Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Magazines on
Student Learning
Abstract
As the use of technology evolves in education, an extensive range of new smart
devices and digital applications is becoming available to academics. Digital magazines
are an example of such technologies, which can help educators to improve the
learning experience of their students inside and outside of the classroom. Digital
magazines are widely available and some can be further customized and curated
by instructors using mobile apps. This article explores the impact of curated
digital magazines, created and distributed via a mobile app—Flipboard, in
enhancing students’ engagement, enjoyment, and learning of class-related content.
Overall, students responded favorably to the adoption of this technological innova-
tion. Students exposed to the digital magazines and mobile app displayed higher
levels of enjoyment with class content and performed better on a knowledge assess-
ment, relative to students in a control condition. The article concludes with a
discussion of results and implications for future research.
Keywords
digital magazines, mobile apps, curation, learning, engagement, enjoyment
1
Jack Welch College of Business, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, USA
Corresponding Author:
Cuauhtemoc Luna-Nevarez, Jack Welch College of Business, Sacred Heart University, 5151 Park Avenue,
Fairfield, CT 06825, USA.
Email: lunanevarezc@sacredheart.edu
18 Journal of Educational Technology Systems 47(1)
Introduction
The emergence of smart device technologies and mobile applications is offering
educators new platforms to engage students with class material and facilitate
classroom discussions. The continued surge by students to adopt smart devices
as an integral part of their educational experience is also forcing educators to
adapt their teaching styles in utilizing these new technologies. As explained by
West (2013), “in their individual lives, young people are accustomed to person-
alized content and instantaneous communication” (p. 6). Millennials, born after
1982 (Howe & Strauss, 2009), have adopted mobile devices to be at the center of
their daily activities. Of the millennial generation, born between 1977 and 1995,
the penetration rate of smartphone ownership is at 97% (Nielsen Reports,
2016). Growing alongside this phenomenon is the development of m-learning
(mobile learning), which consist of three components: mobility of technology,
mobility of learners, and mobility of learning processes (El-Hussein & Cronje,
2010). These components have been proven to contribute to the delivery of more
effective learning experiences.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, facilitate better communi-
cations between faculty and students. Access to course material using mobile
devices is more readily available, and the ability of students to directly commu-
nicate with faculty is not restricted to office hours or a designated location on
campus. Richardson and Lenarcic (2008) examined the use of mobile technology
to enhance students’ ability to access both general university information (e.g.,
scheduling) and class content. Based on their results, mobile technology
improved students’ experience by “increasing the effectiveness of ‘student to
student’, ‘student to staff’, ‘staff to student’ and ‘university to student’
communication” (p. 151). The adoption of m-learning as a tool to improve
student learning has been also discussed in the literature. Yeap, Ramayah,
and Soto-Acosta (2016) surveyed undergraduate students to better understand
the factors that drive adoption. Two main variables were uncovered—perceived
behavioral control and subjective norms. Furthermore, the authors found that
the influence of peers and friends embracing the use of m-learning and the
integration of examples of m-learning into the coursework increase students’
ability and confidence.
More recently, the emergence of new mobile technologies has propelled the
development of apps and software in support of m-learning. Over 180 billion
apps have been downloaded from the Apple’s online store, and the educational
sector is the third most popular category of app downloads with an 8.5% share,
after games with 25% and business apps with 9.8% share (Apple Store
Downloads, 2018). Research on the use of apps has demonstrated that perceived
usefulness and the need for an increasing element of fun or positive emotions
inherent to the app are key factors driving students’ intentions to use mobile
apps in their studies (Carter & Yeo, 2017; Ding & Chai, 2015).
Luna-Nevarez and McGovern 19
Past research has also demonstrated that students actively engaged in their
studies are more likely to complete their undergraduate programs and even
continue with further studies (Russell-Bennett, Rundle-Thiele, & Kuhn, 2010).
Mercedes and Radel (2016) examined the use of smartphone technologies in
enabling professors set weekly quizzes that were completed on the student’s
smartphone before classes commenced. Their research concluded that using
the mobile application “increased participation and encouraged continuous
learning” (p. 100). Current mobile technologies are offering educators the
opportunity to increase student engagement by creating, customizing, and shar-
ing class content on curated digital magazines. These magazines can provide
students with a deeper and more immersive learning experience that extends
beyond the classroom.
