Ubiquitous laptop usage in higher education: Effects on student achievement, student satisfaction, and constructivist measures in honors and traditional classrooms

  • Authors:

  • Christian Wurst;Claudia Smarkola;Mary Anne Gaffney

  • Affiliations:

  • Temple University, Fox School of Business, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States;Temple University, Measurement and Research Center, 1200 Carnell Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States;Temple University, Fox School of Business, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States

  • Venue:
  • Computers & Education
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

Three years of graduating business honors cohorts in a large urban university were sampled to determine whether the introduction of ubiquitous laptop computers into the honors program contributed to student achievement, student satisfaction and constructivist teaching activities. The first year cohort consisted of honors students who did not have laptops; the second and third year cohorts were given laptops by the University. The honors students found that their honors classrooms were statistically significantly more constructivist than their traditional (non-honors) classroom. The introduction of laptop computing to honors students and their faculty did not increase the level of constructivist activities in the honors classrooms. Laptop computing did not statistically improve student achievement as measured by GPA. Honors students with laptops reported statistically significantly less satisfaction with their education compared to honors students with no laptops.