C O N T R I B U T O R S :


✥What would you say are the three biggest benefits of implementing 1:1 tablet schemes in schools?


✥N assar H ussain,


R egional Director for E ME A, SOTI


Niel McLeod: Our experience has been that the introduction of 1:1 tablets represents a tremendous vehicle for leading a whole school development initiative that has the transformation of learning at its heart. Students and teachers are able to work in completely different ways once everyone is using a tablet and for us this has resulted in an explosion of creativity.


✥N iel McL eod, Dep uty H ead Teacher, H ov e Park School


Daley Robinson: The overarching benefit that 1:1 device schemes create is independence, which is becoming one of the most important aspects of education to teachers and pupils alike. 1:1 schemes also create location independence by allowing location- independent learning – any environment can become a classroom. This represents such a big leap forward for lessons. A class is not tied to a certain room in the school for their learning; they can go ‘on location’ for subjects where seeing will add to the experience, such as geography or history. The use of technologies such as augmented reality (AR) on tablet devices in these situations is also transforming education.


✥Mary Palmer, Director, Tablets for Schools


✥Daley


R obinson, Marketing Director, Stone G roup


John Ronane: In my opinion there are certain benefits to tablet use in a 21st-century ‘thinking school’ although I believe them to be practical rather than groundbreaking in terms of advancing learning. The portability of a tablet and the relatively long batery life enable quick access to digital media at any point in the day without any scheduling of an IT suite or laptop trolley and without the need for cables and electrical sockets in close proximity. The mobility of a device can enable learning both inside and outside of classrooms at an instant. Obviously size of device is an issue and tablets can


enable a pupil to ‘carry around’ everything all in one small storage unit. In an ideal situation it is rather like having all of your exercise books with you without having the heavy rucksack and in addition you can carry the library as well!


✥J ohn R onane,


H eadteacher, Ickford Combined School


Mark Yorke: With 1:1 device provision, students and teachers get to develop independent learning practices. The whole education process becomes more open. I also think that having a 1:1 device at school


prepares the pupil for the real world of employment. It’s a rare job these days where you have to wait your turn to use a computer. Having a device to build your workload on and around and to empower you to succeed is a far more realistic situation.


✥And what are the three main drawbacks?


✥Mark Y orke, Managing Director, Tablet Academy


NH: IT administrators continue to be challenged with ensuring that students are using the technology appropriately in the context of a classroom. This means protecting students from objectionable content and restricting access to applications that may pose a distraction. Educators are faced with ensuring that students understand how to use the technology


W: edtechnology.co.uk | T: @Educ_Technology


and select the appropriate applications and content necessary to enrich the student’s learning experience.


NM: Firstly you need to be sure that your wireless infrastructure can cope with the density of usage. It can be very frustrating to teachers and students if poor network speeds prevent them from accessing the resources and apps that they would like to use. Secondly the introduction of a 1:1 tablet initiative


is a relatively complex project. There is always a risk it can be seen as 'yet another ICT project' and therefore not embraced by the whole staff. In order to succeed it needs to be at the heart of the school's improvement planning and that requires a lot of time and distributed leadership. I think that one of the exciting aspects of the


1:1 tablet project has been that there is no firmly established tidy orthodoxy about the right way to introduce it. For that reason some schools may be put off. In my view, however, our staff and students have enjoyed experimenting and learning together, trying things, failing at times but always coming back with improvements and refinements. We are still learning every day.


Mary Palmer: a) Online safety. This can be a serious concern. Our recent e-safety survey found that 48% of secondary school students, and 28% of primary students have communicated with strangers on social media. Also, 29% of secondary school students and 27% of primary school students have experienced something online that concerned or upset them. However, our research also shows that students are aware of stranger-danger and the importance of seting privacy controls, and are keen to provide advice to other students about staying safe online. This same research has also found that tablet use at school increases the likelihood that students would tell somebody about seeing something online that has concerned or upset them. b) Distraction. Distraction was seen to be a potential


drawback when our research schools first rolled out tablets. In a survey of students at one school, 24% said that they got distracted in class “because I'm often sent messages or games by my friends”. However, in most cases the novelty wears off and schools continue to work with students to develop appropriate ways of using technology in the classroom’ c) Time and money involved with training staff


and Wi-Fi set up. Lack of connectivity in certain parts of the country can be a problem. We surveyed 21 research schools and found that 53% felt that they required external help with Wi-Fi. 27% found obtaining this external help to be difficult. 45% had to install additional broadband. Support for teacher training and ongoing CPD is another consideration. It takes, on average, 11 months to implement a tablet scheme, however, most schools took one–two years. The majority of the schools we surveyed had found it necessary to offer professional development for teaching staff for that time period. Participants in our research emphasised the importance of not viewing training on tablets as merely an extension of other


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