Using digital technology to promote higher education learning: The importance of different learning activities and their relations to learning outcomes

Abstract

Digital technologies can have positive effects on student learning in higher education. Based on the ICAP framework, they should be particularly effective when teachers use them to encourage student engagement in constructive and interactive as opposed to passive and active learning activities. Using a sample of 381 higher education students, we investigated if student engagement in these activities depends on whether technologies are implemented in class or not, and how engagement in these activities affects learning outcomes. Results indicated that when technologies were implemented in class, students felt encouraged to engage in more constructive, but also in more passive and active activities as compared to when no technologies were used. Furthermore, student engagement in active, constructive, and interactive activities was positively associated with learning outcomes.