Page 6 - R_EdQuire White Paper Nov 2017 v3.4

EdQuire White Paper: Computer learning behaviour in K-12
Nov 2017 V3.4
Page 6 of 15

2.4 Students’ computer usage time, On-Task and Off-Task in a lesson

Method
We calculated each student’s average On-Task, and Off-Task times per lesson by dividing their total times by
the number of lessons they attended and we averaged their individual % Off-task times. We also calculated
pooled Off-task times and percentage. Result

The average total active use of computer a lesson was 20.2 minutes. Students spent on average, 17% of their
individual lesson computer time Off-task. For pooled time data, On-task accounted for 18 min and Off-task 2
minutes. (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Distribution of students by computer usage time in a lesson (Left) and Proportion of On-Task vs Off-
Task duration.

Discussion
In contrast to Lessons, students’ average computer use time is normally distributed and in a fairly narrow
range of 10 to 35 minutes. The preponderance of lessons with low computer use times in Figure 1 appears at
first sight to be at odds with no students having average computer use < 10 minutes. This however merely
reflects heterogeneity of lessons with respect of computer use.
The 17% of time spent Off-Task by students appears modest, and is lower than expected from anecdotal
evidence; however to our knowledge, no objective data exists for comparison. The Off-Task might be lower
than without EdQuire due to students being aware that their computer use was being analysed, and of
course, teachers having the benefit of the EdQuire real-time class display. This display, indicating class
engagement during lessons, allows teachers to modify instruction in real time to maximise engagement and
to detect and address individual student issues. Telemetry certainly confirms teachers were using the
console and thus we expect it should have improved engagement. However, in order to verify this to be a
positive effect of EdQuire, a controlled trial with a period of monitoring without the students’ or teachers’
knowledge will be required.

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