A growing number of students are using technology to study in their free time, according to a recent report–but that doesn’t mean everyone is.
College of Arts and Sciences junior Kristen Keesee said she prefers to set aside time to review her textbooks.
“If I study on the go, then I find I don’t actually absorb any info,” Keese said. “If I set time aside, then I am more likely to focus during that time.”
The original report, released Jan. 10 from the Follet Higher Education Group, suggested students resort to studying on their smartphones and tablets. Out of the students surveyed, 84 percent said they would find more time to study if they always had their materials with them.
“We are seeing two emerging trends in how students are studying,” said Gary Shapiro, senior vice president of Intellectual Properties, in a press release. “They are increasingly going mobile and they want the ability to search hundreds of pages of text with a click of a button.”
A number of students, including Keesee, said they prefer avoiding technology as a study tool.
“I don’t study on my phone,” she said. “For me, I feel like it would be too distracting with texts and phone calls.”
Keesee said most people still appear to use traditional textbooks, though a market exists for electronic books.
“I already use my laptop a lot, so it is nice to set time aside and do something else,” he said. “Plus, I like to sell my books back at the end of the semester, which you can’t do with digital copies.”
Douglas Schadt, a College of General Studies freshman, said he is impartial to studying when he’s out, but he prefers printed books.
“I like my books,” Schadt said. “Yeah, they’re a pain, but honestly, I can’t study on a screen.”
Keesee said one of the biggest deterrents to mobile studying is the size of all her materials. Because of the heft of all her books, she plans ahead for when she reads and where she reads it.
“If there was a way to carry everything I need more compactly, I definitely think I would make an effort to do work in those awkward breaks when there is nothing else to do,” Keese said.
The Follett Higher Education Group survey also asked students about the strangest place at which they have ever studied. The three most popular answers were on their way to class, in the bathroom and at parties.
Meagan Ingersoll, a CAS sophomore, said studying outside of her room is unproductive and prefers the library.
“I don’t feel like studying ‘on the go’ actually works,” Ingersoll said. “It’s too distracting.”
Students said they try not to study while otherwise occupied, but the strangest place they said they have ever studied is while in transit. Schadt has studied in the car and Ingersoll on the train.
“I have studied Italian vocab on the T before,” Keese said. “But I usually study in my room or at Espresso Royale or Blue State.”
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