Maybe Classrooms Should Be Phone-Free

While the debate over smartphone usage in the classroom rages, new research suggested that even having the device nearby can pose an issue. Experiments conducted jointly by the schools of management at the University of Texas, Austin; the University of California, San Diego; and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, found students who had no access to their phones outperformed those who had the phone on their desk or in their pocket.

“It’s not that participants were distracted because they were getting notifications on their phones,” said Adrian Ward, co-author of the report and assistant professor at UT-Austin’s McCombs School of Business. “The mere presence of their smartphone was enough to reduce their cognitive capacity.”

The study asked students to sit at a computer and take tests that required concentration. The first experiment split students into three groups that either left their phones outside the testing room, placed their phones face-down on their desk, or kept the phones in a pocket or bag. Students who didn’t have access to their phones outperformed both of the other groups on the tests.

The second experiment divided students into the same groups, but asked them to self-report their smartphone dependence when their phones weren’t handy. Students who admitted to being dependent on their phones did worse on the test, but only when the phones were on the desk or in their pockets.

“As educational institutions increasingly embrace ‘connected classrooms,’ the presence of students’ mobile devices in educational environments may undermine both learning and test performance—particularly when these devices are present but not in use,” the final report said.

Keeping the Google Book Project Alive

Google’s grand project to digitize every single book ran into a snag when authors and publishers objected and sued. Google prevailed in court, but the project stalled and left a digital database of 25 million books that “nobody is allowed to read,” according to author and programmer James Somer.

But he’s not entirely correct.

Libraries that partnered with Google for the project kept digital copies of their scanned work, which now make up about 95% of the content in the HathiTrust Digital Library, based at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The database is used to conduct research without the fear of copyright infringement, while students with disabilities can access the scanned work through the use of assistive technology.

“We couldn’t have done it without Google,” Mary Sue Coleman, current president of the Association of American Universities, said of HathiTrust. “The fact that Google did it made things happen much more rapidly, I believe, than it would have happened if universities had been doing it without a central driving force.”

The HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) makes computational analysis of public-domain and copyrighted works from the collection possible. Work on copyrighted materials is done on Data Capsules, a service created by HTRC that allows for “nonconsumptive” research without violating copyright restrictions.

“I’m not a fan of everything Google, by any means,” said Paul Courant, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and the University of Michigan. “But I think this was an amazing effort that has had lasting consequences, most of them positive.”

Creating Optimal Conditions for Learning

Using computer games and wearables, researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington are analyzing the effect young students’ physical and emotional states have on their attention and self-control during different tasks, especially learning. The results may reshape instructional methods and where school systems focus their efforts and investments.

“We think that if we understand the different physical and emotional states related to attention and self-regulation, we could develop targeted interventions for children and adults to achieve greater well-being,” principal researcher Catherine Spann said in a release.

Volunteers aged 7 and older answer questions about their levels of self-control and attention in everyday life, as well as how they’re feeling that day, and then move on to play games on an iPad while a wristband tracks their heart rate and skin activity, which gives an indication of how calm and engaged they are. Subjects’ scores are determined by accuracy and reaction time in completing game tasks.

“We need to understand the conditions under which people optimally learn and the ways that educators can best support students,” said George Siemens, executive director of UTA’s Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge (LINK) Research Lab, which is conducting the study in collaboration with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History’s Research and Learning Center.

Gen Z Has a Different Point of View

Students from Generation Z started heading to campus in 2013. While they already make up about a third of the U.S. population, they also think differently from the millennials who came before them, according to an article for Campus Technology.

The authors of the book Generation Z Goes to College, which surveyed more than 1,100 college students from 15 schools across the country, found that Gen Z students who lived through the recession of 2008 tend to be more career-minded. They also want to find ways to influence “structural problems” that impact their own families and friends, as well as communities around the world.

They see themselves as loyal, compassionate, responsible, and open-minded, and are motivated to help and please others. At the same time, they are concerned with education, employment, and racial equality. They have little interest in a political system they view as dysfunctional.

“Millennials were raised during a budget surplus and tend to be optimistic and hopeful. Generation Z is a lot more pragmatic and down to earth,” said Corey Seemiller, who teamed with Meghan Grace on the project. “Generation Z is a little more cautious when thinking about how everything is going to be great because they have been grounded in a sense of reality by their parents, who are by and large Generation Xers, who have been deemed cynical rebels in some ways.”

Beware of Technology Addiction

Technology has become a driving force for most people, but, just like anything else, too much of a good thing can be too much. Technology can become addictive, and that can starts as early as infancy.

