The 2012 Horizon Report for Higher Education indicates that Tablet Computing is no longer on the “horizon” but here. During Faculty Development Day, we could have a session that explores creative and interesting uses of tablets and their apps for teaching and learning. The Horizon Report highlights a few possibilities (see page 15 for specific examples).
Because of their portability, large display, and touchscreen, tablets are ideal devices for one-to-one learning, as well as fieldwork. Many institutions are beginning to rely on them in place of cumbersome laboratory equipment, video equipment, and various other expensive tools that are not nearly as portable or as inexpensive to replace.
If you are already using tablet computers in your classroom, let us know how in the comments.
It will be interesting to see how this develops. I have seen far more students carrying laptops in the past two years than previously, but not very many seem to carry tablets (yet). This was also the finding of last year’s report from Project Information Literacy on what students do during “crunch time.” They found from observations on many campuses that students were carrying two devices – a laptop and a phone – and tended to have very few pages open on their browsers, being intent on shutting off distractions so they could focus.
I also talked to high school students who were provided tablets in their senior year at the GFW high school. Most of them seemed to feel they were better for entertainment than for school. (They came to the library for a research day and mostly used our computers.) I am not sure how their teachers were using them, or what kind of encouragement they had to incorporate tablets into their classrooms.
It would be interesting to know how common tablets are in the high schools many of our students come from. I imagine there will be enormous variation.
I’m interesting in using tablets in classes only if the college could provide them for every student. I agree with Barbara that laptops are becoming much more standard and I want to bring them into class in my FTS in Beck Hall this semester.
I am also interested, but I ran into a bit of a hook-up issue. GTS told me it is not possible to project my iPad to the big screens wirelessly – I would have to have some cable connection, which I think defeats the purpose of using the tablet. At this point, I am using it simply to be more paperless – having my notes on it and using my laptop for the presentation projected.