What Students See: Understanding the Impact of One-to-One Tablets Through Student Drawings

• In Event: Learning on the Go: Mobile Devices in Education

Abstract

Technology has become an important part of the middle school science classroom to support learning. While many of the opportunities and challenges of using technology is documented, little is known in terms of the students' perspectives technology's impacts on classroom culture. Our research uses illustrations by students in science classes with one-to-one tablet computers of what a "typical day" in science class looks like as a primary data source. Our analysis utilized activity theory to understand the relationships between technology and classroom culture from the students' perspectives. Our research highlights dilemmas and tensions that emerge in the classroom with one-to-one tablets, providing insight into the multiple contextual considerations for the successful and sustainable integration of tablets in the classroom.

Authors

• Jeremy Forest Price, Fairmont State University

• Jacqueline Barber, University of California - Berkeley