A survey of high school students with ubiquitous access to tablet PCs

This paper presents findings of a study of high school students participating in a tablet PC (TPC) programme. Primary areas of interest were students' experiences with and attitudes about the TPCs, physical discomfort associated with use of TPCs and temporal and task-driven patterns of TPC use. Data were collected via questionnaire and computer use-monitoring software. Results showed students' attitudes were generally quite positive towards the TPCs, although they did not tend to think TPCs had improved their grades, few disagreed that TPCs were a distraction in class, and visual and musculoskeletal discomfort was prevalent. Understanding how to use the TPC and recognizing its organizational capacity were associated with several positive attitudes towards the TPC, including making school more enjoyable. Children's exposure to computers will only increase, so study of the many dimensions of their impact is critical in order to understand what is effective, constructive and healthful for children.