=Paper= {{Paper |id=Vol-2770/paper6 |storemode=property |title=Self-Assessment of Educational Results in Students who Prefer Computers, Laptops or Smartphones as Educational Tools for Distance Learning (in the Situation of Forced Transition to Distance Learning due to the COVID-19 Pandemic) |pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2770/paper6.pdf |volume=Vol-2770 |authors=Anastasia Miklyaeva,Svetlana Bezgodova }} ==Self-Assessment of Educational Results in Students who Prefer Computers, Laptops or Smartphones as Educational Tools for Distance Learning (in the Situation of Forced Transition to Distance Learning due to the COVID-19 Pandemic)== https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2770/paper6.pdf

Self-Assessment of Educational Results in Students who
Prefer Computers, Laptops or Smartphones as
Educational Tools for Distance Learning (in the Situation
of Forced Transition to Distance Learning due to the
COVID-19 Pandemic)*

Anastasia Miklyaeva1[0000-0001-8389-2275], and Svetlana Bezgodova1[0000-0001-5425-7838]
1
Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, 6 Kazanskaya (Plekhanova) st., 191186
St. Petersburg, Russia
a.miklyaeva@gmail.com, s.a.bezgodova@gmail.com

Abstract. The article presents the results of a longitudinal study aimed at a
comparative assessment of university students’ attitudes to various aspects of
the educational process, depending on their preference for a computers/laptops
or smartphones as an educational tools. The study involved 94 full-time 1st–4th
year students who had been transferred to distance learning (by the Moodle
course management system) in March 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19
coronavirus infection. The empirical study was conducted with the use of
Google forms tool. Students answered such questions as (1) What technical
devices do they prefer for completing educational tasks? (2) How has the
quality of knowledge and skills forming changed due to the transition to
distance learning? (3) How has the degree of involvement in the educational
process changed after transition to distance learning? The survey was conducted
twice: at the end of the first week and after five weeks of distance learning. The
results of the study showed that students who prefer computers/laptops as the
main tool for distance learning highly estimated the ratings of the quality of
knowledge and skills as well as their involvement in the educational process, in
comparison with students who mainly use smartphones. At the same time,
students who prefer smartphones demonstrated a relative increase in the
assessment of knowledge and skill quality but significant decrease the
indicators of involvement in the educational process, while among students who
prefer to use laptops or computers these indicators were more stable for first
weeks of distance learning.

Keywords: distance learning, university students, computer, laptop,
smartphone, quality of knowledge, quality of skills forming, involvement in the
educational process, longitudinal study.

*
Supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant No. 19-29-14005

Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0
International (CC BY 4.0).
Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Informatization of Education and E-learning Methodology:
Digital Technologies in Education (IEELM-DTE 2020), Krasnoyarsk, Russia, October 6-9, 2020.
1 Introduction

It is impossible to imagine modern education without various electronic devices that
provide access to the Internet. These devices became particularly important during the
period of forced transition of schoolchildren and students to learning with the use of
distance education technologies, which was associated with the spread of COVID-19
coronavirus infection in the spring of 2020. At that time, electronic devices turned to
the main tools of educational activities. Even before the start of the COVID-19
pandemic, it was found that schoolchildren and students use a wide range of technical
devices in their educational activities (computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones),
and mobile devices are becoming more common due to the fact that they allow users
to provide a higher degree of mobility in comparison with stationary computers. In
particular, schoolchildren and students often use tablets and smartphones along with
computers and laptops) to complete various educational tasks, such as searching for
additional information, performing tests, writing texts, etc. [14]. However, it is
obvious that dissimilar electronic devices have different characteristics and different
purposes, so the use of each type of electronic devices in the educational process
accompanies by their unique opportunities and limitations. Taking these
characteristics and purposes into account is an important factor in improving the
quality of the educational process organization. However, the information about the
role of electronic devices in the educational process (and, in particular, their impact
on procedural and resultative aspects of educational activities) is fragmentary by
present time. In addition, this information was obtained in terms of full-time
educational process, when electronic devices were used as auxiliary tools. Therefore,
today it becomes relevant to study the opportunities and limitations of using various
electronic devices in distance education, which causes the status of these devices as
the main tools of students’ educational activities.