Furthermore, research has demonstrated that the adoption of technology to
enhance instructor’s teaching style can also stimulate student enjoyment and
foster learning. Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) argue that heightened enjoy-
ment is one of the five key dimensions of cognitive absorption, that is, state of
deep involvement with software and technology. This concept forms an
“antecedent of two important beliefs about technology use: perceived usefulness
and perceived ease of use” (p. 665). Research studies in the management disci-
pline (Blunsdon, Reed, McNeil, & McEachern, 2003) adopted an experiential
learning exercise in a computer lab and concluded that the majority of students
enjoyed this way of learning. They also found that the exercise enhanced their
learning experience with the material. Baker, Underwood, and Thakur (2017)
adopted a business marketing simulation exercise to investigate grounded learn-
ing effectiveness in adapting and testing the five dimensions of cognitive absorp-
tion. The data recorded on the heightened enjoyment variable displayed the
strongest correlation to effective grounded learning. It is important for instruc-
tors to understand the link between enjoyment and the learning outcome when
selecting the use of apps to enhance the educational experience. Finding the
right app can provide a powerful incentive for students to better engage the
class material and achieve the course goals.
Method
Materials
Flipboard is a personalized magazine app that provides extended access to dig-
ital news across a wide range of topics and publications, including the New York
Times, the Guardian, Financial Times, Forbes, and Business Week, among
others. Flipboard was originally launched as a tablet-based app in 2010, and
it has experienced significant improvements over the past years. In 2017, the app
introduced the concept of smart magazines leading to greater levels of person-
alization. The Flipboard app currently enables more than 100 million readers
every month to engage news stories. Subscription is free and users can easily
create and curate their own digital magazines by adding and removing articles
or categories of interest at their convenience, with topics such as Business,
Technology, Travel, and Arts.
Figure 1. First page of the curated digital magazine on the Flipboard app.
show the link posted to Blackboard and the same article (from above) as dis-
played on the Blackboard platform.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the digital magazine and its impact on
the learning experience of the students across the six classes, the authors used
the last two articles to be discussed in the class, article numbers 11 and 12. The
experiment focused on measuring the impact of the digital Flipboard magazine
on students’ attitudes toward the medium, engagement, enjoyment, and learning
of class content. This was compared to the impact of the articles posted on the
Blackboard site (i.e., students reading online PDF version of the articles) on the
same variables.
The articles entitled “Bed Bath & Beyond’s Persistent Coupons and the
Return of Thrifty Consumers” (related to the concept of sales promotions)
and “Amazon’s Streaming Music Aims for More Casual Listeners” (related to
the concept of new product development) were selected for the experiment.
Students in both experimental conditions were required to read the two articles
and were given the same number of days to complete the readings. At the start
of the following class session, students were given an online survey including 10
questions about the content of the two articles (i.e., a knowledge quiz). The
survey also included measurement items for engagement, enjoyment, and
Luna-Nevarez and McGovern 23
attitudes toward the medium (Flipboard vs. Blackboard). After completing the
survey, students were debriefed and a discussion of the articles then took place.
8
7.07
7
6 5.50
4.99 4.86
5 4.67 4.81
4.56
4.29
4
1
Learning Engagement Enjoyment Atudes toward the
Medium
Figure 5. Means comparison between the Blackboard-based articles and digital magazine
(Flipboard) articles experimental conditions.
curiosity of students to learn more about the stories in the articles. Furthermore,
the level of enjoyment of the articles was relatively higher for the students who
read the articles on the digital magazine than those students who read the
articles on Blackboard. However, this difference was not statistically significant,
MDM ¼ 4.86 versus MBB ¼ 4.56; F(1, 160) ¼ 3.02, p < .10. Finally, students who
read the articles on the digital magazine showed more favorable attitudes
toward the medium relative to those students who accessed and read the articles
on Blackboard, MDM ¼ 5.50 versus MBB ¼ 4.81; F(1, 160) ¼ 12.04, p < .01. This
could be explained by the unique way the articles are presented or displayed in
the digital magazine and the practicality of the mobile app used to access the
digital magazine. Students might have found the app convenient, fun, and read-
ily accessible relative to the Blackboard platform where they usually access
class content.
