A year-long study published by Rice University uncovered something quite surprising about students and smartphones.
Regardless of if you’re on Team iPhone or Team Android (or something in between), you’ve most likely turned to technology to learn something new or to get a question answered. For students at college or those who are college-bound, having access to information at their fingertips is typically alluring. The lingering question Rice University researchers chose to answer, however, is this one: Are smartphones advantageous or detrimental to the learning process?
The year-long study enabled first-time smartphone users to self-rate the positive or negative impact their smartphone had on their learning process.
“Smartphone technology is penetrating world markets and becoming abundant in most college settings,” said Philip Kortum, assistant professor of psychology at Rice and the study’s co-author. “We were interested to see how students with no prior experience using smartphones thought they impacted their education.”
The study’s research revealed that smartphones make it more difficult for students to succeed in school-related tasks and to get better grades. First-time smartphone users felt as though smartphones would positively impact their learning experience, however, after using them over the course of the year, their views shifted completely. The students felt as though their smartphones served as a distraction from school-related tasks and that their impact proved to have more negative effects than positive ones.
The results of this study were deemed surprising, as many students feel as though smartphones play an integral role in their learning process.
“Previous studies have provided ample evidence that when smartphones are used with specific learning objects in mind, they can significantly enhance the learning experience,” Kortum said. “However, our research clearly demonstrates that simply providing access to a smartphone, without specific directed learning activities, may actually be detrimental to the overall learning process.”
What do you think?
