An Investigation on Task Difficulty: Does Task Difficulty Depend on the Technology Used in Task Completion?

Previous research indicates that task difficulty (i.e., students' judgments on a task's complexity) impacts their task performance. However, whether students' perceived task difficulty changes depending on the technology they use when completing tasks is still under investigation. The present study aims to address this gap in the literature. One hundred twenty-three students completed the study procedures. Students were randomly assigned to one of four groups (one control group and three experimental groups). Students were not allowed to use any technology in the control group. In contrast, those in experimental groups were permitted to use one of the following tools: e-textbook, Google, and ChatGPT. Students in each group completed three tasks with different complexities in the same order. The data was analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. The study revealed a significant interaction effect between groups and task difficulty perceptions at three levels. In all groups, perceived difficulty increased as the task complexity increased, but the change in students' perceived task difficulty across three tasks was impacted by the tool used when completing the tasks.