Tablets report

Abstract

In January 2014, the Government of Malta launched the ‘One Tablet per Child’ pilot project whose aim is to foresee the introduction of computer tablets in primary schools. An expression of interest was also published in order to test different types of hardware and software solutions with the aim of collecting feedback from educators and students. As part of this initiative, the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology was requested to assist. In fact, an inter-departmental team was setup made up of academics from the Department of Intelligent Computer Systems and the Department of Computer Information Systems. These academics were entrusted with the task of analyzing the three major tablet platforms in order to create a coherent and impartial analysis, which can help during the selection of the ultimate platform. The result of this exercise is this document, which was presented to the committee responsible for the tablets project. Throughout this document, one can find a thorough discussion pertaining the positive and negative aspects of each platform; be it Android, iOS or Microsoft. Whilst praising the most positive features of each platform, the document also highlights the issues, which might arise when developing content for these operating systems (OSs) and the weaknesses, which currently exist. We also examined issues, which might arise when using these platforms. In particular, our analysis also takes into consideration the fact that the usage will happen in a primary classroom setting and thus, additional issues such as sturdiness of the device had to be considered. Even though we mentioned some examples, we did not really go into the merits of particular devices because the market is so fragmented that it would have been impossible to pinpoint specific models or brands. Being a highly volatile sector means that the information presented in this document can be considered correct at the time of writing however we are expecting major changes in the coming months which will definitely change the way in which we interact with computers forever. The document is well suited to help the committee get abreast with the latest offerings and future potential of each platform in order to allow them to take an informed decision. A decision, which will have a long lasting effect on the eventual success of the project and the ultimate wellbeing of our children.