The iPad in a Classroom: A Cool Personal Item or Simply an Educational Tool?

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the dual role of the iPad among the teenage high school students using the tablet as a 1-1 (one tablet per student) educational tool. On one hand, the iPad is a personal, mobile and cool piece of technology. On the other hand, it is a piece of technology provided by the school and given to students as anytime, anyplace mobile educational tool. Our goal is to understand the space between the use situations related to school work and those that are private and personal. After ten months of observations of the use of the iPad, we conclude with that the iPad is treated by teenage participants in our study as purely educational tool.