Tablet Personal Computer

A Tablet Personal Computer (PC) shortened as tablet is defined as a thin, flat and light weight mobile computer that is portable with a long battery life, a touch screen and circuitry that is contained in a single panel (Vermaat, Sebok, Freund, Campbell & Frydenberg, 2015:3). The tablet pc was initially developed by Alan Kay in 1972, he named it the Dynabook and was mainly used by children of all ages (O’Neill, 2012). According to Fischman and Keller (2011) the dynabook was further developed and remodelled in the early 1990s due to the fact that it was not user friendly, bulky , had a short battery life and an incompatible user interface. In 2009, a new generation of tablet device was introduced with the release of Apple iPad which now had

When using the tablet, students reported to have immediate access to information and their learning experience was enhanced. This was confirmed by Clark & Luckin (2013) in their report which stated that the tablet had the possibility to motivate, engage students to learning, made communication easier and promoted collaboration. These findings showed an increased motivation, enthusiasm, interest, engagement, creativity and so on among students. Over and above, research by Pamuk, Cakir, Ergun, Yilmaz & Ayas (2013 ) focussing on teachers’ and students’ perceptions towards the use of tablet devices showed that learning appeared to be more attractive and interesting when using the tablet pc.
Another research by Melhuish (2010) on the impact of tablet devices on student learning indicated that tablets have the potential to support students by offering them a platform in which they can construct and share knowledge in media-rich and stimulating environments. A study of 20 college students by Lewis in 2013 at Phoenix University revealed that tablet computers were portable, easier to use and convenient compared to laptops (Lewis, 2013). However, more research is needed to understand student’s perceptions concerning the use of tablet devices in an educational context (El-Gayar, Moran & Hawkes,

The issue of using a tablet to read e-books and perform digital annotation of lecture files presented an effective improvement over traditional textbooks (Garnett, 2010). Mang and Wardley (2012) detailed the main advantages of using tablet technology as of using software applications to enhance creativity and critical thinking, using digital texts and readings which lead to substantial cost savings for students and encouraging greater interaction among students and faculty. However, some studies has conflicting themes that tablets in general does not support learning and educational goals or conversely considered as time wasting, causing distractions during classes, connectivity problems and are an entertainment tool with almost no role in learning (Churchil, Fox and King,