Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers

By Faria Sana, Tina Weston, Nicholas J. Cepeda. Comput. Educ., 2013

682 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Laptops are commonplace in university classrooms. In light of cognitive psychology theory on costs associated with multitasking, we examined the effects of in-class laptop use on student learning in a simulated classroom. We found that participants who multitasked on a laptop during a lecture scored lower on a test compared to those who did not multitask, and participants who were in direct view of a multitasking peer scored lower on a test compared to those who were not. The results demonstrate that multitasking on a laptop poses a significant distraction to both users and fellow students and can be detrimental to comprehension of lecture content.

Subfields: Computer Science Applications, Education, Information Systems and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cd71b04459ca41606337f9546c898c9698f344c7

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In Computer Science Applications

In Education

In Information Systems and Management

Citations in the corpus

Impact of mobile technology on student attitudes, engagement, and learning (2017, background): “Students may also be distracted by multitasking on devices and distract fellow students by their technology use (Bellur, Nowak, & Hull, 2015; Dietz & Henrich, 2014; Junco, 2012; Ravizza, Hambrick, & Fenn, 2014; Sana, Weston, & Cepeda, 2013).”
How does the pedagogical design of a technology-enhanced collaborative academic course promote digital literacies, self-regulation, and perceived learning of students? (2020, result): “This explanation is consistent with the e ﬀ ect of digital disturbances, such as personal multitasking and the multitasking of nearby peers that hindered the classroom learning of students in academia, without raising their awareness to the problem (Sana, Weston, & Cepeda, 2013).”
Dividing attention in the classroom reduces exam performance (2018, methodology): “The effect of classroom distraction on exam performance confirms the laboratory finding of the social effect of distraction (Sana et al., 2013).”
The myths of the digital native and the multitasker (2017, background): “It is even the case that multitasking on a laptop not only poses a significant distraction to users but it is also a distraction to fellow students not using a laptop in class and can, thus, be detrimental to comprehension of lecture content for both (Sana et al., 2013).”
Smartphones and Cognition: A Review of Research Exploring the Links between Mobile Technology Habits and Cognitive Functioning (2017, background): “…al., 2007; Fox et al., 2009), social networking (Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010; Junco, 2012b; Karpinski et al., 2012; Paul et al., 2012), media multitasking (Junco, 2012a; Rosen et al., 2013; Sana et al., 2013), and general electronic media usage (Jacobsen and Forste, 2011; Junco and Cotten, 2012).”
Efficient, helpful, or distracting? A literature review of media multitasking in relation to academic performance (2018, neutral): “Experimental evidence affirms this: Sana et al. (2013) simulated a classroom with 40 undergraduate students in which students viewed a 45-min PowerPoint lecture in a multitasking or non-multitasking condition and completed a multiple-choice comprehension test.”
Putting Education in “Educational” Apps (2015, background): “When college students multi-tasked on a laptop during a lecture, not only did they score lower on a test, but so did others in direct view of that laptop (Sana, Weston, & Cepeda, 2013).”