Kids now grow up in a world where they play with toys that link them to the Internet and television shows that encourage live tweeting. The increase in screen time boosts the chance that children may suffer from low self-esteem and relationship problems, which follow them through their teenage years and into adulthood, according to a report in InformationWeek.

Social awkwardness can be the least of the concerns for adults who develop symptoms from excessive digital dependence. They also suffer from insomnia, short-term memory and hearing loss, eye irritation, and spinal damage.

“There are plenty of ways to minimize your risk of digital overload,” wrote Kelly Sheridan. “Start by monitoring your smartphone use. An hour before bed, leave you phone in the kitchen to charge instead of putting it on your bedside table overnight. If you have a desk job, set a timer every 20 minutes so you know when to stand and stretch you legs. Alter the volume limit on your iPod, which lets you adjust the maximum level of sound emitted from the earbuds. And finally, walk past the couch when you get home, put on a pair of sneakers, and go for a stroll. Your body will thank you for it.”

Limiting Distractions Helps Online Students

Studies have shown that distractions can hinder the success of students in online courses. New research by Richard W. Patterson, a doctoral student at Cornell University, found that software that limits distractions helped students do better and improved course completion.

Patterson’s report, Can Behavioral Tools Improve Online Student Outcomes? Experimental Evidence from a Massive Open Online Course, divided 657 students into three groups and examined how they used the Internet while participating in a nine-week MOOC on statistics.

Each group was assigned a tool that made up the limitation software Patterson used in his research. Students using the commitment tool could set limits on the amount of time they wanted to spend on websites such as Facebook or Twitter. They were also sent an email each morning to adjust the time they spent on the Internet and which blocked individual sites when too much time was spent on them.

The second group used a reminder tool that would just send them a link to the course website after a half hour was spent on other websites. The third group used a focus tool that would ask if they wanted to block distractions and for how long if they wanted uninterrupted time to study.

The commitment tool was the only tool to show significant improvement on student homework submissions, scores, and course completion. Users spent 24% more time on the course and 40% more of them completed it.

Students said spending time on distractions was much less enjoyable when using the commitment tool, because it forced them to unblock sites when they exceeded the time limits they set each morning. It also combined the reminder element and the focus elements into one tool.

“The idea behind the commitment device is that it makes impatient behavior more costly or more difficult, and that’s consistent with the way that students seem to be responding,” Patterson told The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The study also showed that distractions bother all students. Patterson expected the software would help the least-prepared students the most, but found that students who were most prepared got the most benefit from it. 

Flipped Learning Making Inroads on Campus

The 2013 Speak Up National Research Project found that flipped learning has surpassed all other digital learning trends in K-12. According to the study, 25% of responding district administrators reported flipped learning is having a significant impact on teaching and learning and 40% said they are interested in their teachers using flipped learning methods this year.

Despite gaining popularity in K-12 circles, flipped learning still lags behind in higher ed. That could change as more colleges and universities discover how to effectively use the technique.

“One thing that’s been lacking has been a consensus on what the flipped classroom actually is,” Robert Talbert, a math instructor at Grand Valley State University, wrote for a Chronicle of Higher Education blog. “If a professor assigns readings to do before class and then holds discussions in class, is that ‘the flipped classroom’?”

The Flipped Learning Network (FLN) came up with a definition based on FLIP, which stands for flexible environment, learning culture, intentional content, and professional educator. The four components form a teaching method that allows students a variety of ways to learn, focuses on student-centered inquiry instead of lectures, offers accessible content available to all prior to class, and features instructors who are willing to collaborate with students.

“Just because you’ve been giving reading assignments outside of class and holding discussions in class, it doesn’t mean you’ve ‘always been flipping the classroom,’” Talbert wrote. “There’s more at work and at stake here. The focus in the above definition is on student learning and not on course design and I think that’s totally correct.”

FLN didn’t stop at a definition but collaborated on a series of university case studies and research with Pearson Education. The information gathered showed that flipped learning improves critical thinking and professional skills, increases student participation and motivation, and improves team-based skills and peer-to-peer interaction.

However, challenges remain regarding course redesign, faculty workload, student buy-in, and student evaluations.

Printed Books Not Dead Yet

E-books have gotten plenty of press over the last few years, but new research doesn’t back up the headlines. A study on IT strategies by Ricoh Americas Corp. and the University of Colorado found that 70% of consumers felt it was unlikely they would give up their printed books by 2016 and 60% of downloaded e-books are never read.

