Let’s continue today’s theme of “pick on classroom laptops” with this study from Michigan State that found top students in large lecture classes, as measured by their ACT scores, also performed more poorly on exams when distracted by non-class related internet surfing. It was previously thought that the smartest students in the class might be better able to multitask by filtering out distractions. Not so concluded the study which found that all students, not matter their intellectual gifts, did more poorly on exams if their were distracted during class by websurfing. From the Michigan State website:

[Professor of Psychology Susan] Ravizza and colleagues studied non-academic Internet use in an introductory psychology class at MSU with 500 students. The working theory: Heavy Internet users with lower intellectual abilities – determined by ACT scores – would perform worse on exams. Past research suggests smarter people are better at multitasking and filtering out distractions.

But surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. All students, regardless of intellectual ability, had lower exam scores the more they used the Internet for non-academic purposes such as reading the news, sending emails and posting Facebook updates.

Ravizza said that might be because Internet use is a different type of multitasking, in that it can be so engaging.

The study also showed students discounted the effects of Internet use on academic performance, reinforcing past findings that students have poor awareness of how their smartphones and laptops affect learning

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