Exploring the Impact of Introducing Tablets in Omani Primary Schools

The success of any project to introduce new technological devices in schools requires the identification of all influencing factors, from the quality of the infrastructure to the readiness of teachers and administrators to plan and implement the project. It also depends on partnerships with all agents directly or indirectly involved beyond the school’s teaching and administrative staff. This thesis reports a qualitative case study conducted to explore the introduction of tablet computers into the Cycle 1 classrooms of a state-run Basic Education school in Oman. Three participant teachers were overwhelmed to be among the first to give their pupils the opportunity to incorporate tablets into their learning activities. Their experience was not as easy and straightforward as they thought it would be. They found themselves in the challenging situation of being asked to use tablets with no specific training and without the requisite software or a reliable internet connection. The findings indicate that using tablets for teaching in a classroom is more difficult and more complex than doing so for personal purposes, because of contextual factors affecting their use, such as geographical location, teachers’ experience and internet connectivity. The progress of the project was also affected by the school administration’s criteria for selecting participants and by its failure to inform pupils’ parents, who remained unaware of the project’s existence and aims, so that their conservative attitudes to tablets tended to discourage rather than support the pupils’ engagement with the devices. Teachers had initial concerns about technical problems they might face when using tablets in the classroom; however, the study findings show that their greatest need was for a vision to guide them in doing so. As the teachers themselves were unclear as to the purpose for which tablets were being introduced, they perceived them as time-consuming devices.