The Evolution of the Book Industry: Implications for U.S. Book Manufacturers and Printers reported that the top three reasons people chose printed books were the lack of eyestrain when reading paper, the look and feel of paper, and the ability to add the title to a library or bookshelf. It also reaffirmed other studies that have shown college students prefer printed textbooks.

“To borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, the reports of the printed book’s death are greatly exaggerated,” said George Promis, vice president of continuous forms of production solutions and technology alliances at Ricoh. “Print is alive, well, and sought after in today’s book market.”

The research also found that publishers produced more than 10% of all printed book pages in the United States since 2012 on production inkjet systems, allowing them to test titles before ordering larger runs. In addition, offering e-titles isn’t a guarantee of more income or cost savings because even the largest publishers reported revenues of no more than 20%-30% from e-book sales.

Cellphone Usage Linked to Lower Grades

The old adage that statistics can prove almost anything appears to be true when it comes to college students and mobile devices. While a Wakefield Research project last summer found that students would be more likely to study if content could be accessed from their smartphone, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that 90% of the students in his study were distracted by their device, using it in class for something other than schoolwork.

Now, medical researchers at Kent State University, Kent, OH, have linked cellphone usage to lower grades and diminished levels of happiness. The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, surveyed more than 500 students, comparing how much time they spent on their phones to their cumulative grade-point averages.

The analysis found that the more students used their cellphones, the lower their GPA and the higher their anxiety. The researchers added that they could not show for certain that cellphone usage led to poorer grades and higher stress, but that it was worth noting because college students are also the most likely to adopt the technology.

“While it is plausible that spending a lot of time calling and texting affects academic performance, it could equally be argued that these results suggest students who are more anxious, perform less well in class, and are more unhappy are more likely to use cellphones,” wrote Catherine Paddock, for Medical News Today.

Humanities Attracting the MOOC Crowd

It’s probably no surprise that computer science is the most popular subject offered by massive open online course provider Coursera with nearly 9.5 million people enrolled. Humanities, as a distant second, may come as more of a stunner.

Nearly four million people have taken humanities courses, according to information from the company. The numbers may be inflated somewhat because of the highly popular “Walking Dead” course, but they are still ahead of business and management (3.5 million), economics and finance (3.3 million) and information, tech, and design (2.4 million).

The fact that humanities are so popular as MOOCs and yet were basically ignored during a panel discussion featuring Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, last June caught the attention and ire of attendee, blogger, and UBC associate professor Jon Beasley-Murray. He wrote that the model for online learning is dominated by science and points a finger at the people responsible.

“The arts and humanities should have a vital role, critical and self-reflexive, that would complicate current discussion of technology in the classroom, and more broadly enhance our understanding of the university’s main challenges and possibilities in a global, wired world,” Beasley-Murray wrote. “But what we get instead is knee-jerk enthusiasm and self-defeating short-termism. This is not the fault of the sciences themselves—they should clearly and obviously be part of the conversation, too. It is, rather, the fault of an administration and senior management that has for some reason lost faith in its own mission and its own values, and in the people that it employs to think about and even question that mission and those values.”

Students Still Skeptical of Online Courses

A new report, titled “Not Yet Sold, found that students may not be as satisfied with their online educational experience as previously reported. In fact, 38% of the community college students responding to a survey from Public Agenda said web-based courses were harder to pass than the traditional classroom model.

Six of 10 students also said online courses required more discipline than attending class in person, and 40% said they learned less than in classrooms or lecture halls. In addition, three-quarters of employers surveyed for the study agreed that online courses require the same or more discipline from students than traditional classes.

“Just as online education itself is rapidly changing, we expect student and employer attitudes to shift as well,” the authors of the study wrote. “Still, we need to consider the skepticism of those on the ground, especially if we hope to avoid any unintended consequences.”

Report Finds Online Students Satisfied

A new study from higher education consulting firm Noel-Levitz found that 75% of online students say they are satisfied with their learning experience. In comparison, just 55% of traditional campus-based students expressed satisfaction with their experience.

“Creating connections with students is the great challenge of online education,” Julie Bryant, associate vice president at Noel-Levitz and author of the report, told eCampus News. “How do you keep student interest and involvement when their ‘classroom’ is a computer screen? That’s precisely why so many online programs survey their students about their satisfaction levels.”

While satisfaction with online learning is high, there is still concern among respondents about the quality of instruction in web-based courses. The study also found that the primary factor in satisfaction was the cost of the education, a fact that may have boosted satisfaction with online students.

“With the rising cost of college, students and their families are certainly becoming more critical about the advantages of college education and whether it’s worth it,” Bryant said.

