Technology is amazing. Today we can instantly email someone who lives across the globe. Compare that to about fifty years ago, when sending mail by post took three weeks from here to Vancouver. Technology has really brought humanity together. The iPhone 5 carries far more technological power then what powered the original mission to the moon. And more importantly we are surrounded by and constantly using technology. Scientists estimate that children are expected to spend 25% of their life staring at some kind of screen.
It is no surprise that technology has found its way into the classroom. In good ways such as slide shows and the occasional YouTube videos. Unfortunately, technology has also shown up in bad ways like cellphones that vibrate extremely loud. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about your cell phones, but that is more of etiquette problem. Laptops are the problem here.
Laptops and tablets are a useful tool for taking notes. You can simply add the professor’s spoken words to posted slideshows, or have notes nice and neatly typed. Some people even type faster than they write. For some people it’s great, and they love it. However, it has been shown in studies, by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer, that student who hand write their notes do much better than those who use laptops. While those using laptops did in fact take more notes which were verbatim; students who hand wrote their notes had a stronger conceptual understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating the course material. Mueller and Oppenheimer believe that:
They [those who wrote their notes by hand] listen, digest, and summarize so that they can succinctly capture the essence of the information. Thus, taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in some heavy “mental lifting,” and these efforts foster comprehension and retention. By contrast, when typing students can easily produce a written record of the lecture without processing its meaning, as faster typing speeds allow students to transcribe a lecture word for word without devoting much thought to the content.
It is important to note that these tests on students took place an hour after the lecture. However, when told they would be tested in a week, again those who hand wrote their notes performed better. This is because the notes are in their own words, which helps to cue their memory of the topic.
There is another published study called “Examining the Affects of Student Multitasking with Laptops during the Lecture.” The study found that; students who were on their laptops during class spent 42% of the seminar time on “distractive activities” aka anything not to do with the class. Students vastly underestimate the idea of “distractive activities”; they often think it’s simply social media. How often do you answer a text, an email, or some kind of alert; in twelve short minutes you have already spent 10% of a 120 minute class distracted. While it is true, anyone who owns an iPhone would run into the same distractions. It is easier to ignore something that vibrates then something that flashes on your screen.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. Those who use a laptop not only brought down their grades, but those of the students sitting around them by 17%. This brings into question; should laptops really be allowed in lectures?
No, again I think this is a classroom etiquette problem. Some people may not understand how distracting they can be with their off task activities. Especially anyone playing vintage video games like Pokémon.
Here are simply the facts from a few studies. What this really falls down to is preference; if you feel comfortable with a laptop, then use one. But if you find yourself in a class having difficulty in a class remembering content, maybe try switching to handwriting your notes. If you are going to a class you really don’t care about and plan to be off task on your laptop, then maybe you should sit closer to the back so you don’t distract your fellow students.
Picture Credits: Cover Picture, 1, 2