Abstract
The rapid development in technology has facilitated human beings in many ways such as automated home appliances, smart vehicles, smart mobile phones, and tablet computers. The uses of these tools and techniques are increasing in our daily lives to facilitate day to day work. The new trends in technology have focused on finding approaches towards improved learning techniques. Various tools are being used to integrate Information and Communication Technology in education. Tablet Personal Computers (PCs) are one of the new and innovative tools used in education for enhancing learning skills. This research has been conducted in five primary schools, where students of class nursery to class three were taught basic lessons using Tablet PC. In this research an application has been developed on android platform with easy to use interface, where the students were able to perform simple arithmetic calculations and learned alphabet of Sindhi and English languages in visual form. During the experiment, it was observed that with visual aids students understood lessons more clearly and easily.
TopIntroduction
The use of technology-oriented tools such as Tablet PC and smart devices in education sector has increased at rapid pace since last few years. Johnson et al. (2013) have forecasted the common use of Tablet PC and other interactive tools in higher educational institutes of developed countries in next one or two years because of their ease of use and increased learning. However, interactive tools have already been adopted in few schools and colleges of the developed countries in order to transform their educational system.
It has been witnessed that the use of technology is not only aimed for engaging students and making learning a fun but it also enhances technical and information literacy skills of students (Enriquez, 2010). Recently, the use of mobile devices with internet access has increased vastly in education for providing contextual motivation and information gathering at any time. Interactive learning applications can be used to transform learning process from traditional paper-pencil based methods to digital tools (Dundar and Akcayır, 2014).
Majority of schools in Europe, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Korea are integrating Tablet PCs and other smart devices into their educational systems and nowadays much emphasis has been put to create innovative skills among students than ever (Koh and Lee, 2008; Hyo Jeong, 2012) . Majority of the researchers think that schools should develop creative skills for students using interactive learning tools (Roblin et al., 2013). Various interactive learning projects using Tablet PCs have been implemented at the primary school level in the mentioned countries, which aim to provide quality education to the deprived groups of children such as those living in the impoverished rural areas (Mario and Domingo, 2012). The US and Turkish governments have initiated interactive and technology oriented projects with a large amount of budget in their educational system in order to provide equal learning opportunities to students of all regions (Crompton & Keane, 2012; Lewin & Luckin, 2010; Eren & Izmirli, 2012; Fri-tic, 2012). However, majority of public sector schools in the Sindh Province of Pakistan have shortage of resources and lack access to the quality education. Moreover, the existing learning resources implemented in educational system of Sindh province don’t provide any interactive mode of learning i.e., books cannot produce any sound when the finger is moved or touched on particular text or image. There is also shortage of technology-oriented resources such as computers at primary schools of Sindh Province.
Keeping in view the use of technological tools in developed countries, if Tablet PCs and other interactive tools are incorporated into the Education System of Pakistan, particularly in Sindh province, then they may enhance the learning skills of students.
1.1 Objectives of the Research
The most important objective of this research is to introduce new mode of learning in the primary schools of Sindh province using Tablet PCs. Tablet PC is said to be a digital slate or white board which is nowadays most commonly used tool in educational systems of developed and many other countries. Further objective of this research is to make learning as a fun by developing interactive user friendly application including Sindhi, English alphabet letters, number counting and mathematical calculation lessons and measure the effectiveness of the technological use by students.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Primary Education: An elementary education provided at the first stage to the students when they are enrolled in schools.
Tablet PC: A portable device with user friendly touch screen interface operated with finger or stylus pen.
Sindhi Language: The second largest language spoken in Pakistan and various other states of India. It consists of 52 alphabet characters taken from Perso-Arabic script.
User Interface Design: The design of software applications or hardware interfaces with which the users will interact. Purpose of the user interface design is to create the applications interfaces user friendly.
Usability Test: The technique to test how easy a user interface is. It is conducted with real users who will use the product.
Interactive Learning: A learning where users receive the feedback at real time from a device.
Self-Directed Learning: A process where individuals take initiative in order to increase their knowledge or skills at any time and place without the help of teacher.