Tables for Learning in Higher Education The Top 10 Affordances.docVIP

Tablets for Learning in Higher Education: The Top 10 Affordances Mikkel Godsk Centre for Science Education Aarhus University Denmark godsk@cse.au.dk Abstract: Based on a small-scale literature review this paper identifies the top 10 affordances of post PC tablets (sometimes referred to as ‘tablet computers’) for higher education in settings where the technology is used for learning. The review shows that the predominant affordances of the technology are related to its ability to support engaging, inclusive, and/or collaborative learning, to provide flexibility in place, and to include multimedia and interactive content in teaching practice. However, performing the review also revealed that the notion of tablets for learning is equivocal. As a consequence, the concepts of tabletcasts and tabletcasting are introduced as one possible framing for future research on tablets as an educational technology. Mobile Learning with Tablets As a consequence of the rapidly growing penetration of post PC tablet technologies such as iPads, Android tablets and similar among students and teachers in higher education and the large public interest in the matter, it is relevant to scrutinize their educational potentials (here referred to as ‘affordances’, cf. Norman, 1988). The latest issue of the Danish journal Learning and Media revealed a diverse usage of post PC tablets in university teaching in Denmark and identified eight affordances of learning with mobile devices such as tablets (and smartphones) (Christensen Godsk, 2013). In Denmark, as well as globally, higher educational institutions are currently experimenting intensively with or have already adopted tablets for teaching and learning. Some use the technology for classroom activities, some for lab and fieldwork, and others for supervision and assessment (ibid.). However, as the literature revealed early in the review process, there is only limited research on the technology’s affordances and, furthermore, the de