Kay Lauricella 2011

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Unstructured vs. Structured Use of Laptops in Higher Education

1. Références

  • Référence complète APA : Kay, R., & Lauricella, S. (2011). Unstructured vs. Structured Use of Laptops in Higher Education. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 10.


2. Copies

  • Copie physique :


3. Mots-clés



4. Abstract

A majority of today’s higher education students have been nurtured on a steady diet of technol- ogy and Internet access, leading to the increased presence of laptops in higher education class- rooms. However, many instructors are unsure whether or how to assimilate this technology into their lessons. The purpose of the following study was to examine the impact of unstructured (limited use) vs. structured (active use) use of laptops for 177 university students (89 males, 88 females). Both on-task (note taking, academic activities) and off-task (email, instant messaging, games, movies) behaviours were examined by surveying students. Paired-t-tests revealed that structured use of laptops resulted in significantly more time spent on note taking and academic activities and significantly less time spent on sending personal emails, instant messages and play- ing games during class. It is concluded that future research needs to focus on evaluating specific strategies that maximize the benefits and minimize the distractions of using laptops.



5. Résumé (facultatif)

Apports :

  • concept d'usage structuré vs non structuré (encadrement par le prof) et de on-task vs off task (type d'usage du portable par l'étudiant)
  • nombreuses références
  • "uncertain laptop culture" chez les profs qui mènent à 3 réactions possibles :
    • rejet / interdiction
    • ignorance du phénomène (usage non structuré)
    • acceptation / usage structuré
  • The results indicate that students participated in significantly more on- tasks behaviours in the form of note-taking and academic related tasks when a structured ap- proach to using laptops was employed. Furthermore, time spent on off-task laptop behaviours, such as sending personal emails and instant messages, as well as playing games, was significantly less with structured approach.
  • "A second key finding is that on-task laptop behaviours appear more prevalent than off-task be- haviours, regardless of whether a structured or non-structured format of teaching was used. Note- taking and academic activities were reported, on average, to take up 80-90% of class time."
  • A third noteworthy result is that note-taking was the number one activity in both structured and unstructured lesson formats.


6. Voir aussi