Understanding Tablets from Early Childhood to Adulthood

Rhonda McEwen is Canada Research Chair in Tactile Interfaces, Communication & Cognition and Associate Professor of New Media & Communication at the University of Toronto Mississauga.Adam Dubé is Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences at McGill University.

• PrefaceChapter 1: Studying TabletsChapter 2: Proposing a Model of User-Tablet CommunicationChapter 3: How Tablet Technology Influences User-Tablet CommunicationChapter 4: How the Mind Influences User-Tablet CommunicationChapter 5: Tablets as a Form of Screen LearningChapter 6: Tablets as a Form of "Hands-On" LearningChapter 7: User-Tablet Communication – A Complete Model

The studies reviewed and conducted by McEwan and Dubé are invaluable in revealing both the potential and the need for careful design in deploying tablets in education. The careful cognitive analyses within this book show that although the intuitions of developers have not always been on target, tablets certainly have the potential to be used effectively for educational purposes. Given that costs are decreasing as capabilities are increasing, tablets seem certain to be a component of education in the future, so it is essential to determine which pedagogical approaches can benefit, and how.— Jonathan Grudin, Principal Researcher at Microsoft and Affiliate Professor, University of Washington Information School