These days Tablets and Smartphone devices are a rage amongst everyone. From a kindergarten student to our grandparents, everyone is comfortable operating a tablet or a Smartphone. However, only few people have realized the revolutionary potential of these devices. The Tablets have an immense potential when it comes to education. Students and teachers alike can benefit tremendously from the use of tablets in education and learning.
Tablets and Smartphone devices have a huge scope in the arena of knowledge. With the kind of mobility a tablet offers, it is like carrying the entire bookshelf with you in your pocket at all times. One moment you are reading an E-book on Shakespeare and very the next you can easily open up the preloaded dictionary to look up a word you didn’t know of. Online textbooks, workbooks, calculators, educational apps, language translators, calculator, dictionary, how to guides, magazines, video lectures, homework help tutorials; there are so many educational resources that can easily fit into a single Tablet. Textbooks don’t offer that kind of vast mobile resources. Despite all this, Tablets are much more lightweight as compared to the printed books. Also a Tablet will utilize way lesser space than books. With tablets there is no need to carry heavy backpacks to school. So many students these days suffer from bad posture, backache, scoliosis and cervical problems from carrying heavy weight backpacks. Schools can also benefit space-wise as they would no longer need to build and maintain huge locker spaces for students.
Top notch Tablets are definitely priced on a higher side. However, over time, Tablets can prove to be a cost effective resource. The longer a tablet is utilized for learning, the lower its average cost becomes and higher is the rate of return. The E-versions of most textbooks are cheaper than the printed ones. Also the Educational institutions will save a lot of money on printing hundreds of papers, journals, notices, worksheets and other academic documents. Additionally, Tablets are more eco friendly as hundreds of thousands of trees will be saved from getting cut when students switch to online textbook versions.
Tablets allow students to learn on the go, as per their convenience! Students simply need to carry Tablets and smart devices in their pockets and can access their learning material from anywhere. Student can read the online textbooks from anywhere, whether in taxi, waiting for dental checkup or even accompanying their mother for grocery shopping! Students can access their daily assignments and homework tasks and do them from anywhere, whether they are at a relative’s place or waiting for their friend at a mall.
Also tablets offer more room for creativity. No more drab homework and assignments. With tablets students can utilize their creative skills and integrate multi-media elements in their work. Teachers can offer Audio-visuals, recordings, movies, walkthroughs, interactive tutorials, animations and a ton of other stuff to make the home assignments and learning more interesting and interactive. This will definitely increase student’s engagement in classroom teaching and learning. Tablets are also the best solutions for personalized learning. In a class of twenty, not everyone is the same. Each student has a different learning aptitude. Tablets allow teachers to address each student’s learning ability in a personalized manner. Each student has the liberty to download the learning material and study them at their own pace.
Tablets, thus, offer a much more convenient and effective educational resource as compared to the traditional textbook curriculum. There are definitely certain issues pertaining to training, technological support and logistical issues which need to be addressed. But this newer advanced medium of E-learning will catch up in no time.
New technology Tablets and Smartphone devices are increasingly becoming essential pedagogical tools. Don’t forget to tell us what do you feel about whether Tablets for studying should be allowed in schools or not?
Urvi Bhagi writes regularly for prestigious websites regarding New Developments in the field of Education and learning. Her areas of interest include Online education and S.T.E.M teaching.
Excellent post! With the changing technologies it is very crucial to upgrade every field. Schools and universities should start working actively in the direction of online learning and technology based classroom education