A Study of the Tablet Computer's Application in K-12 Schools in China.

ABSTRACTAs an emerging mobile terminal, the tablet computer has begun to enter into the educational system. With the aim of having a better understanding of the application and people's perspectives on the new technology in K-12 schools in China, a survey was conducted to investigate the tablet computer's application, user's perspectives and requirements among K-12 students, teachers and educational administrators in developed areas in China. The findings of the study showed that K-12 students, teachers, and educational administrators, still need deeper understanding of the new technology's application in K-12 education. In addition, this study indicated that in order to introduce tablet computers into K-12 education in China and other developing areas, more attention should be paid to the comprehensive design of the whole educational system, including the design of the learning support system and instructional strategies, as well as the design and development of educational software and resources.Keywords: tablet computer; mobile learning; K-12 school; survey; educational eco-systemINTRODUCTIONWith the developing technology, the modes of learning have evolved from learning solely in the classroom to distance learning and the virtual classroom, and from being exclusive for the elite to being accessible to everyone (Nordin, Embi & Yunus 2010). Mobile learning has been defined as "learning that happens without being limited at a fixed location" and "learning that takes advantage of mobile technologies"(Sharples 2000, p. 183), such as PDAs, cellular phones, tablet computers, iPods or ultra notebook computers, which make learning more flexible so that students can learn from anywhere and at anytime. With mobile technology, the educational environment is becoming more ubiquitous and better in instant connectivity, personalization, and forming self-directed learning-communities (Kwon & Lee 2010).For the advantages of flexibility and triggering learners' learning motivations, mobile learning has developed rapidly all over the world. According to a report from Ambient Insight (Adkins 2011), the worldwide mobile learning market reached $3.2 billion in 2010, and will reach $9.1 billion by 2015. The five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a robust 21.9%.The concept of mobile learning was introduced in China in 2000 via Desmond Keegan's presentation Distance Education, Digital Education, Mobile Learning at the 40th anniversary of Shanghai Radio and Television University (Ye, Xu & Xu 2004). Since then, the offering of mobile learning services appears to be a new marketing strategy for mobile manufacturers to attract customers and to generate new revenue (Ye, Xu & Xu 2004; Sun 2008). Since 2010, China has become one of the countries with the highest mobile learning growth rate (over 60%) (Adkins 2011). Ambient Insight (Adkins 2011) also predicted that by 2015, China would be the second largest buying country of mobile learning products after the US.As one of many kinds of mobile devices, tablet computers received particular attention at the International Electronic Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2011, Las Vegas, USA) in February 2011. In May 2011, Los Angeles Times reported that a big change has been taking place across the computer industry since 2011 (Sarno 2011). The PC era, which began three decades ago, has been giving way to what Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs called "the post-PC era". The new era is all about mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones.With the development of the Internet and theoretical studies on mobile learning, tablet computers have been proven to be very useful in education because of their portability, ease of note taking (EL-Gayar, Moran & Hawkes 2011), the convenient wireless access, and multiple applications (Ifenthaler & Schweinbenz 2013; Sullivan 2013). Many countries are also trying to introduce tablet computers into education. …