Tablet Versus Textbook

Tablets vs. Textbooks
A Debate on Digital Culture in the Classroom.
Rebecca Males

So…which students are we dealing with?

No more Millennials…
• Millennials are now in between the ages of 18-33 years old
(Pew, 2010)
• We are dealing with a new generation attending school…

…what comes after
Millennials?

Gosh. Information overload much?
Check this next slide…

“A magazine is a tablet that doesn’t work”
In the mind of (the young) Gen Z,
magazines do not exist.

Nielsen did a bit of research on these techie toddlers.

Integrating technology & education isn’t
exactly unheard of…

…used for reading, copying, writing

The iPad is really part of evolution…
and evolution is about to come full
circle.

Chalkboard apps…on a tablet.

Not everyone believes in that integrating
technology with education is beneficial
to our intelligence…

Nicholas Carr, ‘Is Google
Making us Stupid?’

He believed companies such as
Google & Apple, are essentially
using human behavior to create
‘artificial intelligence’
(Carr, 2008)

Why is this bad?
And what is artificial intelligence?

“The faster we surf across the Web—the more
links we click and pages we view—the more
opportunities Google and other companies gain
to collect information about us and to feed us
advertisements. Most of the proprietors of the
commercial Internet have a financial stake in
collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind
as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the
better. The last thing these companies want is
to encourage leisurely reading or slow,
concentrated thought.
It’s in their economic interest to drive us to
distraction.” (Carr, 2008)

So – Carr fears for our ability to read and write,
as the web is “driving us to distraction”

Same old, same old.
Socrates didn’t like writing either.

‘The offsprings of painting stand there as if they are alive, but if
anyone asks them anything, they remain most solemnly silent.
The same is true of written words.’
Socrates: Phaedrus

It’s not the first time scholars have feared change…
Hieronimo Squarciafico, Venetian Humanist, wasn’t
the biggest fan of the printing press.
He believed “books would make men lazy”, as they
substituted for stored knowledge in the mind.

“…as we come to rely on computers to
mediate our understanding of the world, it
is our own intelligence that flattens into
artificial intelligence” (Carr 2008)

“The eyes only see what the mind is prepared to
comprehend”
French Philosopher, Henri Bergson

Well, that’s certainly true for this techie toddler.

In that case..why are we using iPads in schools?

The iPad Trials in
Sydney
(2011)
• 75 iPads deloyed into 3 primary schools
• “experimental trial”
• Teachers used video diaries, journals, student
Likert tests & an independent evaluator to judge
student engagement

Hm.
Brand, spanking new toys.
Children under 12.
How do you think that went?

Students said iPads were
more engaging
and
easier to use
than conventional methods.

“…students would sit and constantly use
the Times Table app to improve their
recall of multiplication facts, but would
never devote the same time to a
worksheet”
(Melanie, Teacher)

Ok, ok. We get it.
So iPads get kids interested.

But…
is it more effective for knowledge
retention than a pen & paper?

Granito & Chernobilksy (2012)
• 3 groups of students
• Aged between 12 & 13 years old
• Completed a project through Traditional means
(paper) or Technology based means (computer)
Students were then tested on how
much information they had retained
after completing the project…

Technology = Substitute for Memory

So the kids on the computer, theoretically,
should have lower scores than those using
paper, as they used the evil Google machine.

Those using computer based methods
retained more information.

Hang on… this was a rather narrow pool of
participants.
Is there anyone else out there, testing this?

At a primary school in Auburn, Maine,
children who used an iPad in class scored
higher on a literacy test than those who
did not. (Dalrymple, 2012)

Students in the first class to receive iPads at
the University of California scored an average
of 23% higher on national exams than in
previous classes. (Comstock, 2013)

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in California showed
that students using iPads saw their math test
scores increase 20% in one year compared to
students using traditional textbooks.
(Bonnington, 2012)

81% of adults agree that the Internet
has enhanced human intelligence
(Pew Research Project, 2010)

Oh alright, you proved your point.
But how can we finance such a thing?
Not everyone can afford iPads.

Things are a’changin’, my friend.

In June 2013, Acer won a bid to
supply secondary schools in
Queensland with 14,000 Tablets,
and in 2011 schools in Sydney had
already begun tablet trials.

In the USA, currently 80% of schools
lack infrastructure to support digital
learning, so President Obama
announced the ‘ConnectED program’,
which aims to provide broadband for
99% of schools.

The Tablets for Schools
initiative helps schools
implement tablets for
research purposes in the
UK, and 2014 has been
dubbed the Year of Code –
computing is now a
mandatory subject in state
schools.

However, we have a long way to go.

Luckily, there are campaigns like this..

=
And as supply & demand changes,
mobile technology will become cheaper.

For now, we should prepare
and equip this generation.

"You can't teach people everything they
need to know.
The best you can do is position them where
they can find what they need to know when
they need to know it.”
– Seymour Papert,
Computer Scientist & Educator

Today’s children have grown up with a
different digital landscape than their teachers
and they are inspired and motivated by
different technology.
(Jukes, 2008)

And that technology is evolving
fast…there’s a world of experts out there
willing to help, and share their knowledge.
Even if it is on Twitter.

We are living in the Information Era, and we must
teach children how to adapt to this from an early
age
– that’s if they aren’t already teaching themselves.

Using tablets
instead of
textbooks is the
first step in
preparing our
children to deal
with this new
world.

Anderson, Janna & Rainie, Lee (2010) The Future of the Internet, Pew Research
Center’s Internet & American Life Project, http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/02/19/future-
of-the-internet-iv/
Granito, Mark and Chernobilsky, Ellina, "The Effect of Technology on a Student's
Motivation and Knowledge Retention" (2012). NERA Conference Proceedings 2012.
Paper 17.
http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/nera_2012/17
Bonnington, Christina. (2012) iPad a solid education tool, study shows
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/23/tech/innovation/ipad-solid-education-tool
Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic.com. July/August 2008. 19
August 2008. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200807/google
Comstock, Jonah (2013) iPad equipped medical school class scores 23% higher on
exams http://mobihealthnews.com/20311/ipad-equipped-medical-school-class-scores-
23-percent-higher-on-exams/
Dalryple, Jim (2012) iPad improves Kindergartners Literacy Skills, The Loop.
http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/02/17/ipad-improves-kindergartners-literacy-scores/

Generation Z, (2014). Home - Generation Z. [online] Available at:
http://generationz.com.au [Accessed 6 Jun. 2014].
Goodwin, Kirsty (2012). Use of Tablet Technology in the Classroom. NSW Curriculum
and Learning Innovation Centre
[http://clic.det.nsw.edu.au/clic/documents/iPad_Evaluation_Sydney_Region_exec_summ
ary.pdf]
Jukes, I. (2008). Understanding digital kids (Dks): Teaching and learning in the new
digital landscape. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from
http://www.hmleague.org/Digital%20Kids.pdf
Nielsen.com, (2014). American Families See Tablets as Playmate, Teacher and
Babysitter. [online] Available at: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/american-
families-see-tablets-as-playmate-teacher-and-babysitter.html [Accessed 9 Jun. 2014].
Taylor, Paul, and Keeter, Scott (eds) (2010) Millenials: A Portrait of Generation Next,
Pew Research Center
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-
change.pdf

Tablet Versus Textbook

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