From Smart Phones to Smart Students: Learning versus Distraction with Smartphones in the Classroom

42 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2022 Last revised: 10 Oct 2023

See all articles by Zhe Deng

Zhe Deng

Saint Joseph's University - Haub School of Business

Aaron Cheng

London School of Economics - Department of Management

Pedro Ferreira

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management; Carnegie Mellon University - Department of Engineering and Public Policy

Paul A. Pavlou

University of Miami Herbert Business School

Date Written: September 12, 2023

Abstract

We collaborate with a vocational school in China to examine the effect of using smartphones in the classroom on the academic performance of students. We randomly allocate students taking lectures in Chinese verbal into four experimental conditions: (i) smartphones banned; (ii) smartphones allowed and used at will by students; (iii) smartphones allowed, used at will by students, and teachers asked students to use the devices to assist instruction; (iv) smartphones banned, and teachers asked students to use a paper-based aid to assist instruction. We measure the performance gain of students by the change in the scores they obtained in identical tests taken at the beginning and the end of the lectures. We find that allowing students to use smartphones during the lecture at will reduced performance gain compared to when smartphones were banned. However, allowing smartphones into the classroom and having teachers ask students to use them to assist instruction increased the performance gain. The performance gain of students using the paper-based aid was similar to that of the students who could not use smartphones. To unravel the underlying mechanisms that drive these effects, we use video feeds collected during our experimental lectures, allowing us to code the time students spent learning and distracted, with and without their smartphone. We show that the increase in performance gain when smartphones are used to assist instruction comes from students spending a larger percentage of the time learning during the lecture using the device and from the fact that the positive marginal effect associated with smartphone learning outweighs the negative marginal effect associated with smartphone distraction. Our findings contribute to the literature on technology-assisted learning and offer practical and policy implications that teachers and schools can follow to cautiously allow smartphones in the classroom to improve student success.

Keywords: smartphone policy, learning, distraction, academic performance, randomized controlled trial

Suggested Citation

Deng, Zhe and Cheng, Zhi (Aaron) and Ferreira, Pedro and Pavlou, Paul A., From Smart Phones to Smart Students: Learning versus Distraction with Smartphones in the Classroom (September 12, 2023). Fox School of Business Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4028845 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4028845

Zhe Deng (Contact Author)

Saint Joseph's University - Haub School of Business ( email )

5600 City Line Avenue
MV 354
Philadelphia, PA 19131
United States
6106601670 (Phone)

Zhi (Aaron) Cheng

London School of Economics - Department of Management ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Pedro Ferreira

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States

Carnegie Mellon University - Department of Engineering and Public Policy ( email )

Baker Hall 129
5000 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
United States

Paul A. Pavlou

University of Miami Herbert Business School ( email )

P.O. Box 248126
Florida
Coral Gables, FL 33124
United States

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