1. The Costs of Texting in the Classroom
Dakota Lawson & Bruce B. Henderson
Presented by Amy Stonger
October 20, 2016

2. In the past Distractions included:
Reading
Completing assignments from other classes
Talking amongst themselves
Occasional ringing of phones
Technological advancements make these distractions more common and accessible to students
Laptops, tablets, smartphones
Internet access for social media, web surfing and
Much more powerful source of distractions

3. Teacher’s perspective
Informal poll of university faculty by the Chronicle of Higher Education
Cell phones are the most hated distraction
Followed by tardiness and laptop use
Most teachers give up trying to control phone usage

4. Student’s perspective
Students text in class whether it’s allowed or not
Students value their texting privileges
95% admit to bringing smartphones to class
92% admit to using phones during class
Students believe that they are capable and even good at multitasking
Consider themselves more productive
Supported by popular culture
“Checking habit”
The urge to check phone constantly
Hard to resist even if phone use is prohibited

5. Does texting actually interfere with learning?
Evidence shows that we can only process so much information at one time
difficulty focusing on more than one thread of information at one time
Can switch attention from one stimuli to another but adds to overall cognitive load
Immediate memory has a capacity of 4 or 5 or 8 or 9 units of information
depends on task complexity and individual differences
Research on texting/talking while driving shows reduced reaction times, attentiveness to surroundings, and overall decision making

6. Threaded Cognition Theory
Salvucci and Taatgen 2008
Tasks = cognitive threads
Must learn to perform task individually before combining
Interruptions do arise
2 stages : interruption lag and resumption lag
Research into memory capacity and attention shows that mult- tasking isn’t possible

7. Studies of interest Kraushaar and Novak 2010 Fried 2008
Marketing classes in which computers are mandatory
Data collected from spyware installed on students’ computers
42% of class time is spent off task
Fried 2008
Self reported data
81% checked
68% instant messaging
43% surfing web
25% playing games

8. Studies continued
Hembrooke and Gay 2003 & Sana, Weston, and Cepeda 2013
Found a 10 to 20% reduction in learning for both laptop users and nearby distracted peers
Simulation of class
relatively simple material under controlled conditions
120 participants, first year students
Shown a 10 minute video on memory
3 groups: control, receiving only, receive and respond
Administered a 12 question quiz following video
Scores
9.93 for control group
9.03 for receive only group
9.25 for receive and respond group

9. Studies continued Wood and colleagues 2012 Dietz and Henrich 2014
Based on self reporting of technology use by students
15 item multiple choice test
57% vs 67%
Dietz and Henrich 2014
100 students-half without phone access and half sending and receiving texts until asked to stop
17 item multiple choice test
58% vs 71%

10. Studies continued Gingerich and Lineweaver 2014
Two studies
60% vs 80%
73% vs 83%
From all of this evidence
Texting and the use of technology has a negative impact on performance
Associated with a 10% to 20% reduction in learning

11. What should teachers do?
Ignore and Compete
Students responsible for own learning
Makes students happy
Not educationally appropriate
Must provide consistently engaging instruction
Teacher must not get distracted by phone use
Prohibit
Upsets students
Consistent enforcement is difficult
Energy spent on banning cell phones is often greater than the benefits

12. Educate 4. Incorporate 5. Take breaks
At beginning of semester provide evidence of how texting affects performance and educate students on how distractions interfere with learning
4. Incorporate
Adapt to new technology and incorporate it into the classroom
5. Take breaks
“technology breaks”: 2 to 3 minute break
Establish a contract with students to allow a break for phone use as long as they are kept out of sight during class time
Reduces the habit to check phone

13. Questions???