The use of touch devices for enhancing academic achievement: A meta‐analysis

Touch devices such as tablets and smartphones are widely adopted in educational settings and have many desirable features. However, research supporting the use of touch devices to improve academic achievement is emergent and has not been evaluated through a meta‐analysis. We conducted a meta‐analysis of 65 group and single case design research studies, published 2010–2018, to evaluate the effects of touch device implementation on academic achievement. The overall mean effect sizes were moderate for group design and single case design studies. Participant, intervention, and study attributes were also evaluated to describe the research and how these attributes may moderate the results. Overall, results suggest that touch devices may be an effective tool for enhancing academic achievement. The need to conduct additional, rigorous research on the use of touch devices as well as implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

巧用iPad探索“数学之谜”

以椭圆和标准方程教学为例,分析iPad在数学教学中的应用。首先,iPad为学生提供了更加直观的方式,学生可以利用iPad作为主体参与教学;其次,iPad具有强大的网络支持,在学生的探究学习中发挥突出效果;最后,在数学教学中借助iPad,可以提高教学和学习效率。     

Understanding children’s motives when using iPads in Saudi classrooms: is it for play or for learning?

ABSTRACT

Even though studies of the accessibility of digital technologies in educational contexts have become progressively more extensive, understanding children’s motive for play or for learning is essential for identifying the way they relate to touch technology. This research paper seeks to understand the relation between the motive for play and the motive for learning when iPads are introduced into a grade one class in the Saudi Arabian education setting, where there is no custom for the use of digital technologies (five children, age range 5.5 (6 years old; n=80 hours of video observations; n=12 hours of children and class teacher interviews). The teacher put in place a new learning configuration involving the iPads, and by studying how the children interpret this new situation it is possible to see what factors influence the development of their motive for play to their motive for learning. The findings are important for the Saudi context, but also for early years teachers generally because it gives insights into how digital tools can act as a vehicle through which learning can be enhanced.     

电子书简史——媒介演进与内容创新

十余年间,电子书经历三代更叠,成为与手机和电脑并肩的掌媒和随身媒体。电子书的创新性在于以介于手机与笔记本电脑之间的屏显尺寸,精准地为受众提供了阅读媒体,而非浏览媒体和娱乐媒体,从而为图书、报纸和杂志等平面印刷媒体在移动互联时代的传播提供了全新载体。而电子书由第一代演变至第三代的十年历程证明,平面印刷媒体并不能简单地将内容电子化平移到电子阅读终端,必须研发出适合电子书媒介的创新内容。     

We are what we do: Examining learner‐generated content in the anatomy laboratory through the lens of activity theory

Video and photography are often used for delivering content within the anatomical sciences. However, instructors typically produce these resources to provide instructional or procedural information. Although the benefits of learner‐generated content have been explored within educational research, virtually no studies have investigated the use of learner‐generated video and photograph content within anatomy dissection laboratories. This study outlines an activity involving learner‐generated video diaries and learner‐generated photograph assignments produced during anatomy laboratory sessions. The learner‐generated photographs and videos provided instructors with a means of formative assessment and allowed instructors to identify evidence of collaborative behavior in the laboratory. Student questionnaires (n = 21) and interviews (n = 5), as well as in‐class observations, were conducted to examine student perspectives on the laboratory activities. The quantitative and qualitative data were examined using the framework of activity theory to identify contradictions between student expectations of, and engagement with, the activity and the actual experiences of the students. Results indicate that learner‐generated photograph and video content can act as a rich source of data on student learning processes and can be used for formative assessment, for observing collaborative behavior, and as a starting point for class discussions. This study stresses the idea that technology choice for activities must align with instructional goals. This research also highlights the utility of activity theory as a framework for assessing classroom and laboratory activities, demonstrating that this approach can guide the development of laboratory activities. Anat Sci Educ 7: 361–369. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

Teacher’s use of iPads in higher education

Mobile devices (e.g. iPads or galaxy tab) are increasingly being used in educational contexts. There has been growing investment in higher education institutions in Hong Kong by the HKSAR Education Bureau in relation to educational uses of mobile technology. However, current research into educational applications of this technology is limited. This article reports results of a qualitative study that investigated how higher education teachers use iPads to facilitate their practice. The study results provide insight into both the educational affordances of iPad technology and the ways in which teachers’ personal or private theories mediate these affordances. The study outcomes contribute to theoretical understanding of higher education teacher changes through adoption of mobile technology. Furthermore, the outcomes provide a set of recommendations for applications of iPads and similar technologies in higher education and ways to support teachers to effectively adopt such technology in their practices.     

iPad应用下的信息化课堂教学初探

随着教育信息化的发展,信息技术对教育教学的变革产生了巨大影响,如何使信息技术更好地服务于课堂教学已成为当下教育信息化发展的一大问题。iPad凭借其良好的互动性、便携性、丰富的应用程序和网络化服务,成为最适宜教育教学应用的智能终端形态之一。很多课堂教学中已经加入了iPad使用,iPad使教师的教与学生的学都发生了变化。本文选取了几个实例,观察iPad在课堂中的使用,探究分析iPad使用对课堂教学产生的效果。     

Examining Differentiation and Utilization of iPads Across Content Areas in an Independent,PreK–4th Grade Elementary School

This mixed methods case study examined the implementation of a 1:1 iPad initiative in a suburban, co-educational, independent, preK–4th grade elementary school in the United States. This article focuses on how teachers used iPads to differentiate instruction and across multiple content areas. Findings show the processes by which teachers employed iPads demonstrated a myriad of teaching and learning opportunities. Overall, teachers integrated iPads into the existing curriculum to complement or enhance their lessons, provide different choices for students to engage with content, or for them to delve deeper into the content. Additionally, iPads were often used in interdisciplinary ways, involving a combination of at least two different content areas during one lesson.     

Using the iPad as a tool to support literacy instruction

The purpose of this case study was to examine how iPads could be integrated into literacy instruction in a fourth-grade classroom in ways consistent with new conceptions of literacy and in ways that transform traditional literacy instruction by supporting readers in creating multimodal responses to reading. Results indicate that several features of the iPad support literacy instruction, a context in which both traditional literacy skills and new literacies must be taught. Data analysis revealed the following four themes that characterise the ways in which classroom instruction was supported by integrating iPads: (1) choosing new ways to communicate a message; (2) detailed work and revision; (3) spontaneous collaboration and (4) student interest and attention to the tasks. Results indicate that features of the iPad may provide a simplified path to integrating technology into literacy instruction.     

Integrating the iPod Touch in K–12 Education: Visions and Vices

Advocates of ubiquitous computing have long been documenting classroom benefits of one-to-one ratios of students to handheld or laptop computers. The recent sophisticated capabilities of the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad have encouraged further speculation on exactly how K–12 teaching and learning might be energized by such devices. This paper summarizes the research-to-date on mobile learning for K–12 students, and then delineates specific features and applications available on the iPod Touch that might impact student learning across the curricula. Finally, caveats are offered regarding the introduction and assimilation of these handheld computers into K–12 schools.