Tertiary students who send text messages during lectures pay less attention and demonstrate lower levels of learning as a consequence, research has found.
A survey of 190 students from the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford found an average of 2.4 texts were sent per 50 or 75 minute lesson. Those who did text during class reported lower levels of sustained attention, perceived learning and reported grades, compared to those who did not text.
Principal researcher, Fang-Yi Flora Wei, states that while students may believe they can multi-task during class, the question remained as to how well they can learn while multi-tasking.
Read more at National Communication Association