2 Psychological Effects of Various Electronic Devices as Tools
for Educational Activities: Literature Review

Current research suggests that the opportunities and limitations associated with the
use of various electronic devices as educational tools are largely determined by their
functional characteristics. Thus, research has found that mobile devices are more
often used by students for communication on educational issues, in particular, for the
exchange of educational information [5], while computers, laptops or tablets are
frequently preferred for informational search or completing other types of educational
tasks [4]. This functional distribution is caused by the convenience of computers and
tablets for working with information due to the larger size of the screens and the
greater functionality of the keyboard, in comparison with smartphones, which, in turn,
provide more efficient communication because of the high speed of information
exchange [3].
The greatest amount of empirical data is available on the psychological effects of
the educational use such electronic devices as computers and laptops in the
educational process, on the one hand, and smartphones, on the other hand. For
example, there is empirical evidence that computers and laptops contribute to the
involvement in the educational process to a greater extent than smartphones [1]. In
turn, the use of smartphones is associated with a decrease in the quality of analyzing
information which is obtained by them [2]. The small size of mobile devices, the
ability to view only one window at a time, and distraction from messages contribute
to the development of the skill of switching and distributing attention but at the same
time these features of smartphones affect the ability to focus on one thing for a long
time, which is essential for deep knowledge and purposeful cognitive activity. Thus,
attention productivity decreases [6]. According to some authors, a person who is
distracted by messaging takes up to four times longer to complete an educational or
working task [11], as well as on breaks between tasks that are used for checking
personal messages or surfing the Internet [7]. Working in the "multitasking" mode
quickly overloads the students’ memory resources [8-10]. Research also shows that
the availability of a smartphone can reduce the productivity of cognitive activity [12].
In general, empirical research suggest that computer or laptop look more preferable
than a smartphone as a tool for completing educational tasks related to the search for
additional information, its understanding and use in learning activity, and this fact
applies to both the procedural (involvement) and resultative (quality of knowledge
and skills) aspects of educational process. At the same time, it is necessary to
highlight that relevant empirical evidences were obtained mainly from the analysis of
the use of electronic devices in terms of full-time education, when distance learning
technologies complement “live” learning in classrooms. Thus, they reflect the features
of everyday use of computers, laptops, smartphones and tablet devices in situations
where they are an auxiliary educational tools. However, we can posit the relevance of
studying psychological and pedagogical effects of various electronic devices as
educational tools in terms of distance learning to analyze the influence of preferred
electronic devices on the procedural and resulting characteristics of students’
educational activities.

3 Current Study

3.1 The purpose of study
The purpose of our study was to analyze the dynamics of assessing the procedural and
resultative characteristics of educational activities by university students in terms of
forced transition to distance learning during the period of adaptation to new
educational conditions. The transition from full-time to distance learning was
determined by the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection COVID- 19 and took
place in March 2020 in accordance with the order of Russian government.
The research program involved following research questions:
1) What are students’ preferences for electronic devices used as the main learning
tools in distance learning, and how stable are these preferences?
2) What is the dynamics of students’ attitudes to learning in terms of forced transition
to distance learning, and what is the contribution of preferred electronic devices to
this dynamics?

3.2 Materials and methods
The study was conducted in March-April 2020, during the temporary transition of
higher educational institutions in Russia to implementing educational programs in the
e-learning format with the use of distance learning technologies. 94 full-time students
of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (from 1st–4th university years) were
invited to participate in the study. During this period the educational process was
organized on the basis of the Moodle course management system. The study was
implemented in longitudinal design; empirical data were collected with the use of
questionnaire by online service Google forms. The first stage of the survey was
realized at the end of the first week of distance learning, the second – after five weeks
of distance learning.
The questionnaire included several blocks, which, in particular, allowed getting
information about electronic devices which are available for students’ educational
activity, about their preferences related to the use of certain devices for completing
educational tasks, as well as about some aspects of students’ attitudes to the
educational process and its effectiveness. Students were asked to assess the changes in
the quality of knowledge and skills (the result aspect of educational process) and the
degree of their involvement in learning (the procedural aspect of educational process).
Students used a 5-point scale to assess the quality of knowledge and skills, as well as
the degree of involvement in the learning (-2 – "significantly decreased", -1 –
"slightly decreased", 0 – "did not change", +1 – "slightly increased", +2 -
"significantly increased").
Processing the results was performed with calculating descriptive statistics and
analyzing of variance (F) by the statistical software package Statistica 12.0.

4 Results

The results of the survey showed that 100 % of respondents have the opportunity to
use both a computer/laptop and a smartphone with Internet access in their educational
activities. 26.6 % of students also have the option to use a tablet device. Thus, all
respondents who took part in the study had the opportunity to choose the electronic
devices that is more preferable for them for completing educational tasks. The
distribution of students’ preferences at the end of the first week of distance learning
and after five weeks of learning activities in this format is presented in Figure 1.
Fig. 1. Availability of electronic devices and their preference by students at different stages of
transition to distance learning

