The Impact of Smartphones on Student Creativity at a South African University

Abstract

Research indicates a general increase in  smartphone ownership, with the student population being the leading proportion. Among  other notable effects of this change could be an  enhanced collaboration between learners and  lecturers on the one hand, and an increase in sleep  deprivation and attention deficits in students on  the other hand. Such unsettling revelations call for  the investigation of the impact of smartphones on  learning outcomes. This paper investigates the  impact of smartphones on students’ creativity.  Based on the interactions and outcomes theory,  the study assesses how smartphone-facilitated  processes, person-to-smartphone interaction, and  smartphone-enabled environment affect students’ creativity. A hundred and five (105) students at a South African university were surveyed using  online questionnaires. General Linear Model  (GLM) MANOVA was used as the analysis  method. The results reveal that only smartphone facilitated processes and student-to-smartphone  interaction significantly affect student creativity.  This signals smartphones’ potential in setting a  learning environment supporting student  creativity at the individual level. Universities  could leverage this potential to design better  learning management systems that integrate  smartphones to improve learning outcomes. 

https://doi.org/10.59200/ICONIC.2022.022