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Experts say screen debate should focus on what enhances learning, not screen time

The use of screens in schools continues to spark heated debate. Are they helpful learning tools or harmful distractions?

The Teaching Lab at the University of Agder is a special classroom designed for creative and active learning methods, both with and without technology.

(Photo: University of Agder)

Kristin Marie Skaar Head of Division of Communication

Presented by: University of Agder

Published 14 June 2025 - 00:01

'This debate paints screens as a menace, which doesn't reflect the reality of the small screens that are actually used in schools.'

This is what associate professors Lenka Garshol and Susan Lynn Erdmann express in the new anthology, Logg på! (Log On!).

77 students, teachers, academics, and researchers explore topics related to young people, screen use, and learning. The book aims to foster better and more informed discussions about technology in education.

More than mindless scrolling

'Sometimes a digital tool will be the best educational tool, and sometimes it won’t. A modern and proactive learning environment will accommodate both,' Garshol and Erdmann continue in their chapter (link in Norwegian).

In their pilot study, they observed English classes taught by two primary school teachers and three secondary school teachers. They found that screens were mainly used to make traditional tasks more efficient – things that would normally be done on paper.

When screen use wasn't ideal, it was not due to mindless scrolling. Instead, it resembled 'boring, old-fashioned dictation.'

“These could be tasks that offer students little creative freedom and instead concentrate on the technical execution of assignments,” Garshol explains.

The teachers they observed also highlighted how the right digital tools can support learning, especially for students with reading or writing difficulties.

Reduced to a question of ‘for or against screens’

“The key question should be: What promotes good learning? We must emphasise the opportunities digital learning resources provide,” says Kjerstin Breistein Danielsen.

She is the head of the Teaching Lab at the University of Agder. Her chapter, co-written with colleagues from other educational institutions, argues for a more nuanced approach to the polarised debate about screen use in schools:

“Today, these are often overlooked when discussions are reduced to a question of ‘for or against screens.’ This is about more than just screen time. It’s about developing students’ digital literacy in an increasingly complex information landscape,” she says.

At the Teaching Lab, teachers, students, and teacher educators work together to explore teaching methods both with and without technology.

Teachers need to be digitally proficient to effectively use technology in their teaching. This photo shows the Teaching Lab.

“Teachers need a professional community where they can develop the digital skills needed for today’s and tomorrow’s classrooms – and the same goes for our student teachers. We must ensure they gain the experience and training they need to strike a good balance between analogue and digital methods, which enhances student learning,” she says.

When screens help create inclusive classrooms

For several years, assistant professor Line Reichelt Føreland has worked on a project using the video game Minecraft to teach Sámi topics in schools. The project includes researchers and teachers from the University of Agder and the Sámi University of Applied Sciences.

This work has taken her to countless classrooms to test the game with students and teachers. Through Minecraft, they can explore the Sámi world and visit places like the Sámi Parliament in Karasjok.

In Sámi Minecraft, students can, among other things, travel to Repparfjorden and examine what the mining tailings contain.

'Sometimes I receive feedback on how using games in classrooms can promote inclusion. It brings attention to students who typically don’t get a chance shine, either because they’ve withdrawn or aren’t used to being seen as academically strong,' she writes in her contribution to the book.

Still, Føreland stresses that screens and games aren’t solutions to every classroom problem. In some cases, screens should be used less or not at all.

“But sometimes the screen is a good solution – both for students who have fallen a bit behind and for those with different types of needs,” she says.

She adds that games used in school should be very different from gaming in free time.

“At school, games should have educational value and support learning,” she says.

Digital challenges in schools must be taken seriously

While technology in education offers many benefis, it also creates challenges.

“Particularly related to privacy, advertising, and manipulative design,” says associate professor Niamh Ní Bhroin.

She studies children’s and young people’s screen use and has been part of the government-appointed Screen Use Committee, which delivered a report with recommendations on children and screen use in November 2024.

“Some apps collect personal data and display ads based on students’ behaviour. They also use designs that make it difficult to stop, like notifications and rewards. Although there's broad agreement that children should not be exposed to such advertising, it's challenging for schools to prevent it,” she says.

The committee identifies three challenges affecting students:

“It’s about teachers having varying levels of digital knowledge, municipalities having different capacities to check the quality of digital tools, and there being little control over the companies that produce these tools for schools,” she says.

In her book chapter, she calls for stronger cooperation between local authorities and the EU to ensure that digitalisation in schools promotes learning, equal access, and privacy for all students:

“The EU Digital Services Act was passed in 2022. It prohibits manipulative design and behaviour-based advertising aimed at children. But this has not yet been implemented in Norway. Therefore, Norwegian students are more exposed, even though a legislative proposal is expected before summer 2025,” the researcher says.

Reference:

Palmgren, E.. & Waterhouse, T. (Eds.) Logg på! Debatten vi skylder våre barn og unge å ta på alvor (Log On! The debate we must take seriously for the sake of our children and youth), Bonnier Forlag, 2025.