UC System Making Research Open to All

The University of California system recently announced a new policy that will make all of its research articles free online and available to the public through its open-access repository, eScholarship. The policy covers faculty on all 10 UC campuses and allows research from faculty to be reused or modified for future publications.

The research will still be subject to peer review and appear in prestigious journals. The question is whether it’s a policy that will provide too much information for busy professionals, according to Kent Anderson, CEO/publisher of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery Inc.

“Why read information that is pushed to you when you can Google something that’s right in front of you?” Anderson asked in an article for SmartPlanet. “There is a workflow dimension to this, certainly, but also a corrosive problem of dependence. It’s good for Google, but not great for science, which often takes reflection, immersion, and inspiration to work. It’s not just a journeyman’s game, with Google as an occasional toolbox.”

Surprise! Students Think Textbooks Are Too Expensive

Students and faculty say traditional textbooks are too costly and they want an alternative, but also question whether the e-textbooks will ever offer significant savings, according to a new report from the Educause Center for Analysis and Research.

Understanding What Higher Education Needs from E-Textbooks: An Educause/Internet2 Pilot is the result of an e-text study conducted in the fall of 2012 at 23 colleges and universities. McGraw-Hill Education and e-textbook provider Courseload delivered e-texts to 5,000 students and faculty in nearly 400 undergraduate and graduate courses.

The study found that faculty and students want a choice of platforms for reading e-texts, the ability to access content offline, the freedom to opt out of e-textbooks, and still be able to choose paper textbooks. Respondents also said they need technical support to make use of new formats and that consumer experiences with electronic content drive their expectations of e-textbooks.

“This study demonstrates that institutions and the marketplace must first remove barriers that exist even in today’s paper textbook market, most notably cost,” said Susan Grajek, vice president for data, research, and analytics for Educause. “Challenges innate to electronic content must also be addressed, including availability of materials where and when students need them, compatibility with the devices students own and prefer to use, and the kind of functionality that comes from good interface design. The solutions will come from many sources, but through this study students and faculty have clarified their needs.”

Multitasking Really Can Be a Problem

Research has shown that electronic devices in the classroom can be a distraction that can result in lower grades for the student and even disrupt nearby classmates. Now,  Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, has shown that students multitasking while studying—checking e-mail, looking at Facebook, texting, etc.—don’t understand the topic as well and remembers less.

In “Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-inducedtask-switching while studying,” Rosen had researchers follow 263 students ranging in age from middle school to college. The researchers went into the students’ homes and recorded what each was doing while studying.

“We were amazed at how frequently they multitasked, even though they knew someone was watching,” Rosen told Slate magazine. “It really seems that they could not go for 15 minutes without engaging their devices.”

Part of the multitasking problem, according to Rosen, is that texting, e-mailing, and posting on social media sites are mentally complex. In addition, a study from University of Michigan psychology professor David Meyer found the brain can’t perform two complex tasks at the same time.

“It can happen only when the two tasks are both very simple and when they don’t compete with each other for the same mental resources,” Meyer said. “An example would be folding laundry and listening to the weather report on the radio. That’s fine. But listening to a lecture while texting, or doing homework and being on Facebook—each of these tasks is very demanding, and each of them uses the same area of the brain, the prefrontal cortex.”

However, researchers understand students aren’t going to stop using their devices anytime soon. Rosen suggests two-minute “tech breaks” after about 15 minutes of uninterrupted schoolwork. He has found that students can extend the amount of time they spend studying, as long as they know the break is coming.

“Young people’s technology use is really about quelling anxiety,” he said. “They don’t want to miss out. They don’t want to be the last person to hear some news, or the ninth person to ‘like’ someone’s post.”

Research Finds Online Achievement Gap

A recent study from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Columbia University suggests that while low-cost online courses may provide more opportunity to try college, the achievement gap can also be widening among students.

Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas studied 500,000 online courses taken by 40,000 community- and technical-college students in Washington state. It found that students taking more online courses were less likely to earn a degree, particularly among the demographics of black students, male students, younger students, and students with low grade-point averages. Older students with families and female students fared much better, according to the research.

“We found that the gap is stronger in the underrepresented and underprepared students,” said Shanna Smith Jaggars, assistant director of the CCRC. “They are falling farther behind than if they were taking face-to-face courses.”

On the other hand, Kathy B. Enger, director of the Northern Lights Library Network, suggests online education gives minority students more freedom of expression and that problems students may have are  probably because the instructor isn’t reaching out to them in the right ways.

