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.