Putting the laptop / tablet debate before the horse

There is a heated debate between tablets (iPads and others) vs laptops. This  is a discussion that gets to the heart of the intention to improve access to ICT. But before we re-launch the great laptop vs tablet debate, and cost out the budget required for equipping student with devices…. The department that wants portable computing devices for students must stop quibbling about the merits of hardware and clearly start articulating how their academics and their students are going to use this selected device in their context.

I’ve made an attempt to pen a few questions to assist a department ascertain what experience they envisage when their students and staff use devices.

In a teaching and learning context,  portable computing devices should be used for:

1. Homework exercises and hands on practice
2. Informational dissemination and retrieval
3. Class administration and management
4. Collaborative work amongst students
5. Data entry, storage and processing
6. Initiate a range of engagement opportunities designed to support the teacher’s intentions
7. Promote autonomous learning
8. None of the above

Portable computing devices, in teaching and learning, positively impacts on:

1. Student motivation
2. Student achievement
3. Student agency
4. Students’ higher order thinking skills
5. Student’s competence in 21st century skills
6. None of the above

Students will be expected to access the following content on their own  portable computing device:

1. Professionally marked up content
2. Content that has been purchased from a commercial publisher
3. Content supplied by the department
4. Content that has been authored by peers
5. Content that is licensed as an Open Educational Resource
6. None of the above

Our department envisages academics leveraging these portable devices to:

1. Offer their students access to course related information, readings & resources
2. Offer opportunities to deliver multimedia
3. Offer opportunities to use web 2.0 tools for learning activities (blogs, portfolios, OERs)
4. Offer opportunities to practice blended learning
5. None of the above

In the past two years, academics in our department have undertaken professional development in the following:

1. Introductory courses on commonly used software or applications provided by general trainers
2. Advanced courses on particular software or applications provided by specialists
3. Courses that require use of multimedia
4. Equipment-specific training
5. Courses that focus on the pedagogical use of ICT in teaching and learning
6. Subject-specific training on learning applications
7. Participation in communities of practice about the use of ICT for learning and teaching
8. Other professional development opportunities related to ICT
9. None of the above

It’s not about the device in your hand — it’s about the experience that the ICT can (or cannot) provide. The job of the department is to articulate the vision that goes along with the technology. I’m not talking about rephrasing the universities mission statement and describing how devices can fit this vision. A well-articulated statement needs to make the intention behind the purchase of the device clear and describes how technology can help achieve this objective. The focus should not be on the tablet or laptop but what the device does when a student has access to it. Stakeholders within departments need to construct a story of their future success with the device. This choice will define what their department’s digital landscape will look like over the next few years.

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I was asked to share my thoughts on the matter of tablets in classes on #TheBigSwitchOn on SABC. Here’s a video of an interview I did (I inserted this on06 Dec 2024)