11/28/2017

Is There a Laptop Learning Conundrum?

How associations may be impacted by the growing trend of banning laptops from classrooms

Laptops are a fact of life in the conference setting. For years, people have been mixing it up with education, note-taking, live-tweeting and, perhaps, a little stare or two at the inbox. But what effect do they have on the actual learning part of the equation?

A recent column in The New York Times by University of Michigan Professor Susan Dynarski definitely helped stoke a fresh conversation about this well-worn issue, which has just as much impact on the world of associations as it does on academia.

Dynarski, who is not a fan of laptops in the classroom, cites an array of research papers on the issue, many of which used random sampling to figure out the impact of laptop use on students. One 2014 study, done by researchers at Princeton University and the University of California-Los Angeles, gave random students a laptop and analyzed the effect. The students who used the laptop took better notes but apparently had lower levels of understanding of the material—in other words, they’re transcribing what’s written rather than comprehending, the argument goes.

Please click here to read the complete article from Associations Now.