A Danish university lecturer experiments with banning screens in discussion lessons. A new study looks at the results, which include greater student presence, improved engagement and deeper learning.

At a time when much of instruction is performed digitally and university lecture halls are often illuminated by a sea of laptops, it can be difficult to imagine that all instruction was recorded by pen and paper until about 20 years ago.

Digital technology constitutes a significant presence in education, with many advantages — especially during these corona times, when a great number of students have been forced to work from home.

But digital technology in the classroom is not without its drawbacks. A lack of concentration and absence of attention among students became too much for one Danish lecturer to bear.

«The lecturer felt as if their students’ use of social media on their laptops and smartphones distracted and prevented them from achieving deeper learning. Eventually, the frustration became so great that he decided to ban all screens in discussion lessons,» explains Katrine Lindvig, a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Science Education.

Together with researchers Kim Jesper Herrmann and Jesper Aagaard of Aarhus University, she analysed 100 university student evaluations of the lecturer’s screen-free lessons. Their findings resulted in a new study that had this to say about analogue instruction:

«Students felt compelled to be present — and liked it. When it suddenly became impossible to Google their way to an answer or more knowledge about a particular theorist, they needed to interact and, through shared reflection, develop as a group. It heightened their engagement and presence,» explains Katrine Lindvig.

Story Source: Materials provided by University of Copenhagen. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.