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Over the past decade, we have been increasingly concerned by the potential of the non-academic use of smartphones and laptops that distract students during class time, argues Mark Julien, PhD, professor in the Goodman School of Business at Brock University and Craig Hyatt, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Sport Management at Brock University.
Photo: Faculty Focus
Although possible strategies have been identified to counter this problem, such as talking to students about the negative outcomes of distracted learning, naming and shaming (i.e., singling out students in class), or implementing a “no technology” rule, we felt these various practices may do more harm than good when considering the potential impact on the learning climate. Furthermore, some students may have learning disabilities, and the technology they use may be part of their accommodations.
We wondered whether asking students to refrain from the non-academic use of their personal technology until a regularly scheduled technology break during class might help students better concentrate and focus from the distractions of their phones or laptops. We wondered whether students might not only participate better in class, but also, perhaps, do better on tests. Furthermore, would these technology breaks also result in higher year-end evaluations for the professor? To answer these questions, we decided to give technology breaks to one section of an introduction to organizational behavior course (the intervention group) but not to the other session of the same course (the control group). Both sections were taught by the same instructor and had an identical number of students (35). The only difference between the sections was a three-minute technology break on two separate occasions during each three-hour class for the intervention group. The students would only be able to check their devices during these technology breaks. A participation rubric was created and administered by the teaching assistant, who had no prior knowledge of the purpose of the study or that one section had technology breaks and the other section did not. The same teaching assistant also graded the midterm and final exams for both sections of the course using a detailed answer key.
When we ran our results comparing each group, we were surprised to learn that there were no statistically significant differences between the groups for level of classroom participation, test results (for either the midterm or final exam), or instructor year-end evaluations...
We also must note that shutting down a lecture for a break of just a few minutes will add up to a significant amount of lecture material that will not be addressed over the course of a semester. As well, both the instructors and the students were well aware of when the technology breaks were supposed to occur, meaning everyone could become distracted from the lecture material as those times approached. In conclusion, we hope that our article will spark some discussion among instructors who perhaps have tried technology breaks or are considering using them in class. We believe that such breaks may still hold some potential for students.
Source: Faculty Focus
