Jørgen Sjaastad

The impact of digital devices vs. Pen(cil) and paper on primary school students' writing skills - A research review

In the light of the continuing digital revolution in education and learning in general, and in literacy instruction in particular, the purpose of this review is to assess the emerging literature on such digital writing tools as computers and tablets compared with traditional writing tools like pen(cil) and paper, on early writing outcomes among first writers. We limited our review to studies published in international peer-reviewed journals during the last decade, within different theoretical perspectives. We identified a relatively small number of studies that can be categorized, as qualitative studies applying a case study design or within-subject design, and as quantitative studies, either quasi-experimental or cohort studies. These studies can be located within three research perspectives: 1) cognitive psychology, 2) neuroscience and learning and 3) socio-cultural theoretical perspective. While findings across the three perspectives were inconsistent, they were rather consistent within each perspective. While studies with a cognitive psychological and those with neuroscience and learning perspective point in favor of handwriting, studies with a socio-cultural perspective rather point in favor of digital writing. The studies that used a cognitive psychology and neuroscience and learning approach applied quasi-experimental or cohort designs, while studies based on a socio-cultural perspective mainly were qualitative. When analyzing the studies regarding methodological quality we found three flaws: small sample size (of quantitative studies); a lack of nesting effects; and inadequately controlling for experience for early writing. Facing an interdisciplinary research topic in rapid development, we provide some implications for further research, and suggestions in particular in terms of methodological challenges. We reviewed 10 studies on early writing comparing pen and paper and digital tools.These studies can be located within three theoretical perspectives.The majority indicate that handwriting outperforms keyboarding in early writing.Methodological flaws: inadequate control for experience; lack of nesting effects.

The effect of pen and paper or tablet computer on early writing - A pilot study

One consequence of the ongoing controversy on the implementation of digital tools in early writing instruction is a need to investigate the effect of different writing instruction tools such as pen(cil) and paper and tablet computers on early writing. The purpose of this pilot study is to develop a study design and a writing test to investigate the effect of writing instruction tool (tablet computer vs. pen and paper) and test format (digital vs. pen-and-paper) on early writing outcomes. For the writing test, our pilot study shows that pupils assessed by the digital test format wrote faster compared with those assessed by pen-and-paper format, independent of the writing instruction tool. Given the limitations of this pilot study in scope and its quasi-experimental nature, we provide some suggestions for the design of a larger scale study by taking into account the rapid development of the field of early writing instruction. We investigate the effect of tablet computer or pen-and-paper on early writing.We pilot a design to consider writing instruction tool and test format.Further, we developed a writing test targeting third-graders writing outcomes.Assessed by a digital format pupils wrote faster than those by pen-and-paper.

A State-Run School Library Programme in Norway

As in several other nations, there is a clear contradiction in state-run school library development in Norway; during the past decade, there has been a political agreement that school libraries should be prioritized in policy development, yet the government does not give school libraries sufficient priority when it comes to financial support and formal regulations.