“If it’s not working, find out what’s not working. Then make it work,” Enger told The Chronicle of Higher Education.

7 out of 10 Students Don't Buy Textbooks

In the November 29th article by Campus Technology, University of California, Riverside’s recent annual survey, “Undergraduate Experience Survey,” finds that seven out 10 students do not buy textbooks, instead they prefer to rent them, rely on faculty provided materials, or do without them completely.  According to the survey, 73% of students who respond to the survey postpone the purchase and 74% of students chose to skip buying them altogether.   The university’s Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Steven Brint, commissioned a report on the survey in order to show faculty that “students’ behavior with respect to textbook purchasing may be different than they think.”  “Ultimately, the survey results suggest that not all students are doing the required reading for their courses,” says Brint.

If this statistic is the same at other institutions, then perhaps the greatest competitor to textbook sales is actually the choice not to buy at all. 

E-Book Consumers Loyal to E-Books

Book Industry Study Group’s recent on-going survey on Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading indicates consumers are showing increase devotion and approval of digital books.  According to BISG’s press release, “The e-book market is developing very fast, with consumer attitudes and behaviors changing over the course of months, rather than years,” said Angela Bole, BISG's Deputy Executive Director.  The press release also quotes Kelly Gallagher, Vice President of Publishing Services at Bowker who says,  “As e-books become the primary reading format for many consumers in the coming months and years, it will be essential for the publishing community to understand consumers’ individual preferences and desires in order to connect with them."

The press release reports that almost “50% of print book consumer who have also acquired an e-book in the past 18 months would wait up to three months for the e-book version of a book from a favorite author, rather than immediately read it in print.  A year ago, only 38% said they would wait this long.”

Here are the results taken directly from the press release:

·         “Power Buyers are spending more.  More than 46% of those who say they acquire e-books at least weekly (considered “Power Buyers” in this survey) report that they have increased their dollars spent for books in all formats, compared with 30.4% of all survey respondents. This statistic is important because Power Buyers have proven to be a bellwether of overall consumer behavior by three to six months.”

·         “Amazon momentum continues. Amazon.com continues to be the preferred source for e-book acquisition (holding steady at 70%) and e-book information (44%). Barnes & Noble comes in second at 26%, with Apple in third.  One to watch: libraries, which are on the upswing as a preferred source for e-book acquisition.”

  

·         “Satisfaction with e-reading devices is high. Seventy-five percent (75%) of respondents reported they are satisfied with their e-reading device, including more than 38% of respondents who reported being “very satisfied.” Less than 5% said they felt their e-reading device was not a good value for the money.”

·         “Many barriers to e-book reading are falling. Survey results indicate that concerns about e-book availability are diminishing.  And although the cost of e-reading devices remains a reported concern, the single most popular answer to the question of what hinders respondents from reading more e-books was “nothing” at 33% (up from 17.6% a year ago).”

Community College Student Survey on Use of Technology on Campus

The Lone Star College System conducted a student-driven survey of more than 6,000 students from 36 two-year colleges on the impact of technology on their academic performance.   According to one article, 78 percent of students responded said that their grades and learning are improved when technology is used consistently and effectively.  Campus Technology articles’ main take a ways are: 1. Schools should not implement technology for the sake of technology; 2. When  technology is deployed that the technology is working properly; and (3) That faculty needs to know how to use the technology and they should actually use it. 

Harris Poll on E-reader's habits

Here’s yet another survey suggesting e-readers are here to stay and growing.  Here are some of the highlights of the poll:

• One in six Americans (15%) uses an e-Reader device up from less than one in ten (8%) a year ago.
• Those who do not have an e-Reader, one in six (15%) say they are likely to get an e-Reader device in the next six months.
• Overall, 16% of Americans read between 11 and 20 books a year with one in five reading 21 or more books in a year (20%).  Those who have an e-Reader, one-third read 11-20 books a year (32%) and over one-quarter read 21 or more books in an average year (27%).
• One-third of Americans (32%) say they have not purchased any books in the past year compared to only 6% of e-Reader users who say the same.
• One in ten Americans purchased between 11 and 20 books (10%) or 21 or more books (9%) in the past year.   Those who use e-readers, 17% purchased between 11 and 20 and 17% purchased 21 or more books in the past year.
• Half of both e-Reader users (50% and non-users (51%) say they read the same amount as they did six months ago.
• 24%  of non e-Reader users say they are reading less than they did before (compared to just 8% of e-Reader users), over one-third of e-Reader users (36%) say they are reading more compared to just 16% of non-users.