The Impact of Digital Devices use in University Classrooms

Running head: DIGITAL DEVICES USE IN UNIVERSITY
THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL DEVICES USE IN UNIVERSITY CLASSROOMS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

DIGITAL DEVICES USE IN UNIVERSITY1
Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................3
1.1. My understanding of digital device use in classroom.....................................................3
1.2. Developing my interest in the topic................................................................................4
1.3. Reason for choice of topic...............................................................................................5
1.4. Setting up the paper and argument..................................................................................5
Chapter 2. Literature review......................................................................................................6
2.1. Effects on educational outcomes.....................................................................................6
2.1.1. Distraction as a factor...............................................................................................7
2.1.2. Role of classroom policies and practices in managing distraction..........................7
2.1.3. Counter argument and teachers’ perspective...........................................................8
2.2. Impacts on mental Health................................................................................................8
2.2.1. Stress and anxiety.....................................................................................................8
2.2.2. Distortion of daily routines......................................................................................9
2.2.3. Overall mental wellbeing and emotional effects......................................................9
2.3. Impact on physical health..............................................................................................10
2.3.1. Effect on eyesight...................................................................................................10
2.3.2. Neurological effects...............................................................................................10
2.4. Summary.......................................................................................................................11
Chapter 3. Application.............................................................................................................12

DIGITAL DEVICES USE IN UNIVERSITY2
3.1. Understanding preferential factors – Students’ perspectives........................................13
3.1.1. Digitised learning preference.................................................................................13
3.1.2. Non – Digitised learning preference......................................................................14
3.2. Thesis Statement...........................................................................................................14
3.3. Discussion of results and implications..........................................................................15
3.3.1. Implications on Short term memory......................................................................15
3.3.2. Implications on long term memory........................................................................16
3.4. Open - Book assessment as a contributing factor.........................................................17
3.5. Recommendation...........................................................................................................17
3.5.1. Non mandatory use of digital devices....................................................................18
3.5.2. Physical and mental health intervention................................................................18
3.5.3. Use of network monitoring and amending classroom policies..............................19
Chapter 4. Summary and Implications.....................................................................................20
References................................................................................................................................23

DIGITAL DEVICES USE IN UNIVERSITY3
Chapter 1. Introduction.
The advancement of technology that has been seen in the recent years has made its
way into every aspect of the human life. With that, the use and impact of digital devices in
university classrooms has also become widespread. Digital technology and media has shown
both positive and negative effects on the lives of the students. The literal definition of a
Digital Device is a physical piece of equipment with essentially a computer or
microcontroller chip inside it. There are a myriad of devices which could considered as
digital, such as smartphones, smartwatches, laptops, and tablets, all of which are seen
regularly in university classes all over the world. With digital devices and there latest
upgrades, now comes a special application called ‘Cloud Storage’ which gives customers a
significant amount of digital storage space which could be accessed from multiple devices.
All of this has made the aid of such technology rampant in the student community – the ease
of accessibility, sharing, and updating. However, all of this aside, the use of digital devices
in class has shown substantial decrement of performance in academics amongst students.
1.1. My understanding of digital device use in classroom.
The question of whether students should be allowed to use such technology in
classrooms has been a topic of long and heated debates for years. With every upcoming
academic year, a new concern arises about the effects of multitasking in class. A study found
that a striking number of students could easily attend university classes as well spend time on
their phones during these said lectures. It has been seen that students divide their attention
between using their devices and following the class lecture. However, even though the
student was able to follow the class, long term retention of the things talked about was less.
This ultimately affected their grades by causing them to be lower in the unit and final exams.
Professor Arnold Glass and colleagues from the Department of Psychology at Rutgers

DIGITAL DEVICES USE IN UNIVERSITY4
University say that the use of devices is fine as long as the attention is fully focused on the
lesson. The problem occurs when they were used to access social media and other unrelated
sites to the lecture (Glass, Bill, & Ingate, 2008). Another experiment showed that the
students, who were voluntarily allowed to carry digital devices, and students who were not,
performed equally well in class quizzes, which were taken right after a lecture. However, the
first group performed terribly in examinations conducted later on in the academic year (Glass
& Kang, 2018). This proved the reduction of long-term retention in students as stated above.
Another experiment conducted by Carter and colleagues states that even when
students are allowed to use devices in class, be it restricted or unrestricted access to the
internet, the reduction of grades and overall performance in the examinations occurred in
both groups. Even with the use of the devices under the monitoring of the teacher affected the
grades of the students negatively. There might be multiple reasons as to why the using of
personal computing devices may affect a student’s academic performance. The students could
be participating in irrelevant activities or finishing homework from other classes. Some
students might also find the use of devices inefficient for taking notes than pen and paper but
use them for ease and less effort (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). The professors might be
unable to help the students understand the lesson by interacting with the students as most of
them would be looking at a screen rather than them. The teacher also loses the ability of
correcting irrelevant use of devices in class due to reasons of privacy (Carter, Greenberg, &
Walker, 2017).
1.2. Developing my interest in the topic.
My interest in this topic grew primarily because as a student, I have also faced certain
complications as well as benefits when using digital devices for classroom purposes. At the
same time, I had also experienced instances where I felt I was getting more distracted while
using these devices, when compared to reading textbooks and taking manual notes. This has

DIGITAL DEVICES USE IN UNIVERSITY5
led me to thinking if the students are also equally experiencing similar instances of distraction
and other associated issues which are hampering their educational outcomes. Thus I had
decided to work on this topic in particular.
1.3. Reason for choice of topic.
This topic was specifically chosen as the implications of using digital devices in the
classroom, both for teaching and learning purposes is vast and given the modern age of
science and technology and more developments taking place every passing year, it is
inevitable that such devices would surely make their way into classrooms of all age, size and
kind. The interest in this topic therefore arose as an aftermath of understanding that there
cannot be a singular domain wherein the use of digital devices in education can be placed.
Keeping connection with the above understanding, this paper will look at the use of digital
devices in a university classroom from a practical perspective and attempt to show how the
overall use of these devices have had a generally negative impact on the educational
outcomes of the students.
1.4. Setting up the paper and argument.
The paper will first conduct an expansive literature review on the effects of device
usage in classrooms, followed by an application of the thesis statement in a real world
scenario and estimation of the outcome. In order to depict an effective understanding of the
application, the paper will look at the evidenced negative outcomes of using digital devices in
the classroom, while looking for methods to improve the positive outcomes. At the same
time, It will also provide an outlook on the various ethical factors associated with the process
of transitioning from a negative outcome to a positive one, while also maintaining the
required ethical boundaries. Lastly, the paper will also provide a generalised summary of the
essay wilth any additional implications if required.