To further understand the differences in student learning between the two
conditions (digital magazine vs. Blackboard platform), the authors conducted a
series of regression analyses to evaluate the effect of enjoyment, engagement, and
attitudes toward the medium on learning. First, regression analyses were per-
formed for students in the digital magazine condition. Second, regression analy-
ses were conducted for the Blackboard platform condition. Finally, the results of
the two analyses were compared in order to establish some conclusions.
medium—on students’ learning for the digital magazine condition. The results
of the analyses showed that enjoyment (R2 ¼ .24, F ¼ 5.45, p < .05) and engage-
ment (R2 ¼ .21, F ¼ 3.86, p < .05) have a positive effect on student learning,
whereas attitudes toward the medium has no effect on student learning
(R2 ¼ .18, F ¼ 2.95, p > .05).
Condition 1 Condition 2
Variables Digital magazine Blackboard platform
Y X F p Conclusion F p Conclusion
consistent with previous research that states that mobile apps can motivate
people to engage in healthy behaviors (Goodwin & Ramjaun, 2017), increase
students’ interaction and enjoyment of large lectures (Nesbit, O’steen, & Bell,
2014), and enrich the learning experience of college students (McGovern, Luna-
Nevarez, & Baruca, 2017).
In addition to the ANOVA and regression analyses, formal in-class discus-
sions were conducted during the last week of the semester to better understand
students’ opinions of the curated digital magazine as a tool to enhance their
learning outcomes from the class. The discussions were recorded, transcribed,
and analyzed using NVivo 10.0 (a popular qualitative analysis tool). The themes
that emerged about the impact of the digital magazine on students’ learning can
be summarized as follows:
a. Increased engagement with class content. Students stated that the time spent
on the digital magazine was very productive and engaging. Flipboard helped
them identify the key class concepts in the articles, link the stories directly
back to the theory from the textbook, and increase their willingness to par-
ticipate in class discussions. Moreover, students agreed that the digital mag-
azine was easy to read, condensed, customizable, and easily accessible on
multiple platforms.
b. Sparked students’ curiosity and interest. Students positively endorsed the use
of the digital magazine and emphasized how refreshing this experience was for
them in the classroom. Students expressed how they became interested not
only on the articles assigned by the instructors but also on other articles
discovered on Flipboard. Some students created their own magazines and
started collecting articles relevant to other topics of interest, such as business,
sports, entertainment, and politics.
c. Offered extended accessibility through different devices. Students considered
the ease of using the digital magazine across different devices (e.g., smart-
phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers) along with its increased
mobility to be the main benefits of adopting Flipboard, as they were able
to navigate and engage the class articles very easily anywhere, at any time.
d. Provided a learning experience beyond the classroom. Students enjoyed the
learning experience provided by the digital magazine so much that they
found it useful for other classes. Flipboard became a reliable and trustworthy
source of material related to their studies and they wanted to expand the
benefits to other classes.
Summary
The study of the impact of curated digital magazines in business education has
not been discussed in the literature. This research attempts to fill this gap by
studying the potential impact of curated digital magazines in increasing
28 Journal of Educational Technology Systems 47(1)
students’ learning and engagement with class content. Educators are constantly
confronted with the challenge of sparking interest and curiosity among students
in support of their disciplines. As demonstrated in this research, curated digital
magazines provide a novel way to increase students’ engagement with class
content, through a mobile platform that is convenient, innovative, entertaining,
and educational. Using Flipboard, educators have the ability to enhance their
explanation of class concepts by connecting students directly to current events.
For instance, a business professor who wants to explain the relevance of public
relations (PR) for a firm may flip three different articles discussing a PR news
(e.g., the infamous 2017 United Airlines’ PR crisis) into the magazine: (a) an
article discussing the role of social media in spreading the event news, (b) an
article discussing the company’s reactions and actions taken after the event, and
(c) an article discussing the financial consequences for the firm. By reading these
articles, students could develop a global understanding of the firm’s PR problem
from three different perspectives, prepare themselves for further in-class discus-
sion, and, as a result, have a more integrated and informative learn-
ing experience.
