Banning smartphone use during class improved the academic performance of students in India, according to a large randomized controlled study. The benefit was greater for lower-performing students and first-year undergraduates. Researchers also found smaller differences in grade point averages, a finding that suggests restrictions can help reduce learning inequalities.
Alp Sungu and his colleagues examined the intervention among 16,683 students from ten higher education institutions in Odisha, India. In this state, smartphone ownership and use among young people aged 15 to 29 exceeds 70%. The team measured academic performance, attitudes toward restrictions, well-being, motivation, digital use and online harassment.
The research seeks to fill a gap in the available evidence on phone bans in education. Such measures are being adopted increasingly often in schools internationally, amid concerns about the devices' effects on learning, mental health and relationships between peers. However, according to the text presenting the study, large-scale experimental data documenting whether bans improve learning or social outcomes are lacking.
The benefits were not the same for all groups of students. The effect was small among students who were already high performers, postgraduate students and those studying science, technology, engineering or mathematics. This variation shows that the overall positive result coexisted with substantial differences depending on previous performance, stage of study and field of study.
Class attendance rates did not change with the phone ban. The researchers therefore estimate that the improvement in performance was probably linked to greater attention and a more productive classroom, rather than more frequent attendance. This is their interpretation of the findings, based on students' unchanged attendance.
Classroom observations recorded fewer behaviors that interrupted lessons and fewer conversations unrelated to the subject. At the same time, greater engagement by instructors was observed. These findings complement the picture of academic outcomes by recording changes in how classes were conducted.
Students who attended classes with a phone ban became more supportive of restrictions and more likely to consider them beneficial. At the same time, they expressed less preference for unrestricted use of the devices. According to Sungu and his colleagues, experiencing a more focused classroom without phones may make students more receptive to such measures.
Comments