Tablets: The correct prescription

A recent meta-study commissioned by the Commonwealth of Learning confirms what many teachers already suspected. A total of 27 quantitative studies on the use of tablets in schools dating from 2010 were analysed and the major finding was that the tools are most effective when used in student centred learning, rather than within teacher controlled environments (Tamim et al, 2015a). These findings are supported by another, larger meta-study of 41 qualitative reports from the same period, which showed that tablets and mobile devices are most effective when used in student-active contexts (Tamim et al, 2015b).

Clearly tablets and mobile devices were designed to be used as personal tools, and as such can be best used for personalised learning, where students can work at their own pace, and in a place and time that suits their needs. What makes these findings so interesting are the implications for pedagogy. If teachers wish to maximise the power of tablets and mobile devices, they should create contexts in which students are encouraged to be proactive in their study, and to stand back and facilitate rather than dictate the process. As with any learning resources, it's not what they are, but how tablets are used that is important.

References
Tamim, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Pickup, D., Bernard, R. M. and El Saadi, L. (2015a) Tablets for Teaching and Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Commonwealth of Learning: Burnaby.
Tamim, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Pickup, D. and Bernard, R. M. (2015b) Large-Scale, Government Supported Educational Tablet Initiative. Commonwealth of Learning: Burnaby.

Photo by Marcus Kwan on Flickr


Tablets: The correct prescription by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.