Master's Dissertation First Full Draft

Personal computing device interfaces and their impact on learning in South African secondary school students

George Thomas Wrigley

Supervised by Dr Michael Pitman




A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by research in the discipline of Psychology.

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017.

Abstract

Education is an immensely powerful agent of development and innovation and as such, educational outcomes are given high priority in most settings. The advent of highly functional mobile personal computing (PC) devices such as tablet computers and related technologies has helped to generate great interest in and hype surrounding educational technology and its potential to improve educational outcomes, democratize knowledge and skills development and to kick-start development, particularly in socio-economically depressed environments. However, education has made use of technology from its very inception, with the written word itself being a prominent example, making PC device-based educational technology simply a newer entrant into the field, equally worthy of scrutiny along with other existing technologies. The written word plays a fundamental role in learning and is therefore a key vehicle through which to examine the impact of PC device-based educational technology on learning.

This dissertation examines the notion of the analogue (physical) and digital word and uses both existing theoretical considerations and research experiments to better understand differences which may exist between the two and the subsequent impact on learning. Existing empirical evidence and a range of theoretical contributions are used to construct a theoretical framework which argues for the uniqueness of the digital in comparison to its analogue predecessors. A research experiment was conducted with high school-age research participants using tablet PCs and printed paper to complete a reading task or a reading and note-taking task, followed by a test on the text passage read approximately one week later. Results obtained suggest real, but weak effects, with participants using paper performing better for questions which test factual recall in the reading-only condition and better for questions testing conceptual understanding in the reading and note-taking condition. These findings support the view that the digital word is not necessarily equivalent to its analogue predecessors and point towards further research in this area. It is concluded that further research is required in order to better understand the mechanisms which underpin the digital word and that its primary strength lies in its ability to expand the usefulness of the written word in conjunction with the more traditional analogue word.

Key words: educational technology, reading, handwriting, the digital word, tablet PCs e-learning.

Acknowledgements

My greatest acknowledgement must always be to my God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has greatly guided me, led me, and led me to grow immensely through this journey as well as in all things. May this work play some part in making a sustainable difference in lives of others and advancing Light.

To my family – Mom, Dad, Si, Alfie. Thank you for your unwavering love and support. Mom and Dad – thank you for giving me these opportunities.

To my supervisor, Dr Michael Pitman – thank you for your supervision, insight, guidance throughout this journey. I have and continue to learn so much from you.

To those who helped me make this research project happen – Mandy, Francois, Chris, and every participant. Thank you.

To those who hold a special place in my heart, mentioned and unmentioned, thank you for who you are. You are very special to me.

Declaration

I declare that:

Personal computing device interfaces and their impact on learning in South African secondary school students

is my own, unaided work. It is being submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of Psychology to the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for examination at any other university.

Signed on this, the 15th day of March 2017

George Thomas Wrigley

List of Tables

Table 1. Participant numerical distribution across various conditions…………………....76

Table 2. Between-subjects (one-week delay)……………………………………………..77

Table 3. Within-subjects…………………………………………………………………..78

Table 4. Between-subjects (two-to-three-day delay)……………………………………...78

Table 5. Examples of question types used………………………………………………..81

Table 6. Between-subjects (one-week delay) demographic information…………………91

Table 7. Within-subjects demographic information………………………………………93

Table 8. Between-subjects (two-to-three-day delay) demographic information………….95

Table 9. Between-subjects (one-week) reading only condition…………………………...97

Table 10. Within-subjects reading only condition………………………………………….98

Table 11. Between-subjects (one-week) note-taking condition…………………………….99

Table 12. Within-subjects note-taking condition………………………………………….100

Table 13. Between-subjects (one-week vs two-to-three-day delay) – Paper condition…...102

Table 14. Between-subjects (one-week vs two-to-three-day delay) – Tablet condition…..103

Table 15. Between-subjects - impact of exposure to English on test scores……………...104

Table 16. Within-subjects - impact of exposure to English on test scores………………..105

Table 17. Gender differences in mean test scores…………………………………………107

Table 18. Gender differences in mean test scores…………………………………………107

Table 19. Gender differences in mean test scores…………………………………………107

Table 20. Gender differences in mean test scores…………………………………………107

Table 21. Gender differences in mean test scores…………………………………………107