Abstract:

The Government of Mauritius has introduced tablets in the Secondary Schools in Mauritius in 2014. It is estimated that about 24000 tablets were distributed to students and educators. Secondary school students (Form IV) were given each a tablet, which was introduced as an innovative and revolutionary measure to transform educational practices in Mauritius and to align our educational system with 21st century education concept. In this paper, we conduct a situational analysis to understand the current state of affairs with respect to the Tablet PC initiative. The study addresses issues related to the different problems that educators have faced to integrate the tablet as a mainstream educational tool and as a techno-pedagogical instrument. We found that there were a number of issues raised, which have not been sufficiently addressed prior to and throughout the implementation of the Tablet PC project. It is further observed that the satisfaction level from educators is low as compared to the expected outcome of such an ambitious project. Educators highlighted that the challenges they faced outweighed the perceived benefits of Tablet PCs while students were generally neutral about the learning experience with tablets although they admitted enjoying some benefits of the electronic device. Keywords: 21st Century Learning, Technology-enhanced Education, Tablet PCs, Pedagogy, Teaching and Learning.

Keywords: