On or off task: The negative influence of laptops on neighboring students' learning depends on how they are used

Abstract Previous research indicates that students' classroom laptop use distracts their peers and negatively affects the learning of their neighbors. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the types of activities that laptop users undertake (i.e., on-task note-taking versus off-task Web browsing) differentially affect their neighbors' learning. Sixty-two participants listened to a lecture in a classroom setting while seated either in front of, to the left of, to the right of, or behind a laptop-using confederate who switched from taking notes on their computer to browsing the internet at specified points during the lecture. Participants performed better on post-lecture quiz questions that asked about material covered while the confederate was on task than those that asked about material covered while the confederate was off task. This effect was comparable regardless of where participants sat in relation to the confederate. Our results support previous evidence that students' laptop use distracts neighboring students and expands on prior literature by further demonstrating that the types of activities that laptop users engage in during lecture matters for all neighboring students’ comprehension of material.

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