12 Personal Devices and Technology Impacting Students Learning Abilities
12 Personal Devices and Technology Impacting Students Learning Abilities
Anna Costas
12.1 Introduction
Keywords
- Distraction – a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.
- Academic performance – the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects
- Multitasking – the performance of more than one task at the same time.
- Proximity – nearness in space, time, or relationship
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
- Discuss the changes in technology over the years and how it has affected students.
- Understand why phones, iPads, laptops, and other technologies/personal devices are distractions.
- Academic performance is lower for students who use personal devices in class than those who do not use them.
- The use of technology can be distracting to those who don’t actually use it in class and at home.
- Discuss the future for students’ learning abilities and academic performance with personal devices and technology.
In today’s day and time, cellphones, iPads, computers, and other technological devices are used by almost everyone, even in classrooms. These devices have become a staple for most people, especially students and teenagers. Schools provide computers and iPads for students to do their work more efficiently, but is it that efficient? In some ways, yes, but what will be discussed in this chapter is its negative effects. Not just the computers have negative effects; personal devices do as well. The most significant impact is that academic performance, which measures student achievement across various academic subjects, is lower for students because of the distractions that prevent students from giving their full attention to these technological devices.
The use of personal devices and technologies has negatively impacted students’ learning abilities and academic performance while becoming a distraction for themselves and others around them. Students are constantly on their phones and not paying attention in class. They are also not using their computers the way they are supposed to, like taking notes or doing assignments. Students are no longer learning like they used to because of these distractions. They are also having a more challenging time learning because of the ability to look things up just to finish assignments instead of trying to learn and figure it out.
“Sneaky Messages” by Tommy Huynh is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
12.2 – Technology in the Classroom Over Time
Key Takeaway
Learning in the past was much different than what it is today. Learning was based on books and lectures, but in present times everything is on computers, the internet, and websites. Students would sit through lectures and have nothing else to do but take notes and pay attention. Notes were also taken by hand because there was no other way to take them like there are today. Assignments were also given on paper. People also had to go to libraries to look through books and