Exploring the use of iPads in Danish schools

Mobile devices, especially the integration and adoption of iPads in school classrooms, is gaining emphasis across the research and development forums of academic, policy, organizational, political, and public spheres. In April 2012, the Danish government announced that they would allocate DKK 500 million to develop the use of IT in elementary schools in Denmark. Since then, many municipalities have purchased iPads for schools for large sums. The existing literature, however, says very little about how these IT resources are being used or should be used in teaching. This paper contributes to the knowledge of how teachers and students use iPads in school contexts. During fall 2013, three elementary schools’ second and sixth graders were observed, and their subject teachers were interviewed. The researchers applied a social constructivist perspective and a qualitative research design, using grounded theory methodology. The relevant factors identified were available knowledge and adoptable practice (including innovation evaluation, subject culture, learning activity design, and teachers’ and students’ skill level with iPads); advantages (including mobility, multimodality, access to information, startup time, and differentiated learning environments); and adoption barriers (including accessibility, training, and economy) as seen in relation to technology, pedagogy, and content. The paper concludes that the identified nature of knowledge, practices, and barriers are similar to the trend of integrating and adopting desktop computers and other educational technologies. However, there are some unique advantages that iPad and other mobile devices can enable through apps, readiness, etc. Policies and strategies should be adopted to combine training and maintenance along with ensuring access to iPads.