Phones in Class Don't Actually Hamper Learning

Using your mobile phone in the classroom does not negatively affect your learning, according to new research.

The result contradicts conclusions of previous studies. The researchers suggest that we should change the way we study virtual interactions in the physical world using big social data.

Since smartphones became part of our everyday lives, we have seen many academic debates on whether it is a good or bad thing to allow mobile devices into the classroom, researcher say. We increasingly use new technology in learning situations, such as for checking facts and taking quizzes that test learning. However, research has often suggested that the students’ increased access to new technology in learning situations has a negative effect on their grades.

Now a two-year study among a large group of students at the Technical University of Denmark shows that learning and grades are not negatively affected when the students use their mobile device in class.

'Fear of Tech"

“We need to shake off this fear of technology that has affected our opinion on the use of mobile phones in class,” says Andreas Bjerre-Nielsen, an assistant professor from the Copenhagen Centre for Social Data Sciences (SODAS) at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. He and colleagues believe that previous studies may have rested on an intrinsic resistance to the new technology that affected understanding of mobile use and learning—and not on an actual problem.

“Previously, students were distracted by other things than mobile phones. They might look out the window, stare at the ceiling, or attend to other matters, when the teaching did not catch their attention ..

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