studies professor and DCC distinguished faculty fellow, presents a lecture in front of the room, students contribute to a Twitter discussion feed displayed on a screen behind him.
“Students are distracted regardless,” Farman said. “My goal as a professor is to shift that a bit, to use devices that have typically pulled them away from course content, to things like social media, to instead use those devices to engage course material.”
For Ashley La, a sophomore biochemistry major who had a class with Farman in each semester last year, it was difficult at first to pay attention to the class and keep up with the Twitter channel. Sometimes, she found herself distracted by checking Facebook and emails on her iPad, but she eventually figured out a routine.
The physical and digital discussions, La said, offered various perspectives on the topics simultaneously.
“It was like being involved in two conversations at once,” she said. “It was a great way to express our opinions and see others’ opinions without interrupting the speaker and using up class time.”
Freshman chemical engineering major Joshua Hall, who is taking one of Farman’s classes this semester, found following the two conversations difficult. While attempting to stay engaged with the Twitter talk, he said he only catches the main points from the in-person lecture. But this dual dialogue, he said, is constructive because it allows students to share their ideas at once in a new forum.
It might be hard to balance all the conversation at once, Farman said. But concentrating on the different conversations happening could help students become more engaged in course topics on a deeper level, he said.
Farman wants to “push [students] to deal with the discomfort of handling multiple information streams in a way they’re not used to doing and see if it’s worth it.”
At the end of the day, Roberts said he won’t advocate for other professors to prohibit technology use the way he did in his psychology classes. Some instructors are concerned that students will be upset with a ban, and he said such a ban is difficult to enforce, especially in a large classroom.
“Students need to understand that it may be having real effects on their learning,” Roberts said.
Sometimes, it’s just a matter of turning off the Internet at will, said Amy Johnson, a junior criminology and criminal justice and psychology major. She knows her weaknesses; Facebook, she said, is too tempting.
“But I think that involves more self-control than a lot of people can do,” Johnson said. “And it’s taken me a long time to be able to do that.”