• Experiment with a digital magazine or mobile app. Engage the time to review
and evaluate the different digital magazines and apps available. If you decide
to pick Flipboard, make sure that you understand how Flipboard works on
the different available platforms (e.g., website, mobile app, and desktop).
Different tutorials and a blog section with recommendations are available
on the Flipboard’s website (www.flipboard.com), and instructional videos
can be found on their YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/
InsideFlipboard).
• Plan ahead. Select your digital magazine(s) before the semester begins and
compile a list of publications that can benefit your class topics. The following
sources of business news were categorized as applicable for the classes studied
in this article: Forbes, Business Insider, Fortune, The New York Times, USA
Today: Business, Washington Post: Business, The Guardian, Consumerist,
Fast Company, Ad Age, The Economist, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazine.
• Develop student guidelines. Prepare guidelines to explain how students can
sign up for an account on the app selected or Flipboard, how to locate and
follow your class magazine, and how to create their own magazines. It is also
Luna-Nevarez and McGovern 29
important to explain how students can access the magazine across different
devices, such as smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, and across oper-
ating systems (e.g., iOS, android).
• Extend the experience to other classes. The authors have successfully adopted
digital magazines in other marketing courses, including consumer behavior,
international marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, and
advertising. Furthermore, colleagues from the finance, economics, manage-
ment, and business administration disciplines have also adopted Flipboard
and received positive feedback from their students.
• Let students take control. You can take a different approach in the use of
digital magazines by allowing students take control of the content curation.
Students can be assigned to create their own class magazine and collect
articles relevant to the topics discussed in class. This approach will spark
students’ curiosity and enhance their learning experience by giving them
the flexibility of selecting and curating their own magazine content.
As the development and use of mobile apps in the classroom become more
standardized, further research could address some of the limitations of this
study. Although the findings in this article focused on business classes, evidence
should be gathered about students’ experiences in the use of curated digital
magazines in other disciplines. Colleagues from other departments across the
university, such as sociology, biology, communications, or religious studies,
could use experimental design or survey-based research to ascertain the
impact of Flipboard on their students’ learning behaviors. Furthermore, other
digital magazines could be adopted to better validate the findings of this
research. Moreover, future research might focus on understanding the effect
of other variables on students’ perception of curated digital magazines.
Factors such as number of articles included in the magazine, length of the
articles, amount of textual versus graphic information, type of mobile device
used to access the magazine (e.g., smartphone vs. tablet), and currency of infor-
mation in the articles could have an impact on students’ enjoyment, engage-
ment, and learning of class material. Finally, this study opens the door to new
research opportunities for examining the use of other mobile apps that could be
applicable for education. Future research might consider evaluating the impact
of these apps in the classroom through quantitative or qualitative methods.
Conclusion
The use of mobile devices as an instructional resource, combined with the rapid
growth of apps, is helping educators adjust their traditional educational meth-
ods to the digital learning environment of the 21st century. It is critical that
educators from all disciplines begin to adopt this behavior and embrace the new
norm of students’ lifestyles. Given the positive results and feedback received
30 Journal of Educational Technology Systems 47(1)
about the use of curated digital magazines in the classroom, the authors believe
that adopting mobile technologies in the classroom can help faculty navigate the
current turmoil in digital pedagogy and become better educators in the process.
Thus, we strongly encourage colleagues from all disciplines to be adventurous in
embracing the use of digital magazines and mobile apps which have proven
to be effective tools to enhance the engagement and learning experience of col-
lege students.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publica-
tion of this article.
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Author Biographies
Cuauhtemoc Luna-Nevarez is an assistant professor of Marketing in the Jack
Welch College of Business at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
He has taught face-to-face, online and hybrid courses for more than 15 years.
His research interests include consumer behavior in digital environments, social
media marketing, digital communications for consumer health, and the use of
digital technologies for marketing education.