The results of the survey indicate that students’ preferences were extremely stable.
Most students gave priority to use computers or laptops (n=78), the others –
smartphones (n=13), and only two of them – tablets. Changes in preferences were
fixed only in one case: a first-year student started to use a computer instead of a
smartphone after a month of distance learning.
According to these results, the sample was divided into two subgroups: the first
subgroup incorporated students who prefer computers or laptops as educational tools,
the second subgroup were students with preference for smartphones. As a number of
students who preferred a tablet was extremely small, this subgroup was not included
in the further analysis.
The results of comparative analysis suggest that the dynamics of attitudes to
various aspects of educational process in subgroups significantly differs in the first
and the second stages of survey (see Fig. 2).
Fig. 2. Dynamics of attitudes to various aspects of the educational process in subgroups of
students who prefer to use computers/laptops or smartphones
Students generally note that the quality of knowledge and skills was decreasing with
transition to distance learning. At the same time, the most obvious decrease in the
quality of knowledge and skills at the beginning of distant learning was indicated by
the students who preferred smartphones as the main educational tools, while students
who gave preference to use computers/laptops felt similar changes to a much lesser
extent (F=3.41 at p=0.04 for the parameter “quality of knowledge”; differences at the
level of a strong statistical trend, p<0.10 for the parameter “quality of skills”). Five
weeks after the start of distance learning these differences between subgroups were
generally preserved, but became less expressed.
The parameter "involvement in the educational process" showed another dynamic.
Assessments of the involvement were focused on the “no changes” position in both
subgroups at the first stage of survey. However, after five weeks, the situation
transformed. In the subgroup of students who used computers or laptops as
educational tools, the assessment of the involvement in the educational process
generally remained at the same level, while in the case of students who gave
preference for smartphones this assessment significantly decreased (F=3.58 at
p=0.03).

5 Discussion

The results of our empirical study showed that students, as a rule, have the
opportunity to choose the electronic device for completing the educational tasks. All
respondents had smartphones and laptops or computers with free access to the
Internet, in addition, about a quarter can also use tablets. More than 80 % of
respondents noted that the most convenient tool for them to complete training tasks is
a computer or laptop, and the preference for a smartphone is four times less common.
A longitudinal study has demonstrated the stability of preferences in the use of
electronic devices as educational tools. So we can conclude that these preferences
reflect the stylistic features of the organizing the students’ educational activities that
have been developed in full-time learning, and the transition to distance learning
probably did not have a significant impact on them. Thus, the answer to the first
research question states that students’ preference for one or another electronic device
as an educational tool is a stable characteristic of their educational activities which is
integrated into the system of their educational actions.
According to the second research question, we found that students note a decrease
in the quality of knowledge and skills in distance learning, regardless of preferred
electronic device. At the first week of distance learning students who prefer to use
smartphones most acutely reflected a deterioration in the effectiveness of the
educational process, while students who prefer computers and laptops felt a decrease
in the effectiveness of education to a lesser extent. This result generally corresponds
to other studies [4]. Over next weeks, in line of adaptation to distance learning, these
differences smoothed out, but the overall trend was preserved. Nevertheless, we can
establish that the self-assessment of quality of education in students who use
smartphones for educational activities in terms of distance education was more
vulnerable in comparison with students who preferred computers/laptops.
The dynamics of the parameter “involvement in the educational process” turned
out to be different. At the beginning of distance learning, students usually did not
notice any changes, regardless of preferred electronic devices. However, after five
weeks, the subgroups showed fundamentally different dynamics in assessing their
involvement in the educational process. In the group of students who use computers
or laptops, the overall assessment remained “no changes”, while among students who
use smartphones, a significant decrease in this assessment was identified. Thus,
answering the second research question, we can be state that using a smartphone as an
educational tool can contribute to decrease in subjective involvement in the
educational process, in comparison with using a computer/laptop. Similar findings
were obtained in other studies [1]. However, this effect is not achieved immediately,
but is consistently enhanced as the experience of using a smartphone to complete
educational tasks extends, and this dynamics could be associated with a decrease in
emotional involvement in learning activities which are mediated by using
smartphones.

6 Conclusion

Our study confirms the previous research finding which suggests that the use of a
computer/laptop as an educational tool contributes to achieving higher educational
results in comparison with a smartphone. At the same time, it is shown that the quality
of mastering the content of the educational program for students who prefer a
smartphone may slightly increase with the accumulation of experience. Involvement
in the educational process shows the opposite trend and decreases as the length of
SERVICE increases for smartphone users, remaining approximately at the same level
for students who prefer to use computers and laptops to solve educational tasks. The
psychological effects of using various technical devices as educational tools in pre-
SCHOOL settings described in our study need to be further studied and clarified,
including using objective methods to assess the quality of knowledge acquisition,
skills and abilities, and not subjective assessments, as was done in our study, and also
need to be taken into account when organizing pre-school EDUCATION in higher
education institutions.

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(NESinMIS-2020), CEUR-WS, pp. 52-62 (2020) http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2630/paper_6.pdf