1. In-Class Cell Phone Use and Grades
Chris A. Bjornsen
Longwood University
Paper presented at the 60th annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, March 5-8, 2014, Nashville, TN.

2. Rationale
What to do about in-class cell phone use? Students favor use significantly more than professors (Baker et al., 2012) 92% of students use phones during class (Tindell et al., 2012) A study of a “simulated” lecture demonstrated that texting resulted in 30% lower quiz scores (Froese et al., 2012)

3. Methods
All students in my courses Fall 2013 semester (Intro to Psychology, Infant & Child Development, Cross-Cultural Psychology) earned extra credit for participation Cell phones could be used but only discretely, in student’s lap Emphasized there was no grade penalty regardless of amount of use Emphasized I wasn’t asking them to use their phones, nor was I recommending they do or do not Data collected and entered daily for each course Questionnaire included space for open-ended questions and comments about each class (this ends up being my favorite part of the entire process)

5. Results

6. Final grade distribution
18 male, 86 female
N = 43
N = 33
N = 19
N = 4
N = 5

7. Approximately
50 students
Earned a grade
In my class that
Was lower than
Their overall
GPA
10 students
That was higher
Than their
Overall GPA
Even though….

8. Email: 21% averaged 1 or less per day. 16% averaged 5 or more per day
21% averaged 1 or less per day. 16% averaged 5 or more per day. The following correlations were computed using Average scores across the semester

9. Bivariate correlations: Email use not related to Test scores and GPA

10. Internet use not related to Test scores and GPA.

11. Making notes to self, checking calendar not related to Test scores and GPA.

12. Playing a game was significantly and negatively correlated with Test scores and GPA.
(85% never played a game.)

13. ANOVA – Grade (test average) by Email total average
Not significant

14. Data analysis strategy switched to employing a Linear Mixed Effects Model
Understanding significantly predicted test scores.
Every one unit increase in understanding resulted in a increase in test score
p=0.0035

15. Linear Mixed Effects Model
Interest significantly predicted test scores.
Every one unit increase in interest resulted in a increase in test score.
p=0.0019

16. Linear Mixed Effects Model
/txt/facebook use was significantly related to test scores.
Every one use increase in /txt/facebook resulted in a decrease in test score.
p = 0.009

17. Linear Mixed Effects Model
Any Use was significantly related to test scores.
Every one use increase in cell phone use resulted in a decrease in test score.
p =

18. Discussion
Limitations: one instructor, one University, student honesty (?)
Cell phone use was clearly related to test scores, in a negative way
Further analyses will examine relations between cell phone use within grade and GPA groups (possible quadratic trends)
Special thanks for her statistical acumen:
Kellie J. Archer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics
Director, VCU Massey Cancer Center Biostatistics Shared Resource
Virginia Commonwealth University

19. Abstract - Proposal submitted for review.
The present study examines the relations between in-class cell phone use among University students and achievement (course grades, GPA). Previous research has indicated that daily cell phone use is negatively correlated with grades (Harman & Sato, 2011), quiz scores are negatively affected by simultaneous cell phone use (Froese, et al., 2012), and texting or accessing social networking sites such as Facebook during class negatively impacts course performance (Wood, et al., 2012).
Participants are students in a section of Introduction to Psychology, Infant and Child Development, and Cross-Cultural Psychology. Thus, one set of analyses will focus on possible differences between lower versus upper-level University students. At present there are 118 students enrolled in the study. All class periods are one hour and fifteen minutes in length. Students were told at the beginning of the semester, when they enrolled in the study, that cell phone use during class was permitted but neither encouraged nor discouraged, and would have no bearing on course grades. Each class period (excluding test days) the instructor distributes a questionnaire with ten minutes left in the class for students to complete. In order to ensure that participants are providing useful data, after questionnaires have been collected, the instructor provides three additional lecture content items that students have been told will likely be included on a subsequent test. The daily questionnaire includes the following six items: 1. Rate your understanding of today’s class content (5-point Likert scale); 2. Rate how interested you were in today’s class content (5-point Likert scale). The following four items are followed by a list of numbers from 0 to 15 which students are use to indicate the number of times cell phones were used during that class period to: 3. read or send , text message, Facebook, Twitter (social media); 4. access internet, a web page, for something (information); 5. write myself a note, check my calendar (organization); 6. play a game. Lastly, students are asked to write in any questions or comments about that particular class.
Data collection will continue through the end of the semester. Data analyses will focus on 1. relations between understanding and interest in class content per day and cell phone use; 2. the prediction of course grades and GPA from in-class cell phone use, and 3. possible changes in cell phone use over the course of the semester in relation to test grades.
Froese, Arnold D., Christina N. Carpenter, Denyse A. Inman, Jessica R. Schooley, Rebecca B. Barnes, Paul W. Brecht, and Jasmin D. Chacon. “Effects of Classroom Cell Phone Use on Expected and Actual Learning.” College Student Journal 46, no. 2 (2012): 323–332.
Harman, Brittany A., and Toru Sato. “Cell Phone Use and Grade Point Average Among Undergraduate University Students.” College Student Journal 45, no. 3 (2011): 544–549.
Wood, Eileen, Lucia Zivcakova, Petrice Gentile, Karin Archer, Domenica De Pasquale, and Amanda Nosko. “Examining the Impact of Off-task Multi-tasking with Technology on Real-time Classroom Learning.” Computers & Education 58, no. 1 (2012): 365–374. doi: /j.compedu
Addendum: The results of the full study, conducted across the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 semesters was subsequently published:
Bjornsen, C. A., & Archer, K. J. (2015). Relations between college students’ cell phone use during class and grades. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(4),