DUAL COMPUTER DISPLAYS REDUCE EXTRANEOUS COGNITIVE LOAD

Dual display desktop computers are becoming more prevalent in the home, workplace, and schools, yet there has been little research into how learning and productivity are impacted by having a second display. One useful method in exploring this question is to measure cognitive load during an intensive learning event. This study compared perceived cognitive load among participants in a military training program using one or two computer displays. Participants using dual monitors reported lower unnecessary cognitive load than participants using one monitor. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed

The demographics of student device ownership: An examination of the personal computing ecosystems of students in higher education

Higher education has become dependent on the use of digital materials, which may include texts, audiovisual content, and software applications. Because students in higher education are largely responsible for providing the computing devices they are required to use to interact with their digital course materials, instructors and instructional designers are often unaware of the personal computing ecosystems in use by their students. This study describes a large-scale survey of student ownership and use of computing devices at a large public university in the midwestern United States. The results demonstrate that students generally have access to devices that allow them to engage with their digital course materials, but age and demographic factors correlated with socioeconomic status appear to impact the type and quality of devices owned. The study also shows that students have access to a variety of device types and that most students perform their computing tasks on a single screen. Understanding the personal computing ecosystems of students will allow instructors and instructional designers to develop course materials that are accessible to students on the devices in use and can inform the decision-making process when an institution considers adoption of new learning technologies. This data can also be used as a foundation for future studies that examine the influence of a student’s technology access and ownership on their academic outcomes