Abstract:

Throughout history, technologies have found their way into classrooms and been integrated in teaching and learning practices on both primary and secondary levels. The traditional computer is probably the technology that is mostly adopted in classrooms. During the last decade, we have seen yet another technology entering classrooms in many countries world wide, namely tablets, a hybrid between a computer and a smartphone. The tablet can be described as a new technology of its own sort as compared to traditional computers because it has it own distinct affordances and capacities such as portability, long battery life, touchscreen, different sensors (GPS and accelerometer), and built-in camera that allows capturing of pictures and video.

While the research conducted have shed light on the potentials of tablets for educational purposes, studies examining how tablets have actually been adopted in schools and what kinds of pedagogical practices they have come to support are lacking [1]. As concluded in the extended literature reviews presented by [2] on tablets in education, considerable research work is still much needed on the impacts of tablets, on how tablets are integrated in school practices and how they influence pedagogical practices. Considering a country such as Sweden with high penetration of technology at all levels of society and where particularly tablets have been deployed on large scale in 1:1 investment projects since 2010 [3], it is of interest to examine how tablets are used and the kinds of pedagogical practices this particular educational technology have come to mediate.

It is against such a background, this paper reports on a study that examines how tablets are integrated into school activities and what kinds of pedagogical practices emerge in Swedish primary and secondary schools. The study is grounded in the collection and content analysis of 43 832 messages posted in a Facebook group which targets around 30000 Swedish teachers and educators. The group provides a forum for discussing how tablets are used as a learning tool in classrooms. The results obtained point that tablets are mainly used for developing multimodal learning, game-based learning, and mobile learning across contexts.

References:
[1] Jahnke, I., Cerratto-Pargman, T. et al. (2015). # TMCL15: Changing Teaching and Learning Practices in Schools with Tablet-Mediated Collaborative Learning: Nordic, European and International Views. In Proceedings of CSCL 2015. ISLS Press.
[2] Haßler, B., Major, L., & Hennessy, S. (2016). Tablet use in schools: a critical review of the evidence for learning outcomes. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 32(2), 139-156.
[3] Nouri, J., & Pargman, T. C. (2016). When Teaching Practices Meet Tablets’ Affordances. Insights on the Materiality of Learning. In European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (pp. 179-192). Springer International Publishing

Keywords:

Tablet-mediated learning, mobile learning, multimodal, game-based.