The use of tablet computers in the learning and teaching of first level compulsory school pupils with an emphasis on literacy

Abstract

This article is based on data from a qualitative research project conducted in two Reykjavík primary schools in spring 2014. The research objectives are to gain an understanding of the use of tablet computers in early elementary education, focusing on information, media and technology literacy. Cyberspace and digital media play a constantly growing role in most people’s daily lives and ICT has strongly inf luenced culture and social relations. Many see smartphones and tablet computers as the heralds of a new age and believe their inclusion in schoolwork can enrich education and help teachers to meet students’ diverse needs, as well as signalling the advent of new priorities in learning and teaching. The use of ICT and, in particular, tablet computers in schoolwork has been the subject of considerable discussion which, among other things, has focused on students’ increasingly urgent need for opportunities to use new media at school, since digital communication has become such a prominent part of their lives in general.
In modern society, digital communication technology is generally seen as an important aspect of daily life. The widespread use of computers and internet-related innovation has strongly impacted the operation of the school and diverse communication potentialities have engendered new types of literacy, for example digital literacy/computer literacy, media literacy and information literacy. The National Curriculum for the Primary School emphasises the need to support literacy in this wider sense and to regard computers as powerful tools for the creation of multiple contexts.
The main objectives of policymakers regarding learning and teaching ref lect the debate outlined above. Technology has, for example, transformed the environment of reading and writing; the concept of literacy has acquired a wider meaning and ICT is now envisioned as an integral part of other subjects, thus benefiting students in general. This new reality calls for an urgent transformation in school operations, and many 21st century educationists and school policy makers emphasise the need for teaching to evolve in step with the rapid transformation of technology and society.
Data were collected in two stages; on the one hand, by field observations during five lessons in the two schools where tablet computers were used and, on the other, by conducting interviews with five supervising teachers after field observations had been completed. Participating schools and teachers were chosen on the basis of their experience involving the use of tablet computers in learning and teaching at the first level of primary school. Both the primary schools added tablet computers to their technical equipment during the winter 2012 to 2013.
The results of this research must be accepted with the reservation that it only includes five teachers in two schools and that a particular student group was not observed for longer than one lesson. Nevertheless, the conclusions suggest that tablet computers can improve learning and teaching in various ways. The use of tablet computers, for example, appears to offer teachers a way to increase the use of ICT in the learning and teaching of the youngest pupils and to provide this group with opportunities to enhance the role of the internet, web-based materials and social media in early elementary education. Tablet computers provide increased potential for strengthening information literacy, media literacy and technology literacy among the youngest pupils, thus adding diversity to schoolwork – for example through the use of miscellaneous small programs specially designed to strengthen various learning skills as well as providing opportunities to simplify photography, sound recording, video filming and the creation of media materials. The introduction of tablet computers into the schools did not appear to alter teaching methods; instead, they were integrated into existing teaching practices.