Because of decreased prices, increased convenience, and wireless access, an increasing number of college and university students are using laptop computers in their classrooms. This recent trend has forced instructors to address the educational consequences of using these mobile devices. The purpose of the current study was to analyze and assess beneficial and challenging laptop behaviours in higher education classrooms. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 177 undergraduate university students (89 males, 88 females). Key benefits observed include note-taking activities, in-class laptop-based academic tasks, collaboration, increased focus, improved organization and efficiency, and addressing special needs. Key challenges noted include other student’s distracting laptop behaviours, instant messaging, surfing the web, playing games, watching movies, and decreased focus. Nearly three-quarters of the students claimed that laptops were useful in supporting their academic experience. Twice as many benefits were reported compared to challenges. It is speculated that the integration of meaningful laptop activities is a critical determinant of benefits and challenges experienced in higher education classrooms.

This article examined how higher education students used text and instant messaging for academic purposes with their peers and faculty. Specifically, comfort level, frequency of use, usefulness, reasons for messaging and differences between peer-to-peer and peer-to-instructor interactions were examined. Students noted that they were very comfortable with using both text and instant messaging. Text messaging was used weekly with instructors and daily with peers. Instant messaging was used rarely with instructors but weekly with peers. Students rated text messaging as very useful and instant messaging as moderately useful for academic purposes. Key reasons cited for using both text and instant messaging included saving time, resolving administrative issues, convenience and ease of use. Text messaging appears to be the preferred mode of communication for students with respect to communicating with both peers and instructors. It is concluded that both text and instant messaging are useful and viable tools for augmenting student's communication among peers and faculty in higher education.

A majority of today's higher education students have been nurtured on a steady diet of technology and Internet access, leading to the increased presence of laptops in higher education classrooms. However, many instructors are unsure whether or how to assimilate this technology into their lessons. The purpose of the following study was to examine the impact of unstructured (limited use) vs. structured (active use) use of laptops for 177 university students (89 males, 88 females). Both on-task (note taking, academic activities) and off-task (email, instant messaging, games, movies) behaviours were examined by surveying students. Paired-t-tests revealed that structured use of laptops resulted in significantly more time spent on note taking and academic activities and significantly less time spent on sending personal emails, instant messages and playing games during class. It is concluded that future research needs to focus on evaluating specific strategies that maximize the benefits and minimize the distractions of using laptops.

Considerable research has been conducted examining the use of laptops in higher education, however, a reliable and valid scale to assess in-class use of laptops has yet to be developed. The purpose of the following study was to develop and evaluate the Laptop Effectiveness Scale (LES). The scale consisted of four constructs: academic use and three areas of non-academic use (communication, watching movies, playing games). Tested on 177 higher education students, the data generated using the LES showed acceptable internal reliability, construct validity, content and convergent validity. Feedback from students suggested that both academic and non-academic constructs assessed by the LES could be expanded to incorporate a wider range of laptop related behaviour. OverviewThere is extensive debate about the efficacy of laptop computers in the classroom. Several studies have identified benefits such as keeping students on task and engaged (Hyden, 2005), or following lectures via PowerPoint or multimedia (Debevec, Shih & Kashyap, 2006). However, other research indicates that using laptops in class can be a disadvantage (Fried, 2008). For example, in lecture based classes, students have been reported using laptops for social activities such as surfing the web and sending emails (Barkhuus, 2005;Barak, Lipson & Lerman, 2006). To date, no systematic measure of inclass laptop behaviour has been designed for higher education. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and evaluate a scale that can be used to assess the in-class effectiveness of laptops. Laptop use in higher educationA number of themes have emerged regarding the use of laptops in higher education including general use, communication, student attitudes toward learning, student achievement, and distractions. Each of these will be discussed in turn. General useResearchers have examined how students use laptops for learning. For example, Demb, Erickson and Hawkins-Wilding (2004) found that 16% of overall laptop use involved typing papers and notes. Arend's (2004) work showed that out of class work such as writing papers, using software programs, searching the Internet, and completing group projects constituted the bulk of laptop use. McVay, Snyder and Graetz (2005) added that students reported using their laptops an average of five hours per day, with 36% of that time being spent on academic activities. 152Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010, 26(2) Communication Students report that using a laptop to communicate with faculty via email is generally gratifying (Mitra & Steffensmeier, 2000), and that with email, they communicate with faculty more often and more freely (Arend, 2004). Traditional office hours are being replaced with email communication (Dickson & Segars, 1999; Reynolds, 2003), as students can ask brief questions of faculty without having to meet in person. This asynchronous communication allows for greater flexibility for students and faculty, and also provides faculty with an electronic record of student advising and counselling (Par...

Over the past 18 years, a number of large scale reviews of the literature have documented that gender differences in computer attitudes, ability, and use tend to favor males. Since the use of laptops in higher education classrooms is increasing, it is important to examine whether this use is disproportionally advantageous to males and disadvantageous to females. The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences in the use of laptops in higher education classrooms. Two key areas were examined: on-task behaviors (note-taking, academic activities, instant messaging) and off-task behaviors (e-mail, instant messaging, games, movies, distractions). With respect to on-task behaviors, females reported significantly more note-taking and participation in academic laptop-based activities. No gender differences were observed with respect to instant messaging for academic purposes. Regarding off-task behaviors, females were more distracted by their peers' use of laptops than males, whereas males reported that they played significantly more games during class. Recommendations for future research include expanding the breadth of off-and on-task behaviors assessed, exploring the role of teaching strategies, and focusing on learning performance.