#rpow

This week's paper: Aguilar-Roca, N. M., Williams, A. E., & O'Dowd D. K., (2012). The impact of laptop-free zones on student performance and attitudes in large lectures. Computers & Education, 59, 1300-1308.

If you know me, you'll know that deep down [or, perhaps, not so deep down after all], I'm quite a bit of a nerd. I've always got at least three pieces of technology near me at a time, and tend to get mighty withdrawal symptoms and panic attacks when the battery on my phone goes below twenty per-cent. The chances are, however, that you know quite a few of people who are attached to their electronic devices with some sort of invisible umbilical cord. If you're a university student, you'll also be familiar with the concept of "pixel row" - the row of seats in a lecture theatre that are always occupied by people with laptops. 

Of course, if you've ever sat anywhere near "pixel row", you'll realise how distracting it can be -  and you're not the first: studies have noted how students can be irritated by their laptop-lugging counterparts who, rather than taking notes on lectures, can often be found to be playing games online (Brady, 2009), and causing consternation with their keyboard clacking (Borbone, 2009). But while outright bans on laptops have been rejected by many (Young, 2006; Glenn, 2010) [and rightly so, in my opinion], is there a way to minimise the impact of laptop use on students using the good ol' pen and paper?

This study decided to test the efficacy of designated 'laptop-zones' on students' learning. In the experimental condition, students with laptops were asked to sit in a particular area of the lecture theatre, away from those who took notes using pens and paper. A control condition was also implemented, where both laptop users and non-laptop users could sit together. 

While results indicated laptop users didn't have a negative effect on the grades of students who elected to go low-tech, they showed that those who used laptops tended to achieve lower test scores.