Abstract

Tablet devices are rapidly being adopted by consumers and organizations, but few universities have embraced them so far, since the feasibility of tablet use in higher education is still unclear. As an exploratory study, we examined the potential for tablet use in universities regarding three use cases that cover typical scholastic tasks. The study is based on focus group interviews and a longitudinal test user group study conducted over five months at a North American university. The analysis, grounded in the task-technology fit framework for mobile information systems, shows that tablets are a useful addition to laptops for the consumption of learning materials as well as for collaborative and social activities, but need further improvements to be useful for the production of content. We will conduct a confirmatory follow-up study in the form of a pilot rollout in a German higher education institution to confirm – or rebut – our initial findings

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